Friday Favorites-7.17.26

HAPPY Friday!

We had a super chill, relaxing summer week and I kind of loved it. Late bedtimes, games at night, air dried hair, easy dinners…seriously, just a nice week! I’m soaking all those up because they’re about to be over! Hope you guys had a great week too! As always I’ve teamed up with Andrea to share some FAVORITES from the week. I have a LONG list today because I’m finishing our Maine trip + have some FAVORITES from the week. Settle in, friends. It’s a long one!

I’m picking up right where we left off last week. Our first stop was Ogunquit and the gorgeous Cliff House Resort. On Wednesday, July 1st, we packed up our mini van rental, stuffed ALL of ourselves + luggage inside and drove the four-ish hours to Bar Harbor…

We arrived to the most charming views! Our resort was just behind those yellow umbrellas.

The sun started to set and everything got a little more pretty.

SERIOUSLY, I couldn’t get over it. The pics don’t really do it justice BUT it was stunning.

We stayed right in the heart of Bar Harbor at the Bar Harbor Inn. I must tell you I booked this trip around November and by November most of the rooms for the week of July 4th were REALLY picked over. Keep that in mind if you want to visit! Book early! We got to town in time to check in, unpack a bit, and walk to town to grab dinner.

The next morning our plan for the day was to go Lobster Boating with Captain Jason {another thing I booked REALLY early}. Is it just me or was Bar Harbor giving Stars Hollow vibes?

Don’t you see it? There was a fire pit just to the left of this area where they made smores every night from 7-9.

This was THE most charming hotel with the kindest staff.

While we were visting the entire state experienced a HEAT WAVE so us Texans enjoyed the pool almost every afternoon. It was darling! Where I’m standing while I take the picture was just in front of the ocean so it had gorgeous views.

Back to Lobster Boating…we drove over to the Southwest Harbor to meet our guide, Captain Jason.

This was the first WARM day and Captain Jason told us the crew at the marina bought an air conditioner because they were so nervous about the heat wave! I’m telling you-we brought the heat during our stay!

Our plan for the day was to go check Captain Jason’s lobster traps, cook lunch from our “catch”, and eat right there on the boat. I’d read over and over again THIS was the boat to book because it was a private outing and we got to enjoy lobster right there!

It was great learning all about this trade, hearing the ins and outs, and getting to experience it all. Captain Jason had a great personality so he made the trip extra fun.

RIGHT off the bat, we were SUCCESSFUL!

The barnacles on this one were tripping me out!

I was Nervous Nelly about someone getting pinched and losing a finger. What can I say? It’s who I am! ha!

The kids all took turns pulling up the traps and digging out the catch.

Ebby Lee happened to snag a crab!

This one didn’t let her short stature stop her from hanging. She was GOOD!

See what I mean?! A fun personality right there!

I don’t remember exactly what it was but something about we caught one of the first soft shelled lobster which is a big deal because it’s the beginning of molting season. Again, I probably wasn’t listening well enough to this part of the day BUT we experienced the difference in taste between the hard shell, soft shell, and crab!

We ALL had a great time and were SO glad we’d booked this!

Bowen did the honors of getting the food cooking.

Just fifteen-ish minutes later, this is what we had!

I’m a FAN of lobster rolls, lobster pasta, lobster grilled cheese….you get the idea. However, I’m not a fan of ordering a full lobster and cracking into that thing myself. Eating lobsters on the boat we experienced cracking into them ourselves. We kind of “saw how the sausage was made” so to speak. By that I mean, we saw some parts of the lobster, we’d have preferred to never see. Know what I mean? I didn’t need to see whatever that green stuff was is what I’m saying. Such a cool experience but when we got in the car after eating this meal, we were all like…uhhh, let’s skip lobster for dinner. ha!

We got back to the hotel in order to have some time to chill and get ready before walking to dinner. Hands-down my favorite thing about this hotel was it’s proximity to town. It was about a block away from the main street so we walked to every meal which was amazing!

Friday morning we were up REALLY early! I’d booked a private guide for the day to show us around Acadia National Park. We did this in Yellowstone and it was so nice during those crazy crowded days to have our guide drop us off {when parking lots were CRAZY}, we’d do some hike, and meet our guide to pick us up. He picked us up at our hotel and we headed straight to Acadia.

This day was HOOOOOTTTTTT!!! But we enjoyed the views as much as we possibly could!

SMILE-while the sun is glaring at you! ha!

We hit up Cadillac Mountain which is THE coolest views in Acadia. The small buildings you see down below are Bar Harbor.

It was right at this point that my Nervous Nelly behaviors came back and I just wanted us all to get back to solid ground. haha!

Our guide took us to Beal’s Lobster Pound before taking us back to our hotel. Beal’s is outside of Bar Harbor but TOTALLY worth a stop! You can even order online and have lobster sent fresh to your house. {I’m already saving this for next summer when we have a Maine Night dinner and I’ll order Beal’s Lobster!}. We loved everything we had!

Our guide dropped us right back at our hotel and we had a few hours to chill/relax by the pool before…

Our SUNSET KAYAK TOUR! This was a guided sunset kayak tour with twelve people/six kayaks so we made up half the group.

I must tell you-I booked this REALLY last minute and it was my personal favorite thing we did. It was warm outside but the water was so cool. The views were gorgeous!

