Lately

Well Jimmy is back to work again...bummer!  He will be gone for a little over 6 weeks this time. He left last night so it will take us a few days to get back into the single mom groove. Before he left we spent a lot of time out on the boat, which Charlie Banks really enjoys.  As you can see he also loves to help clean the boat...ha!  I'm sure daddy can't wait until he can hand over that chore.

It is hard to believe that when Jimmy gets home we will be having another baby!

Mountains Part One

I'm blogging from the car again on the way home from North Carolina. We had such a nice, relaxing time in the mountains as always. I hate Jimmy won't be with us for our second trip there this summer in a few weeks. It was a nice change of pace from last week in Maine. We enjoyed lots of meals on the porch, Come Back Shack (duh!), lots of play time at the Banner Elk, Valle Crucis and Blowing Rock parks, picnics, visits with family, a waterfall hike at Elk River Falls, a little shopping and an amazing meal at The Artisinal. We have been dying to try The Artisinal for several years as we have heard such great things. This was Jimmy's only request for the week, and while a tad nervous to take Charlie Banks to a not so kid friendly restaurant, we made it happen and he was on great behavior. The cavatelli carbonara appetizer plate was licked and my steak was pretty tasty as well. We were bummed when we saw on their Facebook page that Michael Jordan was there the same night we were, but we didn't see him!  Charlie Banks really enjoyed splashing and throwing rocks in the rivers. Such a nice trip...back to the heat we go!

Maine

We had such a nice trip to Maine and Charlie Banks did great on the go as usual. The weather was cool and so enjoyable. So much so that we got home late Saturday night after an afternoon of flight delays and it's Monday morning and we are packed up headed to the mountains. We just need to escape the heat for a bit longer!  But Maine, I don't have enough good things to say. We flew into Portland Monday afternoon. We dropped our things and walked to dinner at Central Provisions. A must if you're ever in the area. We had a drink (mocktail for me!) at the rooftop bar in our hotel before calling it a night. The next morning we visited the Portland Head Light before leaving town. It was covered in scaffolding for some repairs so it wasn't as picturesque as we imagined, but pretty nonetheless. We headed to Freeport and explored LL Bean and all that it had to offer. So much bigger than I imagined. And did you know that it stays open 24/7 - 365?  Crazy!  Our next stop was Reds Eats in Wiscasset for a lobster roll. Such a fun spot and probably Jimmys favorite lobster roll of the trip. We ended the day in Camden where we spent the night. Such a cute town with a lot of fun shops. The next morning we went to Mount Battie which overlooks the town of Camden. Incredible views!  We stopped at the Peneboscot Narrows Observatory and rode to the top. It is a cable bridge like our bridge in Charleston, but you can ride an elevator to the top to enjoy the views!  Our next stop was Bar Harbor for the next two nights. After checking in we headed to Acadia National Park for the afternoon. Bar Harbor is such a great spot and has so much to offer, especially with the park so close to the downtown. We checked out Thunder Hole, Cadillac Mountain, Jordan's Pond...and enjoyed the beautiful views along the way. We enjoyed the famous popovers at Jordan's Pond Restaurant and once filled with butter and strawberry jelly they did not disappoint. We walked the land bridge to Bar Island at low tide before dinner at delicious Side Street Cafe. The lobster bisque was to die for as well as the macaroni and cheese!  The next morning after a great breakfast at Two Cats we explored downtown Bar Harbor and enjoyed some of their famous whoopie pies. We had red velvet and lemon blueberry...so yummy. After having a drink (for Jimmy) at The Thirsty Whale we headed to one of Jimmys work friends house. Several guys he works with live in the area so they had us over for a lobster feed. I even ate the lobster and enjoyed it!  The next morning we had breakfast at This Way Cafe (highly recommend as well!) before a long day on the road exploring. On the way back to Portland we stopped at the Pemaquid lighthouse, Boothbay (lobster rolls at Shannon's Unshelled), and finally dinner in Kennebunkport. We, of course, had to do a ride by of the Bushs' home before leaving Kennebunkport. We finished the trip with another delicious breakfast at Hot Suppa and a long walk around Portland. We picked up some famous Holy Donuts (chocolate sea salt being our favorite!) on the way to the airport. And that's a wrap!  Now you know why we need a vacation from our vacation!  Now for a picture overload if you're interested...these are out of order, but too difficult to fix on my phone in the car!