Do I love summer in Maine? Yes, because my kids all come to visit me, even the one as far away as Tennessee. I am 85 years old with Parkinson Disease and one of my greatest pleasures in life is our family tradition of gathering at Old Orchard Beach for our annual family reunion at the beach front cottage that I rent for three weeks every summer in July. I have seven children, six of them have spouses, they have fourteen children of their own, and their children have given me six great grand children.

That's a total of thirty-four of us not counting all the friends and relatives that make a point of joining our party at some point during the three week holiday.

The beach at Old Orchard is a perfect family beach. It has a wonderful sandbar where the children can play at low tide and surf in the waves.

Right up the street is a large amusement park that the kids visit every evening after dinner. Of course there's also the well provisioned penny candy store, miniature golf, and pottery making opportunities all within walking distance as well.

The local eating establishments offer anything from fresh lobster to Thai cuisine along with the availability to grocery shop at the nearby fruit and vegetable stands or market and make dinner a real hometown family gathering.

When the adults want to escape the family bedlam, there are whale watches galore in Boothbay Harbor, Whitewater rafting adventures on the Kennebec River, or Deep Sea fishing on Ugly Anne in nearby Ogunquit. We watch the sunrise and set over the ocean each day at daybreak and day's end, the sea grass blowing in the wind, and local birds chirping and frolicking in the sea breeze. Yes, we love summer in Maine. It's our little piece of heaven on earth.