WOW what an amazing trip. I am happy to be home but will definitely make another trip to Maine in the years (hopefully not too far off) to come. I broke up the post below into each day so you can “travel” along with us on our adventures……

TUESDAY:
We got up and ate the breakfast the hotel offered. Not much of a breakfast but it was okay. We ended up hanging out at the hotel longer than we had planned but it was okay. There was really no need to rush since we really didn’t have to be in Maine until Thursday. Anyway, after checking out, we headed to the Hershey Chocolate World for the factory tour. It was very exciting to walk up to a building all about chocolate. The air smelled of chocolate just walking up to the building. We went on the tour which was great. For those that have never been, it is well worth the trip. The kids loved it. Teah was so excited the entire time. During the tour you learn how they grown the beans, where they are imported from and all the steps to making the chocolate. It is pretty amazing to watch the process. At the end of the “ride” they take your picture. We weren’t really sure if they were really taking our picture so it looks a little crazy but it is a great souvenir to have of our trip. Thanks to Mom & Dad O’Neal for buying a copy!!

After the tour we looked around the store and ended up buying the kids each a t-shirt that they picked out as well as a 5 lb Hershey bar. Yes, FIVE POUNDS of CHOCOLATE!!! A dream come true!! We are still eating on it and actually have more than ½ of it left. After the factory we headed to this great little restaurant for lunch. As we sat at the table, Liam looked up at a painting on the wall and said “hey that angel boy looks just like me”. Chris had noticed it prior to Liam saying anything and had mentioned that I should look. I guess I had not taken a good look at the picture up until then and when I looked I was shocked at how close the boy in the painting did indeed look like he belonged to us. So shocked that it brought tears to my eyes. I told Chris that we needed to buy a copy of it to hang up in the house. I know that sounds crazy, but here is a copy of the painting, you can see just how much the little boy looks like our kids.

Anyway, after lunch we headed out for the remainder of our drive to Maine….about 8 hours. 8 hours at 3pm seems like forever….and it was. We arrived into Lewiston, Maine at around 1am after driving through various areas of rain. We stayed in a hotel for the night. It was nice to finally be in a bed again.

WEDNESDAY:
We got up and headed out for breakfast and then meet up with Abbie so that we could go to the house we were going to stay at for the week. Her grandparents – Poppy & Mimi – were gracious enough to let us stay at their house. THANK YOU GENDRONS for an amazing place to stay and for your hospitality. The house was fantastic and the kids enjoyed having a yard to run around in and a swing set to play on. We had planned to head to the ocean but since it was already afternoon and we had to be back for a family cook-out at 5:30, we tried to find something else to do. I thought we would be able to go to a strawberry patch but it was too early in the season. Abbie’s aunt Kathy stopped by and invited us over to swim at her house. The kids were so excited. The boys changed as soon as we got to Kathy’s house, however, Teah had fallen asleep on the way so she didn’t get to swim. We played at Kathy & Phil’s house for a few hours before heading over to Abbie’s parents house for the cook out. It was a great time and we really enjoyed meeting all of Abbie’s family. Bob, Sherri, Barry, Shannon, John & Amanda arrived around 6pm and the kids were excited to see them. Teah kept asking when her Aunt Sherri was going to get there. After the cook-out we headed home to bed.

THURSDAY:
A trip to the ocean!! Yep, that’s what we did today. This was the very first time I had ever seen the ocean and it was absolutely breath taking. I loved looking out at what seemed forever and seeing in the distance a faint silhouette of an island with a lighthouse on it. So beautiful!! Okay, most importantly, it was also the first time the kids had ever seen the ocean and they were shocked. They could not believe their eyes. They ran as fast as they could down to the water only to get the shock of their lives…..ICE COLD WATER!!! It was very cold. Yes, Chris, I know, I’m a wimp…but it was cold. Cold enough that I didn’t even put my swimsuit on. Besides, someone has to take pictures and you can’t do that when you are wet. Watching the kids play in the water and on the beach was very enjoyable. Teah was a little nervous (and cold, I’m sure) and wanted Chris to hold her the entire time. Chris was the trooper and stayed in the longest. And to my amazement, Liam loved it. He is the one that tends to be more timid when we are at the swimming pool but while we were at the ocean he showed no fear. I think it was because he could always feel the bottom. Declan hunted for shells and ended up with a pretty good amount. Grandma & Grandpa stayed back by the blanket and feed the seagulls. The kids got into the act as well and loved watching them catch the crackers as they through them into the air. It started to sprinkle so we decided that it would be a good time for lunch – we packed a cooler so we headed back to the van and ate. After lunch we took a scenic drive up to Portland in hopes of riding the ferry to a couple of the islands off of the coast. However, when we arrived we discovered that we had just missed the 2pm ferry and it would be another hour before the next one. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to stick around for the next one. Declan was very disappointed but we had to get back to Lewiston for the wedding rehearsal. Maybe next time – hey, it just means we have to go back!!!

