And we're off...

3 June 2015

Bar Harbor, ME

Yesterday morning, after a rushed packing job and some microwaved leftovers, we set out on this year’s Haith family adventure:  Matty, Sissy, Eloise, myself, and the newest member of our family – another Casita!  Ever since we sold our last one on Craigslist in California, we’ve missed that little guy.  We’d sort of given up on finding one that would work with our since-grown family, (or finding one in general on the East Coast), until one random night in early April when we saw a listing for one that had bunk beds, and it was located in southwest Virginia.  A few emails and phone calls later (and a missed opportunity on the most amazing Airstream ever), and we sent our down payment, sight-unseen. 

Sissy was most excited about sleeping in the Casita.  The bottom bunk “fort” is hers.  Howard (the previous Casita owner) even went to a children’s consignment sale to rig a bed guard for her down there.  Initially both girls were going to on the bottom bunk, but separated and each in their own Peapod.  Ultimately, we were able to borrow a clamping guardrail from a neighbor for the top bunk, and so that’s where Eloise’s Peapod ended up for easier access. 

Day 1 did not go off without any hitches (pun intended?).  Aside from Sissy choosing that day out of the last 400+ since getting her first potty to definitively never wet her diaper again made a long car-ride even longer, especially when peepee stop #1 was (cringe) during Eloise’s nap, (or at least that’s what she was doing when we stopped the car), there were a few Casita-related issues as well.  For example, I *might* have overloaded the fridge door, causing it to sort of fall off (fitting for the title of this post), resulting in the entire Casita smelling like the leftover Thai food we got in Freeport just before our “it’s too early for bed energy-burning run-around stop” at L.L. Bean.  Also adding about 30-40 minutes to our L.L. Bean stop at bedtime.  But it’s all speculation, really.  I mean, maybe Matt hit a pothole or something (while driving under the speed limit in the slow-lane from 11:30 yesterday morning-2:30 this morning), causing the door to fly off.  Who’s to say, really.  This morning, when recounting our trip yesterday, Sissy said “Last night was scary.  The fridge door fell off…” 

Today, after not enough sleep once we finally arrived at our campground in Southwest Harbor, we got up, re-organized, and went into town.  We picked up our Acadia National Park pass so we would be ready to hit the bike trails in the morning, and then headed over to the Oceanarium to check out the lobster hatchery.  Unfortchy, we showed Sis the hatchery before any of the other parts of the museum, and she was immediately freaked out by the pregnant lobster being held up with a bunch of eggs stuck to its tail.  Her participation interest in other non-lobster-touching parts of the museum immediately plummeted.  It was all I could do to get her to put on a fisherman’s hat and hold a buoy on an indoor boat.  She finally warmed up to the starfish, sea cucumber, and urchin in the touch tank, but was less than excited to learn about the giant horseshoe crab.

After the hatchery, we headed into Bar Harbor for some clam chowdah on this less-than-summery day.  The weather has been cold (highs in the mid-50s) and cloudy; not quite the ideal “summer” vacation by any means.  We ate at Side Street Café, because I Yelped and asked a local for the best clam chowder around, since it was more of a chowder and less of a lobster-roll day.  We also shared the lobster mac ’n cheese among the four of us.  (After ordering it at Cabana in Nashville anytime I’m even just passing through the area, I’ve become sort of a lobster mac ‘n cheese snob, aside from just being a food snob in general).  I have to say, initially I wasn’t expecting it to be even close, but it was pretty great.  Maybe it was the portion comparison… for $23.95 we got a big pasta dish full of melty, cheesy shells, covered with more cheese shavings, and a pile of fresh, sweet Maine lobster to top it off.  At Cabana, for a $10 appetizer, the lobster mac ‘n cheese comes with a brie cheese, a notable-for-the-central-US amount of lobster, and is topped with pancetta and presented in a martini glass.  So while both are very different, both are quite delicious.  Win-win, really.

After lunch, and popping into a whale gift shop for Sissy to pet a Chiweenie, (Chihuahua-Dachshund mix), we took the shore walk around Bar Harbor.  Eloise fell asleep in the stroller (thus missing out on seeing the fox we came across on the walk) and woke up as we were choosing our travel Christmas ornament, just in time for some homemade ice cream and gelato at Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium.  They have lobster ice cream.  Real Maine lobster, melted butter, and vanilla ice cream all mixed in a big ice cream tub.  Ridic.

We ate leftovers around the campfire tonight before one last trip to the camp playground before bed.  Still no potty accidents for Sis. 

Baby Gear used so far:

Day 1 & 2: 

-Car seats:  (For what seemed like a never-ending car ride).  Eloise is rear-facing in Sissy’s previous Britax Advocate convertible.   Sissy is rear-facing in the new Clek Fllo I bought (after months of multi-faceted research) when Eloise started to out-grow her infant seat (by height, not weight… peanuts).  Ultimately I plan to move both girls into matching Cleks.  If you want to have a conversation about my decision-making process, (which included several calls to Canada, a trip to New Jersey, and watching crash-test videos before sharing them with a Fireman for a second-opinion), set aside a good 45 minutes and I’ll pencil you in ;).

-Travel beds:  Eloise is sleeping in a Peapod by KidCo, behind a Safety1st clamping guardrail.  (Make sure if you buy a Peapod, it’s a newer model that has the netting along the bottom.  The older models that had tent-like material all the way down were recalled due to suffocation hazards).  I was tempted to get the Peapod Plus for Sis (same, just larger), but it didn’t fit in the bunk space, and she still fits in the small Peapod for now anyway.  Turns out she’s just sleeping with a bed guardrail on the bottom bunk and not in the Peapod at all.  (And by sleeping I mean serenading us for the past hour while Eloise sleeps above her).   Casita life…

-High-chair cover.  Say “no” to germs.  At least on one surface you can control.  Then just let your offspring toddle around the floors of a Thai restaurant and finger-feed themselves glass noodles.  Good thing you had that high-chair cover, though, right?.

-High-Chair:  Fisher-price folding travel high chair.  I can’t say enough good things about this.  Maybe I should just say that I’ve got two.  We even used it in a teeny L.L. Bean camping chair around the campfire tonight.  It’s my baby-container in our (decade-old Geico-commercial-esque) “Tiny House” on wheels. 

-Stroller:  Today we used the Baby Jogger City Mini GT Double.  We were in and out of restaurants and stores, and the GT tires handled the gravel cliffwalk nicely while Eloise slept.  We were able to fold it up and store it quickly and easily in the restaurant, though when Matt opened it the front wheels needed to be re-attached.  (Disclaimer: I think the tire issue is a result of the previous owners as I purchased it on Craigslist in Brooklyn.  I never had that problem with my single, but it continues to happen with the double, and this one came with two new tires that I put on because the prior owner had worn the others out). 

Sissy Quote of the day:

Sissy:  Look mommy a crab!
Me:  That’s a lobster, Sis.  Both have claws, but lobsters are longer, and crabs are wider. 

Sissy:  Wide just like Eloise’s head!