We took the kids to visit Boston for 2 days and then spent a week on gorgeous Cape Cod. (This all happened about 2 weeks ago, but I am quite behind in blogging). I wasn’t great about taking photos on this vacation…it was non-stop and I just didn’t have the time or desire to lug around my big heavy camera. Sometimes I just need a break from camera-readiness also.
So here’s a little of Boston:
1. I can spend hours and hours in the old cemeteries. There were a few in our party who could not spend hours and hours. So we didn’t. But there is something so peaceful about these places in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city.
2. The boys were more into the street performers. What a life.
3. Relaxing at the hotel before we venture out.
4. In the evening, Jeff took the older kids to see Blue Man Group. Patrick and I hit the bagel shop and book store, and then headed back for a bath and bedtime. Cookies and milk were delivered (a perk of the hotel apparently) and we had our own little special event.
5. Of course we walked the Freedom Trail. Towards the end there were a few kids who were losing it. Not the younger ones. Older boys have their own idea of fun, and I don’t think that included a historical tour.
6. Harvard Yard…Andrew was really into this chess game we came upon. Winner takes a dollar.
7. Jeff wanted to see Harvard Law. Nice students took our picture.
8. Funny kids.
9. Funny, sad kid who felt left out, hence the face.
10. Riding the subway might have been the highlight of the trip.
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1. Then we went on to Cape Cod. Here’s a house near where we stayed. It’s called the Hydrangea Walk. It was lovely. Apparently it has been renovated to the tune of $20,000,000 or so. I asked about it at an art gallery…I wanted some inside information. It has had new owners who renovated it, bought adjacent property and knocked a house down that was blocking the view of the ocean, and put on several new additions. I liked it more before I knew all that. It’s not the house’s fault though, right? It is probably a bit embarrassed by all this ostentatious behavior and just wanted to live with the quiet admiration it enjoyed previously.
2. I can’t get over the hydrangeas. They are everywhere and gorgeous and I have to be at peace with the fact that nowhere else will they grow more beautifully.
3. Here’s the cute cottage where we stayed. Cute cottages, houses, mansions are a dime a dozen here. I love the shingle style.
4. The hit was the swing in the back.
5. On Martha’s Vineyard at the Big Dipper.
6. My favorite part of the trip is when my friendPam came to visit us for a day. We met at one of the prettiest beaches I’ve ever been on, and of course I have no pictures to show you. The tidal pools went out for at least a mile and we just sat and talked and talked and talked while the kids played. She has the nicest, sweetest kids ever. Here are a few of them, back at our house, on the hammock after pizza. The kids had so much fun together.
7. My kids loved the huge waves…and Jeff did too. He went out and bought a man-sized boogie board and fins, what a dork.
8. Here I am…on the last day the waves were scary big. I couldn’t relax a second watching the kids. They had so much fun though, getting tossed around and knocked over.
9. Isaac and Matt love skim boarding.
10. Andrew spent every minute in the water. That kid is a fish. Here he is warming up just to go back in.
And at the end of it all, I loved coming home.
I always do.
There’s no place like home.
What a great trip! Those hydrangeas are unbelievably gorgeous. And I'm very jealous that you got to hang out with Pam.
P.S. if you ever come to Alabama let me know… I'll take you to see Mother Angelica's new place just north of me!
What a fun trip Sarah! I loved all of your pictures. Those hydrangeas are breathtaking! Fun pic of your family in front of Harvard. Kenny was wait listed there for law school so we went on a trip to check out the school. Everyone was really rude to us! I hope that wasn't the case for you if you talked to people there.
You remind me so much of me at the beach! I'm on edge the whole time unless Kenny is in the water with the kids. 🙂
We just missed you! I'm peeking into your vacation while sitting in our cottage on Cape Cod blogging about our vacation! Your chutzpah driving to Florida gave me the courage to do the drive here from Illinois. The first 1000 miles were easy…but the last few hundred were HARD!
You looked like you enjoyed yourselves. If you ever come back, try out some of the beaches in Pocasset/Cataumet/Monument Beach – warm water and smooth as glass! I still have scars on my back from a teenage run in with Nauset beach waves – ouch!
As for the hydrangeas, they're all jealous of the peonies that grow a dime a dozen in your neck of the woods, so I guess we can call it a draw.
I so want to take this trip someday! Thanks for sharing all that you do. I like to live vicarioulsy through you!
Oh my word at those hydrangeas! I want a huge yard full of them!
I'm so jealous of your trip to Boston. I lived there for 2 years, and I LOVED it. After I got used to the feel of a big city, that is.
What?! You were in MY neck of the woods!? I'm just so glad our paths never crossed, because I totally would've done the "Wait?! Aren't you Sarah?! Sarah of Clover Lane?!" thing and embarrassed your entire family! Glad you had a wonderful vacation!
Great pictures Sarah! Loved the one of the boys on the bed at the hotel doing the "airplane" thing – I remember doing that as a kid!
