Maine - The Way Life Should Be

The view from the back porch of our house...talk about serenity!

Addie enjoying her first whoopie pie - yummy!

Every afternoon we ventured down to the beach and searched for sea glass. Here Jay is displaying his finds for the day :-)

Caden sporting Jay's new sunglasses

One of the few lighthouses we saw on our "Island Princess" tour boat ride

Caden and Addie enjoying their very first boat ride. They loved it! We saw seals, porpoises, and lots of lighthouses. The boat also pulled up a lobster trap for the kids to see.

Gammy and Addie enjoying the boat ride.

Caden enjoying the scenic harbor views.

We had to honor Frannie with a good old lobster dinner. We bought 10 lobsters for $60...where in CT can you do that? And we almost ate all of them!

Impossible to get a family shot with everyone smiling....this is the best we could do :-)

Caden and Gampy enjoying the dock at our house.

Our beautiful little girl :-)

Caden getting ready to go to the beach...and the very chilly water!

We will call this the Grannie Frannie Church...read below to find out why.

We didn't think we were going to be able to swing a vacation this summer, but thanks to one of Jay's friends, we were able to rent his house in Boothbay Harbor, Maine for a few days earlier this month. We had Frannie in mind the whole week long, as Pam, Kara and Mark also accompanied us on the trip. Unfortunately, Becky could not make it because she was finishing up school. But we are proud to announce that she has graduated from Hunter College after all her hard work. Congrats, Becky!

We pulled into Boothbay Harbor on a Monday morning just before lunch time. We decided to visit a local lobster joint to have lobster rolls in honor of Frannie. As we stepped out of the car, the local church bells began to chime. It was a random time for them to ring (around 12:20pm), but what made all of us break into tears was that the songs it chimed were, "I Love to Tell the Story" and "How Great Thou Art." Both of these hymns were played at Frannie's funeral and songs that she adored and would sing to us every now and then. Though it was a sad moment, it made us all stop and think of the joy Frannie brought into our lives, and I like to think it was God's little way of telling us that she is having a grand old time up in heaven with Him. We passed by that church (which is one of the most photographed places in Maine) each day and were reminded of the love Frannie had for us and that we had for her.

Our trip was fantastic, but too short. Caden said as we were leaving, "Mommy, I want to stay here forever." So maybe some day we will have a home in Maine, but for now I think we have found our new vacation spot for many years to come. As the state's motto says, Maine is definitely "the way life should be."