The guide put us together based on ages…

Nixon & Ebby Lee

Bowen & Me

Tab & Britt

Bowen volunteered us to get in our kayak first. As I stepped onto the wet dock, my foot slipped and for a minute my foot was stuck under the dock. You guys. I tried to play it cool because I knew my teens would be like, “UGH! Mom!”. {Or probably more like, “BRO, MOM”.} I was losing my mind inside my head, please know that. After what felt like minutes which was probably like fifteen seconds, I managed to wiggle it out. But CAN you imagine?! If I’d have had to scream, “Help!”. hahaha! They’d have been so embarrassed!

Slaughters love anything competitive so Bowen decided to make the kayak experience competitive. If our guide said to paddle out to an area, he was shouting like a coxswain. I kid you not. We were rowing like “The Boys in the Boat” {if you’ve read the book or seen the movie} style. Other kayaks would pull up and we’d be sweating and out of breath. I think our guide got annoyed with us BUT we had a blast!

At one point we were supposed to paddle out to this bell, touch it and paddle back….VICTORY!

Afterwards, we had THE most delicious pizza! We were sitting upstairs and for a bit during our meal the electricity went off. I’m looking at you-AIR CONDITIONING! I was SWEATING while throwing back pizza. CLASSY! I can’t even remember the name but at the end of the trip we shared our favorite meals, favorite days, etc. One kid said pizza night and I understood. {Minus the temperature.}

Also, after hiking, swimming, kayaking, walking through town in those wet/used lifejackets, and sitting through a hot pizza parlor, I’ve NEVER felt more gross.

The next day was JULY FOURTH! We hit the town for the July 4th PARADE!

It was a GORGEOUS morning for a parade!

Is there ANYTHING more patriotic than a fire truck in an Independence Day parade?!

The Bar Harbor Rotary Club had a Seafood Festival in the park but my crew voted on burgers poolside so we went straight to the pool after the parade….

This was the walk from the parade back to the hotel.

The most gorgeous views!

Our hotel had a restaurant, The Reading Room, with the BEST views where we had reservations for dinner. They couldn’t seat us at one table so Tab and I sat beside them.

After dinner we strolled down to the pier for some pics.

When I started researching for this trip, I kept hearing over and over how amazing the 4th of July is in Bar Harbor and whew-they were right! Parade, pool, dinner, and these views…

When we were walking back from taking pictures on the pier, LOOK at ALL the people who were set up to watch the fireworks!! WHOA!!! Our hotel blocked off a big area for hotel guests to view fireworks.

We knew we’d be waiting a bit in between dinner and fireworks so we took the dominoes down to the blankets to play while we waited.

Britt asked Ebby Lee to put some make-up on her before dinner. ha! Can you tell? She was living her best life!

It’s hard to see in any picture but that park on the other side of our hotel had a little gazebo. There was live music there all day on the 4th. Right before the fireworks officially started someone sang The National Anthem. People everywhere stood up to put their hand over their hearts to honor our country. It was super special. Seriously a moment I’ll always remember.

We were killing time while we waited…

and then we watched THE BEST firework show I’ve ever seen. Truly a magical kind of night.

Sunday was our last full day in Bar Harbor and we’d kept hearing about “The Beehive Trail”. It’s a trail in Acadia that has steep, vertical inclines using iron rungs, ladders, and staircases. My Nervous Nelly self decided that wasn’t for me. The girls and I opted to walk around town to check out all the stores.

While the boys, hit up the trail.

Do you see that ladder?? I mean I guess your foot couldn’t slip through but what if I sneezed and tripped falling to my right while trying to cross that? Ummmm…no thank you!

They had a BLAST! Telling me the views were totally worth it!

Ummm….another “No, thank you”, from me.

I told them to text me when they were finished so I could stop worrying.

A few hours after they’d left town, Bowen texted me, “we did it”, with this pic. WHEW!

The boys got back, we had some relaxing time pool side and then we got all cleaned up for our last dinner in town.

We had dinner outside in one of the most gorgeous gardens at McKay’s Public House. {There were limited places I could make reservations and with a party of six it can be difficult to just walk up and be seated. Highly recommend this spot!}.

This picture will always remind me of the meal where we all shared our trip favorite meal, our favorite adventure, our least favorite meal, and so much more. These moments of us all together are slowly ticking away but I was reminded by a friend a tad older than me so a bit ahead in life stages that just because we’re not all living under the same roof doesn’t mean we can’t come together for vacations, holidays, and fun weekends to continue creating these amazing memories.

Another friend always likes to say, “If we pay, they will come”. hahaha! The older I get and the older they get the more I understand that thinking! A FAVORITE week with my FAVORITE five!

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A few FAVORITES from the last week…

Can you even believe we’re taking SENIOR yearbook pics?! Ebby Lee and I had her pictures scheduled and we walked in to see one of her friends taking pics too! I’m praying this is a FAVORITE year for us all!

Britt joined a friend at the Apex to swim! This girly is a fish and would live in the water if she could!

This past week Ebby Lee has been BACKPACKING on a mountain in Colorado with friends all week! I don’t get to talk to her until tomorrow when she gets her phone back but I’ve been praying she’s having THE BEST WEEK! This was the picture I got the night before they took off the next morning without phones and anything other than what they had on their backs for the next five nights!

Britt and one of our FAVORITE sitters went to watch Moana this week while I worked. She LOVED it!

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If you’ve been living under a rock, then you might not have noticed the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale kicked off earlier this week. My items haven’t arrived but once they do, if there’s anything I LOVE, I’ll share. In the mean time, you can find it all at Nordstrom. It’s typically one of my FAVORITE sales to shop. This year I couldn’t get into the fall mindset as much as I needed to but I did order some shoes and jeans. Stay tuned!

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We have a big weekend of relaxation ahead of us and I am LOOKING FORWARD TO IT! Happy Weekend, Friends!

XO