First was our stop for lunch. The restaurant I originally wanted to go to was still closed for the season (opening sometime mid-April), so we went with option #2 - Alisson's Restaurant. And a fabulous option it was! We started with the lobster bisque which was a hit with the whole family. Sarah routinely tries to finish my soup for me, so I knew she would love it, and when we finally got Nathan to try it right before it was gone he loved it too! We also ordered a fried fish platter, lobster roll and fish sticks for the kids. A few notes to self: you have never had a lobster bisque that you have not liked and a small portion is never enough... skip the entree (especially if its fried) and just order bowls and bowls of lobster bisque! Also, lobster rolls are overrated (in both Brian and my opinions).
Something really unexpected happened on our way out of the restaurant - two different people stopped Brian and me separately to comment on how well behaved Sarah and Nathan were in the restaurant. It was really sweet and affirming to hear!
Next, we drove to "maple syrup", as Sarah affectionately calls our outing. We went to Chase Farms in Wells, Maine.
We decided to come here out of the hundreds of options around the area because it was relatively close, they had farm animals to see, and... a horse-drawn wagon ride to see the maple groves. Apparently, we weren't the only family drawn by these offerings! Turns out this was the farm's first year participating in the open house weekend and they had not anticipated the big crowd that was there. They had sold out of maple syrup before we got there and there was quite a line for the wagon ride.
While Daddy generously offered to stand in line for us, I took the kids into the barn where we saw lots of animals: two horses; a mama sow and her piglets; two HUGE oxen; 6-8 cows, some of whom were pregnant, one about to go into labor any minute (no, we didn't get to see a live birth), and a couple of mamas who had their calves just a few days or weeks ago. So we got to see some baby calves too! (Most of the barn was too dark to take pictures in, so I only got a shot of the calves.)
We rejoined Daddy in time to squeeze onto the next wagon ride.
These were the horses that took us on our excursion.
Even though neither kids looks it, they both enjoyed the wagon ride.
If you look near the base of the trees, you can see the buckets with the sunlight reflecting off their lids. The effect is more obvious and prettier in person.
And here's a close up of the buckets.
After the ride, we went back into the sugaring house and scoped out the equipment they use to turn maple sap into maple syrup. We unfortunately didn't get a chance to chat with the lady much about the machine because it was getting to be mid-afternoon and the kids were getting tired. We all were excited to try a drink of freshly processed and still warm maple syrup. It was delicious!
We also decided to indulge in some treats before we went - vanilla ice cream topped with maple syrup and maple sugar cotton candy. As expected, the ice cream was a big hit, though I was surprised when neither Sarah nor Nathan liked the cotton candy!
Unfortunately we left on a sad note - they had free face painting for the kids in the sugaring house and we had asked the kids earlier if they wanted their faces painted. Nathan firmly told us "I want nobody to paint my face, NEVER!" and Sarah agreed. Then after Daddy had stood in multiple different lines to get us our treats, and right when we were about to start walking out the door, both kids had a complete change of heart and REALLY wanted to get their faces painted. But the face painting line was long so we had to tell them "no". Sarah is STILL talking about how she wants to go to "maple syrup" and get her face painted!
We had a fabulous day and made some really fun memories. Thank goodness the snow is finally gone and we can resume our New England adventures!
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