Acadia Day 3

The next morning we went back to the pool for a bit and then headed back to the park. Kevin had noticed that Cadillac Mountain looked like a fun place to climb around so we headed back there.

I feel like we're both just twisted funny. But the view is great!

My mountain goat.

In contrast to the chilly weather the night before, it was a sunny morning and we actually got hot and thirsty climbing around. It was still fun though.

I was so excited for a family picture here, but it didn't turn out how I hoped because of the lighting.

Same with this lighting.

We got back in the car and started driving down the mountain, and when we saw a good scenic spot we hopped out to take more pictures.

Next, we decided to drive through Bar Harbor a bit. We didn't stop in any stores or even get the famous ice cream, but we really loved the Bar Harbor Shoreline Trail. Matthew napped in the stroller and I had Jacob in the carrier while Kevin and Joseph clambered around on the rocks for a while.

We ate some lunch at a picnic spot on Thompson Island where the information center is, and then we headed home! We stopped at our friends' house again to return a baby carrier and then got home late.

Overall, I was happy with the places we visited. There were a few other mountains that would have been fun to hike, a few other lakes and forests that would have been nice to see, and so much more we could have done with the ocean, but it was a good trip. Sometimes I go on trips and feel glad later that I went, but while I'm there I'm not happy because I'm traveling and it's stressful. On this trip, I felt like that a little the second day when it was overcast and we didn't find the climbing rocks I wanted, but for the rest of the time we were happy. I would love to go back someday!

What happens to me when I cross the Piscataqua and plunge rapidly into Maine at a cost of seventy-five cents in tolls? I cannot describe it. I do not ordinarily spy a partridge in a pear tree, or three French hens, but I do have the sensation of having received a gift from a true love. - E. B. White

Acadia, Day 2

We spent the morning at the hotel pool. Since New Haven doesn't really have any good outdoor swimming pools (it has rocky beaches and splash pads in their stead) we were excited to go in a real pool. After grabbing some lunch food at Walmart, we headed back to Acadia. We found a picnic area and ate lunch. Our boys were of course happy to find some rocks to climb on.

We then drove to Schooner Point to see the waves. It was a gray day and the water was really choppy.

It was pretty mesmerizing watching the water crash against the rocks, but my favorite part might have been watching the ducks in the water.

We then headed to Sand Beach. I stayed in the car feeding Jacob while Kevin went down with the boys.

Joseph really liked getting close to the water:

Meanwhile, I was nursing Jacob when I heard them coming. I saw Joseph walk calmly up completely covered in sand.

"He took a bit of a tumble," Kevin explained. We got to work brushing sand off his face, out of his hair, and off his clothes. We didn't really have extra clothes right then so we turned the heater on and dried off everything that had gotten soaked.

His hair never really recovered from his fall. Just imagine this cute face covered with sand.

Another cute face.

I took a quick look at the beach and then headed onward. We had considered walking along the Sand Beach Trail but decided to drive to our next destination. If there was one thing I remembered about visiting Acadia when I was 11, it was that there were nice big rocks to climb on, and I wanted to find them.

Thunder Hole

Our first family picture since the hospital, I think.

We kept stopping in little parking lots by Otter Point and Otter Cliff to find a good place for the boys to climb around, but everything just seemed too big and rugged with steep dropoffs, so we didn't want them playing there.

Then we decided to stop near Otter Creek.

And here we stayed a while. There were definitely rocks to climb on, though they were much smaller than the ones I had remembered, and we stumbled more than climbed.

Lots of beautiful colors in the rocks.

The rocks were just the right size to throw in the water with a huge splash.

Then, it was time to head to Cadillac Mountain for the sunset. Like E. B. White said, it was great how we could see beaches, forests, and mountains all in the same day.

Once we got up there, we discovered it was cold, cloudy, and windy. This was to be a drive-in sunset experience except for a few brief trips out of the car to take better pictures.

The heavy clouds made it a grayer sunset, but we still liked a bold strip of red peeking through between the clouds and the horizon.

Once again, we traveled back to the hotel in the darkness.

Acadia, Day 1

"The Maine man does not have to penetrate in depth to be excited by his coastal run; its flavor steals into his consciousness with the first ragged glimpse of properly textured woodland, the first whiff of punctually drained cove." - E. B. White

It was kind of last minute, our trip to Maine. We had wanted to do it in the summer, but we never really got a good chance. Then we thought that we would have to wait until the following summer to go. But then when I saw that Joseph got Rosh Hashanah off, a thought began to form in my mind. Soon we were booking a hotel and scouring websites and texting friends who had been to Acadia National Park.

As it turned out, if it had been any more last minute, we might not have gone since Kevin was in crunch time for his paper. He ended up spending every evening in the hotel frantically working to get it submitted soon. (It ended up that it wasn't submitted until January 12th, so the lesson here is carpe diem when it comes to fun stuff because work can be dragged out indefinitely.)

After a futile visit from the exterminator (how many mice we have spotted since then, alas), we hurried out the door and spent the night with our friends who had recently moved to Boston. The next morning, we managed to avoid most of the Boston rush hour and before we knew it we were in Maine. (The border really is just about an hour from Boston.) As Kevin drove, I took over the duty of tossing snacks back to kids. I did best throwing animal crackers one at a time and fruit snacks and worst at string cheese and granola bars. Little newborn Jacob did great for most of the drive, and before too long we were in Trenton, Maine, and then Acadia.

