The View from the Woodlands: Kennebunkport

Some families have a "homestead"-- a place the family has lived and grown for most of the childrens' lives. In my family this sense of connection to a geographic location exists through my grandparents. While my nuclear family moved a few times while I was growing up, and has moved since I was "launched" out on my own, my grandparents have lived in Kennebunkport, Maine every Spring and Summer since I can remember. This place-- this homestead-- has been such a part of our family's life that one of my cousins even chose to get married there. My grandma's delicious meals and gracious hosting, my grandpa's tours of the town and all of its residents, time to breathe in the fresh, ocean air...I just love it!
There's something about Ocean Ave in Kennebunkport and the way it winds through the quaint little "downtown" to the rocky, ocean shore, past Bush Sr.'s house and into the wooded neighborhoods. There's something about the old boat house and the tide that rises and falls so dramatically and the wooden benches scattered amidst the rocks and rises near the shore. There's something about the understated propriety of this New England town, with it's mom and pop seafood restaurants that engender a relaxed familiarity while at the same time calling for you to wear your pearls and remember your manners. It's hard to explain all of it, but there is and will always be a nostalgia for the summer visits to Kennebunkport that took place every year of my life.
And this summer, fortunately, was no different...except that I finally got to bring Brandon to Kennebunkport! Enough writing, check out the pics (I didn't take nearly enough, but you can get an idea):