A Way We Go . . .: "Squeazy" Does It.

Our kids must have taken note of how much Mr. Fix-It & I enjoyed our date night with friends in NYC. Just after we arrived in Massachusetts, we were greeted by the "maitre d" at our favorite restaurant, Lidia's. Lidia's is a "restaurant" my daughters invented a few years ago. All their meals are prepared in our home kitchen, then they dress up in aprons and serve us as if we're dining in a reputable establishment. They even make menus. I had no idea Lidia's was a traveling gig.

Maitre D at Lidia's. Notice the hand towel draped over the arm. So very professional. I also like the "kitchen door", which is a card table they used to separate the dining area from the kitchen.

Service with a smile. Mr. Fix-It always tips well at Lidia's -- maybe that's why the whole restaurant followed us to Massachusetts.

We stayed for a while in Plymouth, MA. Of course, we went to see Plymouth Rock and all that jazz. We also hung around Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Boston. We did some day trips through Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Newport, Rhode Island is one of my new favorite places. Little state, but it packs a punch. It's gorgeous! We paddle boarded around a small lake that feeds the flooding of a cranberry field each September. We watched the KY Derby while in Massachusetts. To celebrate the occasion in true Kentucky fashion, we baked a Derby Pie. We drew names of all the horses in the Derby & decided whoever chose the winning horse would get an extra slice of pie after dinner. CBR had drawn Orb, so he gloated as he savored every bite of his second slice.

Plymouth Rock!

LOVED playing by the coast in Plymouth.

Most days are spent sightseeing. Rarely do we have a day when we stay at the RV park. If we linger too long at the campsite, we begin to feel . . . squeezed. It has been tricky, but over time we've learned how to balance just the right amount of time spent at the campground, time spent doing school, and time spent sightseeing. We've learned that if I push too hard to get through school, we all go nuts. If we sight-see too long the kids turn into angry gremlins from an alternate universe. To avoid a bad case of the squeezies, we've learned to take an 'easy does it' approach.

Sightseeing wears our younger crew out, so the drive home usually looks like this. I love them.

We took a ferry to Martha's Vineyard. I had never been before, and found it not at all what I expected. It was far more touristy than I'd imagined. GREAT shopping though!

This is us getting off the ferry at Martha's Vineyard.

Drum roll, please. I'd like to document my new favorite place. Newport, Rhode Island. This place was majestic. Newport is more than a harbor town, it offers a lot of trendy shops and cafes. While it has a beachy/surf town culture, it's also impressively "yuppie-fied." Newport's famous mansions along the coastline, the stunning cliff walk, Bowen's Wharf, the International Tennis Hall of Fame, farms, and other museums offer something for everyone. We found it to be one of the most beautiful cities we've seen.

The kids playing around the cliffs -- Newport, Rhode Island.

Right behind these cliff, were the most gorgeous mansions.

This home, Breakers, was the summer cottage of the Vanderbilt family. Immediately beyond the grass, are cliffs to the water. Did you read that correctly? I said it was their summer cottage.

We were in Boston not long after the Boston Marathon, and the attack on their city was obviously still very raw. There was a "Boston Strong" vibe permeating the city.

T-shirts like this were being sold everywhere throughout Massachusetts. Some read, "Keep on Running Boston!"

I loved Boston. It's a beautiful city with tons of history. While there, we did the Freedom Trail, toured Paul Revere's home, Cambridge, Harvard Square, and shopped.