Day 12

After breakfast this morning, we hit the road, not too sad to leave Buffalo.  The GPS sent us to Canada for the beginning leg of driving today.  We didn't realize that the cell service was roaming most of the time we were in Canada, so I am frightened to see what my Sprint bill will be!  Mark better get back to work soon.

We crossed back into the US at Port Huron, MI and sat through line of traffic at customs for about an hour.

Mark had run out of his Jim Beam BBQ sunflower seeds while in Rockport, so he was glad to see them again at the gas station in Michigan.

We were about two hours east of the Chicago area, when we made the unanimous decision to drive straight through home that night instead of stopping for the night.  We hit traffic in Chicago, as usual.

After a bathroom stop and to get pajamas on, we were on our way.  I read Vanity Fair articles to Mark all night and we rolled in at 3:30 a.m.

Mike Johnson, who stayed here with the dogs while we were gone, had waited up for us.  We are so grateful to him, we couldn't take these trips if it wasn't for him. 

As always, it is a little sad to come home from vacation, especially now because the summer is almost over, school starts in two weeks!  We all agree that this was the best family trip that we have done.  I could not ask for better travelers.  The kids did a great job, for being in the car for over 3000 miles!

  Thanks also to Mark for getting us everywhere safe and sound.  The plans for next summer have already begun.  We are headed to California for a family wedding!

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Day 11

Our last day in Rockport...Mark and I got up early and walked to Bearskin Neck for some last minute pictures and to have breakfast before the long trip home.

We walked back to the house, packed up the kids and hit the road around 10:30 a.m.

Packing up the car

Good Bye Rockport....

 We drove about two hours and stopped at an oasis for gas and a bathroom break.  While in the gas station, a girl says to Mark, "Hey, I served you ice cream last night and then rattled off our entire order, one vanilla with rainbow sprinkles in a cake cone, two chocolate with chocolate sprinkles on a sugar cone, etc.."  How random is that?  She was on her way to college in Rochester, NY, with her mom.

We drove through Massachusetts and New York and stopped for the night in Buffalo at about 7:00.  This trip has shown Mark and I places that we will definitely return to and other places that we never need to return to again in this lifetime, Buffalo being one of the latter!
This morning around 3:30 a.m.  I wake up to a woman screaming, "Help me Johnny or Donnie", or something.  I try to fall back asleep, but I hear what sounds like a riot outside.  And yes, we were on the seventh floor.  I get up, look outside and there are about 100 people on the streets below fighting and screaming at each other. Of course I wake Mark up to watch it unfold.   I can see punches being thrown, people with cell phones videotaping it, it was a complete melee.  After a few minutes seven or eight squad cars show up and break it up and everyone flees, but of course I continue to hear yelling for another hour or so...nice.

Day 10

Friday morning we decided to do our final shopping in town on our last full day in Rockport.  We went to Roy Moore's to watch the lobster tanks and the people buying that night's dinner.  The boys were fascinated by the way the workers would just pick up the lobsters out of the tank and set them on the scale while they were thrashing around.  If you ever find yourself at Roy Moore's check out the wall of police badges for the Hopkins PD one.  The east coast definitely love their police and firefighters.

Roy Moore's

Wall of police and fire badges

  So, this is a great story that has to be told....  We are walking around downtown Rockport and I spot Santa, in vacation mode!  Red t-shirt, white shorts, it was him!  I am not kidding! (if you know me well, you know that I still believe).  So, I say to the kids, "Did you see that?  Santa just walked into the bookstore".  They all look at me like I'm nuts, but of course head to the bookstore to investigate.  They see him, but not from the front, so Ted and and I wait outside the door and out he walks.  I think Ted almost dropped to the ground.  I said, "See Ted, I told you it was him".  Santa looks over and winks when he hears what I say, and starts walking toward us.  He stops and opens up a fanny pack that he has on, and no lie, he pulls out four CANDY CANES!  I started to tear up and I think ALL FOUR kids almost fainted!  It was priceless.  He said he loves to spend time at the beach when he is not working.  He let us take a picture and he had us take one with his camera and off he went.   Just like that, he literally disappeared.  It was FANTASTIC!

No caption necessary!

  We then visited another popular local beach, Good Harbor.  The kids had fun once again with the boogie boards.  I decided that I wanted a seagull for home, so Thomas tried to catch one for me.  Didn't go so well, so Mark just took a picture for me instead.   After a couple of hours the skies got dark and a storm moved in.  They cleared the beach, because of lightening strikes.

