Birthday Girl

Dear Kinley,
Today you turn one year old! What? Where has the year gone? I can not begin to tell you how much joy you bring not only to me, but to our family. You are constantly smiling and giggling. And, you are constantly getting into some kind of mischief! You can now say Dada, Mama, and Brother. If you want something to eat or drink, you say Nana. Your best friend is Carter. He can make you laugh and smile like no one else. You are still taking 2 naps a day, and you have officially been sleeping through the night for the past week! You have 8 teeth, and a molar that is just starting to peak through.
I am so blessed to call you my baby girl. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine being a mother to two amazing children. I can not wait to see what your life has in store for you Kinley. I know you will do great things! Thank you for allowing me to be your mommy Kinley. I can not describe the love I have for you. You are an amazing little one!!! Happy Birthday baby girl!!! Love you to pieces!! Xoxoxo
Love, Mommy

The West Meets the East: Day 7

Our last day we woke up really early so we could try and make it home in one day.  We spent 14 hours in the car trying to get home, drove through the Bronx at rush our traffic, and finally made it home about 10:30 at night.  The kids both cried the last 30 minutes, but can you hardly blame them?  They were really good car riders.  After putting 1,700 miles on the car, we were ready to sleep in our own beds!

The West Meets the East: Day 6

Today we went on a ranger lead boat ride on the Sea Princess.  It stopped at Cranberry Island so we could explore the little island for a bit.  We saw Osprey nests, a propoise, and enjoyed the fresh ocean air.  We also spent some time in Bar Harbor walking the shops and feeling like fancy tourists.  

Carter said his favorite part of the trip was just spending time with everyone, and getting to sleep on his cotton (that is what he calls his cot!)

The West Meets the East: Day 5

Today was a day of just exploring the park.  We had fun building sand castles, and letting our feet touch the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.  I will let the pictures tell the story!

The West Meets the East: Day 4

Day 4 was a rain filled day, so we decided to take it easy and figure out our game plan for the rest of the week.  We walked across the road from our camp to check out the tide pools.  It was very slippery due to the rain, and we didn't find any starfish, so Carter was disappointed.  I, however, loved it.  I love everything about being on the coast.  I love the sound of the waves, I love walking the beach and looking for treasures, I just love it!

We headed into Bar Harbor to go swimming at the YMCA and to enjoy a shower!!  Yes, our first shower of the trip!!!!  There is nothing like a warm shower after camping for a few days.  Leaving the YMCA we saw a place that served soft serve custard.  Oh gosh, it was soooo good!!!

We decided to drive the Park Loop Road to get a good look at Acadia National Park, and to figure out our must see places.  

The West Meets the East: Day 3

Day 3 started out with us emptying everything out of the tent and laying it out in the sun to dry.  We headed out on the Kancamagus Highway which is really pretty.  We stopped at Lower falls where the boys did some swimming in the river.  There were a ton of frogs and Carter was excited to see them.  One was just sitting in the water, so Tim poked him so Carter could see him move.  Well, that is when we realized that there was actually another frog on that frogs back, and a huge line of eggs coming out of them.  So, Tim has officially poked mating frogs!  Gross!

After we crossed the boarder into Maine, we wanted to head to the biggest LL Bean in the world.  And, it was huge!!!  Carter was so happy to find out that we were there to replace his air mattress.  We ended up getting him a Cot instead, so he slept really good for the rest of the trip!

We took the scienic route up to Acadia National Park so I could see as much of the ocean as possible.  It was probably a bit longer of a drive, but so pretty.  I talked to boys into stopping at a lobster place on the way, and so I got my first taste of Maine lobster.  It was so yummy.  Kinley loved it, but Carter didn't.  No big surprise there!  While we were eating, we realized a big storm was headed our way, so we booked it out of there.  We got to Seawall campground in Acadia National Park just after dark, and we were actually able to set up camp and climb  into bed before the rain started!

The West Meets the East: Day 2

Everyone slept wonderfully in the new tent and woke up well rested.  The boys wanted to do some fishing so we headed out to Lincoln to do some hiking and fishing off the Katagami Highway.  New Hampshire was actually pretty and we were happy to see mountains for the first time in years.  The boys didn't catch any fish, but Kenai sure enjoyed swimming in the river.   We went back to camp for lunch and then headed out to Russels Pond for some more fishing.  Before we left, Tim asked me if we should put the rain fly up.  I informed him that I really wanted to sleep under the starts again, so no way!  Well, while we were at the pond, it started to rain.  It took about 30 minutes to get back to our camp, and by that time everything was soaked.  Whoops!
To make us feel better about the wet tent, we made s'mores with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Oh boy where they so good!!!  While we were getting ready for bed, Carter was being a boy and jumping on his air mattress.  After many times of us telling him to stop it, he was finally put to a halt when all the air suddenly went out of the mattress.  He had actually ripped a 10 inch hole in the thing!  He instantly started crying when he realized that he was now going to have to sleep on the ground.  All he would say between his tears was "At least I still get to sleep in the tent and not outside!"  Well, that kind of made us feel bad for him...
We were all kind of wet that night, but we kept warm with the fly on the tent.  No star gazing for us! :(