Maine Stay - Day 4

Shane signed the guest book for the gnome garden first thing in the morning. He wasn't happy about it either. Forced or not, it was the right thing to do.

The guest book didn't count as his daily writing, but Grandma made blueberry pancakes for Shane's daily breakfast.

Bon apetit.

The day was supposed to be a scorcher...over 85 degrees and humid. In Maine! Maine! I heard that there were plenty of houses in the area without air conditioning, because they don't need it. I didn't verify, but Maine!

Shane, Carrie, and I left early to go to the Lobster Festival. There was a free shuttle from the elementary school. Carrie was reluctant from the start. Festivals aren't her thing. Grandma and Grandpa really wanted us to go, though, so we left early to beat the heat as best as we could.

The shuttle was a school bus. Shane wanted to sit in the very back. Carrie acquiesced. 

She regretted her decision immediately. We went down some bumpy roads. Shane chortled with every bounce. Carrie's stomach did likewise.

The festival wasn't a long drive. It was $8/adult and $2/kid (age 6-11) at the door.

The festival was more about food and crafts than playing, but Shane and I make our own fun!

Carrie found a science tent. There was a table devoted to the many uses of seaweed that had a treasure chest lotto. You got to pick random keys and see if any worked. None of ours did.

Then the big hit was the touch and feel area. Shane had already held lobsters, but scallops?

Scallops open, close, and squirt water!

Shane was in heaven. He wanted to share the wonder with everyone around him!

We stayed by the tanks for half an hour. Shane went through a couple of friends. He noticed that there was a different colored organ in some of the scallops. One of the teen volunteers and I were curious, so we looked it up. It was the gonads. The color tells you the gender. The teen seemed pretty interested. They like their seafood around here.

It was $20 for 20 tickets and 5 tickets per ride. Carrie balked. I didn't want to pay that either. $5 for a 3 minute ride? I might have to ride with him?

You know what's cheaper? The movies! Grandpa and Grandma arrived as we were leaving. That was okay, though. They got to go eat lobster. We dropped by the Zack Shack on the way to the cinema.

We wanted to see Teen Titans Go to the Movies!  It was great! Exactly what it advertised to be. Shane's seem some of Teen Titans Go! so he knew all the characters.

There was one odd line at the end, but we'd looked it up online and I wasn't worried. Carrie gave Shane a hug and he missed it (which made us laugh extra hard!).

Random: I noticed my sunscreen from kayaking was still on the car.

I overdid it. The car shows more marks than I do, so I don't totally regret it.

Gassing up: The taxes were posted. I went ahead and took a picture for posterity.

Carrie has been on a blueberry pie hunt since we arrived. "You'd think we could find one in Blueberry Pie central!" she said.

We finally did. Sixteen dollars at the Rockland Cafe!

We went to Hannaford and picked up some vanilla ice cream to complement. Grandma had picked up blueberry ice cream from Dorgan's, but blueberry on blueberry? Reckless.

Grandpa agreed. He asked for the vanilla!

We picked up a cheat whiffle ball bat with some width to it for Shane.

Which nearly resulted in another lost ball.

We saw where this one went and sent Shane in to get it.

I was the pitcher today. Carrie clipped one and dented our brand new (and cheapo) ball!

We had a quiet night in after that.

I thought that I'd be sharing all sorts of video game experiences with Shane around now. Instead, video games are what he does for me to take a break. The kid runs me ragged. I've played some stuff with him, but I thought there'd have been more shared ones. I've looked at his Pokemon game on the DS for maybe 5 minutes total.

That will probably change as he gets older. To be honest, sometimes it's hard to watch him play without wanting to give advice or take over (that's another reason I don't always watch).