The souvenir I wanted to bring home

Dunes at Good Harbor

 So we decided to get dinner at the Lobster Pool and one more night of ice cream at The Ice Cream Store!  Oh, I was sooooo bad this week!  I think I ate ice cream every night and had the same thing every time.  Chocolate ice cream cone with chocolate sprinkles, halfway through the week, I got Mark hooked on the same thing.  I think I will dream of that treat for a very long time.....

On my way to that ice cream cone...

Day 9

Today we think we found our favorite spot of this trip, and maybe any trip so far!  We drove north to Plum Island again, but this time we were packed and ready for a day at the beach, boogie boards and all.  The beach was AWESOME!  Great sand, no seaweed, and huge waves!  The beaches in Rockport so far have been very calm, and this one was not.  At first, I worried about the kids being able to handle the undertow, but all four did fine with it and literally didn't leave the water for four hours straight.  Ted said, "This is the best day of my life"....as a mom, I love hearing stuff like that.

After the beach, and without showering, we went to Roy Moore's Fish Shack for lobster, that is why I am looking so good in the picture!  Lobster was great.  The kids enjoyed watching me break it all apart and made me wear the bib.  I think I have lobster claws left in my purse thanks to Ted.

We added a few pictures of our house, and everyone winding down at the end of the night.

4 Summit, Rockport, MA

Quote of the day from Ted while we are driving to the beach, out of the blue: "I named my weenis Rockstar"....Mark was so proud.

Days 7 and 8

On day seven we made our way to Salem.  It would be an understatement to say that it is a very strange town!  After being there about a half an hour, I said to Mark, "I think everyone here might actually be zombies"!  EVERYONE looked they were walking dead, or were just extremely bizaare in one way or another.  While there we split up, which if my earlier thought was true, was probably not a good idea!  I took the boys to the waterfront to see a pirate ship and Mark took the girls on a tour of the witch trial museum.  We decided that Salem was our least favorite stop so far, but interesting anyway.

In the gallows

With the "Bewitched" statue

Our boat

There they are!

I love this peanut butter sandwich!  Not a lobster fan...

Rockport

Shrimp boat in Gloucester

Today, we headed to Gloucester for WHALE WATCHING!  I have been waiting for this for along time and it was so worth the wait!  The ride was almost two hours , we ended up off the coast of Cape Cod and there they were.  Around 30 humpback whales on all sides of the boat.  AHH-MAZE-ING!!!  And yes, the video is in Italian because the people standing next to Mark were from Italy!

Days 5 and 6

Day 5 brought us to Newburyport, MA and what a charming town it is!  It was our second option for our final destination for the trip, but we chose Rockport in the end.  After visiting Newburyport, we will definitely be back.  We then drove ten minutes away to Plum Island, and it was amazing.  We are definitely hoping to go back to the beaches there this week.

Day 6 took us to Boston via the train and subway.  The kids enjoyed the ride.  It was cloudy when we left and by the time we got there, it was raining.  The rain picked up a little bit every hour until it was pouring, so it put a bit of a damper on our day of our walking tour of the city.  We had lunch and made our way to Fenway Park for new baseball hats.  After we were all soaked, we got back on the train and headed back to Rockport. 

I FINALLY got my lobster roll tonight at the The Lobster Pool and it was FANTASTIC!

Days 3 and 4

Friday morning we checked out of Cleveland and headed to Niagara Falls, Ontario.  We all loved going on The Maid of the Mist, a boat that takes you right up to the Falls and you literally get drenched.  It is definitely an amazing site to see.  Of course the kids thought the carnival type atmosphere of the town of Niagara Falls was "awesome", but after spending $75.00 for burgers and sandwiches for lunch, Mark and I were ready to move on out!

We drove over night, headed east through New York and Massachusetts.  We arrived a bit early this morning, the house wasn't ready yet, so we ate breakfast, explored the town and went to the beach for a couple of hours.  The kids thought the ocean was great, in spite of the "bad tasting" (salt) water.
We checked into our house, rested and made dinner.  Of course we had to walk to town and have ice cream this evening, yummm!

This week will hopefully bring whale watching and a train ride into Boston!

Day 2

We made it to Cleveland last night at 6:00, right on schedule.  The kids swam for awhile and we all hit the hay by 9:00, it had been a long day.

Today we spent the day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  It was VERY cool.  So much to see, Mark and I could have stayed longer, but there is only so much rock and roll that little ones can handle.  We walked around downtown Cleveland and had lunch.  They are filming the movie The Avengers here, so we are on the lookout for stars, Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson in particular!

Tomorrow morning we will head to Niagara Falls.