The Girls Do Maine

Summer vacation is almost over, but we Rowes took one last weekend trip before we are facing reality.  We joined together with our dear friend Mark and his kids to spend a weekend in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. 

We drove up Friday night and got stuck in enough traffic that Madeleine couldn't last the drive to go to sleep.  As we arrived at the house we were staying in, I carried a sleeping Madeleine inside and up to the bedroom.  Unfortunately, the change of surroundings awoke and stimulated her, so she was fully alert when I laid down in bed to try and snuggle her to sleep.

MADELEINE: (laying silently beside me, her breathing slowing and deepening)
ME: (thinking my escape may be only moments away)
MADELEINE: Mama?
ME: Shh. Yes, honey?
MADELEINE: Why do toots mean a person has to POOP?
ME: Why?  Do you need to poop?
MADELEINE: No.  I was just wondering.  And Mama?...

Yeah, so, I wasn't able to escape just yet.  But luckily, both girls did get themselves to sleep without much effort on the parents' parts.

The next day was a blast for the kids!  We spent much of the day exploring the various rides of Palace Playplace:

Julia even braved a wild and crazy upside-down ride with her 11-year-old friend, and as I sat watching them ride, I saw Julia's face looking deathly white and completely freaked out.  After the ride was over, Julia ran to me and exclaimed happily, "Mommy?  That was kind of TERRIFYING."  Not so terrifying to preclude her from riding it one more time before day's end, however! 

In addition to the amusement park, we also spent time on the beach, and the kids were happy little fish splashing in the tidal waves of the ocean.  In fact, Madeleine was so eager to do so that I wound up in the water with her, holding her hand, because let's face it: this is the kid who has now fallen off the diving board twice at our town pool.  If she can't even walk a straight line without slipping, what chance does she have when a wave crashes into her face and knocks her off balance?  I can't complain, though, since the ocean was just as fun for me as it was for the kids:

The only problem with weekend trips is that they're awfully short, and the kids were dismayed to learn that we had to leave this morning. Julia has already started planning next summer's WEEK-LONG trip to Maine, while Madeleine took a less proactive approach and has spent most of the day spontaneously bursting into tears.  She cried on and off throughout the drive home, and has broken down in tears back at our house as well. 

MADELEINE: (face crumpling, bursting into sobs)
ME: What's the matter, honey?
MADELEINE: I wanna staaaaaaay!
ME: Well, maybe we'll go back to Maine another time!
MADELEINE: But I miss our friiiieeeeeends!
ME: Honey.  You know they live in Massachusetts just like us, right? 
MADELEINE: (looking up at me with hope awakening in her tear-filled eyes) They DO?
JULIA: (scathingly) Madeleine, you've been to their HOUSE.

The idea that we can actually see our friends outside of Maine temporarily soothed Madeleine, but she has since melted down over and over again about missing the things we did there. 

MADELEINE: I just MISS being in Maine.  All those fun things we did there.  I miss waking UP in the bed there, and I miss going on the rides there, and I miss being in the HOUSE there...(tears brimming in her eyes)


Sigh.  It's never easy to come back to reality after the weekend, that's for certain.  At least we still have one last week of summer vacation before the whirlwind of school and work and activities begins anew!