2SHAY

I took plenty of pictures of the grandchildren this summer and a few others. Thought you might like to have a look. Enjoy!

Madeleine's portrait taken on the occasion
of her first birthday.

Thijs riding a play horse in the park.
(photo taken by his parents)

Doesn't Thijs look a little bit like the Campbell
Soup kid?

Madeleine being silly while taking a bath.

Playing "peek-a-boo".

Here are a sequence of pictures where Thijs
is tasting a lemon. Makes you want to pucker
up.

Now doesn't that make your mouth water?
And he went back for more!

Now, there's a nice looking young lad.

Pushing his little cart.

Lovely petunias in flower boxes in Newburyport.

The following were all taken in Portsmouth, NH
at the public gardens.

Pebbles on the beach.

Waves crash on the shore at Wallis Sands Beach.

Madeleine playing with the wet sand at the beach.

Playing with Tia and her plastic bottle.

Ray and I celebrated 36 years of marriage on July 28th. We decided to take a mini vacation in the great state of Maine. We left on July 29th and returned Aug. 1st. We started out from Newburyport, Ma after leaving our dog Tia with Alicia and Thijs. It was around noontime so we
grabbed a lunch by the water at BG's Boathouse in Newcastle, NH. This was my Dad's and Grandparent's old lobster pound that they owned back when I was a kid. It was called Henry's Lobster Pound back then. It looks quite different from those days many years ago. We always try to make a trip there in the summer. The food is great.

Outside dining area.

Boats in their slips off the wharf.

This is a picture taken in the 1950's by a photographer
who then placed it in a calendar for that year which
I think was 1956. This is the old lobster pound.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Old Orchard
Beach called the Atlantic Birches Inn. We liked it
and found the inn keepers very friendly. They gave
us good advice on what restaurants to frequent.

The room was decorated in Victorian style and was
called the Fiske Room named after an old hotel in
Old Orchard Beach.

Our first dinner was at Joseph's By the Sea in Old
Orchard Beach. It was fine dining at it's best. I
enjoyed some seared scallops - very yummy.

Here's Ray perusing the menu at Josephs. He
chose some steak and liked it very much.

Old Orchard Beach on a nice sunny day.

Lots of big waves.

It looks like Ray is the only person on the beach.
Not true. The people there were mostly Canadian
residents. Lots of French spoken there. In the
background is an amuzement park.

The people gather closer to the shore. We
stayed back a little. We did go into the water
and it wasn't bad.

One of the restaurants recommended by our
inn keeper is the Rising Tide. We had lobsters
and steamers. The best.

Lobster boat.
One other restaurant that was recommended
was called Huots in Scarborough, Me. I highly
recommend this one too. We had the best, fresh
fried haddock ever. This restuarant has been in
business since 1935. There's no grease on the batter
which is crispy and tender. Check out their
website at www.huotsseafoodrestaurant.com

We went into Portland and took the Casco Bay
Lines Ferry and visited some of the islands. It was
a 3 hour round trip. This particular ferry brings
the mail etc. to the islanders. Unfortunately,
the skies were overcast that day so my pictures
weren't exceptional. We did enjoy the trip though.

Another ferry passing by just like ours.

Fort Gorges, octagonal fort built in 1858

One of the stops along the way.

How would you like to live in this house?

You might not be able to see it but there's an
osprey bird sitting on top of his nest.

Diamond Cove on Great Diamond Island.

This bus transports people back to their
homes on the island.

This is a map of the islands we visited. We stopped
at Little Diamond, Great Diamond, Long Island,
Chandler's Cove on Great Chebeague Island and
Cliff Island.