Family Vacation in Ogunquit, Maine | Vacation Photos & Recap | August 2019 {Family Life}

October 26, 2019October 26, 2019 ~ Genevieve ~ 1 Comment

Family Vacation in Ogunquit, Maine

I figured I should finally post these photos from our summer trip to Maine before I share our photos from our trip this past week. Going on trips together as a family is a big priority for us and near the end of August, we went for our annual “end of summer” vacation to Maine. It certainly isn’t always relaxing or stressfree, but we always make great memories and it is such a special place for the four of us.

We love that we have made this a tradition as a family and our first visit was when our older son was two and I was pregnant with our second son. Our life has changed a lot since then but it is still such a magical place to visit.

Maine was somewhere that both Lucas and I visited as children. As New Englanders, Maine is easy to get to by car and has a low key pace similar to Vermont but with the ocean! It has been so special to carry on this tradition in our own family. This was my One Morning in Maine book from when I was a young child and the boys love it so much too.

How We Chose Ogunquit

There are so many amazing places to visit in Maine that the possibilities are nearly endless. When I was young, my paternal grandparents lived way up on Deer Isle (it was a long 8-9 hour drive!) and my cousins lived in the Kennebunkport area. Ogunquit is at the very beginning of Maine (close to Kennebunk) so it is much easier to get to, which also means it can be a lot busier than some other areas. Oguqnit was a place that Lucas visited as a child and when we loved our first trip together so much, we decided it was perfect for our family.

More about Ogunquit

It all depends on what you are looking for but we think it is a great vacation town that is family-friendly and provides endless outside activities and things to do with kids. While it can be busy, it never feels overwhelming. What helps is that we walk everywhere(driving can get pretty backed up) and tend to eat early (both breakfast and dinner) so we never need to wait for a table. We do book our accommodations a year before, which is pretty common for summer beach vacations. We found that four nights was the magic number for us and it seems like a great length for this type of trip.

Since our trip I have had a few questions about our itinerary, where we stay, dine, etc. so I am hoping this post covers all of that! I am not affiliated or connected with any of the places I am sharing here but I did want to provide links if you are curious.

Anchorage By the Sea on the Marginal Way

The Anchorage By the Sea is right on The Marginal Way and is walkable to everything. I can’t speak to any other hotels because we have only stayed here but it is wonderful. We love the accessibility to the ocean and that you can easily get to most everywhere we wanted to go from there.

It is immaculate, very welcoming to families and everyone is so lovely that works there. The top photo is the view from the Marginal Way in front of the Anchorage by The Sea looking out to Ogunquit Beach. Depending on the tides, you can walk there a couple of different ways…either coming from the Marginal Way (this does involve some climbing on rocks and walking through shallow water) or walking through town and taking the main entrance over the bridge.

Ogunquit Beach

Our first night we walked through town after dinner to the beach, and then at low tide, we were able to cross back over to the Marginal Way and our hotel. It was a gorgeous summer night and the kids had so much fun exploring and looking for crabs. I love that they are at the age that this is still very exciting to them…

Maine

Dining in Ogunquit

One of the highlights of vacation for us is always the FOOD! Ogunquit (and the surrounding area) have some awesome dining options, especially if you are a seafood lover. We have one adventurous eater and one pretty picky eater, and there was (almost) always something that would please everyone’s tastes.

Ice Cream Every Day!

I am also a big believer in daily ice cream on vacation and Sweet Pea’s is our favorite here. The oreo ice cream is amazing! They have so many flavors to choose from and it is right in the middle of Shore Road so it is very easy to get to (and very hard to walk by!)

Ogunquit Breakfast Spots

We had great breakfasts at Amore and The Cove Cafe in Perkin’s Cove. Like everywhere here, they are very family-friendly. We walked to both of these but you could drive if you wanted to. The Cove Cafe is about a 15-minute walk down Marginal Way and Amore and just down the main road. And how genius are these crayons that can’t roll off the table?! I had seafood at just about every meal, so it is no surprise I had the lobster eggs benedict at Amore, and they were delicious!

