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We just got back from our August vacation, a short, one-week affair that couldn’t be longer due to Nicole’s new job and, frankly, no real money to extend the fun.

But fun we had, thanks to southern Maine’s combination of fish, hospitality, and video games.

I used to vacation in the York-Ogunquit area with my family when I was a kid, and now I’ve realized something that I’d always missed before: the whole area is predicated on eating as much food as possible, as quickly as possible. All of the other attractions — water activities, sightseeing, walking — are just interludes between meals. You wake up, eat a giant breakfast and some pie, and start counting down the minutes until lunch. Lunch consists of a lobster roll and fries, washed down with an ice cream cone. Then it’s time to twiddle your thumbs and find activities to distract yourself from your expanding stomach. Finally, it’s 5:30: dinner! Fried haddock and french fries or cole slaw followed by blueberry pie. You go to bed early that night so as not to get too hungry. The next day is the same. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

It wasn’t really like that for us but it sure felt like it. We did, however get to go sea kayaking (open water!), we played in the biggish waves, did a little mini-golf action, and, er, ate.

Plus, our friends Maggie and Barry got engaged! On a tugboat!

And we saw Mike and Olivia and their daughter Bea, who’s seemingly grown tenfold since we last saw her. Amazing.