Maine- Day Five

Some inns and hotels have great breakfast in the morning. This place was such a find. Thanks Glen Cove motel for the bunk beds and food!

  After we checked out, we drove through some small towns and decided to stop at the one that is known as “the prettiest small town of Maine.” It's called Wiccasset. It was found in the 1770's and was pretty small but beautiful.We got out and explored, went into some old book shops. 

We got some lunch and went and sat by the water to eat it.

June took this photo of Hazel and me and I love it

After we ate we made sure to stop by the "ancient cemetery." Hey America, just because we have something that dates back to the 1770's, that doesn't qualify it as "ancient." Try Egypt, Europe, Asia- okay the whole world (!) besides us. Unless you've got some old Native American graves, I'm going to go ahead and say it's not ancient. 

At any rate, it was still old so that's cool.

The old church was awesome also. 

After we left we got some donuts for the rest of the drive back to Portland, where we planned to stay the rest of the week.

After getting to our hotel and relaxing and eating some dinner, we went to the boardwalk because the concierge said it was "totally still open."

I felt bad because we got there and, of course, all these bright and wonderful carnival rides were... closed. And not just closed but shut down for the year. The ferris wheel carts were taken down and the benches stacked on top of each other, everything gated and locked off.

Thankfully the board walk was on a nice long sandy beach. And thankfully it was sunny and warm enough to go play and explore. Hazel loved playing in the sand, drawing lines with her fingers, picking up handfuls of the wet sand and squeezing it in her little fists. All June wanted to do was run and play “charge!” with the waves and her daddy. Basically the game goes that you.... run towards the waves saying “charge!” and then run away from them as they chase you back. She did this for the longest time and she cried a huge exhausted cry when we told her it was time to leave.

But before that, I was able to sit on the beach and watch my girls. And my husband. Buck genuinely loves his girls and he is so good with them and for them. And then my girls. June was being so brave and adventurous. Hazel was so focus on drawing those lines in the sand. I imagined ten years or more down the road, my girls older. And I held on tighter to this moment now. Hazel wants to hold my hand, June wants to run to the waves with her daddy. Normal things now that will be extinct one day. I am not exempt from feeling the same pains that every parent feel at the swiftly moving clock.

But on the other hand, I marveled at my kids and wondered what they will be like when they are older. Who will they be? What will they love and fear? How will they break my heart? How will they fill it?

We spend so much time and money and effort to get us to the most simple moments. Those simple moments are the most prized for me. Sun, sand, sea. A ghost town boardwalk carnival behind us, silhouetted in the sinking sun. Maybe we didn't have the roller coaster but we had the beach practically to ourselves. A fair trade. And in the end, the empty carnival simply highlighted the fact that we were there together, our little family. 

  But as stated above, all good things come to a tearful end. At least with the emotions of young girls. June was just so tired and couldn't process anything anymore. Buck made a deal that they could charge the waves two more times. So they did and she was a lot happier after that.