The wedding rehearsal went fine and the dinner afterwards was great. A couple funny Teah stories…..during dinner Teah had a conversation with Scott, Abbie’s uncle. She began the conversation with “when I was a little girl….oh, wait, I’m still a little girl…I mean when I was a baby”. We all started laughing. To hear her be so serious was too funny. After dinner we were loading up in the van and she called out to Bobby “see you tomorrow at the wedding…on your knees”. We aren't to sure where she got this from but it was pretty funny. After the dinner we headed to Wal-mart to pick up some last minute items. It was a long day and it felt great to get back to the house and crawl in bed. I tried to add in a couple pictures of Teah & the girls but it wasn't letting me. I will try again tomorrow.

FRIDAY:
We had sort of a relaxing day. We didn’t have anything planned because of the wedding in the evening. Teah had a hair appointment at 3pm so we just hung out at the house and let the kids run around. It rained most of the morning so the kids played legos and checkers. Chris and I took Teah to her hair appointment and enjoyed watching her get pampered. The girl did a great job on her hair and she looked absolutely gorgeous (not that she needed any help). After the appointment we headed over to Abbie’s aunt’s house for pictures. The other girls weren’t there yet so we watched the first part of Narnia with a couple of Abbie’s cousins before getting dressed for pictures. Teah looked like a little princess in her flower girl dress. She was so excited that the big day was finally here. In fact, I am not sure who was more excited – Teah or Abbie…..okay, I’m sure Abbie was but Teah was pretty close behind. They did pictures and then it was time to head to the church. The ceremony was beautiful and all the girls looked stunning. Teah did a great job – with a couple little funny moments here and there. I am sure Shannon has a different story to tell since she was the one that had to keep Teah still for thirty minutes. Teah did wave at Chris while he was reading his scripture and tried to convince Shannon that she was suppose to go sit down with daddy. After the ceremony there were more pictures taken and then we headed over to the ski lodge for the reception….which was a lot of fun. The kids danced all night (it didn’t end until midnight). Teah danced in peoples arms most of the night but they didn’t seem to mind. It was a great evening and I am so glad that we took the time off of work to make the trip up.

SATURDAY:
We got up and headed out around 9am. My father-in-law wanted to leave earlier but we were moving pretty slow. A lack of sleep the entire week makes for very sleepy people. We drove for a couple hours before stopping for breakfast….at yet another Cracker Barrel. We ended up having to wait almost an hour to get seated but we just didn’t feel like loading back up and trying to find somewhere else to eat. After brunch we headed back out. It rained most of the day which made for a long day of driving. We didn’t do anything touristy on the trip back due to the time. We drove until about 11pm when we figured it was best to just get a room and rest, rather than try to make it any further. However, we were in Carlisle, PA and there was a huge car convention so we ended up having to drive another ½ an hour to find a reasonable room. We were all so tired that we went in, laid down and fell right to sleep.

SUNDAY:
Ate breakfast at Bob Evans – I know, you thought I was going to say Cracker Barrel!! And then it was MORE DRIVING. About 10 hours of driving. We drove thought lots of rain which made for another long day of driving. The kids were tired of being in the car and asked several times “how much further” / “are we there yet” / “when are we going to be home”. We did finally make it home around 8:30pm and it was a great feeling. The kids were happy to be home until we looked at them and said that we had to drive to Nashville to return the car!!!!


We had a great time and definitely something I will do again. This was the first big vacation we had taken as a family and the first time that Chris’ parents had been on a vacation with any of their grandchildren so it was very memorable for all. We absolutely love the Gendron’s and look forward to getting to visit with them again. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can get up that way again. I did miss out on having fresh lobster but maybe one day. Jan – I do need the recipe for those lobster sandwiches….they were wonderful. Thanks again Gendron family for a wonderful week.

Oh, I will post more pictures as soon as Chris releases them…he is holding them hostage on his computer!!! I took pictures of everything so I have lots to share.