Maine Vacation

Getting There

We left at bedtime to make our journey north. David began the trek after I packed the kids in to their carseats for the night. Haleah stayed awake as long as she could because she didn't want to miss a thing in case we arrived at our destination immediately following our takeoff. I tried to sleep with the kids, but it was rough sitting up in a seat with city lights glaring in. The kids woke up somewhere around midnight when we stopped for gas in Tennessee. And it was a chore trying to get them all back down, so we just put in a Calliou DVD, fed em lollipops and let them be.

By 6am, we were in Virginia and were pretty much fried. There was thick fog and David and I started bickering. It was cold out and we stopped at a McDonalds to get the kids changed, dressed and fed. Little did I know that I'd become at expert at cleaning and grooming kids in the minivan by the end of the trip.

The new day's journey was slow, and seemed even slower because David and I probably only got about 2 hours of sleep combined the night before, and the kids didn't want to stay in the car long after that. We had to stop at two different playgrounds during the day to let them get their energy out. Throughout the day we also encountered a lot of stagnant highway traffic, which proved to be maddening. By 4pm, the kids were going crazy. Kaelah threw up on herself and I said to David, "That's it!"

We stopped at an Econo Lodge outside of New York/New Jersey (who knows where?) and had dreams of being able to rest and recover for the next leg of the journey. Well, it turned out that that night in that hotel was one of the worst nights I've ever had. The kids were so overtired that they were screaming their heads off. I was afraid that people were going to think we were beating the snot out of them and were going to call the cops on us. Our room, stupidly, was right under a stairwell, near the hotel office and the street---the worst positioning possible. We heard every noise and creak. The kids wouldn't lie down. We bribed, we threatened, we reasoned, we spanked. Nothing worked. It was a nightmare I'll never forget.

The morning was terrible too, as we tried to get them showered (because the bath was too nasty for them to go in), and they each screamed the whole time too. Bekah was just a doll through all of this. But I couldn't blame my older kids. We had pushed them to, and then over their limits. We finally made it back into the car and then barrelled over to a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. It was also a gross experience. They barely had a decent selection of food, couldn't speak English, and the coffee was nasty. I was ticked.

A highlight of this day, though, was when David came across the quaint ocean town of Havre de Grace, MD on our drive. We stopped and had a picnic there and stretched our legs. Haleah is featured below, near the water. It was a beautiful place. A nice piece of Americana.

Later in the day the navigational system took us through the Bronx in NYC, and it took all we had in us to trust that that thing was going to lead us through safely. We did make it through to Connecticut after journeying on some harrowing passageways. We made it to my Mom's house in the Boston area by mid-afternoon. My Mom wasn't at home though; she was in Maine waiting for us at her campsite. We stopped at her house for the night to recover from our drive. My brother, Tom, was there because the condo next door to where he lives burned to the ground a few days before and his unit had no electricity or water. So he was staying at my Mom's house.

The kids wanted to go to the ocean right away, which was about a mile from my Mom's, so we headed out, even though we were on the brink of exhaustion. I didn't bring a diaper bag with me, and of course Kaelah fell into the water with her clothes on right away, so we came back sooner, rather than later. Tom and his girlfriend, Lindsay, ordered us Chinese food and we enjoyed a nice dinner on my Mom's porch. Then we called it a night super early and spread our family out like butter on my Mom's living room floor. Rest at last.

I couldn't leave the Boston area without visiting my Dad in a neighboring town, so we ventured out to his house in the morning so that he could see his grandkids. We hung out for a while and then headed to his beach. The kids had fun. We then took an impromptu journey to my friends Jen and Jamie's house. We called ahead, but basically popped in on Jen. She was so gracious, and I was so glad to see her. We played outside with her kids and then she asked us to stay for dinner. We grilled out and she called our other friends, Jeremy and Joy over too. It was a great evening.

Being There

We made it to Maine the next afternoon. My cousin, Karen, was finishing her stay at my Mom's camp, as she does for a week every year. Her husband, Fred, came up to pick her up and we all had a nice dinner together at the site before they departed. It started off cold in Maine, and I heard that it had been raining quite a bit the previous week, but most of the time we were there, it was beautiful and sunny.

Among the injuries that our 1 year old, accident prone Kaelah got included the following:

1) Burned her hand on the grill, after a lesson was given by her Daddy not to touch it.

2) Fell off the playground train and cut open her nose.

3) Fell off 2 beds and a couch.

4) Skinned her knees on the gravel road a few times.

