So, we’ve had two lovely vacations this year. One being our rather short surprise honeymoon and then we just got back from a family trip to the east coast. We got to visit with both sides of the family a bit. This post will be the photos associated with my side of the family. We went to New Bedford, MA.

We have some family that live there and additional family who couldn’t make it to the wedding also came to visit. We didn’t have too many specific plans for each day, we sort of took each day as we saw fit. On day 1, Miss Butterfly wanted to go for a bike ride. So, Mr. Ink and I obliged. My father took us to a trailhead and we rode bikes for ice cream.

That evening, we went to see Mama Mia with some family. On the way there, we passed an art school. I snapped a photo of some felted and crocheted installation.

I am fairly certain the bug on one of them wasn’t intentional, but it matched perfectly so I grabbed a photo. Mama Mia was very well done, and since it’s one of Miss Butterfly’s favorite musicals, I know she really enjoyed it. Prior to the show, while waiting at our hotel bar, Mr. Ink had a drink. I snapped this photo as I was asking him how his drink was, and his response was “Expensive” followed by laughter.

On our second day, Mr. Ink wanted to wander around town a bit. We found another art installation, this one of mylar, above a local park. We also ended up running into our family there, and went to a bakery, picked up some treats, and sat and ate in the park.

On our third day, Miss Butterfly wanted to ride bikes again, so we again did a bike ride. This time I borrowed my aunt’s bike. For most of the ride I just felt like I couldn’t keep up. I was struggling along so hard, and wondered if I was getting sick. Turns out my front brakes were dragging terribly, and once I figured that out, toward the end of the ride, I had no trouble keeping up anymore, since we had disconnected the front brakes. Mr. Ink fixed them for my aunt so she shouldn’t struggle anymore.

On that ride we rode through a kite festival.

We also met up with family at the ice cream shop and rode back with them where the kids and most of the adults decided to explore an old fort.

I stayed with the bikes:

We also went swimming in the ocean all three days, even if for just a quick dip.

On the final evening, my family surprised us with a fiesta. Delicious food and my mother made us a wedding cake!

Fresh flowers and leaves from my aunt’s garden, it was quite beautiful. And delicious. And then had us do the whole cake cutting thing all over again.

Other highlights, the massive beech tree Mr. Ink loves to inspect:

He also enjoyed wandering around my aunt’s garden and seeing what she’s got going on in there. A highlight for me was some hand-me-down clothing and a bag to pack it in so I could bring it back home. After 3 full days in New Bedford, we headed off for our next adventure….