You must first understand that I have never been to the Caribbean or even FL so seriously Popham beach state park is the best beach that i have ever been to.. so simmer down now I'm sure Hawaii is amazing or even the Bahamas, but don't rain on parade here as far as I'm concerned the best beach is Popham Beach :) Popham beach is huge! the sand is super soft, there are no rocks or seaweed and crap to walk over. you can seriously walk for miles on this beach. when its low tide there are these small pools, perfect for small children to play in. You can walk out to fox island as well during low tide, and they have bathrooms and changing rooms which is always bonus for me.
The ride up there is cool yeah it does take about 1.5 hours to get there but it is totally worth it. The road the park is on is very narrow with lost of twists and turns and of course super cute beach houses to dream about owning one day.
When we arrived at the beach we went right to stamp out passport cause ya know we have to get our stamp. checked out the bathrooms which were clean, and then hit the beach. we walked down to the waters edge which seriously could of been half a mile. of course my kid runs right into the water, now for some reason I did not pack any sort of beach gear for our trip to the beach. I don't know what I was thinking so my daughter went from soaking her clothes, to wearing one of my shirts, to running around with a saggy diaper like she was from Biddeford. I drank coffee and relaxed, we made a family sand castle, had a picnic lunch and explored the beach..it was pretty awesome I'm not going to lie..before we headed back home we took a small detour up the road to check out Fort Popham. We were unsuccessful in actually getting out and exploring the fort because the parking lot was only made to hold like 15 cars which of course was full. We circled around for about 20mins waiting for people to leave..people were not leaving and we had to give up we had one angry bear in the back seat so homeward bond we were. I loved this beach I recommend everyone to go check it out.
If anyone has ever told you they had never been to smiling hill farm growing up, they're lying. That giant slide, riding around on a mini john deer tracker, oh and the duck pond where you were attacked by geese for a piece of moldy bread., and lets not forget the ICE CREAM! man I'm such a fat kid for some good ice cream...Aww good times..So of course I would have to take my child to this wonderful place now she has been several times since she has been born cause lets face it, its cheap and theres ice cream involved. Smiling hill farm is still a fun place for kids but i will say it has changed over the last 20 years there is no slide or mini tractors, but they do have cute animals, play structures, and the Ice Cream is still fantastic.
It was a beautiful day at the farm when we went last week. We were lucky to have some friends there to play with..nothing like good company to add to a great day. The thing i love about smiling hill farm is it is a wide open area so if you have a child that is mobile you can just let them explore and still be able to keep an eye on them. the place is clean which is a bonus and they usually have a baby cow just hanging out to get an up close experience with. The staff is always friendly and helpful with providing animal names and info which by the way we were told that there will be baby sheep and goats arriving soon. They also have a store where you can buy flavored milk or cream, and the ice cream is made from their own milk and cream. My daughter had a great time running around feeding the animals, playing in the wooden train and "driving" Mary Ann its a great place to spend the afternoon, or morning, pack a picnic lunch or order a sandwich and pull up some lawn and enjoy the simple things in life.
Random Finding..A few weekends ago after swimming lessons we decided to go and find a little local restaurant in Portland called Silly's. I have been dying to check it out for a few years now, from the outside it kinda looks a little ghetto, but inside there are pictures all over the wall, mixed matched chairs and retro dining tables, orange lunch boxes on every table and the place was packed. We decided to sit outside on their patio it was a nice day and the patio offers a little more space and privacy then inside. We were greeted right away, we were told the menus where in the lunch box along with napkins and a deck of cards. They won me over when they brought my husband TANG in a mason Jar..how awesome is that . The menus is wild i opted for Falafel -(vegetarian) – Spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, “Papou’s” falafel & cuke dill sauce... Mark got the ZoomaZoom (vegan) Falafel with spicy vegan spread, spinach, lettuce, tomato, onion and black olives and..... Liv got Kids Melt American cheese on a hamburger bun melted with fries. The Fries are AMAZING!! and the sandwiches were huge, I was hoping to try one of their famous milkshakes but i was to full from my giant falafel. The food was great, reasonably prices, the staff was friendly and the atmosphere was fun and carefree. I recommend everyone going and checking it out if you haven't yet.
