Hixson Family Vacation to Cape Cod

As we've mentioned before, our (not so) trusty little sentra died, so we had to buy some new wheels. After much deliberation (that of course, due to Nathan's obsession with excel, involved several spreadsheets with color coding and countless google searches for quality ratings and reviews), we narrowed our search down to the Mazda CX-5 and the Honda CR-V.  We decided on this beauty, a navy blue Mazda CX-5.  We love it and it has been a weird but awesome adjustment to drive a car that looks nice instead of an old tiny beater.

Also, since I didn't go visit the real Albania with Nate we went to an Albanian festival in Worcester put on by the Albanian church in the area. I got to try some authentic (and some not so authentic) Albanian food, and Nathan won me this awesome stuffed unicorn at the darts game. <<Nate Note: For my Albanian peeps out there--they had petulla, qofte, and byrek!>>

For my birthday this year I turned 27, and Nate planned a romantic harbor dinner cruise to surprise me. We left from the Boston Harbor Hotel and got on a fancy-shmancy boat all dressed up, ate fantastic food, and enjoyed seeing the city skyline and harbor islands in daylight, sunset, and at night.  It was perfect weather, beautiful scenery, and a super cute gift! 

Most recently, Nathan's family came to Massachusetts and some were able to stay with us and see some of Boston, but for most of the time, we went to Cape Cod for a Hixson family vacation.  It was super fun to see all his family and relax for a week in the pool and at the beach.  We stayed in Falmouth in a giant house we rented for everyone (with a huge pool!) and saw the fireworks, went to Martha's Vineyard, some lighthouses, an aquarium, did some shopping and lots of eating. We also got to see most of Nate's extended family on his Mom's side for a dinner, so I got to meet many of his family members I never had before, and who he hadn't seen in years. And now I will overload you with pictures of my adorable nieces and some of my adorable hedgehog....

before the rest of the family came,
Brooke arrived and we took her to the JFK library

On our Nature walk on Neponset River Trail near our house with Brooke

We brought Llizi to the Cape, who enjoyed exploring the
yard much more than when we forced her to swim

on the ferry to Cape Cod

Nathan attempting to teach Caitlin mini-golf (unsuccessfully)

Nathan teaching Mikaela baseball (actually, decently successfully)

   

Mikaela- "I was born ready"

Uncle Ivan had an awesome pond with this tadpole and other fish that Mikaela and Caitlin attempted to catch 

Aelish, Caitlin, and Mikaela at the aquarium

queen Mikaela is a pretty good title for this girl

    

After mostly everyone went home, we spent some more time in Boston with Kirsten, Brooke and Neil exploring the City...

The installation art near Boston Harbor on the Greenway (they are light-lined ropes hung between two skyscapers!) 

View of the Boston Harbor from Pier's Park in East Boston

  This video is Llizi going on a swim. ADORABLE!