Visitors to Maine

Long time no blog!  It would be impossible to attribute this brief blogging absence to a lack of time, so I'll have to attribute it to a lack of good pictures due to the lack of gorgeous Island views and scenery.  However, this past week we had some visitors from home, which allowed us to get out of the house and enjoy some sightseeing in Maine, even in the dead of Winter!  Fortunately, this Winter has been one of the mildest in a long time, and so my Mom, Auntie Anne, Andee and I were able to enjoy some time outside, as well as some indoor activities for the colder days!

The first day was one of the warmest of the week, and so we enjoyed a beautiful Portland Boat Cruise around the Islands of Casco Bay!  It was a beautiful sunny day, especially for February, and we really enjoyed the beautiful Maine scenery and spending time together!  We finished off the day with a delicious meal at Bell Buoy, a seafood restaurant down the street from our condo!  All you can eat shrimp, yum!

On the second day the three girls enjoyed another warm winter day by taking both walks up and down the beach and around the streets of Old Orchard Beach!  And I have to say, it wasn't that cold!  Of course I was (always am) wearing 2 pairs of thermal socks, long johns, and layers of shirts and sweaters underneath my regular clothes!  We were even able to take off our coats for some pictures!  It was my favorite kind of Winter weather....mild!  We also walked to another restaurant down the street for dinner, which was delicious!

The third day, Saturday, we did some American shopping, which included a trip to Wal-Mart.  It was here that we discovered the Aldridge passion, a Claw Machine!  I dropped off my Mom and Anne in front of the doors where the claw machine was, and by the time I had found a parking spot and walked towards the door, my Mom was already holding an animal and I was greeted with giggles and unbelief!  After playing for a while, we each won a few animals to add to our collection of winnings!  And we have definitely found a fun activity for our future visitors to Maine!!  We also made it to a delicious Buffet dinner that was only $10.95 a person!  We vowed to return later that week!

On Sunday Andee and I brought our visitors to our wonderful Church in Maine, and they loved it!  It was great for them to experience something that they had heard so much about already!  After church, we visited a chocolate factory home to the World's only life size Chocolate Moose!  Weighing in at 1.700 pounds of pure milk chocolate, "Lenny" was quite the sight to see!  He was also surrounded by 3 dark chocolate bears, which were very cute!  Of course we took pictures!!  We finished off the day with a game of bowling, a little more shopping, and a delicious dinner at Olive Garden!  A great Maine day!

On Monday, while Andee was in school, we took it easy and made our way to the movies to see "The Vow", and really enjoyed it!  It was a pretty cold day, so we stuck to indoor activites for the remainder of the day, going out for dinner in the evening, Dunkin Donuts, and some additional claw machine madness!  I am embarrassed to say that the blind lady beat us all, coming up with the most total animals!  I will have to practice for her return in April!

Tuesday, Valentine's Day, was the last full day for our visitors, and so I decided to take them sightseeing around Portland while Andee was at school!  We saw beautiful coastlines, shores, beaches, and lighthouses, true to Maine's typical tourist sights!  It was a little bit colder than I would have liked close to the shore with the wind chill, but once we were far enough away from the ocean we really enjoyed the beauty of Maine!  I will have to re-visit these beautiful locations on a warmer day in the future with Andee!  The four of us also enjoyed a wonderful Valentine's Day Buffet dinner, which was delicious!

On Wednesday I had to drop off my Mom and Anne at the airport, but not before we made a couple stops at Dollar Tree and IHOP!  Both were wonderful, and we had a great time!

Overall, it was amazing having visitors from home join us in our new and temporary life in Maine!  We hope for more visitors soon!!