President Barack Obama says his family vacation in Maine was “the rose” in his life among the “thorns” of his presidency during the past month.

In an interview with Barbara Walters that aired today on ABC’s “The View,” Obama says: “In the last month the rose has to be a couple of days we took in Maine with Michelle, Sasha and Malia. We went on bike rides and hikes . . .

“The girls,” he continued, “are getting old enough now where they’re not quite teenagers yet, so they still like you, but they’re full of opinions, ideas and observations and it’s just a great age. Malia just turned 12 and Sasha just turned 9, and it couldn’t have been a better couple of days.”