Another post of vacation activities and photos. For the second part, we were picked up in New Bedford by Mr. Ink’s brother and family. We then went to a restaurant on the waterfront where we had an amazing seafood lunch and then hung out on a dock socializing.

Here are the brothers trying to “even out” the dock which was listing to one side with all 7 of us sitting in one corner. These two are big guys, it totally worked.

After a lovely lunch and chat we headed up to Boston for an evening. Miss Butterfly and Mr. Ink’s nephew hung out at home with their roommate as well, while Mr. Ink, me, brother, and sister in law all went to see The Aggrolites and a few other bands.

The home is currently undergoing renovations making sleeping situations complicated. Miss Butterfly slept on an air mattress near Mr. Ink and I, and I caught a photo of her in the early morning light. It was hard to get her awake and moving despite the fact that we were supposed to be up and getting ready to go to cape cod.

Much later than we had anticipated, we finally loaded up two cars and Miss Butterfly, Mr. Ink, me, brother, sister in law, and roommate all headed out to a rental house on the cape. Actually, first we went for lunch and then we went for a swim in the ocean. Where I made a massively rookie mistake by taking my shoes off too early and burning the bottoms of my feet badly on the hot sand. I mean, full on blisters and everything. I refused to let this get the better of me for the remainder of the vacation, so I ended up wearing socks and water shoes in the water which helped me maneuver the rocks and sand.

Cape cod beach day 1 the surf was wild. There was a lot of red tide as well as other seaweed. The beach was pretty rocky under the water, and there were a ton of seals. I swam anyhow. Despite the shark warnings. You see, the area has done such a great job in the past 8 or so years of conserving the seal population that the seals are no longer particularly scared of humans. So they hang out really near the shore. The sharks are brought to the shore to eat the seals and sometimes mistake a human for a seal. It’s become a bit of a problem. But, nevertheless, I am still more likely to win the lottery than get bit so I figured I could chance it. We kept an eye out and also paid attention to the lifeguards who were keeping an eye out. By the very end of the day the seaweed had passed on by a bit and I was spending more and more time in the ocean. Roommate, who had never had an opportunity to swim in the ocean before also spent a lot of time in the ocean. It was hard to get us two to come out of the water. They called us the mermaids. This was appropriate since every time we came up out of the water our hair was full of seaweed.

Then we got an opportunity to see the house which had a fantastic outdoor shower. This is great since the amount of sand, seaweed, and rocks that came out of my swimsuit was pretty shocking. An outdoor shower was perfect.

Day 2 of cape cod beach was the “perfect” beach day. Decent surf, sandy beach, very little seaweed. Much more comfortable than the previous day. I, again, kept an eye out for sharks but there were fewer seals hanging around. But I did have one pop right out of the water about 5 feet away from me, giving me quite a start!

Later that evening, despite terrible foot pain on my part, we walked from the house to a bayside beach to watch the sunset.

I walked slowly, not at all keeping up with the family. But Mr. Ink stayed behind. I am glad I went.

Day 3 of cape cod vacation was a little different than the previous days. We headed to Provincetown. This is something I’ve wanted to do for ages so I was quite excited. We went into town and I rented a bike. Then Mr. Ink, brother, and I took a bike ride to the beach to meet up with Miss Butterfly and sister in law.

The bike trail was fantastic, but also very hilly. It took us through wetlands and sand dunes. Sometimes we’d be in there not quite sure if we were in the mountains in southern utah or on cape cod. Pretty fun stuff! I ended up staying at the beach while Mr. Ink and brother headed back into town to hang out. Day 3 of cape cod beach was very gentle surf and absolutely no seaweed. No seals either. The wind was pretty strong, and because of this, it was the day I got sunburned despite trying to stay on top of reapplying sunscreen. Mostly just my legs.

Once done at the beach, we put my rental bike on the car and drove to town to return it. Then we caught up with the guys and walked around P-town. Mr. Ink had found a fantastic artists residence he wanted us to check out and I took a bunch of photos there.

We wandered the town, we went to brother and sister in law’s favorite bar, we wandered into various shops, we had a truly lovely dinner on a patio, we wandered into more shops and stopped for ice cream. We bought me a pair of earrings, then we got a magnet for our fridge, and we got a pretty cool bottle opener in an artist coop shop. Miss Butterfly picked out a sweatshirt for her birthday. We all agreed that no matter how late we were in P-town, we didn’t get enough. Mr. Ink’s description was probably the best. “This place has a really good vibe. Look around. Everyone is sooo happy!” It was true. We loved it. We want to go back and stay much longer. Explore more, see more, do more. It was a wonderful ending to a nice long vacation.

The next morning was spent cleaning up and packing up. Thankfully we didn’t hit any major traffic on the way home. Coming off the cape on a Thursday seemed to work well for us. We headed back to brother and sister in law’s home, repacked our suitcases, getting them ready for the airplane, and had a nice lunch. Then headed to the airport! Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:45 but didn’t end up leaving until 7:30. We were pretty sure we weren’t going to make our connecting flight, leaving us stranded in St. Louis. But, we were able to get in just as the next plane was boarding. Each of us ran to the bathroom and then Mr. Ink bought us each an ice cream while we waited in line to board. This was our dinner. We got home around midnight but we were soooo thankful to not be stranded, it didn’t matter.

One more vacation photo I took early one morning. I was having coffee on the deck when this little guy came to hang out.

He’d been hanging out in the beach roses and I think he thought he should get a little treat. I was being quiet and still enough that he thought perhaps I was a statue. He scurried around my feet for quite a long time, but once I started drinking my coffee again, he took off for parts unknown.

The next morning I was up early to pick Lizzie up from the sitters, as they all leave for work early and I had a grooming appointment for her. Then, home to unpack and work on laundry. After that we took Lizzie to the groomers and went to pick up Rose. Rose stayed with her foster home, so we hung out there for a bit, Miss Butterfly captured these photos of me with Rose and one of her many wonderful foster brothers.

Much joy was had by all. Once back in town with Rose, we picked up one of Miss Butterfly’s friends, then picked Lizzie up from the groomer, and then I finally got a nap in.

On Saturday, I tried to “be a princess” as I told Mr. Ink I would do. Really just trying to heal my aggravated feet since I hadn’t had an opportunity on vacation. Trouble is, while I am good at knitting and stuff, I am not actually all that good at sitting still. I am used to knitting a few rows then popping up to do a chore, then knitting a few more rows. I got soooooo bored while trying to be a princess. On Sunday I gave up and went with Mr. Ink to the dogpark, then paid for that later. The feet will heal when they will heal, but it’s awfully hard to get feet to heal since we just use them all the time. I can tell you this, I won’t make that mistake again!