Labor Day Escape To Maine

Rebecca and Gregory pose with a moose at
the Maine Wildlife Park

We headed up to Maine over Labor Day to visit Jiffy, Kenny, Chris, Evan and the cutest baby ever, my niece Nora. Greg had to work until 6:00 PM on Friday, so we all met at Mom and Dad's, terrorized Jackie and Don for awhile, and set out. Amazingly, there was no northbound traffic, and we made it to Jif's house in Pownal, Maine by 9:15 PM. Gregory fell asleep 15 minutes before we arrived, so we carried him in and put him right to bed without waking him up. At 1:00 AM, when he sat up in bed crying because he didn't know where he was, I belatedly realized my mistake. After his 4 hour nap, he was ready to play, and it was 4:15 AM by the time he went back to sleep. Rebecca had him (and us) up at 6:30 AM - not a good start.

Needless to say, I was less than motivated on Saturday, and ended up taking a long nap. Gregory and Rebecca played all day outside with their hilarious cousin Evan (3) and his 2 imaginary friends, Dinosaur Bones and Mr. Oatmeal. This whole entertaining each other thing is great. By afternoon, I was feeling better and spent a few hours running around the house with the kids in a very loosely structured game of hide and seek. We ended with a cookout and early to bed.

Rebecca's scary bear face

Sunday was another beautiful day, and we headed over to Gray and the Maine Wildlife Park. This fabulous rescue zoo is full of animals native to Maine. Some of the more spectacular occupants include a pair of mountain lions (mountain lions in Maine? Who knew????), bobcats, lynxes, 2 black bears, 2 young moose, 1 gigantic mature moose, a bunch of deer and some porcupines. The animals are kept in natural enclosures (for the most part), and the park paths are lined with colorful late summer flowers. We spent a couple of enjoyable hours there before heading home for lunch and naps.

Later, we visited with Beth and Leah, and then headed into Freeport for a chilly dinner on the deck at Gritty's. This was my first time at the Freeport branch of Gritty's, and was happy to find a large grassy area attached to the outdoor dining deck. I want to know what genius came up with this idea. Our kids ran and played with hordes of other hungry kids for the entire hour it took our food to come. What could have been a very stressful and unhappy experience (sitting at a table for an hour with 4 small, hungry children) turned out to be a pleasant hour sitting at our outdoor table, having adult conversation and watching the kids play.

Monday morning we were slow to get moving but eventually got packed up and said our good byes. Reluctantly back to work/school/real life starting Tuesday!