If you can't score a lobster in the next month or so, I'm sorry. I ate them all.

 A couple of weeks ago, we packed up the family and headed to Maine. Even though I've been at work and traveling again since returning, I'm still enjoying the fantastically chill post-Maine vacation & relaxation buzz. Though that also could be the large quantities of melted butter I consumed with my lobster rolls.

To accommodate the family, dog and relatives for a week, we rented a house on the coast south of Boothbay.

I don't know how the heck we found a place on short notice that had its own private beach, but I'm going to chalk it up to clean livin' and excellent karma.

Every day, I would wake up to this view out to the ocean. 

A short walk down the hill would get you this.

Since we were kind of in the hinterlands, I kept telling the kids to keep their eyes out for Moose. A moose. Mooses. Moosi. Whatever.  We did not see any moose. I was disappointed. I did, however, see a lot of smaller wildlife.

The absence of large fauna might have been due to us bringing our own. Maggie came along for the week. She seemed to enjoy it. 

The kids definitely enjoyed it. The Critter and I tried to eat all of the seafood before the week was over. Fish? You bet. Lobster? Surely. Clams? Pass mine to her, please. Her standards are lower. I draw the line at bi-valves.

As much as The Boy enjoyed the beach, on the other hand, he insisted that I pick up and inspect any shell he found to ensure there was nothing alive within it before he'd handle it. 

I respect his sense of self-preservation. 

We were joined by my step-mother, and her lovely friend Batty. Batty's real name is Betty. But she told us a story about a little girl calling her 'Batty', and I will forevermore call her this. (I did ask, and she said this was ok.) A classier and more game pair of ladies, you could not hope to want along for any adventure. That's Batty on the left.

Most days were spent toodling around the Maine coast, or thinking about what to eat next. Or toodling around while thinking of what to eat next. But we managed to squeeze in a little time for games. Like staring contests. 

Did I mention we ate a lot of seafood? If you're anywhere within the New England area, figure out how to detour through Wicasset, and get yourself a lobster roll. Holy crap, that's a lot of lobster. And you'll notice that there's no mayonnaise, only a small tub of healthy, wholesome butter. Because mayonnaise comes from the Devil. And butter is straight from Heaven.

And Red knows that. 

Mostly, there was just a lot of relaxing, and enjoying the company, in as peaceful environment as you might wish. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd put this week in Maine someplace just above "perfect"