My favorite time of day at the beach is late afternoon. The sun is low in the sky and all of the day-trippers have gone home. It’s the perfect time for a glass of wine, some cheese and crackers, and a late day swim.

I only got to spend one late afternoon at the beach last week and it was lovely. Just Dale and I with a margarita (or two) and a swim in the balmy waves. It was probably my favorite hour of the whole week.

There was an evening, though, where we rode our bikes to the beach. We had eaten a late lunch and decided to all take a ride together. The light was gorgeous and I was so glad I had tossed the camera into the basket of my bike.

I was able to get a good photo of everyone.

Hannah on her bike.

And Jess grinning.

Patrick with his long hair getting blown around.

And Hannah and Jess by the shore.

I even thought to have Hannah take a picture of Dale and I.

Family portraits at the beach are a very good thing.

I am back from my family vacation on Cape Cod. It was as wonderful as always. There was time to do all of my favorite things.

I spent lots of time at the beach.

I read – in fact I finished 2 books.

I knit a lot. I finished a pair of socks and made some progress on a shawl I am knitting for a friend to wear in her wedding next month.

I took lots of photos and created some great memories.

I shopped and ate delicious foods.

I rode my bike and walked on the beach.

I hung out with my family and friends.

The only thing that would have made it better would have been another week of it!

Yesterday’s adventures included a trip on the ferry from Plymouth to Provincetown. I couldn’t resist a picture of Dale’s beer – Cape Cod Red – and my mojito at lunch. You don’t get a better view than that!

Monday’s activities including a drive to Gloucester and Rockport. While in Rockport we met commenter extraordinaire, Mary K. She let us park at her house (a huge deal since parking spaces in Rockport are very hard to come by) and we had a great little visit with her. We also walked around and admired the shops and the scenery. The day ended with fried clams at Farnam’s.

I love being on vacation.

My 2 week vacation officially starts today. We’ll be home this week and then going to the Cape next week and we’re all very happy about resting and relaxing, visiting and sightseeing, hanging out and playing games.

I’ll still be blogging this week but it will be blogging of the lighter variety. A picture and a few words or something of that nature.

For today:

A picture of last Friday’s visit to Easton’s Beach in Newport. After a busy afternoon of walking around Newport, a visit to the beach was the perfect way to end the day.

Come to think of it, that’s the perfect way to end any day.

We had such a great visit with our kids last week! We managed to do plenty of visiting and relaxing but also did some fun vacation stuff like going to the beach and going to a Rox game. We ended the week with a cook out to celebrate Dale’s birthday and it was an awesome party, if I do say so myself.

We even fit in a family photo shoot.

I got shots of Dale with his kids.

Dale with his grandkids.

And even Dale and I with the kids and grandkids.

Like any vacation, it was over all too fast. Good thing we have long memories to go with those photos.

As you may have surmised from yesterday’s post, I spent the past few days in Florida. Dale and I made a quick trip down to visit his son Brant, daughter-in-law Heather and granddaughter, Ambrynn last weekend. Like any good vacation, we crammed a lot into a short amount of time.

We visited shopping areas like Fisherman’s Wharf in Punta Gorda. I found some cool Jimmy Buffett themed Tervis glasses but I didn’t buy them and opted to try and find them online instead. It was fun to walk around in summer clothes, sightseeing and shopping.

Of course we went to the beach. Ambrynn played in the sand while Heather and I chatted.

And Dale and Brant hunted for shark’s teeth. Dale and I found 11 between the two of us. Brant found 50. I think he spends too much time doing this!

We went to Sanibel and visited the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. We saw lots and lots of birds, including this Roseate Spoonbill. I saw some telephotos lenses that I truly envied and I wish I had thought to rent one before we went on this trip. Next time I will, that’s a certainty.

While on Sanibel we had lunch at the famous Bubble Room and then went to the beach and searched for shells. The tide wasn’t cooperating so we only found 1 unbroken shell but it was beautiful and warm and a good excuse to walk the beach. I studied a few of Brant’s books on Florida shells when we went back to the house and I’ve got some ideas on how to do this better next time, too.

Naturally, I took lots of photos. Photos of palm trees and sunsets. Photos of birds and fish.

And photos of my family. As beautiful as the photos of the flora and fauna, this one is my favorite. All of us together in the warm sunshine. I miss them already.

I have written this post about my trip to Vegas in my head a bunch of times since I got home. It’s hard to sum up 4 days in a single post with  handful of pictures but that time has come and I’ve got to get it out there. In a word, it was FUN. Sure, it’s expensive (although airfare and hotel rates are cheap right now), and it’s overwhelming and exhausting, but it’s just a great place to visit. I think my stepdaughter Jessica and I managed to find the right balance between sightseeing and relaxing, though.

We got there Sunday and we were exhausted. We’d been up since 4:30 am to catch our plane and traveling is exhausting even without a time change. We basically checked out our hotel, The Mirage, had something to eat, walked around for 30 minutes, and crashed.

Monday morning, though, we hit the strip with determination to see as much as we could. We covered MGM Grand, Excalibur, The Luxor, Mandalay Bay and the Shark Reef, New York New York, Planet Hollywood and the Miracle Mile Shops and Paris. The hotels are beautiful and each has it’s own theme to entice you to pick that one. In the afternoon we hung out at an outdoor bar at our hotel and we spent the evening at Margaritaville.

After all that walking Tuesday was a great day to spend at the pool at The Mirage. It’s a gorgeous spot and the weather was warm and sunny. The outside cafe was closed but the bar was open and we enjoyed several hours relaxing there. It was the perfect way to prepare for a wonderful dinner – Kahunaville – and show – Cirque du Soleil’s Mystere. The show was worth every penny and I’m so glad we picked that one.

Wednesday was our last full day and we tried to fit in everything we hadn’t seen yet. We went to the breakfast buffet in our hotel and then visited The Venetian and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Caesar’s Palace and the Flamingo, we saw the fountain show at The Bellagio, and we visited Fremont Street for the evening light show. My only complaint is that the public transportation isn’t very good. The monorail is fast but hard to get to and it doesn’t stop in many places. The Deuce is convenient but crowded and it takes forever to get anywhere because of all the stops. We learned a few things about all of this that will make it much easier next time.

All too soon it was Thursday morning and time to head home. It was a whirlwind trip, that’s for sure, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it!

Just for the record, while I’ve included a few photos in this post, you can see the whole set over on my flickr page. Hope you take a look.

As we pulled out of the driveway last week to head to Cape Cod I queued up the iPod and played the Go Go’s song “Vacation.”  Hannah teased me about it but it set just the right mood and I didn’t let her discourage me.  It really was a great week and totally lived up to the mood of the song.

We had 6 days of hot sunny weather, one day of cloudy weather, and one day of rain.  You can’t ask for more than that on Cape Cod and we made the most of it.

There was the beach.  Lots and lots of the beach.

And there was mini-golf and fried clams and steamers and lobster rolls and martinis and beer.  There were games of Apples to Apples and Catch Phrase.  And there was knitting. I finished a pair of socks and a shawl and started a new sweater and a new pair of socks.

A vacation doesn’t get any better than that.