Remember your last family vacation with the kids to Six Flags or Disney World? How many trips can you make, shelling out hundreds of dollars just to walk your family through the gates, standing in lines in the hot sun, buying souvenirs that you throw in the bottom of the closet when you return home?

What you need to know before you take a road trip with your children.

My family and I have been so fortunate to be invited to many friends’ places by the beach. I always want to be a polite guest and think a lot about not overwhelming the hosts with our army of 5!

Having lived on the East coast for almost 10 years, we had yet not been to one of its well-known park, the Acadia National park in Maine. Several friends had gone there and after visiting Portland, Maine in December last year, we decided to explore this area further.