Maine

 After staying in Vermont for a couple of days, we went to Maine to visit Joe's mom and other sister.  The first day we were there, we spent just visiting and relaxing around the house.  The next day, we went to see Fort Knox.  It is not the real Fort Knox, this Fort Knox was built in the early 1800's on the Penobscot river in Maine (named after the same man as the real Fort Knox).  There was a new bridge over the Penobscot river that had an observation tower in it, so we went and visited that first.  All the kids:

 The view of the bridge, the observation tower is the glass part at the top.

 

 

An aerial view of Fort Knox from the bridge.

 All the kids on one of the canons.  Josh, Nolan, Jack, Adam, Cole, Ellie, Michael, Nick and Nate

 The adults: Bill, Marge, Joe, me, Steve and Joe's mom

 On one of the outside walls of the fort

The view of Bucksport across the river, such a picturesque little town.

  In the bottom of the fort it was very dark and there were many dungeon rooms.  We could only see them if we took a picture.  This was completely black inside. 

 The enlisted men's barracks.

 Fort Knox was a lot of fun because the stone structures were all still intact, but you were allowed to climb around and look at everything and very little was closed off. 

Directly afterward, Aunt Margie promised to take out Ellie's front tooth that was hanging like Nanny McPhee.  It came out so easily.

 Ellie's new gap toothed smile.

 That night, we had a lobster boil.

 Since most of Joe's family liked the claws, I got more than my fair share of tails- I think I ate like 4 lobster tails that evening.  Yum.

 The next day we went to the family camp on Branch Lake.The kids enjoyed swimming in the lake and kayaking.  Even Nate.

 The last day, we enjoyed visiting with Nana and Bampi again and enjoying the perfect weather.

Nana gave everyone rides in the golf cart.

We had a great visit to Maine, and came home right in time to get ready for school to start.