Acadia’s Carriage Roads

On our first full day in Acadia, we drove to Bar Harbor to pick up our bike rentals. After a quick orientation, we were off! 

We biked through the utterly charming town of Bar Harbor (it was early in the morning and so the streets weren't packed with tourists!) and on into the park. 

And good heavens it was beautiful beyond belief. 

We set out to bike the northern bit of the loop around Witch Hole Pond. 

Most of the stone bridges are right around 100 years old and you guessed it--utterly charming. 

I was really glad we were able to rent a tagalong bike for Matthew; the gravel and hills made it pretty exhausting and so this way he could keep up without his little legs getting totally worn out (more than once he pedaled while Neil just coasted and enjoyed the ride). 

We've been trying to nail fall colors for October a few times now (tried the Smokies, Shenandoah, and New River Gorge) and Acadia absolutely delivered. The leaves were PHENOMENAL and the colors were so much more intense than I've ever seen in the Midwest. 

Loved these signs! 

We biked down to the Hulls Cove Visitor Center to get our park stamp and sticker (but we forgot to get Junior Ranger stuff--argh!!). 

Then we stopped for a picnic of Trader Joe's goodies at Bubble Pond (somewhere in there we biked for 3 miles along Eagle Lake). 

In exploring a nearby bridge we learned that the mortar is starting to form stalactites, so cool! You can see them in this picture on the underside of the bridge. 

Then we headed for Jordan Pond and passed the extremely charming gatehouse which we referred to as the Three Bears' House because it looked like Goldilocks might pop out any second!

Went through this cute gate...

...and found ourselves at Jordan Pond House! Despite going there...three times? Four times? we never actually managed to get popovers; the shortest line we ever saw was 45 minutes and it was more typically 2+ hours. 

But I think we managed to go to the gift shop every single time we were there. 

Here's the view of the Tea Lawn looking towards the Bubbles. 

Let's get a little closer, shall we? 

Oh good heavens this view was incredible. We kept coming back over and over and it was so beautiful in every light, but I really loved the gray misty vibe the first time we saw it. 

Then it was back to the bikes and pedaling up the incline over the top of Jordan Cliffs (wowza those cliffs are fun, we climbed them a few days later!). This is the view looking across from the carriage roads out over the pond. 

Back around Eagle Lake...

These trees!!! I actually doubled back to get a photo of this one because it was just so incredibly vivid. 

At one point Isaac tried riding Neil's bike but that tagalong takes some expertise to steer! Matthew bailed very quickly and I don't blame him! 

Another view across the pond...

I was surprised by how exhausting the uphills were (probably a combo of the gravel and the bike) but the downhills were INCREDIBLE. 

After we returned our bikes, we explored a bit around Bar Harbor since we had already paid for the day's parking and I didn't want to have to come back and mess with parking again. It's definitely pretty touristy so we didn't stay super long, but I loved this bench inscribed with one of my favorite quotes. 

We checked out the boats in the harbor, including a giant cruise ship anchored out by the islands. 

Walking around Bar Harbor--I think Nathan is laughing in this one because Matthew had just run through a flock of about a hundred pigeons. 

On the way home we stopped at Little Hunters Beach which was just as amazing as we were hoping--when the waves go out, they rattle all the cobbles and it is the coolest sound!! We went back several times over the course of the week. 

Oh gosh, I loved this place SO much. I would move there in a heartbeat. 

 

Decker Family Reunion

This year we had our first whole-family reunion since 2019!! We've gotten together in chunks here and there, and we've had two times where all the sisters and my parents were together, but this is the first time in FOUR years that we had everyone together!! Pretty amazing. 

Ruth and Jordan were very gracious and hosted all the festivities in their gorgeous new home, and can I just say that this pool cover is genius, it was sooo nice to just push some buttons and then the kids couldn't get into the pool while we were eating. 

Don't worry, they had PLENTY of time in the water (this is the hot tub). 

And does it get better than the view from the pool? I think not. 

Luke somehow managed to commandeer a lot of noodles...

For this reunion we drew names and divided up into teams of a couple of adults and a bunch of kids, the main rule was that you couldn't be paired with your spouse, which actually ended up being really awesome. It gave everyone the chance to work with someone they might not normally gravitate to AND we were all way less stressed sharing the load in families between different meals/days, plus I personally was much nicer to my teammates when stressed than I would have been to my own family. (There's a lesson there I guess.) 

