Chicken to Chinups

Adventurous days of vacation Day 1

Stayed up late the night prior until 2200 making Kale chips for the ride ahead. NH bound for 9 days.

Woke up at 0330 to pack the car, make a coffee, drag 2 teenage girls out of bed (they actually dragged me out of bed) and stop to fill up on gas.

Finally started driving to our destination at 0440. The thought of driving 584 miles was utter nonsense at this time. I usually rely heavily on my garmin to take me places but this time my husband map quested my directions and I did it the good old fashioned way. NO GARMIN!

Lets just say the ride was smooth and faster than I thought it would be. The girls took turns napping and enjoying the scenery. My iPod kept me quite awake with my workout music on and my fav man of course...Eddie Veddar.

All was well until Hartford Connecticut!!! That is when you went from doing 70-75 down to a complete dead stop. And all for what? One lane construction. Ughhh. This lasted a good 20 minutes. When you are stopped in traffic on the highway for that long, it feels like eternity.

All the signs were starting to look more familiar and the 584 miles was getting shorter and shorter.

Only had to stop 3 times. Once for gas and a pee break, once for lunch and a pee break, and once for just a stretch and a pee break. Now, you would think traveling with 2 teens it would be them wanting a break. NOPE...mom needed a break more. They never asked which was surprising.

Before we knew it...we were at our destination at 1430. Phewy! Long 9 1/2 hours. Greeted by my mother and 3 yr old nephew.

Ate a yummy supper and then off to bed we went. A very tiring day from sitting in the car.

Adventurous days of vacation Day 2

Woke up at 0630 today. Neck pain was horrid. 2 tylenol and a coffee later all is tolerable.

Father made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Yum yum!

Beach day it is today! Yay!!! Ive been waiting all year for this. This girl needed her vitamin D badly.

Jessy and Jake ready for a beach trip.

Eden and Jake ready for a beach trip.

We hopped in the SUV and headed to the beach. Hampton Beach that is. The weather was perfect. 70 degrees at 0830 when we started the 30 minute drive there. The scenery on the way was beautiful. So green and plentiful. New England is just pretty all times of the year.

Here's a few shots of our day.

It went from 70 to 75-80 degrees tops. Slight breeze throughout the day.

PERFECT! The water felt like 30 degrees though...brrrrrrr. Once you stood in the water for 10 minutes, your legs became numb to the cold.

Went from an empty beach to semi crowded. This beach is usually cram packed.

We ate packed PB&J and snacks for lunch today.

Played with my nephew and his fake shark in the water. Which was fun because we had 2 kids walk by and think we were playing with a real shark. Really??? is that what we do in the north???

We definitely soaked up some sun. ☀

Ahhhhh sun and relaxation. Bout time!

We watched this girl (seagull) pull a bag of popcorn out of someone's bag and try to eat everything in sight on the beach. Crazy seagulls!

Great day! Long overdue and much needed.

Adventurous days of vacation Day 3

York Beach, Maine and York's Wild Kingdom today.

York Beach was beautiful, but packed with people. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. 80's all day.

Even the sand was darker and softer on the feet. Lots of seaweed and rocks at this beach.

There are 2 different parts of the beach to go to. We went to the "short" beach but there's also the "long" beach as well.

The water felt like you were in an ice box, but once your feet and legs were numb it wasn't so bad! LOL.

The kids dug holes and attempted building castles, but this wasn't castle sand.

After some packed lunch we decided to head to York's Wild Kingdom. This is a mini zoo and amusement park. It was a lot of fun and we kept it a surprise for the kids. Spontaneous!

I always knew the were monkeys.

Of course mom and I are as well!

They had monkeys that had to work puzzles in order to get food. Pretty genius!

The butterfly garden was mine and the girls favorite part.

One landed right on my foot as soon as I entered. So pretty. It was the most radiant shade of blue.

So many beautiful animals at this zoo. The lion was the funniest of all. He laid on his back dead asleep sprawled out.

We decided to see the famous Cape Neddick "Nubble" Lighthouse in York, Maine as well. Which also lead to beautiful views of the ocean and amazing houses I wish I owned. Just beautiful!

The view!!!

More of the view ...

My 2 girls went down these rocks to check out the water and ocean rock life.

More view. Serenity!

Another glorious day.

Adventurous days of vacation Day 4

We went to the Flume, Franconia Notch and to see what's left of the Old Man on the Mountain today with my father and the girls. (The White Mountains) beautiful scenery is all I have to say about this day.

The weather was calling for scattered showers throughout the day, but Mother Nature held out so we could enjoy the day. Went with my father and the 2 girls.

We had some amazingly sweet pure maple candy as well compliments of my father ... It was yummmm.

There's a great viewing site where the old man on the mountain used to be that if you look ahead at your height with the poles, it almost looks like he's still there. Pretty neat!