Day Off

Matt has been working out straight all week trying to get the deck built for us. Even though he has been enjoying the change of work from selling cars, we really couldn't call this week off a vacation because he has been so busy. He decided that he would fix that by not working on the deck at all yesterday, and just having a relaxing day together.
 It was a warm summer day, and we had already decided the night before that we wanted to go on a picnic for lunch on Friday, so we headed out around 11:00 to Acadia National Park to have a picnic on the sand beach there. We stopped in Ellsworth on the way and picked up supplies for a clothesline as well as sandwiches for our picnic. As usual the park was gorgeous, and I enjoyed sinking my toes into the warm sand on the beach immensely. There is just something about a sand beach that is so much more appealing to me than a rocky one.

After we finished lunch, we headed down to the water and I stuck my toes in to rinse off the sand that had stuck to my feet and legs. The cool water felt so good on such a warm day!

We were both getting thirsty, so we headed back to the car to get our drinks that we had left, and we headed to downtown Bar Harbor to do some sightseeing/
window shopping. Matt took me to our favorite ice cream shop there, and bought a cup of creamy ice cream for both of us to enjoy while we wandered around. We ended up going down to the pier and just relaxing on a park bench to watch the boat activity in the harbor.

Somebody's private yacht was in port and we watched as two guys meticulously cleaned all of the chrome, dark wood, and such that the boat was trimmed with. I couldn't get over how HUGE this boat was or how much it must cost to own something like that!! I told Matt that someday we would have one to dock next to this one. *wink*

A cruise ship was also in. This picture doesn't do it justice to show how gigantic it really was!! We could actually see this boat when we were driving around Acadia National Park.
When we were done our ice cream, our adventures took us into many little shops looking at jewelry and whatever took our fancy until we had worked our way back to the car.

Bar Harbor was the perfect place to spend a relaxing day off. It is always so beautiful there, and I could spend days just wandering through all the quaint little shops. Having a whole afternoon to enjoy with Matt was amazing! I've gotten so spoiled with having him home all week that I already don't want him to go back to work on Monday!

4th of July

Our celebrating didn't go quite as planned because of the weather, but we still had a good time celebrating Independence Day. Matt's friend, Kenneth came down to help us celebrate and we all headed over to Dad and Mom McFarland's to meet up with them to go watch the parade. But, alas, before we even got to their house it started to rain and NONE of us wanted to get soaked watching a parade. So, Matt and Kenneth pitched in helping Dad pour cement to help support the shed that is attached to his house, and I did the heavy looking on/helping out where I could/visiting with Mom and girls. ;)
About 1:00 the guys wrapped up their project, and we all headed down to the cottage at the beach for a cookout, since the weather had mostly cleared. Matt and I walked the beach finding sea glass, and I even found a whole sea urchin shell! I LOVE the green and purplish colors of their shells, and this one was perfect! I added it to the rest of my decorations in my nautical-themed bathroom.
We stayed at the beach until it was time to come home and get ready for prayer meeting, all the while watching the weather to see how it would turn out for fireworks that evening. Sadly, by the time church was over, the fog had come inland quite far, and we were pretty sure there would be no fireworks that night. Not to worry, though!! Kenneth had come prepared with fireworks of his own, and we headed back to Dad and Mom's to touch them off! The POP and BANG of our fireworks was joined by other neighbors' fireworks, as we all celebrated! :) We ended the evening with ice cream,and all were ready to hit the hay after a day of celebrating!

This beautiful cream day lily bloomed just for the occasion! :)

Can you tell I was a little chilly?

Sunset Picnic

Since yesterday turned out to be SUCH a gorgeous day, we decided to go to the beach for a picnic for supper. I packed a bag full of goodies and we headed out as soon as Matt got home from work. Our plan was to cook hotdogs in the microwave at the family cottage and eat our supper down on the beach. But alas, when we got there, we could not find the key where we were told it was, and despite every effort my man used to try to "break in" to the cottage (including using a credit card to slip the lock, taking out a window, etc.), we could not get into the cottage. What were we to do now!?!? I headed to look for the key again where it was supposed to be, and Matt reached for his cell to call Dad for a more concise explanation to where the key might be. While he was on the phone I just happened to look in a remote spot, and would you know it???? THERE WAS THE KEY!!! We then embarked on the frustrationadventure of trying to make it work in the keyhole! After MUCH fiddling, Matt was finally able to make it work and we walked into the cottage.........only to find there was no microwave! groan Our next option? See if there was any propane for the stove. Thankfully there was, and after this city girl learned how to use it, our hotdogs were cooked in short order and we headed down to the beach to relax and enjoy our supper. It was such a beautiful evening, and we found ourselves just looking around enjoying the scenery instead of eating our supper. :) We stayed on the beach enjoying the sunset and the refreshing sea breeze until it was almost dark, and then headed back to the cottage to just sit and relax for a bit before heading home. After a while, we packed up and started on our way back home....none too soon either, because before we made it home (about 15 minutes away), clouds rolled in, lightning was streaking the sky, and the rain was beginning to fall!! We were in for a thunderstorm that lasted about an hour or so. Who would have thought that earlier that evening we enjoyed the perfect weather for a picnic??? That's Maine weather for you! :)