The first night we kicked it off with a Mediterranean feast made by Chris, Mom, and Abigail's team (sorry guys I don't remember your team name) and then we had our official opening ceremonies, all designed and led by Elise. We got our reunion T-shirts (which were fun because we all had the same logo but everyone got to pick their color) and then Elise passed out bandanas and we all grouped into our teams and came up with a team name and then had a trivia competition. 

And somewhere in there Matthew took this series of photos. 

This was our team--the Lavendar Ladies!!

A shot of the other teams getting into some planning...

The littlest Lavendar Lady was a big fan of the pita bread we had that night. 

I loved this shot of Neil and Colette (Team Gangrene Ninjas!). Coco met Neil that day but they were already pals (and he was in heaven because he reaaaallly misses the days when our girls were this little! Jules used to curl up on his lap like this and the two of them called it "princess ball"). 

Another shot of the Gangrene Ninjas working on some meal planning. 

Soooo much time in the water, so fun because it was HOT. 

Luke would legit live in this hot tub if given the choice. 

On Monday morning, Aunt Karen (my uncle and his wife also came from California, which was so fun!) did a painting project at the park which we LOVED. Seriously, this was such a highlight for me because I love stuff like this and just haven't made the time for it the last five or six years. 

Here's my quick little mountain painting. 

And Rosalind's cool impressionistic take on a photo she took in the Tetons the previous week.

One of the big highlights for Jules was becoming buddies with Archie...

And I lost track of how many times I found a different person asleep in the library. 

More pool time, I think that might be Rosalind and Ruth but I'm not positive. 

"What you heard was I want some chips and salsa. What I actually said was give me ALL your chips and salsa." Seriously though--the best chips ever (Joe Bandido's?). 

Jules putting up everyone's paintings on the outdoor fireplace mantel with Uncle Kevin looking on.

Team Black Mambas working on a delicious dinner!

Seriously, the food was soooo good all week. 

I came in one night and had to take this photo because I thought it was pretty funny.

A screenshot of a video I took during the family talent show, those are some pretty incredible backup dancers!

Kids working on a service project for the Turtle Shelter

And I'm pretty sure this was the 4th of July. ;-)

The Lavendar Ladies were in charge of lunch (and dinner) this day, and since we had Julie on our team, she taught everyone how to make dumplings and we made...like 300? Can't remember exactly. It was a lot and they all got eaten. 

A loooot of dumplings. 

One of my favorite parts of the reunion was watching how much my kids enjoyed interacting with their aunts and uncles as part of their meal prep teams. Here's Rosalind and Isaac working out the proportions for a truly enormous batch of cranberry bread. 

And then making the bread--sorry guys I can't remember your team name either! 

Kind of the best afternoon snack ever...

Also some pretty wild pool hair. 

One of the salads the Lavendar Ladies made for our dinner, peach burrata with tons of basil and caramelized pecans. Yum yum yum, I am actually making this for dinner tonight!

Elise truly rocking it on the 4th

Ruth bought bingo stuff one night at 1 am and then had some very fun prize baskets and the kids got REALLY into bingo. 

She also spent days and days making tons of ice cream in advance of our dinner day, so we had a huge ice cream bar for dessert and I kid you not, her raspberry chocolate ice cream is the BEST I have ever had in my life, just barely edging out the passionfruit sorbet. 

I loved watching these kids together. 

Mmmmm homemade ice cream...so many fun flavors and combinations to try!

Pretty spectacular sunset on the way in...

We played Acey Deucey one night and holy cow, my dad cleaned it up!! Screenshots from Rosalind. 

I was totally laughing at this giant group all crowded around to watch the Alone: Season 10 premiere. 

And then sadly it was time to head back home to Indiana...first some goodbyes to Archie. 

And then Nathan and Caleb. These two got to be such good friends and Nathan was super super devastated to say goodbye!

So we went to In & Out and got a little bit of extra time (don't miss Caleb's Rainbow Loom bracelets up there!)

 So fun and I'm excited to see everyone again NEXT WEEK, which is absolutely wild.