Our Summer Vacation | Kennebunkport, Maine

Happy Monday, friends! It feels good to be back to the blog! We are fresh off our vacation in Maine and I am so excited to share about everything we did! As I was writing this post, I realized that I needed to break it out into two because it was going to be as long as a novel. This one will cover where we stayed and ate and the next one I’ll share everything we did that’s both family friendly, but also great to do if you’re planning a trip to the Southern Maine area.

Stay ||

I got so many messages asking about where we stayed because it was so family friendly! I found the Lodge on the Cove through some searching and it was indeed a wonderful spot for our family.

I was drawn to The Lodge because it was recently renovated and their room offerings included a king size bed with a bunk bed option that Sophia was totally giddy over! It gave total dirty dancing vibes! They had a heated pool ( a must for Maine in the early summer), lots of games for the whole family like ping pong, shuffle board, pool games & tons of coloring and they even had nightly s’more kits available – complimentary! They also had bikes that you could use whenever you wanted, which Sophia took advantage of every day!

I’d say it’s still not peak season, so while there were other guests there, it felt like we were alone most of the time, especially at the pool. Even though we got some of our breakfast out every morning, they also offer a continental breakfast that we also took advantage of. Overall, I’m really happy we stayed here and my only qualm was that we had to ask for our room to be cleaned every day – just for towels and trash, but I’m chalking it up to being short staffed!

Where We Ate ||

Dining out with kids in an actual restaurant is not my favorite thing to do – at their current ages! It just feels like we are rushing through our meals and aren’t really enjoying them. I bring things to keep them entertained, we order almost immediately for the entire table, but it’s still just all too much to keep them in their seats! So we ate at some great places, but our most enjoyable meals were the ones that we had outside on our own time with the kids being able to run around!

• The Dory || Poolside restaurant at the lodge. The food is just okay and super slow to come out.
• Hurricane Restaurant || Fine dining, but we came during happy our so limited menu options.
• Morning’s in Paris || Decent breakfast options, but no crepes available during the week. Coffee was pretty tasty.
• FiaFia || Delicious smoothie bowls if you’re looking for something healthier and their coffee was good.
• Via Sophia by the Sea || The most delicious meal I’ve had in a long time! Everything we had was delicious, but the bolognese was out of this world and the pasta is handmade at the restaurant. Also, their brussell sprouts were so good – I’m still dreaming about them.
• Ogunquit Lobster Pound || We went to Ogunquit and if you caught my IG story you saw that Gary and I came here on one of our first trips away together and we loved being able to bring the kids back here. The appeal to me is that you get to pick out your lobster fresh from the “pound!”
• Bennet’s Sandwich Shop || We went here after the beach one day and I loved the picnic style area right outside. The sandwiches were super tasty.
• Roma Pizza || I have tried a lot of pizza and this would probably make it into my top 5! So crispy and not at all greasy. Kids LOVED it – actually devoured an entire pizza on their own. Have you ever seen a happier child eating pizza?!
• The Clam Shack || This is a Kennebunkport staple and you have to try the lobster roll box because Maine lobster is just…chef’s kiss!

The best part about eating out at all these new places is that the kids get so much joy out of doing new things! I also think the more acclimated they get with eating out at restaurants the better it will be for us!