Great Spruce Head Island

We spent a glorious five days with our friends, the Porters, on Will's family's island. Just a four hour drive north and a 30 minute boat ride east from Camden, and we arrived in a magical place. It is the stuff dreams are made of. Drawings of lobsters, battleship rocks, seals, and secret private islands are already filling the dining room table, and we've been home a few hours. I don't think the boys would have been remotely surprised to see Goblinnea roll out of the woods. She would have fit right into the world of wild blueberries, mussels attached to rocks later to be seen on dinner plates, lobsters turn from brown speckles to bright red, a treasure hunt with a real message in a bottle buried deep in the sand. Dragon murals were painted on the walls of the Big House where we stayed, and the world of Monopoly was revealed to Lachen and Aksel by Will on a rainy day. Magic and wonderment at every turn!

We learned so much about island life in Maine. We saw seals sunning themselves, learned all about the history of the island. See http://www.kennealy.com/Galleries/GSHI/ for more. We even visited Iza Trapani and her husband on their miniature island. She is a children's book author and illustrator. Her tongue twisters are a real workout. Lachen loved her books, and Aksel loved her 150-pound Mastiff puppy.

So, aside from Aksel's dozens of barnacle scrapes, Will's bloodied lip from a lightsaber duel with local accoutrements (a heavy spruce stick), and some lessons about respecting dogs' personal space, it was completely perfect. Thank you Porters!