We also love Bread & Roses Bakery for a quick (and delicious) breakfast on the go (or out their outside patio) Their blueberry muffins are to die for and they also have a great selection of breakfast sandwiches and burritos. They also have great coffee and lattes!

Dinner Spots

We had some amazing meals on our trip. Our favorites were The Crooked Pine (just opened this past summer where Gypsy Sweethearts used to be) and Brix & Brine.

For no-frills seafood, we love The Lobster Shack at Perkin’s Cove. They do have grilled cheese or hot dogs if you have a pickier eater like we do!

Vacationing With Kids

Of course, it isn’t all fun and games. Vacationing with kids is more like “parenting in a different location”. As they have gotten older this has improved in many ways, but dining out every day can take a toll.

We had a great Italian dinner at Angelina’s (and their blueberry gelato is amazing!!) but it was a rough one with the kids. It was towards the end of our trip and everyone was ready for a bit of a break from sitting through 2 hour-ish dinners at restaurants. This picture of Lucas makes me smile because it brings me right back to that eventful night, ha.

Pool & Beach on Repeat

So what did we do our trip? We swam, both in the ocean and in the pools. The boys also loved the “kid-friendly” hot tub, there is also an adult-only one although we never visited it. 😉We also did a lot of reading by the pool which is the best! There are always a bunch of other families at this resort so there is no lack of other kids to play with which makes vacation SO much easier. When the tide was lower the boys had so much fun exploring. Because it was August the water wasn’t that chilly so we all did a lot of swimming too.

reading

After dinner, they usually did a night swim and we loved sitting next to the fire pits.

Meeting Up With Friends!

One of the highlights of our trip was when we met up with our Vermont friends who were at Ogunquit Beach for the day. With five boys total, they had a blast racing around and catching crabs. Jess even got in on the action!

Perkin’s Cove

The best part of Ogunquit is how walkable it is. We only used our car once when we well to Wells(more on that soon). We loved walking down the Marginal Way to Perkin’s Cove (and it also saves you on the pricey parking spaces!) and there couldn’t be a more gorgeous walk.

Not only is Perkin’s Cove super picturesque but it is a great way to see the boats coming in and out and sometimes even getting to see the drawbridge in action! We stopped at Java and had a delicious iced latte! There are also easily accessible and super clean public restrooms at Perkin’s Cove. This may seem like a small thing until you drink a huge coffee and then have to walk a mile back to your hotel, not that I know from experience or anything…

One of the highlights for the kids is the candy store! Perkins Cove Candies has almost every candy you could think of, and you get to put all of your selections into a sand pail while you shop which is quite the cute touch.

When It Rains…

We usually have one rainy day when we go and it is the perfect opportunity to take a break from the ocean and pool and head over to Wells. Here you can find the Boardwalk Arcade which is a great way to entertain the kids for a bit when the weather isn’t ideal. I also always love seeing all the other parents who have a similar look of exasperation and disbelief that this is now what they do on “vacation”.

We also never miss an annual visit to Fisherman’s Catch. Our youngest isn’t a big seafood eater, but he loves the fried clams and I do too! It is rustic, so delicious and has paper towels that hang from a red lobster from the ceiling, which come in handy because we always make quite the mess.

Souvenirs

Maine

Just like any vacation town, there are lots of places to find souvenirs to take home with you. We try to keep it to a minimum with the knick-knacks(we have enough clutter at our house already…) and so we try to get something we will actually get some use out of and these sweatshirts have been worn SO many times since our trip. We also love finding a book related to the place we are visiting.

On our very first visit, we found I Met A Moose In Maine One Day and it is still one of our favorite picture books now.

I hope you enjoyed this recap of our 2019 summer family vacation to Ogunquit, Maine! If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment below and I will do my best to answer!

Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, it helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!

10 Year Wedding Anniversary! {Wedding & Honeymoon Memories & 24-Hours Away in Stowe!}

September 22, 2019October 26, 2019 ~ Genevieve ~ Leave a comment

9.19.09 Wedding Memories…

(Wedding Photos by Daria Bishop Photographers)

Last Thursday we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary! It was a regular work and school day for us so we went to a 4:45pm pizza dinner with the kids followed by ice cream at the Scoop and then called it a day.

