Vacation Series - Part 3

Yep, here it is, the home of Cheers. This is the place that started it all. Who would have known that Cheers would be such a hit just from using this bar as inspiration. It is pretty cool going down the stairs because it looks exactly as you remember it in the sitcom. How you could see out the window watching who was coming and going. Now the real bar down below doesn't resemble the set of cheers but they have a replica bar upstairs that comes very close. Pretty cool.

Here is another picture of the Bass Harbor lighthouse. Not as cool of a view as it is off the edge of the cliff below it. How would you like people walking by this close and you only living a few steps away? I don't know how the inhabitants can handle that on a daily basis from 9am until sundown.

Jordan and Zach at the top of Cadillac Mountain. You can see the porcupine islands in the background below them. I would tell you the story of how they came to have that name but not in the mood to write all of that right now. Maybe another post. And if you look closely you can see the town of Bar Harbor off the edge of the coast.

Here is my favorite lighthouse that we saw on the historic lighthouse tour. It is the Bear Island Lighthouse. The island is small but at a perfect height to put a lighthouse on, it can be seen from 19 miles away.

Zachy having his picture taken at Eagle Lake. The kids loved this lake because it had tons of huge frogs in it and a lot of tadpoles. You could actually see all the different stages that a tadpole goes through to become a frog. Pretty gross and disgusting. I took one look and was done. And of course my oldest son just had to pick up one of the frogs that was between the stage of tadpole and adult. So creepy.

My cute, adorable children posing for me off of one of the bridges on the Park Loop Road. Such wonderful scenery to capture these once in a lifetime photos. I may not have to take anymore pics for my Christmas cards, this vacation may have solved that for me.

Here is Riley waiting for her chance to do the water balloon shoot. She is kind of doing a dance in this picture because the mosquitoes were horrendous in Maine. They were everywhere and huge. It kept this park from being tons of fun because you were too busy fighting off the bugs. But as an adult just doing the watching, it was probably worse for me than them.

I love this picture. This pretty much became known as Gavin's seat when we went on long hikes that he couldn't do the whole way. Curt would throw him up over the pretty pink and purple backpack (real butch, honey) and he would sit on it and hold on to Curt by his neck. Curt didn't even have to hold on because the backpack held him up. So cute!!!

Vacation Series - Part 2

Back with some more photos from our vacation. While you won't even come close to seeing all the pictures Curt and I took, I am trying to give you enough of a variety to let you see what we experienced in Maine (and Boston).

Here is a picture of Gavy sitting by Paul Revere's grave site. In case you can't read it, it says Paul Revere, born in Boston January 1734, died May 1818. And he is buried in this little cemetery that is right smack dab in the middle of Boston. So crazy. Also buried here is John Hancock, Ben Franklin's parents, the victims of the Boston massacre, among others.

Me and my honey along the coast. We had to deal with the fog a lot on this trip but I thought it made for some interesting pictures sometimes. I tend to like the foggy background. The kids totally loved being along the coast because they were finding seashells galore.

Here is Gavin again. This was one of the sections of our hike up Cadillac Mountain. First we started out with gobs of tree roots, then rocky paths like this and then there was smooth trails and we finished up with climbs that were almost straight up. Not fun when you are dead tired by the time you get to the top of this 3.5 mile hike. But at least we can all say we hiked up the tallest mountain on the eastern seaboard. But what was best about this hike was the views. Couldn't see those kind of views from a road.

Zach, Tyler, Jordan, Matt at the pier in Bar Harbor. We were waiting patiently for our boat trips, Curt, I and the little ones went on a lighthouse tour and the boys went on a lobster boat. They really enjoyed themselves and learned all they need to know about lobsters. I don't have any pictures of that though since we didn't go on there with them. Sorry.

Picture of the fam by Eagle Lake on the first leg of our hike on the carriage roads. The carriage roads were built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in the early 1900's because he wanted to enjoy horse-drawn carriage rides free of cars. By the time he was finished he had completed 57 miles of these roads that intertwine and loop around each other through Acadia National Park. And to this day, no cars are allowed on the roads. You can only get around by foot, bike or horse-drawn carriages.