This past weekend adventure brought us to ferry beach state park in Saco. My mother, brother, sister in-law and niece joined us for a nice mothers day trail walk. The trails are stroller friendly however this time we left them in the car and decided to let the girls burn off some energy. I love the trails at this place they have all these little bridges and everything is clearly marked, and if we had bikes it would be a perfect little cruise..note to self invest in bikes...
The girls collected sticks and rocks, chased after each other, and mark looked for fiddle heads. the trail is not very long at all maybe 1.4miles which took us about 45mins cause we had to take several stops to draw in the dirt or pick up rocks. Livy did great during the walk she finished and was interested in what was going on, my niece is about 1.5 years old she did really well too although she would ask to be picked up or she would take a break in the middle of the trail which didn't bother us at all cause we weren't on a schedule. We went there just to walk however they do have picnic areas, places to fish and of course the beach, oh and bonus they have bathrooms! The do have a fee for entering the park its 4.00 for maine residents and 6.00 for non maine residents. Still pretty inexpensive for a full day of fun.
A month ago we went and checked out Kettle Cove, a small almost unknown beach located just north of Crescent Beach. I have seen many Facebook friends post pictures, enjoying the sun at this location but never knew where it was. After a google map search and my Mainer intuition we found it. Its almost like your own private beach. There was a small grassy area to kick a ball around or have a picnic lunch, a few benches to just sit back and enjoy the view, and some side trails that lead down to another little cove. We of course we had to check out the trails, we packed up the baby beast in the BOB and headed out.
The trails were easy, smooth totally stroller friendly and offered several informational signs along the way about the wildlife you may see. When we reached the end of the trail that lead down to the second cove, the path down to it was pretty rustic, very narrow, and rocky. Good thing we had the BOB with us...Im just gonna take a minute and do some free advertising for BOB...We have the Sport Utility version of this stroller, and its amazing, the front wheel doesn't pivot so it is great for bumpy trails and it has the 5 point harness to keep your precious cargo strapped in..Good thing, cause getting the stroller down that narrow trail to the second cove was pretty tight, and at one point my daughter was completely suspended only being supported by that five point harness...Once we got down there it was awesome..a very rocky beach, but sea glass was everywhere. We enjoyed our lunch, the usual PB&J's on a giant piece of drift wood, after we were almost attacked by seagulls for our sandwiches, I explored some of the tidal pools and Mark taught livy to skip stones. We couldn't get her to leave and shocker she threw a fit when we were trying to head back up to the main beach, but once we got back up the trail and she got to kick the ball around with some exchange students she was fine. Love kettle cove and all it has to offer.
You must first understand that I have never been to the Caribbean or even FL so seriously Popham beach state park is the best beach that i have ever been to.. so simmer down now I'm sure Hawaii is amazing or even the Bahamas, but don't rain on parade here as far as I'm concerned the best beach is Popham Beach :) Popham beach is huge! the sand is super soft, there are no rocks or seaweed and crap to walk over. you can seriously walk for miles on this beach. when its low tide there are these small pools, perfect for small children to play in. You can walk out to fox island as well during low tide, and they have bathrooms and changing rooms which is always bonus for me. 
When we arrived at the beach we went right to stamp out passport cause ya know we have to get our stamp. checked out the bathrooms which were clean, and then hit the beach. we walked down to the waters edge which seriously could of been half a mile. of course my kid runs right into the water, now for some reason I did not pack any sort of beach gear for our trip to the beach. I don't know what I was thinking so my daughter went from soaking her clothes, to wearing one of my shirts, to running around with a saggy diaper like she was from Biddeford. I drank coffee and relaxed, we made a family sand castle, had a picnic lunch and explored the beach..it was pretty awesome I'm not going to lie..before we headed back home we took a small detour up the road to check out Fort Popham. We were unsuccessful in actually getting out and exploring the fort because the parking lot was only made to hold like 15 cars which of course was full. We circled around for about 20mins waiting for people to leave..people were not leaving and we had to give up we had one angry bear in the back seat so homeward bond we were. I loved this beach I recommend everyone to go check it out. 
