Last one

Okay, I'm sure you are all sick of my blogs recently and I apologize for all the vacation stuff. I have one last one and then I'll move on with my life.

August 8
Today was the day that most people were leaving the house besides us and my parents. My sister Tiff and her family weren't flying out till later in the evening, so we all stuck together. After saying goodbye to everyone else, we drove back down the coast towards Portland, stopping in little coastal towns to do a little shopping. We stopped in a fun city called Camden and ate lunch and shopped. It was a cute little town. Then we stopped in a town called Freeport that had a bunch of outlet stores. Then we headed to Portland, ate dinner and went to bed.

Camden, Maine

Eating lunch

My sister Tiffany, her husband Brooks and their 3 kids: Hayden, Grant and Karlie

August 9

We started our drive back down to Boston today. We stopped first at a town on the coast named Gloucester, MA. It's the oldest seaport and is located on Cape Ann about an hour northeast of Boston. We weren't there for very long. We stopped to see a museum/aquarium and it was pretty neat.

Bella watching the lobsters and fish

splashing herself

Paige in the museum

Maggie in the museum
After this, it was kind of getting late in the day and we didn't have a lot of time left because most touristy things close between 5 and 6. So we decided to go into Boston and go tour the USS Constitution.
"The USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy warship of the United States Navy. Named after the Constitution of the United States by President George Washington, she is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world. Launched in 1797, Constitution was one of the six original warships authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of "Old Ironsides" because their shot (from Guerriere) seemed to rebound harmlessly off Constitution's hull. A sailor reportedly exclaimed "Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!"

Picture of "old Ironsides" from the internet

Beds the sailors slept in

Paige climbing the steep ladders
Inside the Constitution

The outside

It was under construction for some reason, but that's why it looks a bit different from the internet picture.

They had a pretty cool museum there that we went through, right before it closed. We wished we had more time there because there were a lot of "hands-on" exhibits for the kids.

Lydia testing out a sailor's hammock

Trying to hang on!

August 10

We drove to Plymouth the night before when we were done with the museum. We wanted to be there in the morning so we could get an early start sightseeing. We went to a place called Plymouth Plantation where they have an Indian village (Wampanoag Tribe) and a 1627 English Village. All the people that work there are dressed as either the Indians or the colonists. The Indians speak English and are not in character, but are very informative and tell about their culture and their houses and way of life. The colonists all speak 17th century English and are role-playing like they actually living in 1627. I really loved this place, it was so fun to listen to them speak and ask them questions about how they lived.

At the entrance of the Plantation, there was this cow--named the "Mooflower"

one of the homes of the Wampanoag people

Wampanoag tribe members
Inside a house of one of the colonists

one of the houses

One of the colonists we talked to

The village

Looking down on the village from the town hall
A statue of a colonist

On our way down to the Mayflower, we stopped to see Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock

Also part of this Plimouth Plantation, was the Mayflower II. It's a replica of the original Mayflower that sailed over in 1620. This also has role players in period costumes to talk about the journey over--which one of the colonists said was horrendous. There were 102 passengers on board the Mayflower. One person died and a little baby was born on the voyage. They also had staff in modern day clothing that were there to answer questions as well. It was very interesting and very informative day.

I think this was the Captains's quarters

One of the colonists on board the Mayflower

Listening to a colonist talk about the voyage

Mayflower II

We would've liked to spend more time in Boston but we had to catch a flight home the next day . We wanted to go on a Liberty Walk, where you walk around Boston and learn about all the historical sights, but it was an hour and a half long, and we knew our kiddos weren't going to walk for that long. Someday...I'd like to go back and learn more! It was a fun vacation.

Last days in Castine, Maine

August 6

Today wasn't very eventful. Most of us just hung out at the house since we had just driven to Bar Harbor the day before (1 1/2 hrs away) and didn't want to drive again. Charee and Tiffany and Tiff's daughter, Karlie drove to Arcadia National Park to have lunch at a place called The Jordan Pond House... it's a restaurant found in the park with a view of the famous Jordan Pond. Along with lunch and dinner, they also serve tea and popovers on the lawn. Sounded fun and from the pictures, it looks like a beautiful place. There's also a trail to hike and a place to pick fresh blueberries.

Bella and Cora--about 6 months apart

Hanging out at the house

Dad, me and Tad working on "The Puzzle" (Sadly, it never got finished)

Karlie, Charee and Tiffany enjoying lunch at Jordan Pond House

The rest of us went and had lunch down on the docks...

My girls

August 7

This was our last day in the house and in Castine. We all split up and did different things. Half of us went to Bar Harbor to go shopping and to lunch. The other half (including us--minus Maggie)stayed at the house and then took our kids to the park and out for icecream. I really wanted to go shopping in Bar Harbor, but Garrett had no desire to go and I didn't want to leave him. Plus, I had to get some laundry done because we weren't going straight home...we had a few more days in Boston, so we needed some clean clothes. I don't have any pictures of the group that went shopping, but here are some from the park. At the park, there was a trail that led down to the water. So we went down there and threw rocks in the water.

Tad, Cora, Megan and me

Steve, Colin and Garrett
Colin "throwing" a rock--so cute

Steve and the boys--Colin, Grant and Micah

Garrett making Micah laugh on the swings

Colin and Steve

Mailei pushing her mommy Solviej on the swing

After the park, we stopped at a place to get icecream and behind the icecream shop was a grassy area with picnic benches, so you could sit and eat your icecream while looking out on the water. It was really pretty. There was a little hill that led down to the picnic tables. They also had a lot of toys for kids to play on--including big wheels. I sure wish I had a picture or a video of it, but my brother--he's so funny; he got on a bigwheel and was racing his son, Micah and our nephew, Grant down the hill. It was so funny. I'll have to see if they have a picture that I can post. It was hilarious!

Later that night after everyone got back, we headed down to the dock for dinner one last time.

View from the dock

Maggie and her cousin, Karlie

Grant, John, Brooks, Charee, Paul and Emily

Micah and Tad

Tiffany and me