Maine: Days 1 and 2!

Last week we took a vacation to MAINE!!!  Neither Hubby nor I had been there before, so this was the first big adventure that the four of us experienced together for the first time as a family.

I took lots of pictures, and I could hardly wait to get home and go through them.  I keep just flipping through, still kind of in awe of the beautiful scenery and the new adventures we had.  Here I'm including a small representation, just enough to document our trip for the sake of posterity.  :)

Day 1: Monday, the Fourth of July

We arrived in Portland just in time for lunch.  (If you're keeping track, that means we left home EARLY.  I got up around 1:30 for our 5:30 flight [the airport is an hour away from our house]!)  We got a quick recommendation for a seafood place right on the water.

Our first picture in Maine!  Looking out over the water while we waited on our lunch!

We had our first lobster roll of the trip.  The girls were quite taken with it, along with calamari and crab cakes.  

After a family nap of 2 1/2 hours...which was BLISS!!!!!...we headed east along the ocean to claim a spot to watch the fireworks.  This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip...so picturesque!!!

We had a really great dinner at a place called The Front Room.  (Baby A was super excited to see a dish of Brussels sprouts with goat cheese, two of her faves!)

Ahead of the fireworks, the Portland Symphony Orchestra played.  There were lots of patriotic tunes, of course, and I could hardly believe my ears when they played the Alabama fight song!  I have no idea what that was about...but I loved it!

At last, darkness fell and it was time for the big show.  These were the girls' first fireworks (outside of what they've seen on TV).  They actually didn't love them.  They weren't scared, but they enjoyed about five minutes and then declared they'd had enough.  

We trekked back to the hotel and got a great night of well-deserved rest.  

Day 2: Tuesday

The next morning we got up and headed for breakfast.  We found ourselves at a place that featured Syrian wraps.  The owner got a chuckle when Baby A called out to me as I placed our order, "Add spinach to mine!"  Hee hee!

We stopped for a few pictures in Old Port as we headed back to our hotel.  I love the cobblestone streets!

And as I was taking a picture of the girls here, a cab driver stopped to speak to us, saying he wanted to take a picture of me taking the girls' picture.  Kinda sweet, huh?

Sisterly hugs!

 After breakfast we headed to Cape Elizabeth to the Portland Head Light, said to be the most-photographed lighthouse in the country.  I took a ton of pictures as we hiked around the cliff (as it was labeled), and here I handed the camera over to someone to snap a family pic.

I couldn't get enough of the interesting rock formations long the coastline!

And here we paused when Hubby actually requested I take his picture with the girls.  Yes!!!

We hiked around an old fort, and then explored the beach area.  We picked up a couple of rocks to bring home with us, too.

After our lighthouse adventure, we had a fantastic lunch.  It wasn't lobster, but pizza...provolone mac and cheese pizza, to be exact...but it was amazing!  And I must confess that I took this picture on the morning drive.  We were stopped at a traffic light and I rolled down the window to snap this pic.  Hubby chided that I was "such a tourist"...but as luck would have it, that's where we ate lunch.  The last laugh was on Hubby, I say!  :)

Filling-station-turned-pizza-parlor...yum!

Tuesday afternoon we drove up to Freeport, Maine, to visit the L.L. Bean headquarters.  My grandmother was a huge fan of L.L. Bean, and she always fantasized about going to Maine because of it.  On one hand I felt silly going shopping on vacation, but it was a special trip with her in mind.

The campus was beautiful...and HUGE!

The girls even scored some cool new shoes!

And what trip to L.L. Bean would be complete without a picture in front of the giant duck boot truck???

We worked up quite an appetite shopping, and we ate a delicious meal at an outside table at a nearby cafe.  In our short stay in Maine, Baby B had already mastered her standard order, "I'll have a lobster roll and a cup of clam chowder.  And I don't want to share."  HA!  This kid is no cheap date!

Baby A and I shared a shrimp and pasta dish.  It was delicious, too!

More to come as I sort through the rest of my pictures!  It was such a great trip!!!