Maine 2015: Days 7 and 8

Our days in Maine were spent playing at the beach, picking wild blueberries, and enjoying time with the cousins. 

Day 7: The kids joined Pop at the local Castine bakehouse for second breakfast, and then walked along the docks, looking for starfish, anemones and other sea creatures.

The State of Maine is the Maine Maritime Academy's training ship.

We found a sandy beach!

Exploring Fort George with the cousins

Wild Maine blueberries 

That night, we unexpectedly lost power just as we were beginning to prepare dinner. We pushed everything back into the fridge and headed down to the local pizzeria for dinner instead -- and fortunately, beat the crowds as half the town had the same idea! This was our view after dinner. 

Day 8: Walking up the hill after exploring the docks.

Henry is my farmers market sidekick, no matter what state we're in!

We purposely went to the beach early on Thursday so that we could explore at low tide.

The kids work on shoring up the same natural dam every time we visit Castine.

The boys dubbed this "Barnacle Island." 

We found sand dollars, baby starfish, periwinkles, sea urchins, crabs, jellyfish and more!

Heading out to the second island, "Rock Island."

We all love the beach at Wadsworth Cove.

That afternoon, Pop arranged a two-hour boat ride for everyone. It was definitely a highlight of the vacation for the kids!

Celebratory ice cream afterwards.

On our final afternoon in Castine, Gene took Will and the big cousins to the library to read books, but Henry and I went berry picking again. We scoured the yard and found wild blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, and then we drove back over to Fort George to pick more wild blueberries. We spent a good hour picking berries and Henry couldn't have been happier. I sure do love being with this boy and it was the perfect way to end our last day in Maine.

We left Castine early Friday morning. Gene had a work call to fit in before the flights home, so we found a Hayford Park in the center of Bangor. The kids ran and played, Gene took his work call from the swings, and we watched a bit of a baseball game at the adjacent stadium. (Fun aside: the Senior League World Series was being played at that stadium last week, and the day after we left, the West U team won the World Series title!)

Maine 2015, at Hayford Park in Bangor

We had a wonderful time in beautiful Vermont and Maine this summer!