I wish my hydrangeas grew like that! Luscious.
I love cape cod. Must go back some day. **sigh**
Beautiful! Love the pointing picture…your kiddos look like they have so much fun together!
We went to Cape Cod our first year of marriage when a family of a student of mine offered their cottage to us (AMAZING!) We loved every second and I dream of going back someday!
So fun! We were supposed to be headed out to Maine, Cape Cod, and Connecticut this week. A last minute trip out to a funeral in Utah kind of changed our vacation plans, but it all worked out for the best. I love the hydrangea pics. When we lived in CT, a little old man in our church congregation used to bring me armfuls of blue hydrangeas. My favorites! Now that you are home, I have to tell you what happened the last time we went to Boston. We were in a busy square outside the aquarium, waiting to buy tickets, and a child was kidnapped (apparently). I will never, ever, ever forget the frantic screams of the child's mother, as she tried to alert everyone and begin searching. It was absolutely terrifying, and of course I think of that every time we go someplace crowded. I never found out what the outcome was, either, which makes me extra crazy. (Something I am determined to ask about in the hereafter.) On a brighter note: isn't the Cape fun?
Looks like an awesome trip! But I have to agree…NO PLACE LIKE HOME 🙂 ALways ready for it 🙂
Love these pictures. I've never been to Cape Cod, but you've made me want to!
I love Boston and Cape Cod!!!
And hydrangeas!
One of my most favourite places in the wide world. Boston and the Cape….makes me feel smiley thinking about it and perusing the pics 🙂
Loved seeing and reading about your trip. How fun! Love that your older kids were making mischief on the Freedom trail. That happens at my house too. Question, since we also have four kids, do you find that you have to get 2 rooms at a hotel? Or do you just share? Every time we go on vacation we stay at Embassy Suites just to avoid this but they aren't always where we need them to be. So, please tell.
Come back!! 🙂
My brother and sister in law just moved to Boston…now I am even more excited to visit!
Do you think Martha Stewart bought the Hydrangea Walk home? Sounds very Martha to go knocking down houses just for a better view…
The East Coast has such an allure for me. . . maybe since I've grown up in the West. Someday I'd love to explore those little beach towns & historic areas. So many places featured in literature that I've read. I'd love it. (The West Coast is incredible as well, just very different in flavor.)
By the way, am I the only one who dislikes hydangeas? Too showy & fake looking. I adore rhododenrons, however, and would love a Rhododenron Walk Home (like in the book Rebecca, if you've ever read it!).
(Beautiful vacation, thanks for sharing the memories so we can enjoy vicariously.)
what a beautiful place! love that cottage you stayed in. I'm the same way at the beach with my kids.
Thank you. You gave me a very happy smile.
Such beautiful places to visit. We lived in Virginia for 2 years and I regret we didn't get to head up to the Boston area to visit while living up that way. Love all your pictures!
We did that same trip for our 2nd anniversary, pre-kids (16 years ago!!). It was everything you described and more.
And on Martha's Vineyard, the ice cream place we went to was called Mad Martha's (is that still there?) And while we were in line, we stood behind none other than STEVEN TYLER. Yup. My brush with fame. Now that I see how nice he is on Idol, I wish I would have at least said hello. Instead, I hummed "Walk This Way" under my breath.
Smooth.
Beautiful pictures for a trip where you didn't take very many pictures.
Blessings,
Sandy
what a great vacation. your family is beautiful. And I am so missing Boston. We lived there for a hot minute when we were newlyweds and had so much traveling around New England. We never made it to Martha's Vineyard (which I always said I must do), but loved Nantucket and Cape Cod.
Oh and your reality check post was great!
Love the Cape! I also read your reality post. I completely understand. We took our kids to Chicago for their first big city trip and NY and Wash. DC in recent years (and a drive by in Boston!). When we do city trips, we "do". The kids can grumble and it's tiring on all of us! I do so love a trip where I can just park the car and hit the beach – so relaxing!
I am about 2 hours from Boston and the Cape…love both of them! We are thinking of taking the kids to Boston overnight to do the Freedom Trail, Aquarium, Fanuel Hall, etc. Can you share what hotel you stayed in? The room is gorgeous, and I am a bit picky about hotel rooms…you can email me at oleksak5@comcast.net…thank you so much!
We stayed at the Omni Parker House. It was perfect…in the middle of everything, directly across from the Freedom Trail, and they gave the little kids gift bags, free cookies and milk at night, and free icecream in the basement. We booked the room with 2 queen beds and a pullout couch and it was very roomy.
Have a great time.
I visited Boston about a month ago for a conference and the Hydrangeas were AMAZING. Hydrangeas are my favorite. It was so different since everything in Texas is dying in the heat. Looks like a fabulous vacation.
Ahhh, this makes me miss Boston!!
Those hydrangeas are stunning in their pure volume, but I have never seen such beautiful hydrangeas as the ones that grow here where we live in Germany. The intense hues of blue and purple are amazing!