Maine Part 3 - Five Islands! {New England Vacation}

Continuing on with our New England vacation recaps (that I accidentally neglected, oops)...

After a wonderful day spent on Peaks Island, we headed north for a day of exploring Five Islands, Maine!  This area was full of awesome lighthouses, foggy bays, and tons of fresh lobster.  The weather was less than stellar (compared to our previous day of glorious sunshine), but we made the best of it and explored around anyway!

Merrymeeting Bay...
(We were hoping to spot some bald eagles that supposedly frequent the area, but no luck!)

Doubling Point Lighthouse...
(very cool!)

A hike to Squirrel Point Light...
(I have never been bit by so many mosquitoes in my life!!)

Lunch at Five Islands Lobster Co!
(I just couldn't stomach eating a whole lobster like Brett did...
its eyes were just staring at me!!)

A nice afternoon nap on the grass in a downtown park of Bath, ME...

And then we went kayaking!  But unfortunately, I left my "old camera I use in water activities because I'm clumsy" back at the hotel in Portland, so I didn't get any pictures.  Booo.  But we had a great time.  We kayaked in an inlet to the ocean, so we saw tons of jellyfish just swimming around us the whole time.  It was so weird!  I'm only used to seeing jellyfish in the ocean crashing with the waves.  Then, after kayaking, we began to head back to Portland for dinner and fun.  It started torrential down pouring while we drove, so we figure the only logical thing to do was to stop at a brewery (Sea Dog Brewing Company) until the rain let up and we could drive back to our hotel. ;)  Cheers!*

And this concludes my recap posts of our time in and around Portland, Maine!

Up next: Lake Winnipesaukee, NH!

Scenes from the Weekend

Iced coffee in my Hilton Head glass :)

Backyard hammock relaxing

Brett built two of these amazing flower planters in our backyard!

And here is the second one!

I just love them!  Can't wait to add a few more :)

Froyo with the fam

Late night patio hangs

The Devil Makes Three at Mr. Smalls!

It was a great weekend!  And can I just say that I have the best husband ever!  He worked all weekend long on the backyard and making those amazing flower planters and I am just so grateful.  He is such a handyman and I just couldn't be more excited about how our yard is coming along.  So thank you, Babe!  You're the best!  Cheers to the new week, friends!*

Celebrating Our 4 Year Anniversary!

4 years in the books!  Wow does time fly.  I feel like our wedding was just yesterday and a million years ago all at the same time.  I was looking through some pictures from that glorious day in August 2010 and it made me want to relive it all over again (and again and again...)!  What a perfect day.

We had a great time celebrating this year!  Brett got me the most beautiful summery flowers and they immediately brightened up the whole house.  We went to dinner at a cute little local Italian restaurant (Franco's Trattoria), where we dined outside on the patio surrounded by twinkle lights.  And then on our way home, we stopped for desserts (delicious cupcakes!) to eat while we opened our wedding box!  We read our letters from the previous year and had a blast strolling down memory lane, thinking about all the wild and crazy things we've done since our 3rd wedding anniversary (and there are a lot!).  And then it was time to place the new letters in the box, only to be locked up until our 5th anniversary next year.  I can't wait to see where we are then!

Babe, I love you so much!

And I can't wait for many many many more years

of exciting adventures together

in this little life of ours!

xoxo

4 Year Wedding Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary, Babe!!*

On this day, August 7th, 4 years ago...

I married my best friend.

Best decision I ever made!

I wouldn't want to do life with anyone else.

Marriage is so much FUN!

Babe, I can't wait to celebrate tonight & open the box!

I'm looking forward to many more years of wild & crazy adventures with you. ;)

I love you so so much!

xoxo

{More wedding photos here!}

Scenes from the Weekend

Froyo with my fam, after a full day of hanging out

Rainy sunday cookie making!

Followed by delicious homemade pizza night

This weekend was a pretty low key one.  Brett was out of town for most of it at a bachelor party, so I was on my own!  I hung out with my family for most of Saturday and then got a ton done around the house on Sunday.  So I'd say it was still a successful weekend.  And now I'm just counting down the days until Thursday (our 4 year wedding anniversary)!*

Maine Part 2 - Peaks Island! {New England Vacation}

This was probably one of my favorite days of our whole vacation!  We spent the day on Peaks Island off the coast of Maine and it was awesome.  It was also Brett's 30th birthday that day, which made it even more fun!

Taking the ferry from downtown Portland over to the island...

lots of great sights along the way!

We made it!

Spent the morning just walking around and exploring the island...

Lunch with a view...

Then, we rented bikes and rode around the island for the rest of the afternoon,

stopping at various spots along the water...

And relaxed at this most gorgeous beach!

I guess being 30 is tiring sometimes ;) ;)

We had just enough time to grab some ice cream before catching the ferry back to Portland in the early evening.  Then we spent the rest of Brett's birthday celebrating with dinner and drinks out on the town (including a late night bar singalong of songs from The Band!).  I think Brett had a great birthday!* :)

Up next: Five Islands, Maine!

Maine Part 1 - Portland! {New England Vacation}

Once we left Portsmouth, it was time to head to Maine!  We only had about an hour drive to Portland (where we were staying), so we decided to drive along the coast and take our time getting there.  There were so many beautiful places to stop!

Along the coast of Maine...

Stumbled upon a lighthouse!

Nubble Light...

And while staying in Portland, there was so much to see and do.  We were there for 4 nights and did so much in that amount of time.  We explored nearby islands and towns (separate posts coming for those!), visited a famous lighthouse, wandered around the cute little downtown area, and indulged in plenty of delicious eats and drinks!

Portland Head Light...

Scenes from around town...

So many delicious foods, restaurants, breweries, and treats!

What a great town!  We had a lot of fun in Portland, especially with all of their delicious restaurants.  We stayed at the Inn at St. John, which was a cute little historic victorian bed and breakfast.  They had great rates and a delicious breakfast spread every morning (along with fresh cookies all day long!).  It was a bit outside of the downtown area, but we had no problem driving down each day.  I'd definitely recommend these accommodations!  (Though, be ready to hike up 3 flights of stairs to your room because there is no elevator!)  :)

Up next: Peaks Island!

(Where we spent Brett's 30th birthday!)