We spent a few days at Cobscook State Park in Maine. One day, we crossed into Canada to explore Campobello Island, where FDR spent his summers. We went on the walking tour and saw where FDR’s childhood summer home used to be (It was torn down), and his 34 room “cottage” that he spent his summers at as an adult. Then, we went hiking. The trail was extremely wet, and most of the trail was slogging through mud. Still, the trail ran along the cliffs above the ocean, and the views were spectacular. Unfortunately, part of the trail was inland, and it was a buggy nightmare. When we got back to the car, we spent a little time at the rocky beach before starting to drive back.

Another day we explored Qouddy Head State Park. After seeing the light house, we set off on a trail that was even muddier than the one at Campobello. Once, my shoe got stuck in the mud and came off! After we finished hiking the muddy trail, we chilled and climbed at the beach. While Ma and Pa relaxed in the sun, I was climbing the cliffs behind the beach, and Little Kid went on a quest to get water from the highest point he could, completely ignoring the ocean and the little pool at the base of the stream. Instead, he climbed up the slippery rocks next to the stream as high as he could go, and filled up his milk jug there. Then, he would start crying “will you help me get down?”and I would come up and carry him down.

We spent a week in Acadia National park, Maine. Almost every day we hiked one of the many trails in the park. One day we did a huge loop through our side of the park, starting with a two mile hike to the sandy beach. We had an awesome picnic on the beach, and I dipped in the freezing ocean before Ma and I went to hike the beehive trail. Our hike on the beehive trail involved climbing up iron rungs and walking on ledges. The Lonely Planet book described it as “clinging to iron rings bolted to the cliff face.” I think that is a bit of an exaggeration, but the trail was very crazy. Ma thought she was going to die! The boys met us on the other side, and we all hiked down to a pond called the Bowl. The water was a lot warmer than the ocean, but we were told there were leeches so I didn’t swim.

While we were in Acadia, we celebrated Little Kid’s fourth birthday. There were awesome presents, a lot of chocolate milk in the giant birthday cup, and cupcakes. Little Kid ate four cupcakes! Sugar buzz!

We spent a day exploring the Bubble Mountain area. First, we hiked up to Balance Rock, a huge rock balanced on the edge of a cliff. It really looked like it was going to fall! Then, we hiked down a crazy rocky trail to Jordan Pond. We hiked the pretty trail around the lake before hiking back to the car.

Since there was a trail from the campground up Cadillac Mountain, the highest mountain on the island, we decided to climb the 1500 foot mountain. The eight mile hike was awesome, especially after we got above the tree line. We ate lunch on a huge section of open rock before we headed to the summit. The summit was very crowded because there was a road up, but the views were amazing.

On our last day, we explored the tide pools at Wonderland, which really was a wonderland. I found a kind of seaweed that came in long strips without the fruit things. I named it sea leather, and soon I was making belts, bracelets, and anklets from it. Ma also spotted a dolphin, which we watched for awhile, and I found some cool shells.

After a picnic lunch, we went to the swimming pond, Echo Lake. I had an awesome time swimming and fighting water wars with other kids while Little Kid dug holes with some boys. Even Ma jumped in and swam!

Today I am fabulous, fun-loving, free-spirited, friendly, funny, flirty FOUR!!

We spent a few days in Portland, Maine, to see Ma’s cousin, Cheryl. Our first night we had some very delicious whoopie pies. Yummy! Did you know that whoopie pies were named because Amish farmers would yell “whoopie!” when they found them in their lunch pails?

One day, we had an awesome lunch downtown before heading to the beach. The beach was really fun. It was low tide, so I went wandering around the mud flats. I also tried to swim a bit, but the tide was so low it was more like crawling on the bottom.

The next day, we went sailing with Cheryl on her boat. It was so much fun! I helped tighten the jib, and I even took the helm for awhile. It kind of felt natural steering the boat. I also spent a lot of time at the front of the boat. I really liked being in the strong wind, even though I got pretty cold. It also felt really good trailing my feet in the water. Now, I am trying to convince Ma and Pa that our next adventure should be living on a sailboat.

On our last night, we went to the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport. We spent a long time wandering around the store, but we didn’t buy anything.

We spent about five days in the White Mountains, New Hampshire. While we were there, Ma made us go to Robert Frost’s house in the pouring rain. We did the poetry trail, walking through the woods in the rain, with ticks and mosquitos, reading Robert Frost’s poems. Ma loved it, but Pa, Little Kid and I were wishing we hadn’t taken the road less traveled.

We spent one day hanging out at the swimming pond in the campground. On a bridge, there was a platform to jump off of, and I jumped into the fifty-two degree water at least ten times. It was really refreshing, in an ice cold way. Little Kid didn’t swim, but he waded in up to his waist.

It would have been crazy to camp right near the highest mountain on the east coast and not go to it, so one day we went to Mt. Washington. Little Kid walked one and a half miles of our six mile hike. We had a picnic lunch at Hermit Lake, a bunch of shelters for hikers and skiers, before continuing down the trail. We had only gone .7 miles past Hermit Lake on a very steep trail before we were stopped by snow. The views were incredible!