| Will, always the comedian, is roasting broccoli here. |
Happy 4th of July! Another great day, another night by the fire...this time with the kids. This morning, when Ethan got up, Will took him for a hike. They went up Acadia Mountain, which he said was a similar hike to Beech. Since they didn't have Eleanor with them, they felt like it was okay to do. I'm glad they took the camera to capture some views. Looked awesome!
Once night owl Eleanor was up and the boys were home, we went in search of Wonderland trail, a flat, easy hike to the coast. Once on the ocean, we walked all over the rocky sea all, exploring the tide pools. Mostly, we saw hundreds of snails. They are fun to watch as they inch along the rocks slowly. We were hoping to see a sea star or urchin but no such luck. Then, when we were getting ready to leave, a family showed us some small crabs, so Ethan loved that. While Will headed back to the car with Eleanor, I chatted with this family for a bit. The one guy was from Southwest Harbor but his wife had only been there four years. Her parents were visiting from Ohio and had done a similar road trip to get there, so we talked for a while. They were very nice. Ethan, who seems to have a bit of a new attitude at six, was getting a bit whine-y on the way back to the car, and then he tripped and fell, making things worse, so we came home for lunch and a rest.
The kids ended up watching Shrek on tv. They've been listening to the book on tape on this trip so they were excited, though our book is much different from the movie. When it was over, we got our suits on and took off for Echo Lake Beach. Being the fourth, it was pretty busy, but not bad. And, since it was close to 90 degrees today and sunny, the water felt great. We stayed for a couple of hours, soaking in the sun. Highlights include Ethan trying to catch a frog near the shaded shore and Eleanor going underwater on purpose and being so very proud of herself.
Funny/horrifying side story...while we were waiting to rinse off our feet in these little showers, we noticed Eleanor, who was just in her bathing suit, spread her legs wide and start to pee. Just right there with her suit on in front of a ton of people. We noticed right away, as did several others, most of whom seemed amused and not completely horrified like we were. I whisked her off to the bathroom right away. Hopefully, her little incident isn't on YouTube.
Returning home for showers and burgers, the kids were quick to remind us that s'mores were promised. Doug had left a nice little pagoda of kindling in our fire pit, likely after watching me struggle to get and keep a fire going last night. The kindling sure made easy work of it tonight and we had a good fire going quickly. Ethan roasted his own mallows, while Eleanor was perfectly content to have us do hers or simply eat the marshmallows plain. Both kids went to bed with bellies full of s'mores.
We opted not to go into Bar Harbor for the fireworks because we knew it would be a madhouse and they didn't start until 9. It can take us 45 minutes to get there, so we just assume get the kids down and enjoy our evening. After a day of hiking, sun, and water, the last thing we wanted was to navigate the crowds in Bar Harbor. A local business in Southwest Harbor plans to have fireworks, so maybe we will be able to see those with our view of the harbor.
We are sad that tomorrow is our last day. It has been a pretty awesome vacation. But, as is usually the case, we are ready to get home to our own beds and normal routine. Tomorrow will bring at least one more hike, a trip to Sand Beach, and one more night out to eat. Stay tuned.
Haiku of the day:
Tide pool fun with snails
More beach time fun for us all
July 4th s'mores-yum!
Addendum...there are literally fireworks happening between the pine trees in our back yard, over the water. It could not be a more perfect view.
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