Family Vacation: Massachusetts!

Day 1: Roadtrip!

  After many trips up north we finally have the timing perfect. And by perfect I mean getting on the road at 3AM! How we have so much energy, so early is beyond me. It's amazing that with a 7 year old and a dog we only had to stop twice...and even cut two hours off our trip. Leaving at 3 is totally the way to go - getting to Massachusetts at a normal hour, eating dinner with the family and getting to bed at a normal time is a great way to start vacation!!

Day 2: Boston!

We wasted no time having fun! We drove into Boston for a day of site seeing and Boston history. We started with the Tall Ships..and while we were there I ran into my aunt and uncle, out of all the people there, I spotted them right away! Next we jumped on the Freedom Trail and learned all about Boston's North End - I love that Kaleb loves learning about History! We even stopped by Faneuil hall Hall to check out the street performers. Such a fun day!

Later that night the family got together for my cousin Alyssa's surprise 10th birthday party. Less than a week earlier her brother was born, so we wanted to make sure she didn't feel forgotten! There were a bunch of kids, food and laughs!

Me and my 94 year old great-grandmother!

 Day 3: 4th of July!

We spent the fourth having a great cookout at everyone's favorite cousins house (I also call him Danny's boyfriend!) Kaleb had so much fun in the pool, he even perfected his flips! Cornhole was played, special cocktails were drank (drunk?) and everyone had fun! Danny says this was his favorite day of vacation!

Day 4: Batting Cages

Thursday was the first day we woke up with no plans. So, we did what we do best - wing it! My sister joined us for a picnic lunch with subs from my faaaaaavorite place. Then we ended up at the most random place - the boys did batting cages, me and Michelle practiced our golf swing (I suck!) and we ate a ton of ice cream. I'd say it was a pretty successful day!

 

Massachusetts was such a great start to our vacation. Can you believe we still had 10 days of fun after this! I can't wait to share the rest with you!

Days 23 & 24: Fourth of July Weekend!

What an absolutely fabulous weekend!

I finally got to do something that I've wanted to do since Memorial Day weekend....pig roast! The best part about the pig roast? It's free...you only pay for your sides! We got to the Marina Cafe early for maximum pig eating...and beer drinking. We got our drinks and sat next to the river and waited for our food. The smell was amazing! I couldn't wait to eat!! I'm usually the person who says "if my food can look at me I'm not going to eat it." But the smell was mouthwatering! The second people started lining up to get food I jumped in line and started eating! It was so good!

Kaleb made some friends and went crabbing off of the docks. There was live music, awesome food, cold beer, good friends....the perfect summer night! I'm crossing my fingers that Danny gets another Sunday night off so we can enjoy another pig roast this summer!

So, as you can imagine...Sunday night was a lot of fun. Which means Monday morning was a little slow moving. Not hungover but absolutely exhausted. Apparently at 25 I need to go to bed at 10PM to feel 100% the next day. But it was totally worth it!

We didn't have any real plans set in stone for the Fourth. We assumed Danny would have to work (night crew gets screwed on holiday hours...) so we didn't plan anything. We had a last minute picnic at the marina. Everyone said we'd be able to see the fireworks from the marina..and there were a ton of people ready to watch them...so we were very disappointed when all we could see was a flicker of light. Thank goodness for the Boston Pops on TV, two years in a row that's how I got my fireworks fix!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and a very happy Fourth of July!

96 Hours

I have always loved holiday weekends. But a military holiday weekend is amazing. Danny got out of work early on Friday. We headed to Raleigh for dinner with the in-laws. Danny's step-dad got a new truck, one of those fancy-schmancy ones with OnStar. Seriously, how cool is that? You call, a lady picks up, and you tell her where you want to go. She then sends the directions to your truck. When a direction comes up, the radio volume and air conditioner get quiet so you can actually  hear whats coming up. AND it has a built in phone. The TRUCK has it's own PHONE NUMBER! All five of us called Danny's grandma. Oh, and dinner was good too!

Saturday, after Miley peed on our bed, me and Danny had a long-overdue date night. First, we headed to Target to get some shelves for our living room, I love having pictures around the house...you can never have enough! We had dinner at the Olive Garden. Red wine, pasta...mmm, it was a good night! We were going to see a movie, and I don't really remember why we didn't...but we ended up back at the house finishing up season 1 of LOST. Danny swore he would never get addicted to it...but if you're a fan, you know that's impossible! We slept on the floor Saturday night....after Miley peed on the bed, I washed my sheets...and was waaaay to lazy to make the bed!

 Date night!

Sunday we hung the new shelves and put up some new pictures. I've never celebrated the 4th without a crowd, so it was a little different for me. We made ribs and corn on the cob...very yummy! Then we headed out to New Bern for the air show. We got there waaay early. We sat in the sun, listened to music and people watched. For doing absolutely  nothing, I had a lot of fun. The air show was awesome. The first guy went straight up in the air and shut his engine off! A lady walked on the wings of an airplane. That is I-N-S-A-N-E. We wanted to beat the traffic, so we left early. We settled in for the night with the Boston Pops and Toby Keith. I love the Pops, I've seen their Christmas show so many times. Watching it totally made  me miss home!

 Drawbridge in New Bern

This dog was waaaay bigger than me!

This girl was so cute! And I loved her dress!

LOVED the air show!

Monday I woke up, and my hips hurt. I think the night on the floor and sitting at the airshow killed my hips. Danny says its because I don't drink milk (I like it in coffee, cereal, ice cream and cheese...can't do it straight.) I seriously think he is going to make me take vitamins. ICK! We went to the golf course, he hit a bucket of balls. I was just getting getting enough nerve to hit a ball myself when a ton of people came. I'm such a wimp, totally bailed. I promised him next time I would hit a whole bucket. We took Miley to the pet store, she get's SO excited when another dog comes up to her...she always pees. That girl needs some bladder control! We ended the day with a great dinner and a trip to Starbucks!

Fun in the sun!

Today was the last day of "vacation." We went down to Wilmington to do a little shopping. Jacksonville has so many stores, including two Walmarts, but there is NO KOHLS! We got some cheap beach towels, a couple area rugs and I got the cutest dress! I also started scoping out ideas for the summer essentials swap! We're grilling out again tonight...and probably going to end the day with more LOST.

You know what my favorite part of a 96 is? Danny only has 3 days of work...and then it's the weekend! LOVE IT! 

And just a little blogging business: if you are going to sign up for the swap, please do it before noon tomorrow. That way I can figure out the pairs in time for Thursday's post!  I haven't decided if I'm going to do it by location or randomly. Any feedback would be great!

Hope everyone is having a great week so far! 

Happy 4th of July!

We had such an awesome day celebrating our nation's independence! And we couldn't have asked for better weather. We went to New Bern to celebrate, they had readings of the Declaration of Independence, a tuba quartet, and an amaaaaazing air show! We didn't stick around for the fireworks. Instead, we're getting ready to watch the Boston Pops and Toby Keith on TV! 

Here are some pictures from the day!

The worlds largest (and stinkiest!) bbq sandwich!

This guy SHUT THE ENGINE OFF!

 

There is a woman standing on top of the plane!

 

I thought the air show was so awesome, that I just had to take a video! This guy was AWESOME!

 

Hope everyone had a very happy and safe 4th!

Wordless Wednesday: America Edition

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Pictures from weheartit.com and Google Image Search