Trip to the sea

Today we bundled everyone up and headed to Maine. We enjoyed a lovely drive...I LOVE just looking out the windows, observing the beautiful forests and houses. We caravanned up in 3 cars...we had Grandma and Grandpa LeCheminant, Andy, Grandma and Grandpa Kingsley, our family, and all the Kingsley siblings. First we went to a lobster restaurant right on the coast. They actually had a boat dock attached to the building for mariners to drive up and order from the boat! All the restaurants here claim to serve seafood caught that morning. I enjoyed the best bowl of clam chowder in my life and Nathan had a mix of lobster, fish, and scallops. It was the best seafood I've had. I suppose Texas can't really compete for freshness. :) Daniel really loved my clam chowder so we shared the bowl quite happily.

After lunch we drove to a breathtaking spot on the coast with a lighthouse. It really looked like a postcard. The wind was very gusty and it was very cold, but we braved the cold to climb down the rocks to the ocean. It was so much fun! Sarah and Matthew loved scrambling over the boulders and looking into the tide pools. They enjoyed leaping across the chasms between the rocks. Almost every picture looked perfect with such a beautiful setting. I couldn't believe the lighthouse itself. It was so picturesque...it made me want to do a painting of it. I hope to use one of our snapshots as a guide for a future painting when I'm not in school. The hard part will be just picking which picture to use! When we returned to the car, our faces were numb from the icy wind, but it was definitely worth it. I"ll remember that spot forever.

On the way home we stopped at an old church building in Portsmouth, NH that Nathan's ancestors helped build. It was so beautiful. The congregation was organized in 1677 and church members included President George Washington! It was so fun to see such beautiful architecture and know a teeny bit of the history behind the building. It was located in a beautiful town square. We explored a couple shops, my favorite was a toy store named 'G. Willikers'. How fun!