Thursday, September 18, 2014

Friday Favorites: All things vacation!

Nubble Light House
I’ll be honest.  Most years when we go on vacation I am ready to come home by day 3.  But this year it was just so nice to escape reality for a little while.  Between daycare stress, work stress and my mom’s heart attack, we really needed a break.  We actually DIDN’T want to come home this year!  We wished we had another week to enjoy the ocean, the good food, and the lack of responsibilities. 
But alas, all good things must come to an end and back to work on Monday we went (and maybe I did quite a bit of outlet shopping while we were there and was just about out of money)!

Today I am sharing with you my top 5 favorites from vacation.  I am also going to pretend I am still on vacation, OK?  OK!

Number 1:
Our vacation cottage
I truly feel there is no other option than renting a house when going on vacation with 2 young kids.  I cannot even imagine dealing with my two boys in a hotel room for a week!  Talk about losing my mind!  I found the house we rented on Homeaway and it was PERFECT.  Why you ask?  Well let me tell you! 
-It was walking distance to the beach. 
-It had a fenced back yard. 
-It was updated, nicely painted and had gorgeous wood floors. 
-It had perfect decorating touches- just what you would hope for in a Maine beach cottage. 
-It had an outdoor shower to get all the beach sand off.






2.  The beach! 
Well duh, right?  The weather wasn’t exactly beach weather (60s, maybe 70 one day) but we still beached it!  The kids had such an amazing time playing in the water and sand and looking for “treasures” (side note- why can I never find an intact sand dollar???  Is that so much to ask??).  I was just happy to have my feet in the sand and stare at the beautiful ocean.

Nick's Baywatch run
My Jackie O look- it was cold that day!
Bury me daddy!



Fun in the sand


Visiting York Beach and looking for treasure!


Seagull on Footbridge Beach


I took a strangely large amount of seagull photos?? 


Hooray we're on vacation!

My boys


3.  The Maine Wildlife Park
We visited the Maine Wildlife Park in Grey for the second year in a row.  Many of the animals at the park were brought there because they were injured or orphaned, or because they were human dependent.  The Park serves as a permanent home for wildlife that cannot survive in the Wild.
My favorite animal at the park is the Moose (actually they have 3 of them).  I LOVE Moose.   I hope one day I can see one in the wild.  They also have bears, deer, a bald eagle, bobcat, lynx, owls, turtles and lots more.  



Cool dude

Can you guess who was having a temper tantrum in this picture???

Love that moose!
Post-tantrum
This guy cracked me up!


4.  The Portland Children’s Museum
This was our first time visiting the Portland Children’s museum.  I would definitely recommend it!  They have a huge firetruck that Nick played in almost the entire time we were there.  They have a space shuttle, play grocery store, car repair shop, lobster boat,  toddler playground, Discovery Woods with its own “river”, bank, tide pool touch tank and more.  It kept the kids busy a good 2 hours and gave mommy and daddy some time to sit and rest!!  We could have stayed even longer but we were getting hungry.  We found this charming Irish Pub for lunch called Bull Feeneys.  Again, I highly recommend!










5.  Time together as a family
It was so nice to be together as a family for the week.  No work, no school, just time to have fun together.   I admit, the kids drove us nuts quite often and there were several tantrums and brotherly fights.  But it was still great.  I want to go back!!!!!




These 3 are my world



What was your favorite part of vacation this summer?  Or do you have any exciting trips planned for the fall?

Linking up today with these wonderful ladies... AndreaErika and Narci 

Momfessionals


The Life Of Faith

25 comments:

  1. Oh wow! That cottage looks and sounds amazing!

    I really would like to visit the beach with my kids. Our lakes here in Alberta are awful... maybe someday we'll get out to the ocean. I loved all your beach pictures - beautiful.

    Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).

    Wishing you a lovely weekend.
    xoxo

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  2. Love the vacation house! Looks like a GREAT vacation.

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  3. This looks like an amazing vacation! I've always wanted to just rent a house/cottage on the beach, but we tend to migrate between coasts/towns etc too much for it to be worth it. With kids it does seem like the best option! Haha and I loved the "Baywatch run" haha

    Farin
    http://farinvazquez.blogspot.com

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    1. LOL, I actually got several Baywatch run photos! Have a great weekend!

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  4. I live in Portland, Maine so it was great to read so many familiar things about our city! My kids have always loved the Children's Museum, we go to the wildlife park every year and Bull Feeney's is delicious, and it is really fun when they have a band upstairs! Glad you enjoyed your vacation!

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    1. I am so envious! I love Maine. We have been going to the Ogunquit area for about 10 years now. We've only made it as far north as Boothbay but I would love to go to Bar Harbor sometime.

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    2. Bar Harbor is gorgeous! We have been a few times, once to camp and once at a hotel. Amazing!!

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  5. Great vacation photos! I'm missing Summer already! We made a lot of day trips this year, but did an overnight in Lancaster, PA, which was SO relaxing!

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    1. Glad you had a good time in Lancaster! Have a great weekend!

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  6. Looks like y'all had a fabulous time! Looked like fun ❤

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  7. I would love to go to Maine. It looks beautiful. Looks like you guys had a great time.

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  8. Wow it looks like you had a great time!! Such awesome memories.
    The best part of my summer was road-tripping to my sister's wedding in Pittsburgh (I'm on Long Island). We had a blast!
    We have a trip to NYC planned for next month. I hope the weather holds. Fingers crossed!

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    1. NYC is so much fun!! Hope you have a great time and good weather!

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  9. Great post!! Love your vacation cottage!!

    Thanks so much for your visit!!

    Hugs,
    Debbie

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  10. That looks wonderful! I love getting away for some uninterrupted time with my family. Your boys are adorable

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  11. Glad you had a wonderful vacation, thanks for sharing it at the #WWDParty.

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  12. What an amazing cottage! Lovely pictures.

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