Maine Stay - Day 1

No sleeping in for us. Shane was excited to be in Maine. To be fair, I was, too. It would have been more obvious if it hadn't been early!

Carrie, Shane, and I left to go to the Rite Aid and pick up a few supplies to start the day. Carrie looked up and said, "Bat!"

And she was right. There was a bat and bat poop on the attic window. It looked like it was in between the screen and window. The attic door is locked, so we couldn't have checked if we wanted to. Shane got to point and bounce around, but then we were off.

We ran our errand and decided to walk down main street. Highway 1 winds all down coastal Maine through these small towns.

Carrie likes the idyllic, small town feel. Shane started to pout when we got to the far end and didn't hop on the ferry (It's an hour and fifteen minute ride one way!).

I spotted a restaurant to visit later!

I also freaked Carrie out by grabbing Shane's ankles and letting him fall to hang upside down behind me. It's one of our things. Carrie wasn't expecting it.

We came back to take care of some work before lunch. Shane was supposed to read.

The Go Bucket List crew set up office.

I took a few pictures.

Lunch was at Millers Lobster company. Maine is known for five things: Lobsters, blueberries, coasts, cold winters, and Stephen King. Millers checked lobsters and coasts off the viewing list.

Shane really wanted to climb down on the rocks and test the water. Carrie was having none of it!

It was easy to distract him with the lobsters. He's asked to hold them before in grocery stores, but has never been able to.

One of the staff came out and Shane asked "Can I hold a lobster?" before I could tell him not to charge up and do just that.

His forwardness paid off. The lady said, "Sure! Come this way!" 

Grandma and Grandpa arrived ready to celebrate Maine.

Shane wanted to take Grandpa down to check out the boats.

He ended up making a friend out of a local lobsterman. Everyone was very friendly to the question crazy child. They opened up the lobster bins and showed him what was inside. "Each bin holds 90 lbs of lobastah!" (The guy had on a shirt that said, "I root for two teams in baseball: The Red Sox and whoever beats the Yankees!").

When the lobstermen finished unloading the boat that had pulled up, Shane's new friend pulled out a lobster for him to take a picture with.

Grandpa posted this one online. Shane gets to help advertise for their travel agency.

We sat down for lunch soon after. Shane kept looking through the floorboards. He saw a crab, "that they missed!"

He was so excited he wanted to share it with everyone. I laid down on the floor with him and confirmed: There was a crab.

Shane even got a waitress to check!

Everyone was hungry by the time food arrived.

I'm not a huge lobster fan, but I ordered one for lunch. When in Maine experience Maine! I wanted to get Shane to try it. I thought he'd like cracking it open.

Grandma got to him first and had him try some of her lobster roll (no mayo).

It went well enough that he was willing to try lobster straight from the claw!

He ate it without complaint! It wasn't his favorite and he didn't want any more after, but I was proud of him for trying. 

He got everyone to look at the crab before we go.

It was a pretty day, so we went outside when we got home. It started off normal, but felt like we stepped into Narnia or a fantasy tale later.

The backyard connected to an open, mowed field.

Which connected to a larger, mowed field. It looked great for kids playing any kind of sport. I don't know who owns the property or mows it.

Carrie and I were about to turn off when I noticed a break in the tree line. "Is that a path?" I said.

It wasn't just a path.

It was a mulched, system of trails.

Trails decorated with all sorts of errata.

Including a fairy village.

The trail system criss-crossed itself and made a maze with display pockets everywhere.

It was an unbelievable thing to stumble upon. Carrie and I both got to snapping pictures.

Hers are probably higher quality than mine. She keeps her image resolution higher. Here's some of them:

I see the difference.

Especially in the greens.

Last Carrie picture.

We would have explored longer, but the mosquitoes were terrible. I spent as much time scanning my skin as I did the countryside.

Shane was jealous when we got back. He'd stayed in the backyard chatting with Grandpa and hadn't followed when we walked into the gnome garden. He wanted us to take him there, but we wanted to get inside and away from the bloodsuckers.

I took a lot of pictures, but it was a quieter day outside of our adventure. I did a ton of writing, uploading, and posting on the blog. Maine is a working vacation for Carrie. Grandma and Grandpa are her bosses!

People made time for Shane, though. I looked up from writing and saw him outside with Grandpa.

I don't know why Grandpa had Shane switch-hitting, but it looked fun. Grandpa is a big Phillies fan.

I thought it was extra funny when I saw Carrie get in on the batting action!

Shane's focus had wandered. He went to introduce himself to the gardener.

He poked around the perimeter of the house, and...

...got in the way. Mr. Attention loves to be where the attention is.

We tried to give him a job: Catcher.

But that didn't take.

Shane took a water break after interrupting the game several times.

Grandma and Shane came out together after he'd cooled off. Then there was croquet.

I don't think I've ever played an honest game of croquet in my life. Swung some mallets? Sure. Tried to hit something under the hoops? Probably. I never learned the full rules.

Golf is one of the sports of choice on Carrie's side, so croquet is natural fit. They'd bought a set and brought it up to Maine. I cheered from the sidelines, so I could photograph.

The adults got a little competitive! There's a small amount of cutthroat in the game. If you hit someone's ball you can set your ball against it, give a whack, and send your opponent's ball off course a ways.

I love these shots of Carrie directing where to smack Grandpa's ball to stick it to him.

I love her reaction to the results, as well!

Shane hung in for most of the game. He doesn't like it when he hits a setback or realizes others are better at the game than him. I think he had a ton of fun, though. I said aloud that he's always going to remember croquet in Maine, because of them!

We retreated inside for electronics. That meant the news and TV downstairs for Grandma and Grandpa. Carrie and I broke out our laptops and played World of Warcraft upstairs together. Shane watched us. Carrie doesn't want him around when Grandpa has the news on and he prefers video games anyway.

Shane was happy to watch some of the Phillies game when I told him it was bed time. I sent him downstairs to say goodnight to Grandma and Grandpa. He never came back up.

This is how I found him.

Too funny! I wasn't mad, because I planned on this happening. I don't think Shane at this age would ever sit still and watch baseball unless he knew bed time was waiting when he got up! It's a good bonding exercise to share other people's interests with them, so I'm glad it worked out.

And so ended our first full day in Maine. Carrie and I were super tired from the drive and trouble sleeping, but we managed to have a lot of fun (and take a ton of pictures!). Shane is an inexhaustible font of energy. You know he had a good time!