Turn Bleft in the Ca

So we just went to Maine, via Boston, for a week. The purpose of the trip was to visit with family that is getting a bit older and haven't met Reed yet. We were hoping to see Fogg's great uncle Bill one more time as he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Unfortunately, though he lasted much longer than the doctors had predicted, he passed away before we were able to get out there. The fortunate thing is that we were able to spend time with his widow - Aunt Sa. Sa told us tons of great stories about Bill and showed us lots of pictures. It was great to bond with her that way.

First we flew into Boston and spent the night with Fogg's uncle Paul and aunt Carol. They cooked us an amazing pasta dinner! The next morning we headed up to the Constitution ship at the navy yard in Boston. It was a fascinating tour.

I do the exact same thing with my eyes when it's sunny...

Next we headed north, stopping in Ogunquit (pronounced O-gone-quit). There was an amazing beach there that we took Reed to. He got to put his feet in the Atlantic for the first time.





We spent the night in Dover, NH, the next morning heading to Freeport. We met up with Dale (Fogg's brother) and Georgette and their daughter Gabby. We then went to a shaker village in Maine, with only 4 remaining members. We looked around a bit and learned some interesting facts about the shakers. According to a map located in the museum, these are the last 4 shakers in existence (I could be wrong about that, but that's what I saw). We then drove up to Gram's house in Bangor. Reed had a rough day this day for some reason so we had to stop for a "sanity check". We learned later that we think he was having some serious gas problems even though he was burping fine after feedings. Poor little guy was just screaming his head off like I've never heard before. So we get to Gram's then head straight over to uncle Bob and aunt Cindy's place (which is about 2 houses away). We caught up with the family and had some dinner. We spent the night there and just hung around the next day at Bob and Cindy's. The boys did some work, bringing firewood to Gram's house. We also walked down to the old John Deere tractor for some pictures of Reed, but he wasn't having it. Reed took a ride with Bob later on the new tractor. The whole fam came over for a BBQ that afternoon and for a surprise birthday for Gram. I believe there was like 18 people there, I won't bore you with exactly who. That night, we slept in the camper with Dale and Georgette where I froze my ass off and got attacked (ok, just jumped on) by Buster the dog in the middle of the night. To say the least, it wasn't the most restful night of sleep I've ever had. The next day, we hung around Gram's for a bit, then went to lunch without the kids (grandma's watched the kiddos). Then we went to the LL Bean outlet where we got some super cute clothes for Reed. Back to Bob and Cindy's to have leftovers for dinner and a bit more hanging out time.

Gram with Gabby and Reed

Bob putting firewood in the truck for Gram

Gabby and Reed

Fogg pooking his head in the old shed at Grams

Side note: we found out during these few days that we got a full price offer on our Layton house (which we had been renting) after only 2 days on the market! We are currently under contract and should close on Oct. 5th!

Georgette with Reed

We spent the night at Bob and Cindy's again, taking a walk on their vast property with the dogs in the morning. We then loaded up and drove to Bar Harbor for some lunch with Dale, Georgette and Gabby. Then to the brewery we all love and over to Aunt Sa's house in Belfast. The boys stopped at Young's Lobster (Lobsta) Pound on the way. We got to spend the evening with Aunt Sa hearing about Uncle Bill's life and funeral/memorial. She showed us pictures and we had a good time remembering such a great guy. I am lucky to have met him a couple of times in the past 5 years. We really enjoyed our time there.

Gabby giving Reed a bath at Aunt Sa's

Aunt Sa talking with Reed

Uncle Dale making Reed laugh

The next morning we were up and driving South to Boston. We were hosted again by Paul and Carol for another fantastic pasta dinner.

Uncle Paul

Aunt Carol

Oh yeah, and the "Bleft" in the title comes from the speech impediment that the GPS had. It would say "Turn Bleft in 300 yards". We laughed every time. And of course you don't drive a "car" you drive a "ca" in the north east.

It was a fun trip and a frustrating one. Tiring and relaxing, long and short. We are so glad we went during this hard time so that we could visit with family. But seriously, I'm going to the beach withOUT family next year...

Cheers~