Ogunquit, Maine 2011

THE BEACH

The Beach.  I absolutely LOVE the beach.  I inherited that trait from my father. . .a fellow beach, waves, and large bodies of water lover.  I could spend a whole day just staring at the waves and sinking my feet into the sand.  So, naturally, any time we are near the ocean, I demand at least one day at the beach.  In the case of our trips to Boston, I enjoy repeated trips to the harbor and whale watch boat rides.  But those are not the same as playing on a sandy beach!  So, Matt and I used to take day trips to Rockport or Gloucester in Massachusetts; and once we even drove blindly down to the Cape thinking we'd easily find a nice accessible beach. . .NOT!  Well, a couple years ago (which happened to be Hannah's 1st trip to Boston) we decided to venture the other way!  So, up North we traveled and we stumbled upon Ogunquit Maine.  There's a WONDERFUL beach in that tourist town.  After a stop in Kittery for some outlet shopping (Hello, Coach purses!) we head to the beach.  We breeze right past all the adorable little shops in Ogunquit and head straight for the beach.  I always think it would be nice to hang around town longer the next time and shop, but really. . .all I want to do is soak up the sun and waves.  The sand?  Well, I am not as big a fan of the sand.  It is too stubborn and clingy!  As much as I try to leave it behind, it inevitably finds numerous places to stow away :)  I always feel bad for the rental car company when we return the car.  So, it is great that we tend to get back REALLY late at night after it's closed and we simply hand the keys to the valet at the hotel.  Done!  Someone else's problem now.  Someone else's vacuum ;)  

Watching Hannah laugh and squeal in delight as the ice cold water devours her feet and legs, is priceless!  That's my girl!  She is getting brave and running head on into the waves as they race towards her.  Then she runs back to me.  I never let her get too far ahead of me.  There's a distinct line between my delight in watching her have fun; and terror envisioning the waves gobbling her up and carrying her out to sea!  It can happen!  It happened to me when I was three years old.   But that was at the Outer Banks, North Carolina. . the waves in Maine seemed more kid friendly and less kid hungry that day.

After playing in the frigid water and drudging in and out of the heavy wet sand, Hannah was getting tired and her little lips were turning all shades of purple.  Her piggies and fingers were like tiny prunes.  Yet, just as I remember feeling as a kid, she still didn't want to stop.  Ironically, I bribed her into getting out of the frigid ocean with. . .wait for it. . .ice cream!!!!. . .I know.  Crazy.  But it worked!  Had to be dipped in rainbow sprinkles, though.  The kid wanted to go warm up with some rainbow sprinkled ice cream, who am I to judge?  That's being 4 years old, for you!  I'm certain I must have done some crazy things at that age, too.  We even did the unthinkable, and fed some of our treat to the nutty seagulls who were hovering nearby.  Hannah couldn't finish her cone, so I set it in the sand, and we watched the seagulls fight over it!  They were circling all around us overhead.  Taking turns diving in for a taste.  A few tried to pick up the whole cone!  But didn't succeed.  Only after they ate it, did I start to freak out that they might poop on my head!!!  Luckily they moved on to other people's leftovers and we were long forgotten.

The only bad thing about the beach, is it is not wheelchair friendly.  They have special sand wheelchairs, but they are only available until 5pm, when the lifeguards lock them up and go home :(  I guess disabled people don't like to spend time at the beach with their families after 5pm?  Bummer.  Not sure who passed around THAT memo, but it is wrong.  After 5pm is also a great time for fair skinned people like me!  If I spend too much time in the sun and don't apply sufficient sunscreen after repeatedly being scrubbed and beaten clean by the sand and waves, I will be mistaken for a lobster. . .  Even though he did not get to be buried in the sand this time, there was a nice area where Matt could sit and watch everything, and he even had some shade :)  Big bear hugs to him for being so patient, and finding joy in watching his daughter and wife make fools of themselves in the ocean.  He had a front row seat for the all the fun, took pictures with his phone, stayed dry, warm, and didn't have gallons of sand plastered to his body afterwards.  Hannah made sure to bring lots of water on her clothes and hair to share with him when she'd go up and check on him and give him hugs ;)  Not a bad deal, after all!  

After exhausting ourselves at the beach and working up an appetite, we head to our favorite seaside restaurant in the area, Jackie's Too!  It is a short trip through town up to Perkins Cove, where they have beautiful ocean view scenery and serve some of the best clam chowder and lobster bisque I've ever tasted.  (there are some really flattering pics of us devouring the soups below)  For dinner, they serve yummy seafood fettuccine alfredo!  Seriously YUMMY 'heart attack on a plate' kind of food.  Enough to share, too.  So we can feel a little less guilty ordering ONE entree per couple.  Hannah snacks on our soups and meals, and orders mac and cheese for herself :)  I guess Mac n'cheese is a fine meal anywhere, when you are four.

Anyway, the beach. . .Hannah and I love it.  Can't get enough of it!  Thank you Dad.  Thank you for passing down such a fun gene :)

Now, onto the rest of the photos!  As always, I took way too many. . .Enjoy :)

*note: I didn't forget our bathing suits, Hannah said she wanted to go in the water with her clothes on!  I figured, why not?!?!  So, I did too!  I'm pretty sure we do that every time we go to the beach, though*

 

 

POW!  Right in the kisser!  (this photo cracked me up)
No, Hannah didn't really assault any other kids, this photo was taken right when some random kid wiped out in a wave and Hannah was running towards me!  Had no idea at the time I took it, that the other kid was even in the frame!  It all happened so fast!  LOL  

Yep.  We're soaked!  And it was great :)

They didn't get wet.  No sense of adventure, I tell ya!  Or perhaps they were just afraid of rusting their hardware holding their bones together?  Hmmmm...

A popsicle eating an ice cream cone!

Perkins Cove

We didn't get to see anough of this guy on the beach, so he gets an extra picture from dinner ;)

GIANT piece of driftwood

YUMMY CLAM CHOWDAH!!!!

mmmmmmm!

Lobstah Bisque!!!

I swear this was the same seagull from the beach. . .he followed us to dinner!

beautiful view at dinner

Zonked out after a really fun day