Maine Vacation 2006

We went to Maine for a week, and had a great time...below are a few pictures...out of almost 300 pictures...of our trip to Maine...


Ben and his cousin Luke playing on the floor of our rented house during the annual reunion/cookout we have on the Sunday that we arrive.


Ben and La-La running and playing on Popham Beach...


Playing in the surf at Popham...


Sand-castle-making with Daddy...


Ben loved playing, "chase the feather" on the beach when the wind would grab the feather and toss it up and down the beach...


Ben and La-La at Popham...


Ben and his Anti-Sarah played in the (startlingly cold) water at Popham Beach...


Ben loves playing chicken with the incoming tide...


Sarah and Cynthia came to visit for a couple of days, and we all had a great time...this pic was taken out on an island that is inaccessible during high-tide...


Ben playing in the sand, and shade, while Mommy reads...


Some high-intensity zerbert therapy for Anti-Sarah...


Gail and I paddled from our house across the bay over to the Cribstone Bridge, that separates Orrs Island from Baileys Island...the tide was running in, which made the approach to the bridge slow going as the ocean was running against us at a couple of miles per hour...


A pretty shell found on the beach at our rental house...we had a lot of fun playing on this beach...


Ben on our beach at twilight...


Another shot of Ben in the water at our beach


Ben and Mommy on our beach getting/giving a morning-hug...


Ben and I went geocaching one morning, and decided to deal with the high density of muggles (non-geocaching folk) in the areas we were searching for geocaches in through "hiding in plain sight"...this was made particularly effective in this instance through the application of Ben's lobster hat (courtesy of Anti-Sarah)...our first stop was at the cribstone bridge connecting Orrs and Baileys Islands...


We found it quickly!!!


Although it is hard to see here, the house we rented this year is visible through this gap in the massive tone blocks that make up the cribstone bridge...


While at the 1st cache, we found a tidal pool with gazillions of hermit crabs, which Ben loved playing with...


The 2nd cache was out at Land's End, and our camouflage was, again, particularly effective in disarming the prying eyes of (other) tourists while we were looking for the geocache...an almost 4-year-old (and his escort) can get away with almost anything if wearing an outrageously cute hat...


Found it...traded stuff...and signed the log...for those of you not in the know...check out geocaching.com for info about geocaching


Our final geocache of the morning was along a trail near the Harpswell Town Offices...a Fairy House Trail...geocaching leads us to all sorts of places that would have never have found without our silly hobby, and this was another great example...the fairy houses and the trail were lovely, and at the end of the trail we found the geocache...


A fairy house along the trail to the geocache...


In the afternoon of the same day, Steve and La-La came by to pick Ben up and to take him to a waterpark...a new experience for Ben, and one which was perfectly timed, as the day got up to almost 100 degrees...


Ben had a great time in the water, and wants to go back again next year!!!


Another play session on our private beach...


On our last day, we went up to Boothbay Harbor, and visited the Maine Marine Resources Aquarium...it was really cool, and Ben learned a lot about the fish that live in the waters of Maine...here he is looking at some Trout and Salmon...


They had a shark-tank filled with sharks that you can touch!!! Ben (and Mommy) loved patting them, and rubbing their bellies...


They also had a touching tank filled with all sorts of sea-life that we could touch and look at...Ben loved the horseshoe crab...


and the spider-crabs...as well as the hermit crabs, starfish, sea cucumbers, and scallops (one of which showed Ben its eyes and then squirted him in his own eye)...


After the aquarium, we grabbed some steamers and calamari (BTW - we ate lots of great seafood during our vacation, all of which Ben was brave enough to try), and then went on a late-afternoon sailboat cruise for a couple of hours...

We had an awesome time in Maine this year...thanks to everyone who made it such a fun time!