My husband and I try to take a trip each Fall up to New England. It didn't happen last year because we were expecting the birth of my daughter in October, so we were really excited to take a trip this year. We found a half-marathon in North Conway, NH that allows strollers, so we decided to head up for that.
We started our trip in Hollis Center, ME at Lily Brook Farm, in a cute apartment on a farm that we rented through airbnb.com. We arrived after dark and so couldn't see anything until morning, when we were delighted to wake up to find a donkey outside our window! The farm has a donkey and a mule, pygmy goats, chickens, and Scottish Blackface sheep.
It was a beautiful crisp New England morning and we were given a wonderful tour of the farm and had the chance to pet the animals. While my daughter loves reading all about farm animals in her books, she was a little intimidated by the real thing!
The apartment was so bright and sunny in the morning. We had hot tea for me, coffee for my husband, and some breakfast goodies. There was even real Maine maple syrup to mix in with my daughter's pumpkin and peach breakfast. Even though they are drafty and totally not energy efficient, I love those original old farmhouse windows. (I have two in my house that I will have to part with eventually.) They just have so much character.
After leaving the farm, we spent the day in Portland. We love that city - such a great city for foodies like us! We stopped at Hilltop Coffee to get a quick pick-me-up and walked around a neighborhood that we hadn't been in before. Thought I'd take a peek into the famous KnitWit Yarn Shop and so glad we did because we discovered the lovely little shop next door, Circa Home and Vintage. There is a lot of goodies packed into this small unassuming shop! We found some hand printed tea towels for a Christmas gift and a really cool idea called a Cuppow, for those lacking in the open container-moving car drinking skill department (yes, that's for me!) I was delighted to find a kids section full of quality toys, mainly wooden, and dolls made by Camden Rose, which is a company that uses natural materials and supports two fair trade, non-profits in Lima, Peru. A fun store and definitely worth stopping in if you're in town!
After some lunch, we then headed over to North Conway, NH, which is also a fun town that we visit at least once a year. Since it was Halloween weekend, there was a children's trick-or-treating event at the outlet store plaza that sounded low key and a good first time for our daughter. I didn't want to spend the money on a costume for a 1 year old, so I thought that we could buy her a cute animal hat which she could then wear the rest of the winter. I was getting overwhelmed on Etsy by all of the choices, when I realized that she loves monkeys (or the noises that I tell her they make), so a monkey she would be! That evolved into a family costume, so can you guess what we are?
"Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina! If you aren't familiar with this book, find a copy to read to your child. Its a lot of fun to act out the parts of the frustrated peddler and the monkeys. That wonderful mustache that my husband has is real and is only for the costume. It will be morphing back into a full beard very soon!
In the afternoon we took a nice drive in the hills around town and I played a little with the camera and tried to capture the New England scenery.
Hope you enjoyed these pictures from the first half of our trip. More to come!