Wilmington trip

We went to Wilmington for part of Memorial weekend and stayed with my friend Val!  We went downtown by the water and enjoyed the scenery.  We ate ice cream at Kilwins (twice actually), it was so good. 

I sat next to my sweetie on the horse drawn tour we went on of the historic mansions (more pics later). 

The boys, born 6 days apart, sat side by side and watched a movie.  Val and I were pregnant together and now we have boys growing up together. 

This is our family at the movie, we saw Epic which was so fun.  It was Griffin's first trip to the real movie theater.  He only had to get up once to go to the bathroom.

We let the kids get the snack tray, yummy!

Griffin enjoying his ice cream, chocolate!

Sydney also eating PB/chocolate!

Wilmington was so fun.  I still have more pictures to share......soon.

Date Night

While in Maine we planned a date night, we left all 5 kids (our two and my sister's three) with Grammie la la, grandpa Quarter and Hannah (my sister's sitter).

First stop was Lookout Point!  The view was amazing!  I could have stayed in that spot for days! 

View from LookOut Point - check out the website.  My sister and her family rented a cabin earlier this summer and had a wonderful time. 

We stopped at the beach in Lincolnville

then we headed down the coast to Camden- Bill and I remember this place while on our honeymoon

We ate sandwiches and a shameful amount of dessert at the Camden deli while enjoying this view.

My sis and I in front of the amphitheater.

this is one of the entrances to the Camden library- so pretty and inviting

then we headed further down the coast to Rockport and walked out this breakwater to the lighthouse

I love all the colorful bouys

there were some beautiful boats in the harbor and they were partying! 

people were taking small boats from one large boat to another

fireworks were put off a day late due to fog on the fourth

we headed back north and stopped for dinner along the way

there was a lot of yummy food, great conversation, hand holding and sight seeing

a perfect date night if you ask me

Swan Lake

While in Maine we went to Swan Lake a few times! It is such a great place, with beautiful surroundings, warm water and we had great company.

I love this picture of the kids heading down to the water, Sydney and Michael holding hands.

seriously, it does not get much more beautiful than this

Griffin loving the water

Henry was happy to play with trucks and rocks

Me with my big sis

Sydney floating

picnic time

Griffin pulling toys and carrying timbits (little donuts)

kiddos, isn't Michael so GQ

I love this Michael taking a break from all the action to watch his little brother

Griffin happy with trucks

this was the rain moving in the first day we went, we ended up waiting it out and having a picnic in the back of my sister's friends van

 same view another day- so pretty

we loved Swan Lake and also the ice cream stop on the way home!

Bar Harbor part 2

 Bill and I in front of the Graycote Inn on Bar Harbor where we spent part of our honeymoon, 10 years ago!

 Griffin kissing la la goodbye for the day

 Sydney and Ava on the sandbar- so much fun hanging with a bigger cousin

 love this- Bill holding hands with Ava looking for shells

 all the kids in action (except Ava)- Michael skipping stones, Henry digging

 Sisters- what a great day at Bar Harbor- wish it could have lasted forever

Bar Harbor part 1

Day 1 in Maine we met up with my parents at Bar Harbor- the weather was hot, but nice compared to NC and there was a nice breeze on the island- these are just a few of my favs

throwing and skipping rocks

Sydney and Bill

Syd standing in ocean

family pic- Griffin did not want to look at the camera- we were walking the shore path- beautiful!

ice cream- there were 11 of us total

like father like son, yummy

Henry throwing his ma (paci) in the fountain

just before Griffin got in the fountain- he was the trend setter

Everyone in for a swim

My sister and I had extra clothes for the kids so we said oh go ahead. 

Love the giggles in this video!

Here we go

Sydney cutting off a chain link- count down to MAINE!

Bright and early departure 6 am, McDonald's breakfast sandwich. The kids literally jumped out of bed when they heard the alarm, they were so excited to go to Maine.

I packed a large basket of books and special activities for the drive.  Both kids have a travel aqua doodle which is fun and very easy to travel.  I keep a water bottle up front with me to refill the pens.

Our neighbor bought the kids they glow sticks for the 4th but they had fun with them once it got dark- they were holding them up to their windows showing all the other drivers.  The first day driving we went all the way to Connecticut before we stopped to sleep.  North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut!  The second day was Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.  The kids actually traveled very well the first day, hardly any whining at all, they knew that we would not be in Maine until the next day so they just enjoyed the ride.

Griffin looking at a new book from the library

Sydney working on her binder- full of color by number, practice writing sheets, blank pages, finish the pattern pages and more.  She had a little pencil case with new crayons, colored pencils, small scissors and glue stick.

Bill is a happy driver if he has dry roads and a cup of hot coffee.

I made bags of tickets for the kids, the tickets were colored squares of paper that were numbered 1-14.  Every hour I asked them for a ticket in exchange for a prize, Sydney needed to identify the number and Griffin went by colors.  Some of the prizes were candy, like smarties or fruit snakes (treats for my kids) and some were little cars, stickers.  I had zipper lock bags of the little puffy stickers that have the paper on the back- they kids had fun making a picture using the stickers- cars, trucks, panes, helicopters and boats.

Finally we arrived in the state of Maine, you know you are in Maine when there is a moose statue at a travel plaza.

More pictures to come, I am still getting back in the groove.