Day 6: Memorial Day in Downtown Bar Harbor

This is the beautiful, old restored house that our friends let us stay in for the weekend!  We were very comfortable and we even made friends with the ghost named Bob.

 

On Memorial Day morning we walked down the road to the center of downtown where there is a park overlooking the harbor and all of the islands.  We were going to walk across a sandbar to one of the islands (which you can do at low tide) but the tide was coming in so we took a walk along the beach instead and found come more beautiful sea glass and shells.

We walked along one of the docks in front of the stately Bar Harbor Inn

And of course what would any family time with the Morgans be like without some crazy fun!

(those are real cannons)

I really liked the intricate architecture of this sweet little gazebo in the park:

Whale Museum:

This was a really neat museum that had tons of displays of whale skeletons and other sea life.  It was very informative and had lots of interactive learning.  We could have spent a long time there if we'd had the chance.

Two of the craziest brothers I know (standing inside the jawbone of a whale!)

Some funny candy...which we DIDN'T purchase. 

But we did get Brady a shark tooth and a shark bath/pool toy.

Day 4 ...Acadia National Park: Hiking The Beehive and Driving the Loop

We are so fortunate to have some very close friends, the Daltons who live on Mt. Desert Island.  Ever since we were little kids we've been coming up to "MDI" for visits a couple of times a year.  Thanks so much for all of the GREAT times and wonderful memories Anne and Greg! 

On Saturday morning we headed out from camping to meet Anne and Greg at their house.  We were also able to briefly see Steve (their son who is Bryces' age) and Andrew.  Their son Logan (my brother Andrew's age is in Paris on a mission and their oldest son, Brad, who is my age lives in Logan, Utah!)

Anyhow, they were gracious enough to let us stay at one of their rental houses for the rest of the weekend!  So after meeting at their house we followed them to the rental and got all unloaded.  Then we met up and went into Acadia National Park, driving to Sand Beach.  (This is one of the beaver huts in a pond along the drive).

When we got to Sand Beach we split up, Mom and Dad took Olivia down to the beach and the rest of us headed up the Beehive.  Once up a little ways we had to split groups again because their is a trail that goes up the back of the mountain and is gradual and another trail that goes up the front face of the mountain and is steep and consists of lots of "harry" crossings, including climbing iron ladders welded into the side of the mountain!

Brady was so funny, on the way down the mountain he started to whine a little bit and say that his legs were hurting him so to distract him I told him that we were in an Ewok forest (Star Wars) and that we had to be on the look out for our Ewok friends to keep them safe from Darth Vader (don't worry, he knows that it's all pretend!)  Anyhow, the distraction worked and he had a great time keeping lookout and pretending for the rest of the way down!  At one point he was talking with Greg who was saying that he was such a good little Jedi.  Brady turned to Greg and said, "Well, you know I'm not really a real Jedi right?" 

It was so cute and innocent and made us laugh so hard!

This is looking up the front of the Beehive- it is a very quick ascent, literally 20 minutes but the views are amazing!

This is Greg!

(we think he and dad look like brothers, and apparently so do other people because when we were younger people at church always thought that they were brothers and got them confused!)

This is me with Anne

These are rare and on the endangered species list.  They are a kind of orchid and I know them as Lady Slippers but I'm not sure if that is their correct name or not.

Pizza!

That night we walked into downtown Bar Harbor and had dinner at Rosalee's pizza where they had delicious gourmet pizza and salads! 

Day 3: Trip "Up Maine"- Camden and Acadia National Park

On Day three we woke up to a bright sunny morning. I hadn't seen my brother, Bryce yet since he and his girlfriend, Shelby were going to meet the guys at Fenway. Bryce came down to the bedroom to wake us up to say hi and Olivia stood up in her pack and play and held her arms out and said, "Hi Muffin!" I have no idea where she got that from but it was so hilarious! Bryce picked her up and said, "Oooh, you're sweaty!" and handed her off to me, and I said, "No, she's all pee pee!" It was quite the greeting after not seeing him for nearly a year and a half!

I rushed upstairs to change Olivia and saw Shelby for the first time and had to dodge her because I had a soaking wet baby in my hands! A few minutes later I was able to officially meet her and give her a "welcome to the family hug from the big sister!"

After a few hours of trying to finalize plans we got on the road and headed up U.S. Route 1 (my favorite drive). We stopped on the way for some lunch and had some delicious Capatin's Seafood Baskets (scallops, haddock, shrimp and clams with rolls, coleslaw and fries). I LOVE MAINE!!! You can't beat the scenery or the food!

We ate in Wiscasset and then continued on to Rockland and walked out onto the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse.  The Jetty is one mile long!!!  

This is us at the end sitting in front of the lighthouse!

It was so cold and windy that Olivia was wearing my brother's extra t-shirt! 

Scouring the beach for seaglass, one of our favorite past times!

That night when we got up to Mt. Desert Island we camped at the KOA.  We had a "surprise" party for my brother Bryce because we weren't all able to be together when he had his birthday in May.  We had cream puffs complete with candles!!!  (He's not a cake and ice cream type of guy!)  Bryce then sang us some songs and played the guitar while we sat around the campfire roasting marshmallows and making smores.

  

We got some pretty cool images with the slow shutter speed!

Bryce also brought a bunch of glo-sticks and decorated camp with them.  They were all over all of the trees! Brady had a blast playing with those!