5) Had a clock fall on her head, giving her a knot on her forehead.

6) Fell into and under the lake water spontaneously, while Daddy was at her side.

7) Hit her head on the trailer door.

8) Almost knocked herself out on the picnic table.

9) Got her foot caught on a latch near her bed in the trailer.

I swear, Kaelah could hurt herself on dust without trying. She gets injured all the time, even though we literally watch her like a hawk.

The fun activities we got to enjoy included (but were not limited to):

Going shopping in quaint towns, eating at Dunkin Donuts as much as possible, enjoying fresh berries, going out for ice cream, going to a wildlife center, taking walks on the campground, reading books, building fires and making s'mores, going to the beach, eating lobster and other delicious food, finding playgrounds, talked with campers, played Rook, listened to loons on the lake, going out to breakfast, taking small rides to explore the towns, being with my mother, etc.

There were other things we wanted to do, but we realized that options were limited with a three year old, a one year old and 4 month old. I imagine that in years to come that options for activities will broaden. David and I did get out one night after we conned the kids to sleep in the trailer and left my mother to watch them. We drove down to a hangout on the water and had drinks and appetizers. I ate so much junk that night, that when I got back to the campsite, I threw up (sorry to add the gory details here). It was not worth it. I was so excited to get out without the kids for a while that I overdid it, I think. Live and learn.

It was so nice to see my Mom, as I only see her about twice a year now, tops. I could not have done this camping trip without her, and I'm sure we wore her and our welcome out by the end of the week. She cooked and cleaned up our messes and kept things running smoothly for us. And she willingly squeezed five of us into her small camping trailer. Now that's love right there! I wanted to go on this trip so badly, as I had been coming to this same campground, same site, #18, since I was a teenager. I have so many good memories there, and I wanted my kids to experience that too. The kids did real well for their first true camping encounter. I am proud of them and know they will love it as much as David and I do. I hope we will be able to make the journey again in years to come....

Going Home

As with the start of our journey, we left for home at nightfall, at the kids' bedtime. We had to stop at a bank for the incomperable toll money and at a Walmart for a part to the DVD player that broke (we couldn't be without it). And before we made it to the highway, I stopped for Dunkin Donuts coffee twice to get my fill, as they don't have them down south. And if they are in other places than in New England then they don't taste the same.

I began the driving journey this time, and I was determined to make progress during the night. The dang GPS took me through about 10 different highways, but I made it through 6 different states that night. I was impressed with myself. I sang songs to myself as I travelled and ate lollipops to keep myself alert. At 2am, I gave up. I am not as daring as I once was before kids. I was not going to risk sleepiness at the expense of the 4 other lives in the car I was driving. David took the wheel at 2am. He only drove till 4am, and stopped at a trucker's stop somewhere in PA. We all fell out asleep in the car until 6am. Then I got the kids assembled and we baffooned our way into the Perkins that was attached to the truck stop. We had a clueless waitress and made a big mess at our table. We spoke with a Heaven's Angel motorcycle dude and his daughter outside, got gas and then were on our way again. David drove for the remainder of the day, until we made it to just past Roanoke, VA.

We decided that this point, after the carseats had been peed in and all three kids were screaming, that we going to stop for the night. We decided to stay somewhere halfway decent this time, and settled on a Hampton Inn. I think this was, by far, one of the best decisions we made on the trip. The place cost a little more, but it was so clean and comfortable. It had an indoor pool where we swam, a refreshing shower and a lot of little extras. I would be a spokesperson for that hotel any day. Our experience went far better than the experience we had at the Econo Lodge at the start of our vacation. David and I each made a mental note about this to ourselves. The other lifesaver was the white noise maker that my Mom passed on to us. This way, we could get the kids settled down and then get up and maneuver around to do the things we needed to do without disturbing them. It made all the difference.

The morning came and we had a lovely hotel breakfast spread and took off on the last leg of our journey. David drove all the way, and it rained all the way from Virginia to Alabama. It must have been due to the lingering Hurricane Gustov or something... In light of everything, the kids did real well. We had enough fast food to choke a horse and our muscles were hardly operable by the time we made it home. But we did make it home safely just before dinner time. Our Alabama inlaws were there to greet us, and that was nice. All in all I believe this vacation was worth it. David said he didn't get to relax at all. But my question to him was would he have rested if we didn't go? No. Our job now is to be parents of little ones, which is exhausting no matter what. But adventure and courage thrown in now and then is good for the mind, soul and body of us all.