The Miller Brew: July 2025

We had the best time exploring the NE for our 2025 summer family vacation! The kids were able to check Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine off their "visited states list".

Always a good start when your flight has SO many extra seats that we each had our own row!

We flew into Providence, Rhode Island and started our vacation with a night in Newport, RI. Newport was new to us all and it was amazing!!! Beautiful coast, amazing restaurants, shopping and stunning mansions. Perfect first stop!

A seafood dinner with views of the harbor was exactly what I envisioned for our first night of vacation!

Newport is known for their Gilded Age mansions. We toured the Vanderbilt's Breakers "cottage" which is the grandest of them all.

The Cliff Walk is another must while in Newport. It's a 3 mile walk along the shoreline that takes you through the backyards of all the mansions. We walked, we skipped rocks, we found Oklahoma rocks and admired the beautiful mansions. Fun morning stroll with amazing views!

The hydrangeas were stunning and were everywhere!

We had a 1 hr drive to our next stop . . . Boston!

The first night in Boston called for an Italian dinner in the North End! We ran into Harper's friend Lucy walking to dinner. Seeing friends on vacation is the best!

I could have eaten every meal of vacation in the North End! Italian and pizza were to die for! Pizzeria Reginas was hands down the best pizza we've ever eaten! It is a must for future Boston trips!

So fun looking back on this trip, because J&H are now learning about the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere and the Revolutionary War in 8th grade. Glad we hit up all these landmarks on our visit.

Can't go to Boston without a ride on the Duck Boat. It may seem cheesy but it's the best land and water tour.

The next morning, our first full day in Boston, we took the the Bay State ferry from Boston to Provincetown, Cape Cod. It was an approximate 1.5 hr trip each way.

Whale watching has always been on my bucket list and Provincetown supposedly has the best whale watching in the area, so it was a must do!

Millers are always skipping rocks

Our whale watching trip was with Dolphin Fleet and it was great! We saw multiple whales and learned so much!

Our ferry ride back to Boston had the most amazing sunset! If you know the Millers, you know we love a sunrise and a sunset!

The next morning we toured around Boston and hit up some of the must see sights . . . first up Boston Common

Pictures on Acorn Street were a must . . .

One last meet up with Lucy and fam was on our agenda as well . . .

We walked through Granary Burying Ground and saw the tombstones of John Hancock, Paul Revere and Samuel Adams

The Metro was a hit with the kids . . . crazy that public transit is always so exciting

Next stop, Fenway Park to see the Boston Red Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays. The Bleacher Bar was such a cool restaurant in the outfield of Fenway, basically opens up to the field.

My Uncle Stephen and Aunt Helen met up with us for a fun day cheering on the Red Sox.

Love, love, love this crew of mine and all our adventures!!!

Uncle Stephen won over the kids with ice-cream on a HOT day!

We had to see the view from the iconic Green Monster

Red Sox win! One of my favorite parts of the game was singing Sweet Caroline with the entire stadium. We've seen it on tv so many times and we finally got to participate in this game day tradition

Another fun Red Sox tradition is signing the foul post

The next morning we went to my Uncle Stephen and Aunt Helen's house for breakfast and bike riding. The kids had the best time biking the Bike to the Sea path that my uncle worked so hard establishing.

On our drive up to Portland, Maine we made a few stops. First stop was Salem, MA. If you're that close you might as well stop, but a few hours is all you need. We toured the Salem Witch Trials museum, hit up some shops and hit the road.

Next stop was Hampton Beach in New Hampshire

The Atlantic beaches are cold, really really cold! That didn't stop the locals though, the beaches were packed!

After debating the polar plunge for awhile the boys did it, and their reactions were priceless!

Harper and I put our feet in and took a walk down the beach, but no bathing suits for us!

After some convincing Tyler joined the boys, but he didn't last long!

It was a fun afternoon at the beach! The kids can now say they've been to an Atlantic beach.

Next stop, Portland Maine! One of my favorite cities!

We dropped our stuff at the hotel and headed straight to the Porthole for seafood, live music and good views.

Not sure how we missed Bonfire Country bar the last time we were in Portland but it was a fun find!

The next morning we went lobster catching on The Lucky Catch. Tyler and I did The Lucky Catch years ago and I've wanted to bring the kids ever since!

We learned a lot about lobster catching and how difficult it can be to catch a lobster you can keep . . . it now makes sense why lobster is so expensive!

We were all put to work!

Everyone held a lobster, even Harper!

Mason wasn't getting off that boat until we purchased a live lobster to bring to a local restaurant to cook and eat. He carried the lobster around town in the bag . . .