Acadia

Acadia National Park surpassed all my expectations. It was absolutely beautiful, and the weather was perfect. We did as much as the kids (and us) could handle and  fell asleep exhausted each night. 

We started out doing a hike close to the campground, Beech Mountain. It was a short hike, .75 miles up, but very steep, with ladders at parts. The kids loved it.

We were with our friends, the Boyers, who have two boys. The kids all got along so well and played some sort of make believe Lord of the Rings all the way down. It was so fun watching them from a distance, fighting orcs and calling in Joe (who was Gandolfs great-great grandson) to do his magic whenever one of them got hurt. He was quickly promoted to "medic." 

Echo lake was at the base of Beech Mountain, so we spent the rest of the evening there, swimming and playing in the sand.

Saturday morning, Pete and John woke up at 4:30 to watch the sunrise atop Cadillac Mountain, the first place in the US to see the sun.

When they got back I took off on a run and made it to the top of Acadia Mountain. The views were gorgeous, I could have spent all day up there.

Our 4th of July breakfast.

Cadillac Mountain

We spent the middle of the day biking on the carriage trails. And Will and Sam got in some good naps.

Thunderhole

We spent Saturday night (July 4th) in Bar Harbor. Found a good spot on the green, ate pizza and ice cream and watched an amazing fireworks show. The kind that makes you smile and almost laugh, it's so good. I didn't know how the younger kids would do with the fireworks. Sam got really still when they started and just sat in my lap watching happily almost the whole time. Will held his hands over his ears the whole time and kept asking when they were going to be over and when we could go home.

My early morning buddy. Sam hasn't mastered the skill of sleeping in yet.

On our last day there, we hiked Wonderland, a short hike that takes you out to the ocean.

And finished with a picnic lunch by the lighthouse.

We had five sleeping boys soon after we started the drive home (and one sleeping mama). They all slept for 2-3 hours. Proof that we played hard!