Anniversary photo by our 9-year-old! We did manage to get away though…

On Friday we headed away for a 24-hour escape!

We got married in Stowe so we have always liked celebrating up there every year. We have managed to make it there 9/10 years so that is pretty good! It is close by but feels like a whole different world and has so many special memories for us. We, of course, had to stop at Cold Hollow Cider Mill on our way! I love cider donuts but I don’t like the ones with sugar sprinkled all over them so these ones are my very favorite!

We got married at Stowe Mountain Lodge, which is now The Lodge at Spruce Peak. Our wedding was one of their very first ones because they had just opened in 2009 so it has grown and changed so much since then!

I like to act like I am a tourist when I am in Stowe (actually all of the time really…) and so I totally made Lucas pull over so I could take the iconic Stowe shot. We also took lots of selfies at our wedding ceremony location.

We didn’t have big plans which was exactly what we were looking for! These days, our lives feel like go, go, go, all the time. I know this is just part of the stage of life we were in with our kids, but downtime is a special thing right now!

We had lunch on the patio and then read by the pool with our Kindles. It was amazing! Our kids had school on Friday which is why we decided to go up then because it allowed us to need a little less childcare help and a weekday is always a little quieter up there so that was nice!

We had dinner and then read our Kindles by the fireplace, Facetimed with the kids and were asleep by 9:30! Regular routines are hard to break but it was lovely to have zero demands from anybody!

The next morning we were up by 6:30 so we found some coffee & maple lattes and had a relaxing morning.

After breakfast, we said “goodbye and see you next year!” to our special spot and headed off to meet our boys at their fall soccer jamboree. Our friends watched the kids for us so we could go away which we are so grateful for!

And just for fun, here is what we were doing 10 years ago right now…

We were on our honeymoon in St. John USVI. We rented a villa and a jeep for the week and it was just the best. Maybe for our 15th anniversary, we will go back there! I am also very proud of these honeymoon “selfies” because I took them with my little Canon digital camera! We definitely did not have iPhones back then…

We had the best time exploring, snorkeling, eating lots of delicious food and reading(in the shade!) See, some things never change, ha!

Thanks for letting me reminisce a little! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. <3

Drawing Home by Jamie Brenner | Little, Brown & Company | Book Review

August 24, 2019August 24, 2019 ~ Genevieve ~ 1 Comment

Drawing Home by Jamie Brenner

Book Summary:

“Summer has started in idyllic Sag Harbor, and for Emma Mapson that means greeting guests at the front desk of The American Hotel. But when one of the town’s most famous residents, artist Henry Wyatt, dies suddenly, Emma learns he has mysteriously left his waterfront home – a self-designed masterpiece filled with his work – to her teenage daughter, Penny.

Back in Manhattan, legendary art patron, Bea Winstead’s grief at her lifelong friend and former business partner Henry’s passing turns to outrage at the news of his shocking bequest. How did these unknown locals get their hands on the estate? Bea, with her devoted assistant Kyle in tow, descends on Sag Harbor determined to reclaim the house and preserve Henry’s legacy.

While Emma fights to defend her daughter’s inheritance, Bea discovers that Henry left a treasure trove of sketches scattered around town. With Penny’s reluctant help, Bea pieces them together to find a story hidden in plain sight: an illustration of their shared history with an unexpected twist that will change all of their lives.

Drawn together in their battle for the house, Emma and Bea are forced to confront the past while facing a future that challenges everything they believe about love, fate, and family.”

Publication Date:

May 7th, 2019

Genre:

Domestic Fiction

My Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️

My Review:

I recently picked up Drawing Home for a vacation read. A few weeks ago I read my first Jamie Brenner novel, her 2017 release The Forever Summer. After enjoying that one so much, I had high hopes for this one. I ended up finding Drawing Home to be just okay. I wanted to connect with the characters so much but I had trouble because the emotional depth was really lacking for me.

I understand that this is a “beach read” but it just had such promise and didn’t deliver. Because of this, I had a harder time connecting with the storyline and then the ending wrapped up so quickly in a not very believable way for me as the reader. While this was a bit of a miss for me, I do really love Brenner’s writing style. I am planning on reading The Husband Hour next and I have high hopes.

