Family, Friends and Fun

I found a picture that I forgot to add to the blog last week, in our RV park in Massachusetts there were chickens. A follow RVer fed them, well after the RVers left the chickens decided to see if we would feed them. We watched them for a moment, and I was very curious if they would try to climb up the stairs in their pursuit for food.

This one was very determined to eat, sorry buddy, no food from us.

Welcome to Maine! Hope that last week was a great one, ours was. We set up and went out to eat, it was a busy restaurant, but it was good. Sunday, we watched church and then were able to chill and allow hubby to have a great Father's Day. This year he turns 60, so I bought him a Father's Day and birthday gift. It will arrive on Tuesday. I am so excited; it is a surprise. Hope he likes it.

Our site for three weeks.

Monday was a shopping and organizing day, getting ready for my mom and her husband, Dave, to arrive on Tuesday. So, Tuesday, I made salsa, prepped celery and made juice. To be honest, I am already tired of the prep work for the celery juice, so I haven't made any lately, it seems like I have to buy celery three times a week. I will still use my juicer; it came with a recipe book. So, I will try to make something healthy to drink once a week.

We ate out after picking them up from the airport, Mom's lobster fest began. Dave, Mom, myself and hubby.

Wednesday, we planned our actives and also had some fun at Hobby Lobby, Mom and I did, hubby was working, and we dropped Dave off at Walmart. 

It is a great place, a bit dangerous though. I can only have some much living in an RV.

Thursday, we started out about 10:00am to grab some breakfast and be able to pick up Mom and Dave by 11:00 to head out for Kennebunkport, Maine. While eating breakfast at McDonald's, I started a conversation with a very interesting man. We found out that he will be 90 next January, he served in the Marines, and he is a self-taught artist. He started drawing at age 79. He still lives alone and has a girlfriend in Florida. He was a lot of fun to talk with and we enjoyed getting to know about his adventurous life.

“Old men’s eyes are like old men’s memories; they 

are strongest for things a long way off.” George Eliot

He let me choose one of his drawings and I chose this one as it reminds me of the East Coast.

Kennebunkport is one of the cutest towns and we certainly didn't have enough time there but enjoyed what we did. We had lunch, Mom had lobster, we shopped, we went on a Lobster Boat Tour and learned so much about lobster. Fun fact: lobsters can grow new body parts; for example, the claws, walking legs and antennae. This is called "reflex amputation". It is also amazing that lobsters can amputate their own claws and legs (this is called autotomy) to escape danger.

The large claw is the "crusher" claw and the smaller claw is the "pincer" claw.

The years between the close of the American Revolution and the Embargo of 1807 (President Thomas Jefferson closed U.S. exports to all exports and restricted imports from Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. It hurt the American economy far more than the British or French and resulted in widespread smuggling.) witnessed a dramatic growth in the maritime communities of the Maine coast. While many towns were later transformed into commercial centers, Kennebunkport retained its character as a Federal Period (buildings created after the American Revolution) seagoing town. Much of the evidence of Kennebunkport’s once thriving docks and shipyards no longer exists. However, the community’s 19th century success remains apparent through the many handsome buildings that constitute the historic district. Although styles range from the Colonial Period into the 20th century, the predominant architectural theme is the Federal with more than a third of the structures in the district in this style.

While Kennebunkport’s greatest period of development took place in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, its history has its roots in the 17th century. Permanent settlement in Kennebunkport was established about 1630. The site is reported to have been named Cape Porpoise by Captain John Smith because he encountered many porpoises off the cape. The area now known as Kennebunkport was first incorporated as Cape Porpoise in 1653. Driven off by early Indian wars, the inhabitants returned in 1719 and resettled along the river under the name of Arundel. In 1820 when Maine became a state, they changed the name back to Kennebunkport.

On the lobster boat waiting for our tour.

The Kennebunk River which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Pulling up the lobster trap.

It was a smaller one that will be put back into the water.

All kinds of information about lobster.

Bush compound. 

Cute homes along the water.

More cute homes.

St. Ann's church. Corner stone laid on August 22, 1887, 

still holds services during the summer. 

 

Lighthouse.

Kennebunkport Inn.

Friday, we walked a little bit of Boston so we could go to a place where "everyone knows your name," yes, you guessed it, Cheers. After that we went on a trolley tour around Boston. It was a good trip and we saw many buildings and the guide was good. We were having a nice time until we didn't. "Keeping it real" since it was a hop-on hop-off tour, people (not us) got off and on. Well, a loud family got on and sat behind us, after that and all the honking from the cars, the tour became awful. We couldn't hear our guide, the traffic was awful, people are rude, and everyone loves to honk their horns. We were going to go back on Saturday, but we had enough. Hubby did an amazing job just finding us a place to park and then we took the subway. Let's just say, one day was good. Not saying that I wouldn't go again, just not this week.

Love the old buildings.

In this graveyard lies Paul Revere (who had 16 children, 

8 from his first wife (who died five months after giving birth

 to their daughter Isanna) and then 8 from his second wive).

Well, one person knew my name, the host, we had to wait for a seat, 

so he wrote it down. Cheers is first come first serve place.

Saturday, a chill day. We hung out and played cards, went out to lunch (Mom had lobster), hubby and I made dinner and took it back to the hotel and then played more cards. Today, we will go to Wolfeboro, NH and check out this little town by Lake Winnipesaukee. The waitress recommended going here. More about that on the next blog.

Another new state! Here are the state bird, tree, flower and motto for Maine. 

 
*Maine: Black-capped Chickadee (Bird), Eastern White Pine (Tree), White Pine Cone (Flower), and "DIRIGO" Latin for "I lead." (Motto).

"Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they lift up their voices among the branches". 

Psalm 104:12 (NASB)

Eastern White Pine.

Maine is the only state whose state flower is not actually a flower. 

Lawmakers chose the White Pine Cone because the state was commonly 

known as the Pine Tree state.

If there is something special you would like me to take a picture of, please let me know!
 
Drop a comment for me and let me know your thoughts on the blog.
 
God, the RV & me...