Oliver spent most early mornings and right before bed doing this… puzzles!
And here is a shot of our cottage. It was a little small but it worked really well for us. It was tucked just far away enough from traffic that you didn’t hear it constantly but close enough that it was a short walk to the beach. All week Oliver said “the beach is right across the road” when talking about going back to our cottage and beach.
On our last day of vacation, we decided to go to the pier and hang out for the morning. It’s on the same stretch of beach and just three minutes down the road but I thought it would be nice to say we spent some time and have lunch at the main attraction of Old Orchard Beach.
So we set up our umbrella and beach chairs and hung out at the pier. 
More running and splashing and sand play! 
Emery really liked running underneath the pier. 
By the time lunch rolled around, we had people within ten feet of us in all directions so it was quite a bit more crowded than our beach. Good for people watching though!
We had to have lunch at the pier one day. The pier fries were calling my name (and they were oh so good)! The boys didn’t seem to mind the pizza too much…
We took a drive because it was nap time and ended up at Crescent Beach State Park. It was a nice beach but the water seemed colder than our beach and it was a bit weedy.
Can’t a mommy get a little sun without being used as a jungle gym?!
Then we headed home and went for one more swim at our own beach. We took some time for some fun family pics. Here are just a few.
Sticks can write in the sand??
I love this pic of Oliver running at full tilt. He was pretty much in high gear anytime we were in the water. 
So all in all a really great family vacation and a spot we have both said we would return to. It’s such a beautiful area, there are so many things to do that don’t cost a lot, and so many things to do within a short drive of wherever you are staying. Oliver is still talking about everything we saw and did, which is a great sign that it impressed him as well.
I miss the beach already!
Growing Out On A Limb 