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Dear Cooper and Finn
18th October 2018
Dear Cooper and Finn,
We went up Cadillac mountain this morning to watch the sun rise. It was a bold move, since we had to wake you up at 5.30 am to get up there in time. ‘Never wake a sleeping baby!’ is the first rule random strangers like to dish out unsolicited in the queve at the supermarket, but we‘ve broken that tons of times already when getting you into The Routine (tm) so we weren't worried. Plus (and this is rather petty) we quite enjoy the novelty of waking you up for a change when usually it’s the other way round. And since Cadillac mountain is the first place to view sunrise in the US at this time of year, we were really keen to try and see it. And we made it! We saw the sky going red above the sea as the sun touched it for the first time. Then we decided it was way too cold and windy for you two so we took you back to the car, and by the time I got back to the viewpoint to take some photos there was a massive grey cloud in the way! Nature can be so annoying sometimes. Then we went to Jordan's in Bar Harbor for some of their famous blueberry pancakes. And what a glorious success it was, until we tried to clean some snot off your faces and you let us know rather loudly that you much preferred your pancakes with a side of snot thanks very much. And then we met a lady who is an identical twin and her husband said they were almost completely identical except her sister had a mole on her left breast. LOL · And then he shouted “BOO" at you in a scary voice and made you cry and we left very quickly after that. XXX
Dear Cooper and Finn
17th October 2018
Dear Cooper and Finn,
We went for a walk around Jordan pond today. We were looking for beavers but we didn’t have any luck unfortunately. About ten minutes into our walk we realised we’d dropped one of your mittens, Finn, so your dad went back for it and some kind soul had picked it up and put it on a post because that’s what you do when you find a lost glove. X X X
Dear Cooper and Finn
16th October 2018
Dear Cooper and Finn,
We made it to Bar Harbor yesterday. The drive here was lovely – Maine has some very quaint towns. We’ve got to that stage of the holiday where I keep counting how many full days and nights we have left on my fingers, desperate to find some extra time somewhere. We went into Acadia National Park today and did the ship Harbor Walk, where a kind man offered to take our photo. | appreciate it so much when people do that, and I always try and offer too. Afterwards we had a drive up Cadillac Mountain. We could see for miles! But the wind was quite literally taking your breath away so we had to get back in the car. We were going to try and go out for tea as I really wanted a lobster roll, but we thought you might not be up for it. So we got takeaway and enjoyed it once you were asleep instead. Far more sensible. XXX
Dear Cooper and Finn
14th October 2018
Dear Cooper and Finn,
I’m loving being away. All we did was watch TV last night, which is the same as we’d probably have done at home. so you may wonder (along with everyone on our flight over here) why we dragged you half way across the world and made ourselves hoarse singing Old Macdonald just to watch TV on someone else’s sofa. It’s a fair question, and I definitely need to get better at finding this feeling closer to home - but I love how being somewhere different forces you to try new things. Or just to do the same things in different ways. At home we would never eat our breakfast sitting on the kitchen floor in our pants because we have high chairs. But I’m so pleased we did it here. XXX
Dear Cooper and Finn
14th October 2018
Dear cooper and Finn,
There’s a beautiful hand-drawn map of Orr’s and Bailey Islands hanging on the wall in the cottage we’re renting. It’s by Ronald F. Mowat, and as soon as we walked through the door I fell in love with it. Your dad knew we’d have to try and find a copy before I even did, so I was delighted when we tracked one down at the Land’s End Gift shop (along with some very fetching lobster onesies for you). Later we went for a lovely walk around Otter Brook Preserve, crunching golden leaves under our feet and enjoying the sunshine on our faces. As we drove home you got a little upset again and I was just getting ready to start Old Macdonald when I decided to turn the radio up instead. I did it just as ' To be without you ' by Ryan Adams came on, and it calmed you right down. so I had a lovely three minutes staring out the window, reflecting on the day. Then when we got back we wrapped up warm and went outside to watch the sun go down on our last night on Orr's Island. We listened to the boats creaking and the water slapping and smelled the sea, bathed in golden light. I’ll remember it forever. (You won’t, of course. But trust me, it was awesome.) XXX
Dear Cooper and Finn
13th October 2018
Dear cooper and Finn,
The road trip begins! Today we drove up to Harpswell from Boston, stopping off for some potato donuts from The Holy Donut on the way (we were going to sit inside and eat them but you made it very clear we should get them to go). We had to keep singing old Macdonald to stop you from crying but I was feeling a little stressed out so I couldn’t think of any animals. Luckily your dad stepped in so I did the verses and he helped out with the animal sounds. We had llamas, geese, camels, zombies and yodellers. It was a lot of fun. We got to our cottage on Orr’s Island just in time to watch the sunset, and it is so beautiful and peaceful. Can’t wait to explore with you tomorrow. XXX
