Mainers

The Simmons family with Slugger before the SeaDogs game.

An impromptu lunch on the Adirondack chairs in front of LL Bean 

Paul Bunyan hanging out in Bangor

A little lobster anatomy lesson given by Kristen.  This little guy was a boy.

Goose Rocks Beach with the sweet little Simmons girls

Ava and Ellie

Papa with Ava and Ellie

Playing in the wet sand as the tide goes out

Ellie digs for clams

Ava, Kristen and Ellie jump in the really cold waves while those of us from Arizona look on.

Bald Eagle

I spotted this eagle on a tree in front of the house we stayed in on Campobello Island.  I don't think I have ever seen an eagle in person before.  Unfortunately I missed the shot when he spread his wings and flew away.  This was a very large bird but I think the mosquitoes were a little larger.

Fish on a Pole

This sculpture was in the town of Lubec, Maine.  I love the fish and the little buildings in the background.  Campobello Island in Canada can be seen beyond the buildings. 

Roosevelt Campobello International Park

Summer home of the Roosevelts

See-Saw played on by the Roosevelt children

The flowers at the park were beautiful.  I especially liked this shot of the bee on the Dahlia

Pink Hollyhocks

Yellow Hollyhocks

Favorite picture taken of the flowers with ocean in background

Another ocean view from behind the flowers. (more ocean less flowers)

Random Boston

Zachary shows off his tribute to Abby sitting on Mom's lap on the front porch.

Breakfast at Panera Bread with the Campbell kids

Rebekkah with her Build a Bear puppy

Rebekkah and Zachary build a fort on the back porch

Zach chills on the front porch and talks to cousins on the phone

A neighborhood water balloon fight

Zach and Rebekkah show me how they can hang upside down and gargle

If I cross my legs will my shoes be on the right feet?

Rebekkah and I take a walk to the neighborhood park

Papa and the Campbell kids at dinner in Boston

The Lighthouses

This was the first part of the hike to the lighthouse on Campobello Island. 

On the bridge on the way to the lighthouse.

The slick and rocky part

It ended up being a kind of treacherous hike but well worth it in the end.

The two pictures below are of the Quoddy Lighthouse which is on the American side in Maine.

The Owen House

On our trip through New England we drove to Campobello Island in Canada located just off the Coast of Maine  This is the island that FDR summered on each year before and during his presidency. There is not much in the way of places to stay or eat on this island. We chose this B & B as it seemed to be the best of what was available. When we arrived at the Owen House we were greeted by some of the largest mosquitoes I have ever encountered as well as an Innkeeper who was quite odd.  She wore men's clothing and these enormous Harry Potter glasses.  Her speech was robot like as showed us around.  She mentioned  that if we took long showers that we could expect to run out of water and that if we wanted breakfast we had better be downstairs by 8:30, no exceptions. The house had no TV, no Internet and no phone service.  It felt like we had time traveled about 50 years into the past.  Eddie liked the disconnection but surprisingly, I did not. (that was sarcasm for anyone who did not recognize it)  The Innkeeper (Jan) also had a way of showing up out of nowhere.  Each time I turned around she was standing behind me silently starring.  After breakfast we decided to hike to a park with a lighthouse that could only be reached during low tide.  We got to the entrance of the park and there she was, charging each of us $5.00 to enter the lighthouse.  It was eerie.  

The house was built in 1835 by the Owen Family.  It appeared much nicer in pictures than it actually looked in person.  We did enjoy all the interesting people we ate breakfast with in the morning and hiked with a father and son to the lighthouse.  I casually mentioned to someone at the table that I felt like this place might be haunted.  She replied "of course it is, it is 200 years old".

This was probably the most charming area of the house. Out this window was a view of the Bay of Fundy.

The furniture was old and worn and the bedrooms were interestingly decorated.  This particular room had kitchen trivets hanging on the wall.

This piece of art was hanging on the wall of the same bedroom.  Don't see wallpaper or art like that just everywhere.

This was the bedroom where we slept which looks fairly decent in this picture. But the house had been moved at some time and the floors in this room were like something in a fun house. Navigating  around at night was an interesting experience.   I had scary wallpaper nightmares all night long :-)

Button Barrettes

Sweet Rebekkah models the new barrettes I made her from buttons

Finer Moments

This is the top level of stairs leading to Michelle's basement. You will notice that you have to duck your head down to get around the corner of the staircase.  Below is the bottom level of stairs.

While maneuvering myself down the stairs in the dark I believed I was on the last step. (Take note of the balloons on the floor leftover from a sleepover Ben had the night before) So I took a big step and went flying onto the balloon land mines below, popping them as I landed.  It was one of my finer moments indeed.

The Beach 2011