Coffee Talk | Currently Loving…Audiobooks at Work, Wireless Headphones, Barre Necessity & Fun at the Fair!

August 18, 2019July 13, 2020 ~ Genevieve ~ Leave a comment

Checking-in:

Hello! How is your weekend going? I am sitting down with a big mug of coffee to write this and then I need to finish editing a wedding because we are leaving for MAINE tomorrow!!

Currently Loving…Audiobooks at Work!

During my heavy editing season audiobooks get me through the long hours of sitting at the computer. My work is heavily creative so I am able to listen while I work which is amazing! Speaking of audiobooks, I finished The Most Fun We Ever Had this past week which I alternated reading and listening too. I shared more over on Instagram but I think it might be my favorite book ever!

I also decided to go the Audible route to help finish Red, White & Royal Blue and it is amazing on audio. I am hoping to finish it today. Have you read this yet? It has had some raving reviews and I can see why.

Wireless Headphones for the Win!

I had a lot of DMs about which headphones I have after I posted about them HERE.

I have the Tao Tronic wireless headphones. I got them last year after reading a lot of reviews and not being sure if I wanted to make a huge financial commitment. These are currently on sale for $39 and are awesome! I strongly dislike earbuds(and I can’t get them to stay in my ears) and I don’t care about whether I look cool or not, so they are great!

They have many uses which include listening to audiobooks and tuning out your noisy family. I also wear them at work when I am listening to a true-crime podcast because Kristy is afraid of them, ha! I also love wearing them around the house when I am vacuuming or putting away laundry…it makes the time fly by! I also love that I can listen to something without having my phone right next to me because I get less distracted by it that way.

Busy Season:

This last week has been a lot of tying up loose ends and finished all our work projects before we took a few days off. Summer in Vermont is short but intense and that means photography work here is similar. During the summer we are in a constant cycle of editing, lots of backend communication and sending out galleries and prints, etc. This does not even include all the work Kristy does to take the photos!

I am lucky to work with someone who is so organized because it is a lot to manage. Kristy recently set up whiteboards that look similar to the patient boards they have at hospital nursing stations, and it is fabulous!

Childcare in August…

The last couple of weeks before school usually mean that summer activities have ended and beloved babysitters have headed back to college! This means we did a lot of working with kids this week which is always a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

They were at home with me, at work with Lucas, spent some time with grandparents and also came to work with us at Kristy’s. Flynn’s mismatched shoes are a good representation of this past week inside my head, ha!

Summertime Self-care:

While I haven’t been going as regularly, barre is essential to my mental well being so I have been prioritizing that as much as possible. During the school year I go on my way to work but these days I go whenever I can get there, early morning, midday, or afternoon classes.

This is probably good for me as I am a very routined person and it has pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit. I have met some new barre buddies which is always the best! I still freak out if I can’t go in my specific spot in the room though…baby steps!

Fitting in Reading:

I bring my kindle along with me during the day and read when I can but most of my reading during the summer happens in the evening. During the school year, I have a lot more chunks of alone time in between meetings, appointments, and dropping off and picking up the kids. This time of the year, I AM NEVER ALONE, ha.

Kids Books We Love…

Julia Rothman Collection

Speaking of kids and reading, I get a lot of questions about how we get our kids to love reading. I am not an expert by any means but my love of reading came from being read to as a child and always having access to books.

I vividly remember riding my bike to the library and picking out whatever books I wanted to read…and then trying to figure out how to ride home while carrying them out without the foresight to bring a bag, ha!

(Ninjago | Dog Man | Pokemon Essential Guidebook | Frog & Toad Storybook Favorites | The Julia Rothman Collection )

So we have always read with our kids and had a lot of books around. We also try to be open-minded about what they want to read, even when they are into super annoying books like Pokemon, Lego, and graphic novels like Dog Man and Hi-Lo. I know people have strong feelings about this but I a big believer in the idea that reading is reading even if some of it might not be “ideal”.

We try to enforce at least 20 minutes of reading time a day whether it is on their own or with us. This has been a bit lax during the last couple of months but during the school year, it is a before bedtime requirement.

