One Morning In Maine

Nathan had the week after 4th of July off so we did a little exploring close to home. One morning we got up and headed over to Kittery, Maine. We had been told by multiple people to check out Lil's Cafe. Apparently they make a mean cruller, and we decided it was time to give it a try. 

 Oh boy! Did that cruller not disappoint! It was by far the best donut I've ever had. We also tried their biscuits with egg and cheese and also a cappuccino. It was a so very yummy and we will definitely be back.

 After breakfast we walked around a bit. We had never explored Kittery yet so it was a fun to see a bit of a new spot.

Folk is a little shop that sells a lot of local and US made items. They had a beautiful straw hat that I really liked but sadly they didn't have my size.

A view of Portsmouth from across the river.

On our way out before heading to the York Zoo Nathan I split a smoothie from Maine Squeeze. It was the perfect refuel before taking on the zoo.

Sadly by the time we made it to the zoo the kids were getting pretty tired. I was hoping to see an elephant, giraffe and maybe a rhino. There were a lot of monkey's and a zebra, lion, and tiger but that was about as exciting as it got.

 Even being tired the kids really enjoyed it. I thought Edith might fall asleep in the Ergo but she's so crazy about animals she was way too excited for a nap.

It was a great day spending time together as a family. I'll take a fun day anytime!

4th Of July In Maine

 After we attended a picnic on Friday the 3rd we loaded up and drove up to Bangor, Maine. We have great friends that we had not seen since last October. The kids slept half of the 3 hour drive and did great for the last bit that they were awake.

We started off the weekend with the 4th of July parade in downtown. You would have thought that it was the best parade in the world by how George was behaving. He wore himself out yelling and clapping.

Sunday after noon was pretty warm so we ran down to Gifford's for some ice cream. They had the best baby cones for the kids. Our local ice cream shops have a tendency to make the portions way to large. Giffords's were perfect. 

All of George's closest buddies have received fishing poles in the last few months and George has really, really been wanting one too. Nathan bought him one while we were out of town. He practiced his cast all weekend.

Monday morning we headed to downtown again for breakfast and a little exploring. We had bagels at a local spot called Bagel Central. Our kids were up early so technically this was second breakfast. 

I was really impressed with downtown Bangor. We were told that a lot of work has gone into the area in the last few years. Nathan picked up some great local beer in the Bottles & Cans shop pictured below.

After walking about for a bit we popped into the Maine Discovery Museum. We were so glad that we checked it out. It was amazing!! I'm pretty sure we were there for almost 2 hours and we didn't get to enjoy all the exhibits. George, of course, enjoyed it the most but Edith had blast as well.

We can't wait for our next visit. This one was our best yet and it's just going to get better once the kids can all play together.

Beach Day

It's pretty sad how little we've been to the beach since moving to to NH. Every year we say we're going to go more but it hasn't happened. This year we will make it happen!! 

A few weeks ago we pack up our kids and add two extra boys and headed to Ordiorne Point State Park. We met friend who have two children the same age as George and Edith. So total we had 6 kids and 4 adults...5 of those children being 3 and under.

The kids had a blast playing in the freezing water, building castles, poking crabs, and eating sand.

Escape To Birmingham

My wonderful parents kept our hooligans for two nights after my brothers wedding so we could have a little mini vacation. We spent the night in Newnan, GA the night of the wedding and then drove to Birmingham, AL the next morning. Oh, and we slept in until 9 on Sunday!!! That hasn't happened since George was born.

We arrived in Birmingham just in time for lunch and tried a Thai place that was recommended by a friends sister. I was very, very tasty. Surin was the name of the restaurant and it's located in five-points. 

There was a little mix up with our check-in time so we happened upon World of Beer and had a few pints while watching the woman's collage world series.

After checking in at the bed and breakfast we headed up the hill to Vulcan Park. Sadly we didn't make it to the park before they closed. The walk was a bit further than it looked.

Vulcan happens to be the largest cast iron statue in the world. You can read more and watch a video about it's history here.

We stayed at the Hassinger Daniels Mansion in five points. It's a beautiful old house that had been restored and turned into a bed and breakfast. 

Our Camelot room came complete with Guinevere, Arthur and his horse. It was a little odd but apparently the in-keepers husband runs a carving school in the basement and carved the horse.

Before headed home on Monday we stopped by Barber Motorsports Museum. We could have easily have spent the whole day there. The amount of motorbikes to on display is a bit overwhelming.

It was a great little getaway and always fun going somewhere you've never been...even if it's Alabama.

Micah Gets Married

The main reason we went to GA for a visit was because my brother Micah was getting married. I was asked to do the cake, which I happily agreed to. It was a little crazy making a cake in someone else's kitchen without my normal tools but thanks to some borrowed equipment everything turned out great. 

Micah and Brianna chose to do a small outdoor wedding in a little woodsy spot outside of Newnan, GA. The weather ended up not too hot and we managed to keep Edith from eating dirt and George from escaping to sit in peoples cars.

I thought a lolly pop would keep Edith happy during the ceremony but she finished it in 5 minutes and whined the rest of the time.

I caught this of George while the pastor was praying. Could it get any sweeter?

The cake! .

I did yellow cake and vanilla buttercream with nutella filling on the middle tier and blueberry jam on the bottom tier. Brianna wanted the top tier to have buttercream between the layers since they were going to save it.

We couldn't find a cooler large enough for the bottom tier so we put the whole thing in a plastic storage container and packed it with dry ice. I waited until after the ceremony to put it out so we wouldn't have any chance of it melting

We are so excited to have Brianna in the family! You picked a great one Micah.

 One of these days we might have almost as many girls as guys in this family.