Acadia camping trip day 2

Day two was spent doing "ocean stuff."  We went to see the Bar's Head Lighthouse but only saw as much as you see in the picture below.   We went tide pooling which took the rest of the morning as the trail to the tide pool was longer than we had thought and the rocks were slippery with sea weed.  I didn't get very many pictures of that because Kaitlyn ended up needing to go to the bathroom and the only one was at the head of the trail.

Bar's Head Lighthouse

A squirrel Bethany insisted I take it's picture

Malia with a big three masted ship in the background

Arnie and LT the mountain goat, uh, I mean, dog!

A GREEN crab!

See how many different sea creatures you can see.
Anyone see the barnacle? 

The boardwalk around the Ship Harbor tide pool trail

ten points to anyone who can name this butterfly!

 After the tide pools, we went to Echo lake to go swimming.  Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed and so we had to split up.  I took the girls to the lake and Arnie took LT on yet another trail up above the lake.  However, right before he headed out, he ran into a family from church in the parking lot who were coming swimming and before we knew it we were invited to their rented beach house for lobster dinner!  This was very cool on several accounts.  One was that the girls had friends to play with and two was that I didn't have to cook dinner.  I had begun to feel a little sick and was having some vertigo so having some help was just what I needed.  The rest of the pictures were taken on the way to their house and during dinner.

Some nice boats in a harbor near sundown

A day lily soaking in the last rays of the sun.
photo taken by Malia

The Wilson and Hammari family Lobster dinner!

 Bethany was the only one who ate the lobster with Arnie and I.  I was only able to eat a little bit of mine because of how I was feeling although I did get the opportunity to try to pry the meat out of the shell which I think is the biggest part of the experience.  If you feel up to eating anything after banging, and bashing and all that, I think that is probably a bonus.

Sunset on the ocean

A Rugosa (Wild) Rose- captured by Malia

The last pink of day

And before I forget, Bethany ended up getting a sunburn across her shoulders and now believes me that they hurt.  She has now vowed to put on sunscreen.  Ah, the little victories of natural consequences!

Camping in Acadia Day 1

We went to Acadia National Park for a four day, three night camping trip.  We drove up on a Monday.  It is a nice six hour drive which is nothing for our four well traveled children but caused a little whining from Lieutenant, who whimpered for the first two hours of the drive and kept his head pressed up against my shoulder for the last four until I was sure I was going to have a permanent bruise.  After that however, he calmed down and was just as good a dog as you could ever want on a camping trip.  It is probably all the hiking we did.

A panorama of the view at the top of Cadillac Mtn

 Acadia is on an island in Maine and is much different from any other national park I've ever been to.  From what little I learned, it took quite a lot of time and money to buy back the land that is the national park today from the private land owners.  Because of this, the park has little towns interspersed everywhere in the park so I was never sure whether we were in the park or not.

The family hiking up the Carriage road trails on one of many hikes
we did while in Acadia National Park

 Acadia is fun because it has ocean stuff and mountain stuff to see and do.  Our first day was spent doing "mountain stuff," which roughly translated to hiking and walking a lot.  We hiked the carriage roads to some fun stone bridges and a cool water fall.  And then drove to the top of Mt. Cadillac and ate our lunch while having a great view of the ocean.

Bethany cooling off in a water fall pool

Jessi and Malia jumping rocks under the water fall

Kaitlyn sittin' pretty

The whole family in front of one of the stone bridges
that was built on these carriage trails.

My girls and dog are definitely creatures of the outdoors.  They loved being out and about.  The weather was perfect and we had plenty of bug spray and sunblock although Bethany swore up and down that she never burned.  She eventually learned the hard way but that's tomorrow's story.

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall..."

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun, 
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both

We are so lucky to live near to the farm house that inspired one of the greatest poets in American history.  While Arnie's friend, Brad was visiting from Uganda, we finally took the time to take the tour and walk in the woods around this historic site.  It was very interesting and the tour guides were very knowledgable.  I highly recommend you visit the Robert Frost farm in Derry, NH if you are ever in the area.

Arnie, Brad, and the girls in front of the farm house

Robert Frost's favorite chair. 

The formal dining area.

There were a lot of toads in the marsh nearby that were the girls'
favorite part of the tour.

Looking out onto the field 

A very handy tree to take a family portrait

Bethany's first year at Girls' Camp

In our church, the 12-18yr old girls are given the opportunity to go to a week long summer camp every summer to learn, among other things, camping skills and to get an appreciation of God's creations.  Bethany, having just turned 12 last December, got to go for the first time this summer.

It wasn't until she was gone that I realized that she hadn't ever been away from us (meaning a member of her family) for longer than 24 hours, let alone a whole week, in her entire life.  For that reason alone I was nervous for her.  Otherwise, I knew she would have an enjoyable time and come back with some terrific memories.

Bethany rocking the cool handkerchief bag she made

I took this picture on a camping trip after she returned from Girls' camp because, while we gave her a camera to use, we forgot to warn her about the mistake all rookie camera people make, which is she never took a photo of herself at camp.

Some of Bethany's 1st year buddies and a leader making breakfast in front of the cabins

The girls didn't stay in tents but in little buildings called "adirondacks," which were basically little cabins with bunkbeds.  She said they had a latrine right nearby and that it was really stinky.
They were grouped by years of camp attendance.  Bethany was reminded of Harry Potter.  She was with all other 1st years in our area.

Bacon and eggs, by the looks of it.

Bethany told me this was the message center

Bethany's fellow 1st year campers resting during a hike

A view from the trail

Bethany really enjoyed swimming in the lake although because she couldn't tread water, she didn't pass the swimming test.  She loved archery and rifle shooting.  She did some crafts and loves her handkerchief bag.  There were no frantic phone calls from the camp the whole week, so I was satisfied that the week was a success.

Kaitlyn's last soccer game of the season

Kaitlyn finished out the spring soccer season admirably having only missed one practice and one game.  Her teammates made a thrilling goal in the last seconds of the game to the admiration of the parents and the cheers of all the players.  In the 90 degree heat, free ice cream was given to the players after the informal medal ceremony and Kaitlyn has proclaimed that she wants to play soccer all year 'round!   Great job, Kaitlyn!

Kaitlyn going for the ball!

High fives all around for a good season!

Kaitlyn agreeing that she wants to play soccer all year 'round.

She loves her soccer medal!

Her whole team showed up for this last game

Happy 4th of July

Our red, white, and blue dinner!

Our 4th of July was very low key as Arnie is hiking the Presidential Traverse of the Appalachian Trail with his buddy, Brad.  We played a couple of family board games, Apples to Apples Jr. being the favorite.  The town of Londonderry surprisingly doesn't do much for the 4th of July and they save their fireworks display for the end of the summer during the Old Home Days festival.  So instead of braving the crowds and heat by myself with four kids, we stayed home with our window a/c unit on, drinking ice water and having a "Red, White, and Blue" dinner.  Malia helped with the jello and the meatballs.

Deer in the backyard

It is the time of year again when the wild life come out of the woods.  This doe came practically up to our back window and just stood there while I took many photos of her in the same statuesque pose.  I eventually gave up trying to get a more interesting photo and left her to graze undisturbed.  Goodness knows there is plenty for her to graze on back there.  Just so long as she stays away from my veggies!