I had big plans to do a whole post about book suggestions that our kids love last spring and I never got around to it. I have big plans for September and I plan on sharing a more detailed post then!

Vermont Summer Living…

We have been embracing all the wonderful parts of this time of year while also looking forward to school starting again so we can get some of our regular structure back. Summer is great and school is too!

Addison County Fair & Field Days!

Speaking of embracing the wonderful parts of this year, I never posted about our trip to the fair! We visited the Addison County Fair last week which has been one of my summer traditions since I was a toddler myself. I love reminiscing about all my memories there while also seeing how much our kids love it. Lucas grew up in the big city of Burlington so he is still unsure about it all but I think it is growing on him. 😉

We planned accordingly so we could attend the Demotion Derby. We also had lots of fair food including fried Oreos. It was a pretty rainy week but this night ended up being just beautiful.

End of Summer Reading:

We have been soaking in all in and I have big reading planning to finish off our summer vacation. I am a last-minute packer but I have been thinking about what books I want to bring to Maine for weeks!! I think I have narrowed it down and I will keep you updated over at @genthebookworm.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend! <3

A Family Wedding Weekend in Vermont | Jay Peak Resort

July 16, 2019October 26, 2019 ~ Genevieve ~ Leave a comment

A Family Wedding at Jay Peak Resort

The Rehearsal

This past weekend we celebrated the wedding of my brother in law Derek and new sister in law Antonia! There is nothing like a family wedding and we had so much fun celebrating and spending time all together. We lucked out with amazing weather! After an iffy forecast, it ended up being the perfect wedding day. The mountains made the most stunning backdrop at Jay Peak Resort.

On Friday afternoon we had the rehearsal followed by an amazing evening at The Belfry which is just down the road in Montgomery. My husband’s family has had a camp in this area for 20 years so this restaurant is a place filled with so many memories for everyone. The food was amazing and the company was even better.

The Wedding Morning

It doesn’t matter how late I go to bed, I still can’t sleep in! Fortunately, we were staying in the perfect place for a cup of coffee with a view. We are finally at the stage where if the kids stay up later they will sleep in for a bit and this made for a quiet morning of coffee by the fire. It was a brisk 57 degrees and it felt amazing…there is just nothing like a cool summer morning.

Wedding Day Prep

It was the first time all four of our family members were part of a wedding party at the same time. Lucas was the Best Man, I was the Matron of Honor and the kids were the ring bearers. It made for some interesting logistics but we were lucky that because it was a family wedding, there were a lot of family members around that were happy to help.

I spent the day with the bridal party getting ready and Lucas took the boys to the water park. The Pump House is the most perfect place for the age of our kids. They loved the water slides and river so much.

The Wedding Ceremony

The Ceremony took place by the pond and it was just gorgeous. The shuttles brought everyone around the resort for all the wedding festivities which made it super easy. The views and the breeze were amazing and our friend Mike officiated the wedding which made it is so special.

After the ceremony, we took some family photos and then headed down to the cocktail area. Derek and Antonia did a first look so we had already completed the bridal party photos too which was nice.

The Reception

I really don’t have a lot of photos from the reception but it was so fun. I was a little nervous because both Lucas and I were both sharing a speech but once that was over it was a blast! 😉 I know people have strong opinions about this but I love having a DJ over a live band and if you know my tastes in music this probably surprises NO ONE. The music was great and everyone danced all evening.

While there weren’t many other kids at the wedding there were plenty of people that were young at heart! 😉 Between the dance floor, making human-sized straws, the maple syrup favors and a rowdy game of some sort of golf putting, they were thoroughly entertained all evening.

The Morning After & The Water Park

I had another leisurely morning of coffee and reading and then we joined the bride and groom for breakfast. If you haven’t had the Foundry Mimosa you are missing out, it is amazing!!

Once the boys were awake we headed to the water park as a family. We all had so much fun and Lucas and I even did the La Chute waterslide…I may have screamed the entire way down, ha.

All in all, it was a wonderful and meaningful weekend and we were so happy to be a part of it. I hope you enjoyed this peek at our family wedding weekend and I will be back later with a book review and the list of my favorite books of 2019 (so far!)