Week two of our vacation in Massachusetts was even more action packed than week one which included a long day of air travel, a late night viewing of my SIL’s 70s cover band, disc golf, a drive in movie, a trip to Boston, New Hampshire and Maine, a family cookout, swimming and a birthday party.

Sunday afternoon we took the kids to one of the larger malls in the area to pick out a wedding present for my SIL who was getting married the following weekend. We found a beautiful teapot at Teavana that Dan and I both saw and instantly thought of his sister. Perfect.

The next afternoon we took the kids to the playground at the elementary school where Dan once went to as a kid before meeting my aunt for lunch at the hot dog stand down the street. Massachusetts has at least two major hot dog stand style restaurants that everyone in the area has been and most love. Hot Dog Annie’s was a central figure in Dan’s childhood much the way that Four Corners was a major part of mine. The debate still rages on as to which makes a better hot dog.

BB says she doesn’t really care as long as we keep taking her to awesome places for lunch. Our kids would happily live on hot dogs which is good because they ate a LOT of them on this vacation.

Tuesday was another Kid’s Day and BB kept cool in the kiddie pool while the older kids, including MM,  swam in the large pool. I was grateful that she didn’t seem to think she was missing out because it meant I was able to sit in the shade and relax while the kids kept cool in the water.

The next day we spent basically the entire day at Cool Sandy Beach, on and off again. Morning, afternoon and evening found us making makeshift sandcastles, hanging out with friends, walking along the water and eventually swimming also. And me taking lots of pictures.

Thursday we went blueberry picking with my grandmother and cousin. I have decided that blueberry picking is the very best kind of picking. You sit on a chair and easily pluck the blueberries from their plant. Eat some, save some and then go home and eat more. The weather was just overcast enough to keep us cool and relaxed without being cold. Perfection.

Of course I had to linger and take pictures of every pretty flower that we passed…

Then we went to a dairy farm near my grandmother’s that has a few cute animals to visit, a playground and a farm store selling ice cream, eggs, milk and more.

I made Dan take this picture of BB and I because I was reminded of taking another little tyke to this farm many moons ago when my friend’s daughter was BB’s age. Now she is practically a teenager – ack!

I don’t know why this picture is so ridiculously small – a lot of my oldest digital pictures are for some reason now very, very tiny – but you get the idea. Here’s  another picture that is actually big enough to SEE from the same day…

Seriously. I was practically still a teenager myself in this picture. Point is though – little Cay, little BB, littler Jen, bigger Jen… De ja vu. You get the idea, right? Okay, moving on…

After we looked at animals the kids played in the sand tire box and then we celebrated BB’s birthday again at my aunt’s house with a birthday bundt cake and seven minute frosting. It’s tradition that there be seven minute frosting at family birthday parties and we like to stick with our traditions. Especially where cake is concerned.

The next day was July 21st – BB’s third birthday and my SIL’s wedding – how many girl’s get to wear the most beautiful dress in the world and have a hired band sing them happy birthday in the middle of their aunt’s wedding? Some girls have all the luck, huh?

I could devote an entire post to pictures from this day but I’ll try to contain myself and just show you the best ones…

Hmmm… ok this post just got very long. I’ve got three more days to share with you from the vacation but I think I’ll save them for another post. Stay tuned for BB’s first haircut, blowing bubbles with cousins, major attitude and our flight home.

Click the links to read part one and part three of my vacation wrap-up.

So three weeks ago we got on an airplane and flew to Detroit and then sat around the Detroit airport for four or five hours and then got on another airplane and flew to Rhode Island where my in laws picked us up and drove us to Massachuetts. It was a loooooong day but we were apparently crazy or still riding the adreneline fumes of Fun & Exciting and because that night we put the kids to bed at my dad’s place and then drove 40 minutes into the “city” and watched my SIL perform with her 70′s cover band at Sakura Tokyo.

I’ve never heard her sing anything outside of the church really so it was very cool to see her in “her element” – she is outrageously talented and we had a great time listening to the band as well as catching up with some of Dan’s family that had also come out to hear her perform.

The next day we spent the morning with my dad and my grandparents. We swung on the old swing on the front porch that I have been swinging on all my life. Watching them swing with my grandma and remembering when I was there age sitting on that swing with grandma brought back a lot of great memories. The weather was blissfully perfect and a nice escape from the crazy 106 degree temps we’d left behind in Madison.

Dan and I spent the afternoon with his siblings playing disc golf which is basically frisbee in the woods with a lot of chaotic hiking thrown in while you retrieve your frisbee from the stream or behind the rocks or up the hill or down the hill while attempting to get it to the basket at the end of each little course. It’s sort of like hell but almost fun. His siblings are a pretty athletic, outdoorsy group and so half of the people playing had a blast and did really well and the other half enjoyed commiserating together and attempting to find a strategy to keep us out of the streams and sweating as little as possible. I like to call it don’t throw the frisbee farther than you can predict it’s landing and plan to take awhile.

When we met up with the kids and my dad afterwards for dinner they were pretty tuckered out. BB had fallen asleep in my dad’s arms and it was adorable and a lot of pictures were taken. We took them out to Friendly’s for dinner and ice cream and she ate pretty much a lollipop, french fries and ice cream so by the time dinner was over she was pretty thrilled despite waking up cranky. Also known as, we probably got played in a major way. She’s a crafty one.

That night we went to the drivein with Dan’s siblings again to end our Epic Sibling Day and it was pretty awesome but also pretty buggy. I don’t like bugs but they really seem to like me. We saw the new Spiderman movie which was pretty good but mostly thanks to Emma Stone frankly.

We also spent a good bit of time playing outside and hanging out with one of my oldest besties who happens to live across the street from my uncle’s house where we were staying. It was awesome being able to step outside and see her and her hubby and kids and hang out in the off hours between running here and there.

Tuesdays in the Summer are Kids Day with Dan’s family. We all meet up at his aunt’s and the kids swim and eat junk food and the grown ups hang out in the shade and eat junk food and it’s pretty fantastic. Dan’s parents gave BB her first birthday present of the month, two Bitzy Baby dolls from the American Girl collection – a girl and a boy which BB named after herself and her brother. Pretty freaking adorable.

On Wednesday Dan’s parents took the kids to New Hampshire to visit Storyland and Dan and I took a little romantic getaway to Boston where we walked around Chinatown, Quincy Market and such and visited the New England Aquarium. It was a lot of walking and sore feet but also a lot of fun and nice to see and do the things that interested us but would have bored the kids.

panoramic view of the Boston Harbor

The next afternoon we headed back to MA and then up to New Hampshire to meet up with Dan’s family and take the kids back to MA.

That Saturday was a cookout at my grandmas in the afternoon and one of many birthday parties for BB that night with my best friends from high school and their kids.

My friend S made this cake for little BB who has announced recently that she is a princess and wants pink for her birthday (just pretend you can’t read the cake, okay?). Didn’t the cake come out pretty? It tasted great, too.

And that was just one week. We stayed for a whole other week and a half which I’ll tell you more about later. For now I’m going to go spend time with my family and enjoy ogling our new refrigerator which is by far possibly the prettiest thing in our home. It’ll be even nicer tomorrow when I buy some groceries for it.

Click the links to read part two and part three of my vacation wrap-up.