Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine

We had fun in Boston but were excited to explore the East coast, we we headed up out of Massachusetts, to New Hampshire and Maine. It was so fun seeing the cute little towns and the beautiful coast!

We had lunch at a little place in the middle of the "woods."  Kids had fun playing around outside.

We went to see a lighthouse in York, Maine. It was beautiful!

The kids had a lot of fun finding seashells and other things in the ocean water.

 

We decided to grab icecream at a cute little place near the lighthouse. It was some seriously yummy icecream, but melted so fast! We got chocolate chip cookie dough and their was definitely more dough than icecream! The kids still talk about it :)

We decided we would brave the cold ocean, the view was so great, so different than the west coast!

The water was FREEZING! Ryan and I didn't even get in but we couldn't feel lour feet, it was literally painful to stand in the water.... BUT the kids didn't care! They love the ocean and playing in the waves. Nothing would stop these cute kids!

Marlee loves having her feet dipped and being pulled back out when a wave comes.

The next day we went to Rockport, NH.  Had a yummy lunch at the Lobster Shack. The kids got to see this giant Lobster up close.

Ryan and his lobster. The kids all tried it and had fun playing with the claws afterwards. I made them open and close for them :)

Ofcourse we had to go back to the ocean!

Marlee couldn't help but strip down, it's one of her favorite things :) I figured we are on the beach!

Boston and the Fourth of July!

We decided to make a trip to Boston before heading to NYC for the rest of the summer. It was Ryan who wanted to go and I am glad he made it happen. Definitely a great family trip.

We did the Sky Tour on our first day there, kids had fun listening to the the recordings describing the city. The view was beautiful!

Next we did the "Duck Boat" tour. Not as exciting as we had hoped, especially for the money. Marlee feel asleep, poor girl was so tired. The kids did have fun going from the water to the road though.

The view on the water from the boat.

These ribbons were tied all down this fence with prayers and wished on them. It was just a couple blocks from where the Boston Marathon bomb went off. Brinley really wanted to read them.

These are the famous ducks from the book "Make Way for the Ducks." The kids loved playing on them and took turns riding all of them.

Ryan grabbed this pic of me trying to talk to Marlee about keeping her clothes on... it's her new thing to always want to take them off!

We went to this yummy Italian food place that my friend Britney recommended. It was SO good, some of the best, FRESH, Italian food I've had!

After dinner we headed to Mike's Pastry, a famous bakery in the Italian district. The desserts were huge!

Loading up on sugar right before bed and loving every second! All the kids got to choose their own treats. Marlee just wanted to eat all the pink frosting off of her cupcake, like usual :)

Morning of the Fourth of July we didn't feel like fighting the crowds, so we headed to Lexintgton and Concord, a little outside of Boston where the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired.

Man I love these cute kids. This was a sweaty humid day but they still had fun :)

Our little observer, she was a little nervous to get in on the action.

Getting sprayed by the firehouse and loving it! They were cracking up, it was too cute! Even though I didn't want them soaked like they were!

Marlee and Casen even got to take turns spraying the fire hose

Perfect shirt for this picture :) He is one silly little boy!

I feel like I can never capture Marlee in the swing but finally did, she loves swinging.

We saw the statue of Moroni poking out of some trees ahead and were so excited we had found the Boston temple! It was beautiful! Such a peaceful place. I love getting to see temples when we travel.

We made a quick trip to Harvard and wanted to walk around, but the kids were a little worn out so we just looked around a bit.

Waiting for 2.5 hours to watch the fireworks show on the Charles river in downtown Boston!

The kids seriously loved the fireworks. They were so beautiful! Marlee kept asking for the next week at least to go see more fireworks. Totally worth the wait :) Best Fourth of July we've had!