Our two weeks in Massachusetts were a flurry of activity. It started the morning after we arrived, when we saw a lady sitting at our picnic table, with her back to us. We speculated that perhaps she was lost, since she had a map and was using her phone. Two seconds later I got a message from my cousin Robbin, asking if I was up. She had been passing by the campground and decided to stop in. I had great fun catching up on all her news!
With Facebook a “thing”, many people knew we were in town and reached out. We had dinner with my brother and his wife Dawn one night, and another night we met up with an old next door neighbor, Maryellen.
Soon after we arrived, our daughter Jess flew in from CA for a few days. She spent a couple of days with friends before being dropped off at our place so she could visit family. She hasn’t been to MA in 5 years. 
We spent one awesome day at the beach with my family.
(pictured from L-R: Jess, me, my sister Deb and brother Ray)
We all love the water and had a great time playing in the waves.
On the way home we stopped at Hampton Beach, played in the arcade for a while and had an awesome dinner. (Jess in the foreground, L-R: Ray, Paul, Debbie, Richie, me)
Paul had his first of many lobsters.
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We were lucky enough to see our son Stephen quite a bit, and even got the kids together for dinner before Jess left. Of course, I forgot to get pictures so I had to steal the goofy one they took together.
There are 4 women I have known since I was about 4 years old. We try to get together whenever I get back to town and I managed to see them twice while we were in MA. One of them turned 60 and her daughters threw her a surprise party- a 3 hour lunch cruise on Lake Winnipesaukee. 
Not only did she not know about the cruise- one of our friends came all the way from California to be there-surprise! Rita and her husband Ed just bought a teardrop camper and raced across the country to get here in time.
-From old friends to new: I had lunch- twice, with some new found relatives. The woman in the middle, Elaine, is my 2nd/3rd cousin. She was adopted and isn’t sure who her biological father is. I was the first person she ever met who was biologically related to her. Really cool! She brought her daughter Michele with her. We also had lunch with a man named Ed, who is my 3rd cousin. We all met thru Ancestry, and exchange information when we find it.
Just because we aren’t at the house, doesn’t mean we don’t have projects! While we were in Massachusetts, we ordered two new things for the camper- A slide topper for the slide was first to arrive. It was a little tricky because it’s so big- 12 ft long and we had to make arrangements to get it since the delivery company couldn’t get into the campground. Paul is very happy that he doesn’t have to go on the roof to brush the slide off every time we move!
We also had to borrow a ladder and a step stool from my brother to put it on!
Being somewhat spoiled, we also replaced the so-so Fantastic Vent with one that is thermostat controlled, and rain sensitive, so we can “set it and forget it”. If we leave for the day, and it rains, the vent will close,until it senses no moisture, then it will re-open and pull air through it again.
We don’t need it in places where we run the AC, but it comes in very handy if we have no hook-up and have to leave the cat in the camper.
Although we didn’t get there as often as I would have liked, we did get to the gym a couple of times before we left town. This is the original gym I joined two years ago when we were in Massachusetts.
