This past weekend we headed up to Rockport, MA for a fun filled family weekend. In the nearly 14 years Ry and I have been together, I've never been up here to visit his family. They come down but we've never been up together. After this weekend, I swear this much time will NEVER come in between another visit. Man, I actually would freaking move up there, it's just absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. We decided to leave on Friday night. I skipped the girls naps so that Ash would pass right out in the car when we left at 6. And that she did! Mya was into the movie though. We took Ryan's car (it's better on gas) so we just bought our travel DVD player since his car doesn't have one built in; it worked out just fine!
We ended up getting there around 11:30, not too bad. We all passed right out, looking forward to a fun filled Saturday!
We stayed at the cutest little Inn, right across the street from the beach! LOVED IT! Thank you Cioci, Steven, Mama and Jon! xoxo
We had a 1 bedroom, with a full kitchen and living room. This was the view from the little hallway between the living room and bedroom. This was bright and early Saturday morning, Ry was still sleeping.
Looking the other way.
Ash was loving the view.
So decided to do one of Mya's signature moves to show us how much she loved it!
The girls were DYING to get outside so we let Ry sleep and I took them across the street to see the water. I didn't want to go onto the beach for the first time without him, so we just looked from the stairs. So amazingly beautiful and still.
I would just sit on a bench and enjoy my coffee every morning here if I lived here....
When we got back, the girls couldn't wait any longer, so they woke up their daddy!
And back we went!!!!
Ash went right onto the beach....
But Ry and Mya stayed up on the sidewalk. Mya was dying to go for a walk, we wanted to get some milk, eggs or bread to make some breakfast. Of course the oatmeal and lemon/blueberry bread wasn't good enough that we had packed. But it was fine cause we got to get a little sneak peak at the adorable downtown.
When walking we asked someone where we could find a little store to get eggs, bread and milk. She told us which way to go and walked off. Then she came back and said, if you're looking for something really good, their is this coffee shop that has homemade donuts that are delicious! ENOUGH SAID!! We picked up a few donuts and headed back to our place to enjoy them!
Patiently waiting!
The church, that in one of the steeples still has a canon ball in it from 1814 when the British frigate Nymph invaded Sandy Bay, how cool!
So after some coffee and some donuts, we headed over to Irena and Steven's. Uncle Michael and Ash got right into paddle ball, lol.
The rest of the crew eating some breakfast.
The girls got some gifts from Irena and Steven, they were super excited to open them.
Mya's turn to play paddle baseball with cousin Raymond, who also came up for the visit.
They're home is amazing! The view is even better, check it out!!!!
Group shot, missing Krysia (who was at work) and Mama and Jon (who weren't there yet).
After breakfast, we all decided to head out to the beach.
Ash was having fun watering all of the rocks. The beaches are so different here then they are in Jersey. There were a ton of rocks (which is how Rockport got their name). The water is so calm and still too.
SO MUCH FUN!
Brothers
After the beach we headed back to our Inn, Ash napped and we all had lunch on the front deck. AMAZING!
Then we headed downtown for some shopping and to visit Krysia. She works at a bead shop. So the girls were off to make some bracelets.
Mya had a BLAST! She picked out enough beads for 2 bracelets. Then she worked with Krysia to put it in the best order to string.
Right up her alley!
Ash, on the other hand, wanted to grab EVERY SINGLE bead in the store and put them all in her hands. At first she was loving the sea glass so she put about 100 of those into a container, but I just kept 2. Then she was obsessed with these 'spikey' ones as she called them. You can kinda see the purple on one her bracelet here. She was also grabbing alot of the letters, so I found the ones to spell out Ashley. The bracelet came out really cute, even if I was just chasing after her most of the time!
Since the town was backed up to the water, between every few stores was a path to go see it, beautiful! I was in a store with Ash when we came out we found Mya and Ry throwing rocks. So we all headed back there.
Mya threw rocks with just about everyone there.
SO cute!
Sisters
Michael joined in!
Throwing rocks with Laura and Steven said, "do you see the snails?" Mya wanted to see one closer so he went down to get some.
All these little guys.
Of course I needed a group shot!
Some more fam a lam pics....LOVE this one!
Mama and daughter, beautiful!
...more people jumped in.
Cousin love, teeny tiny Krysia between the twins.
Time to walk back.
This cute face gets me everytime! At Irena and Steven's for dinner and the awesome fireworks.
my girls.
Irena teaching Mya how to make a mojito, lol!
LOVE! Mya was loving helping Irena with everything. Everytime they were done with one thing, Mya would say, do you have another job? It was so cute!
After the delicious dinner, we got to watch the 1st annual Rockport Illumination, right from their deck, AMAZING!
Ash lost interest so started playing with some of Pierce's old toys.
Mya wanted to play too.
Mr Potato head
Sunday morning snuggles with daddy.
Getting everything together while the girls do some coloring.
Bird watching at Irena and Stevens.
We took a walk to the quarry Sunday morning. They live right across the street, AMAZING!
A family who hikes together, stays together....
Out onto one of the rocks...
Just absolutely amazing. So peaceful and calming.
I could just sit out here all day long and enjoy this beauty.
Checking out the view with daddy.
Now, just when you think everything is so perfect and lovely, Mya has a freaking meltdown cause she doesn't want to hold my hand. Now mind you, we're 50 feet up and the side of this cliff is super close. I'm a freaking nervous nancy sometimes too. So here we are, Mya's crying and screaming cause she doesn't want me to hold her hand. So I say, there are alligators in that water, do you want to fall in? NO! So hold my hand! And just like that, we were hand in hand. I may have traumatized her, but I got the job done.
Do you see that alligator? lol
Ash and Uncle Michael
back to the beach...
Mya and Irena were back to throwing rocks. Ash was enjoying her lollipop that Babci bought down.
That belly!
They were also having a music festival that weekend. We really scored on the perfect weekend. The weather was amazing, it was the first annual fireworks show and it was their annual music festival. SCORE! The weather was perfect and we found a spot to set up our chairs and blankets in some shade right by the swings!
My girls can seriously swing all day long.
UNDER DOG!!!!
I don't even think you can really see how young this kid was who was playing the guitar, he was so good too!
After a while, the girls were getting restless. So we decided to take a walk into to get some ice cream. On the way back we came on the beach. Ry wasn't thrilled about coming this way cause his shorts got a little wet (WAH!), but the girls loved treching through the water. I seriously love this little town!
Steven took Mya to feed the turtles, they like chips.
We left around 5, the girls didn't nap and we knew Ash would pass out.
The windmills on the way out of town, so cool.
Ash passed out but we hit a blip of traffic, no worries, it cleared right up and we were home in 5 hours!
We had such a great time. Hoping to make this an annual trip! Spending some good QT with family, in this beauitful town on a perfectly sunny weekend was just what we needed.
Thanks for everything Irena, Steven, Krysia and Pierce. Love you guys so much. I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!! xoxoxo
Then off to Asbury for the day with just us. We always go with other people, which is totally fun too. It was just really nice to have a day with just Ry, the girls and I. 
Asbury just put this brand new jungle gym up on the beach too! The girls were in heaven!!!! They had a kiddie one...
...and a bigger kid one.
Ash wanted to try the monkey bars....
...Mya next.
Playing the bongo's.
She was having so much fun climbing up this and was so proud to do it all by herself.
Then she went down the big, tube slide all alone. I was a little nervous at first but when I saw her face, I was fine.
Then we headed down by the water. There was a sandbar so the girls were loving every second of it too. 
Ash was just loving the watering cans. 
