Sunday - Father's day - in Maine

 Are y'all wondering...

Why don't she write?

Well here's why...

My computer has NOT been downloading all of my photos.  I don't know how long this has been going on, but it only downloads about a third of them.  I have to go through what has been downloaded, e-mail the ones to myself that have not been downloaded, then download them to 'my photos' from the e-mail.  blah blah blah...This takes hours, which I do not have because 

a) I went on a birthday surprise weekend...Remember this

and

b) came home from that and spent every day getting ready for our big July 4 party.

This week I've had other stuff going on, not as pleasant as above, but I will talk about it when I'm finished with the Maine trip, the Birthday trip, and the party.

Hang with me here.

And PS, Blogger will no longer e-mail me when you send me a comment.  I've tried doing a couple of tricks that other bloggers suggested, but it didn't work.  So if you leave a comment, best you leave it on the current post, even if it's about an older post.

Without further adieu...

Sunday, Fathers day in Maine

And we had to wake up to this view,

every  single   day.

The area we stayed in, on Higgins Beach, was very nice for going for walks every day.

These roses were in bloom EVERYWHERE we went.

Robert said his Grandma called them sea roses.

After walking, discussing the days plans, and all nine of us getting ready to go out, we decided to go to Portland.    The plan,  "Portland Head" which is a lighthouse and a Fort, and then go on a Duck boat ride.  I've never been on one, have you?

First stop...Portland Head

We walked all around the fort, took some pictures, then headed to the lighthouse.
Who doesn't love a lighthouse?  Seriously...and you can't take a bad picture of one.

Us

Pa and Me posting for a Father's Day pic

 A different lighthouse, don't know the scoop on it.

Trent, Taylor, Vickie, Theresa, Ma, Me, Pa
Back row: Robert and Dave

This sign signifies a shipwreck on Christmas Eve.  I don't know the year, but the sad part is how close they were to shore.  Here's the thing....that water is COLD.  There was one evening at the beach house we had a storm.  And our beach house was right across the street from the ocean and during that storm it was PITCH DARK.  You couldn't see a thing.  So they probably never knew the shore was so close.

I don't know the first thing about this bell.  Might have been on the lighthouse.  It's dated 1901.

There was an area where you could do a little hiking/walking and looking up through the trees you could see the American flag.

Off to downtown Portland....

I know this is a very long post.  We crammed a lot in this day, and I thought about breaking it up into several posts, but

 since I have the pics downloaded, I'm going with it.  They won't all be this long.

We did some shopping before meeting for our Duck boat ride.  I LOVED shopping in downtown Portland.  I would have loved to go there in the morning and spend the whole day.  Coffee shops, restaurants, bars, ice cream shops, Holy Donuts! and quaint little stores...

... with brick streets.

I believe these locks are part of a fence that someone started years ago, and each lock represents two people in love.  And I think it started in Europe, maybe....(Vickie you are welcome to expand on this in the comments if you would like to!)

And this is part of the Berlin wall...

And now we are in line for the Duck boat ride.

And this is the Duck boat.

I will spare you a whole lot of pictures here.  They took us all over Portland historic district and pointed out a LOT of statues and a LOT of historic homes.

Then we headed for the water!

And we're floating!

And I'm sparing you a bunch of harbor pictures here too!  If there is something I like more than lighthouse pictures, it's harbor pictures!

Gracious peeps, we are in something that looks like a bus and we are floating on the water!

When the trip was over they took us back to where we started, which seemed like a good place to eat.

We were seated in the shade but moved to the sun because, it was a tad chilly out that day, but for the most part the weather was perfect.

So, you go inside this little building and place your order.  Then they give you a lobster shaped buzzer that goes off when your order is ready.  Well, everyone had their food except my sister and her husband.

And we had it for quite awhile.

Well no wonder!  Look what her husband ordered!!!

Let me just say it was fun going down, but he was up all night.  Yep....and let me just say two words here...both ends!  Poor guy.

So for entertainment while waiting on Trent to finish his meal, we offered to pay Taylor to eat an oyster.

There were rules.  She had to chew, not just swallow it.

Look at Mom in the background!  HA HA

Tah Dah!!!

Geesh....he's still eating....now what can we do?

Yeah....I know....Drink another beer.  Nothing goes better with fried fish and water than beer. This would be our Pa eating Taylor's popcorn shrimp.

Like I said, beer maybe have been involved.

That's Dad and my Sister.

Story here.....

So we had a van and a car rented.  And Theresa, Trent, Taylor and Vickie rode there in the car. 

And Robert, Dave, Mom, Dad, rode in the van.

Well, when we finished eating Mom was ready to go.  So was Taylor.  Mom said Taylor could go with us.  (the van actually held eight people)  Dad was standing there talking to Trent.  So we thought he was going with them.  I even asked Mom and she said, "we have Taylor, he's going with them."

When we got home, Vickie and Theresa said we left Dad in Portland!

OH EM GEE PEEPS! 

My heart started pounding so I know Mom's did. 

And by the look on her face I thought she was going to faint!

Then she ran into their bedroom and there he was.  Apparently, he told them to tell us that!

  And I told them to never do that to her again!

He thought we were in the van waiting on him in the parking lot.

We got in that van and headed out!

He was talking to Trent....

He went to the bathroom....

We were gone!

And I guess they walked him to our parking lot and pointed the way and saw him standing there looking for the van.  No van to be found!

Good thing they saw him!

It's not funny....well, now it kind of is....but it wasn't then.

So, from that point on, we made sure we had the parents!  LOL!

We celebrated Father's Day. 

He opened Father's Day cards, and we had pie and ice cream.

All is well.

So...those lighthouse pictures.  If you were going to have one made bigger, which one would it be?

Cindy