In the cottage.
For those of you who have been asking FINALLY here is a "contacts" pic! :)

Birthday Celebrations

Sunday was my Darling's 27th birthday, and we enjoyed a quiet, relaxing day together celebrating.
After morning church, we came home to enjoy a dinner for two.

Lasagna is one of Matt's favorites, and Ree Drummond's recipes are my favorites, so I combined the two and made a yummy birthday lasagna. :-)

Here is a link to The Pioneer Woman's recipe.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_lasagn/

Matt has never been a huge "cake" person,except for cheesecakes. He LOOOOOOOVES cheesecakes!!So I made him a Triple Lemon Cheesecake.
I found the recipe on a cute little blog I stumbled across the other day when I was searching for "crafty" ideas. This lady bakes AND crafts and is good at both! :-)

Here is a link to her blog...
http://gratefulprayerthankfulheart.blogspot.com/

...and a link to her cheesecake recipe.
http://gratefulprayerthankfulheart.blogspot.com/2012/01/triple-lemon-cheesecake.html
(Make sure you follow her directions on baking the cheesecake in a water bath...it keeps the cheesecake from cracking!)

My sweetheart's birthday cheesecake

After dinner, Matt asked if we could go to the beach and look for sea glass like we had done the previous Sunday! I was all up for it, so we packed a cool drink, and a bucket to collect our sea glass in, and headed for the beach.

This is the truck we sported all weekend. I love the perks my man gets with his job! :-) I fell in love with this truck the minute Matt brought it home! He even let me drive it some over the weekend, and I just fell MORE in love!! *sigh* ;-)

It was a beautiful warm, sunny day and a slight breeze cooled us off while we strolled the beach hand in hand, picking up beautiful pieces of sea glass. We had good success in finding pieces and came home with a jar full. We found quite a few green pieces, and also some "treasures."
Here are the greatest finds of the day!

The blue piece was just sitting on the sand when I found it. I was SOOOO excited because blue is the hardest color to find. Matt found the other two pieces. When he found the clear piece, part of it was buried in the sand. He kept pulling and pulling and the piece coming out was getting bigger and bigger! :-) We were both excited when we saw it was the complete bottom, and a bit of each of the sides of a bottle!
We spent most of the afternoon at the beach, and then took the scenic route home, stopping along the way to look at beautiful houses, or different parts of the shoreline.
After church that evening, we took the remaining lasagna and cheesecake over to his parents' house and enjoyed supper with his family.
Our day ended with trying to spot a big black bear that had been seen in a field just above Matt's parents' house. We immediately hopped in the truck and headed up the road to see if we could find it, but it was not to be seen. Oh well, maybe next time! :-)

One of the gifts I got my man! Tim McGraw Soul 2 Soul. It smells DIVINE!!!!!! Anybody want to watch Flicka? ;-)

A Picnic and Seaglass

We've been having EXTREMELY beautiful weather lately and have been enjoying every bit of it. Since it was so nice yesterday, we decided to have a picnic for lunch. I packed a lunch for us after church and we drove down to Pumpkin Head Island and ate our dinner on the beach.

Our view while we ate!

Pumpkin Head Lighthouse

After we were done lunch we walked the beach there looking for sea glass. We found a few pieces, but there wasn't much beach to search on, so Matt decided to take me to the beach by his family's camp. He said sea glass can always be found there. We had a grand time walking the beach looking for our "treasure",and when it was time to go we had a whole travel mug full of clear, brown, green, mauve, white and blue sea glass. Matt said blue is the hardest color to find, so we were both excited when we each were able to find a piece of blue! :-) When all of the different colored pieces were put together in a jar, they made a beautiful, nautical decoration for our house! :-)