Our first stop that afternoon was the Bubble Rock hike. When we pulled up, Joseph was in deep, deep sleep and it took a lot of work to rouse him. Once he was awake he was a grumpy bear who didn't want to hike or say nice things. Kevin and I looked at each other in panic. He normally loved hiking! How could we do this hike in these conditions? Some fruit snacks changed the night to day, and now that things were no longer dark and dreary he hopped and skipped along, collecting sticks and  superhero poses.

It was a nice, short hike that was just right for small kids and parents carrying littles. But despite its length, we were still rewarded with beautiful views that reminded me of Mt. Naomi in Logan Canyon.

We really are a family of 5, even if you can't see the fifth very well.

After our hike, we had considered hiking around nearby Jordan Lake. But when we got there, our kids were content to throw rocks into the water.

Movie star hair

We then took a beautiful drive to the western part of the island, passing streets with great names like Flat Iron Road and 3 Dog Lane and Pretty Marsh Road (I also like Double Duck Road, Long Pond Fire Road, and Lady Slipper Lane). We stopped at Thurston's for dinner so Kevin could eat his long-anticipated lobster dinner. I had a few bites and liked it pretty well. I was more excited for the rolls, but Matthew threw one on the ground in a moment of passion, so there went that.

After dinner, we headed to Bass Harbor Lighthouse to watch the sunset. If we were to do it differently, we would have gone to the left of the lighthouse and watched it on the rocks. But with little kids, it worked okay to watch it in a fenced in area to the right of the lighthouse. There was a good little crowd there, and one little boy was so excited to have other boys his age to play cars with.

 As far as sunsets go, it was a lovely, pinkish one that took over the whole sky. A few minutes after the clock said the sun had set, we walked back up to the car. We secretly felt a little bad for the people who were showing up right then after the sunset had already finished.

I decided to nurse Jacob before we left. I looked in the side view mirror and noticed the colors becoming even more vibrant.

"We've got to go back!" I said, and we hurried back down to see this:

When we were more confident that the colors were gone, we headed back to the hotel. There was a mosquito in the car which bit Jacob and made it a very sad drive for him, but we all made it and he appeared to suffer no lasting damage from it. Everyone was pretty tired so we went to sleep (except Kevin who had some figures to work on), and we were glad we had decided to make this whirlwind trip.

The current state of postpartum affairs

. . . can best be summed up with this song.

Everywhere. Hair is everywhere.

(ps I'd like to thank the Broadway Kids CD for weirding me out with this song years ago. Tonight was the first time I'd seen the dancing that came along with it. Wow.)

Kids and YouTube

A few years ago, I found out to my dismay that Joseph liked weird YouTube videos. He always asked for lame ones where people voiced characters of from Cars and moved toy cars around to tell a lame story. He also liked videos which were essentially commercials showing all the different pieces in a set of toys. Worst of all, those lame videos would show up any time I opened any other YouTube video since they had made it onto my recommended list.

For any parents out there who might have gotten themselves into a similar situation but still like to use YouTube sometimes while you take a nap or clean the bathroom, this post is for you! Here's my advice:

1. Get those terrible videos out of your recommended list. This is easier to do on a computer rather than a phone. First, go to YouTube.com and look at what's recommended on your home page. Next to the name of any YouTube video you can find three dots in a vertical line when you move your mouse over it. Click on those dots and choose "Not interested." And then explain why: You've seen it. You don't want that channel. You do not ever ever ever want to see that channel again. Do that for all the videos that are recommended that aren't "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy."

2. Don't use YouTube as a babysitter carelessly. There are just enough horrible people in the world to sneak disturbing content in under the guise of known characters such as Elsa and Peppa Pig. (See this and its follow up here.) And even if it's not disturbing, you don't really want kids watching weird stuff either. What value really is there in poorly animated, bizarre videos that have probably been produced by bots? (This article details some of the weird stuff if you aren't convinced yet. Thankfully a lot of it has been taken down.) Is 10 minutes of time to yourself worth the weird yet mesmerizing content getting absorbed by little kids?

3. If you choose to turn on YouTube rather than Amazon Prime or Netflix, have good content available for your kid to turn on. I steer away from things that teach animal sounds or colors or  nursery rhymes or whatnot because kids will learn those on their own, and they usually just have some element of weirdness/lameness to them. (Also, Little Baby Bum is so weird, and it's not just because of the name.)

Here are a few channels my kids like:

Art for Kids Hub -- Joseph has really liked drawing animals and cartoon characters from this channel. I've even been able to make some nice pictures using some of their tutorials.

Music with Lindsey -- My friend's sister-in-law makes these videos, and I think they're pretty cute. I imagine there are lots of educational music videos like this out there.

Children's Bible Videos -- these show kids talking about New Testament stories. Perfect for Sundays.

Bob Ross -- if you're into videos that are so completely engrossing that your kid lets you cook dinner, let me tell you, there's something about watching painting that is so gripping. (These might be more gripping for parents than kids, actually, so you might not end up making dinner after all!) There are other playlists for PBS shows here and there, and it's best to stick with official ones. Otherwise you might end up watching someone play a Daniel Tiger computer game. Ugh.

King of Random -- These are cool videos showing science experiments and do-it-yourself projects. If you have kids who like to do things without asking permission, you might not want them to watch this, haha. (Bonus -- my cousin is performing experiments on this channel now, which is way cool!)

Playlists -- If there are songs or videos you and your kid both like, it is pretty easy to make a playlist of them beforehand that you can turn on for your kids. (Examples: Disney songs, Sesame Street songs, Mr. Rogers factory videos, figure skating, cooking, car mechanics, etc.) You'll probably get ads here and there, but they're usually iPhone ads which are innocuous.

Anyway, those are my thoughts in a nutshell. Good luck to all you parents out there!