After leaving Canada, our first stop was
Bar Harbor Maine. On our last Canada New England Cruise we missed this port due to rough seas. Bar Harbor is a tender port and the weather was too bad for us to get off the ship. So I really wanted to spend some time here. We were able to plan our day so that we could do two excursions, which we booked on our own. First on the list was a Cessna flight above Acadia National Park and the Bar Harbor coastline from
Acadia Air Tours. The weather was WONDERFUL and the views were beautiful. Highly recommend this experience if you are ever in the area. (I actually found the company on one of those
deal websites and got the flight for half price!)
After our flight, Chris took the girls to the park while Mommy shopped. Our souvenir from each port we visit is always a Christmas ornament for our tree. Then we met back up and boarded a boat for a
whale watching tour. (We got a discount coupon for this tour from the flight company and saved 50%!). The tour took us about 20 miles off shore. We had a great trip and got to see finback, humpback and minke whales. Absolutely amazing!
Our next stop on the cruise was
Boston, Mass. This was another port that Chris and I had been to before, but there is so much to do in Boston. We decided to use this time for an upper deck trolley tour and visit to Fenway Park! Melia was cranky and overtired, so I renamed her "the green monster" after the ballpark visit. Funny to me, but not to her! She did end up having a good time giving a scalper a run for his money and screaming "tickets! I need two tickets" outside the stadium.
Our final stop on this cruise was
Newport, RI. We decided to take a "land and sea" tour of the town to get a good view of the area. The mansions are amazing. The guests houses are huge. The boats are unreal. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water and this was the perfect port. Although we were the only ship in town that day, Newport was very crowded. Getting out on the water got us away from it all and really made the visit.
The cruise line doesn't plan their port stops around our kids schedules, so the girls were
way off of their routine. We pushed the limits on meals and naps. We always went into port with plenty of snacks and drinks. The girls are great about sleeping anywhere, so we had a lot of naps on buses and boats. And our excursions were much more laid back than we would have done pre-babies.
At some times we all got a little stressed out, but overall it was a great family vacation. I have wonderfully flexible kids and an amazing husband. I need to take a deep breath more often and remember how blessed we really are.