Here is Riley in on of the many pictures we took while we went on the Park Loop Road. Not sure though what that lake is called behind her.

On Friday we went to a fun park and the kids had a blast. This was the consolation prize for not being able to whale watch. Jordan is in the green car and Zach is behind him in the black car. We were a little nervous at first because they weren't going to let Zach drive his own car because he was a half an inch short. I could see it in his face that he was very sad and hated the thought of being the only older kid not to drive by himself. But, the guy running it all changed his mind and let him pass. We made sure to let him know we appreciated that.

Here is a statue of Paul Revere with the Old North Church in the background. The Old North Church is significant to Paul Revere because that is where he went up in the tower and let the lanterns to warn everyone that the British were coming. Very cool inside the church and it is still used today for services and weddings.

A Few to Get You Started

Hi again. I thought I would start posting some of our vacation pics. But instead of putting a lot in one post, I have decided to spread the pics out over a series of posts. That will keep it all interesting for you and then I can write about some of the pictures and not get so overwhelmed with it.

Here is a pic of Gavin, Zach, Matt (nephew), Tyler (nephew) and Jordan. This is at the pier in Bar Harbor. As you can see behind them it is very foggy and so our whale watching tours were all cancelled for the day. We tried the 8:30 am one, the 12:30 pm one, and the 4:30pm one and all were cancelled. The fog just never lifted that day. Such a bummer because that was at the top of the list for everyone and of course this was on a Friday and we left Saturday.

Pic of our kids on the rocky coast. We took this picture on the Park Loop Road. A beautiful scenic road to travel through Acadia National Park.

This picture of Zach and Jordan was taken at, of all things, Jordan Pond. He was so happy to have a pond with his name. And he just doesn't seem to believe us that we named him after this pond. That is believable, right? So to remember this experience we made sure we got a postcard with Jordan Pond on it. So pretty.

Curt, Riley and Gavin on our Historic Lighthouse tour. We got to ride a boat around the ocean to 5 different lighthouses because that is the only way to view them fairly close. They are all on islands. Was so much fun but the kids fell asleep and so they didn't get the full enjoyment and Curt got sick, so I was the only one who truly appreciated it. Poor Curt! I will have to remember to post of picture of him in all his full seasick glory.

Zach at Sand Beach. Such a beautiful beach nestled in the coast for all those brave tourist who want to be in 51 degree water. Nuts, and the kids couldn't get enough of it.

This is the Bass Harbor Lighthouse. One of the most photographed lighthouses in the U.S. And again you can see the fogginess we encountered quite often on this trip. But most of the time it comes and goes quickly except for our whale watching day. I think what is so beautiful about this lighthouse is that it is built right along the rocky cliff.

This picture is not far from our house we stayed at. In fact, we got a great view of the bay off our deck. I loved seeing all these great sailboats everyday. Never got sick of it. We just don't get to see this in Iowa.

Curt and I in Boston. This is down by Government Center. So much going on there in Boston and I loved all the old beautiful 16th century buildings that are blended in so nicely with the new buildings. I will be sure to post more pictures of Boston because it is a city like no other. Just didn't like the driving aspect of it.

We're Back!!!

Hi all! We are home from our Maine vacation. Lots of fun and so many great pics. I am just happy to have a few family pictures. It is always nice to have all the Batta family members along to take pictures for you. I will do my best to post more pictures soon. I just need to go through all 800 of them and get rid of duds and edit the rest. Hopefully I will get some pictures up by the end of the week for ya.

So Long, Farewell

Just posting to say that I will be back in about a week and a half or so. We are heading out to Maine tomorrow bright and early at 5am from Omaha. Can't wait and the little ones are so excited, especially to fly on a plane. Me, not so much. I can't share in their enthusiasm there. Will have tons of pics to share. Take care and see you when we get back!!!