The Maine Event - Weekend 5

Stella, Marni, and Stella

The final weekend in Maine did not go as expected.

Hurricane Irene knocked out power at Nana and Papa Shepard's house in Natick for 5 days. This caused the cancellation of Stella and Marni's annual end-of-summer trip to Natick. Disappointing for some. But I was thrilled, because it allowed me one more weekend with my girls.

After being picked up at the airport, we did a little grocery shopping and then I took the girls to lunch at a new place on the beach... Pirate's Patio. The rest of Friday was spent playing on the beach. Glorious!

Stella: When being crabby is ok.

Stella and Marni finally got to do some crabbing on Saturday. We headed down to the town dock at Camp Ellis with our home made crabbing equipment. The nice lady at the bait shop gave the girls some free chopped up fish. And away we went!

Our first few "casts" we not successful, but within a few minutes we had our first bite. No one was more surprised than Daddy!

As soon as we pulled up the first crab, both girls went screeching up the ramp and off the dock. They eventually returned and repeated this reaction a few more times (entertaining the other people on the dock greatly). We called it quits about an hour later and let the little critters go. Lots of fun.

After a quick lunch of pizza and ice cream in downtown OOB, we headed back to the beach until sundown. Another glorious day.

Then... it was Sunday. Packing up and moving out day.

Luckily, Cousin Janet agreed to take the girls to the beach while we packed and cleaned the cottage. The kids came back from the beach around 2 and we were pulling out of OOB by 4.

And yes, there were tears.

We did an overnight at Nana and Papa Shepard's in Natick. On Monday morning we continued a new tradition of adding this year's sea shells to a "shell garden" in Nana and Papa's pine grove.

By 4 o'clock we were back in Brooklyn. The girls quickly reacquainted themselves with their long lost toys. All of them. All at the same time.

I took the girls for a walk in the "hood" and we picked up some pizza for dinner. By 8:30 they were tucked into their beloved bunk beds and drifting off to sleep.

So ended the 2011 summer in Maine. The first summer in our wonderful new cottage.

We are truly blessed.

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