Another holiday has passed, and we finally managed to have our new style holiday be somewhat of a success.

At least, I consider it a success when we manage to have more memories of Steve that make us laugh than cry, and when we can make statements like “If Dad were here” and then describe some outrageous reaction he most definitely would have had and laugh a little bit before we all remember that he’s not here and life is just not what it used to be.

I also measure success by how rested we are at the end of our designated break. Thanks to our mild winter, we finally had the longest Easter break I can remember, not including the interminable one of 2020. As is our new tradition, we got out of town. This time we headed to my old home away from home, Massachusetts.

I knew I was taking a chance with this trip, because the only other time we’d toured my favorite place on the East Coast as a family had been our Thanksgiving trip a few years ago. I also knew that we’d be heading in the same direction as we did on our last and best family vacation to Maine.

I purposely avoided stopping at the Chick-fil-A that ended up being inside of a mall, but the GPS didn’t tell us that, and Steve followed the directions right into the middle of a giant parking garage, boat and all. We weren’t able to get to the curbside pickup with the boat in tow, and we were frantically calling the restaurant, which was minutes away from closing. When the slightly frazzled employee asked us where he should meet us, we told him to just look for the boat.

While we all enjoyed recounting that tale, and the kids even remembered running through the mall together trying to find the restrooms while we got the food, I knew I couldn’t handle driving the car sans boat this time through the parking lot maze, and if I got out and walked the dogs, I would inevitably remember Steve trying to coax Duncan to relieve himself in an out of the way corner, rather than right in front of the entrance. Dunc has always had a knack for peeing in the least convenient places.

Speaking of the dogs, we once again tried to make this a pup friendly trip. Airbnb and VRBO are just fantastic when it comes to finding pet-friendly accommodations, and honestly, it really doesn’t feel like a family vacation without the Beastie boys. Since sitting in the car for six hours straight was out of the question, I incorporated a few “more than rest” stops along the way. I planned to let the kids do the touristy things while I walked and entertained the dogs.

Our first stop was Mystic, Connecticut. A and E went off to explore the seaport museum together, while G opted to walk the side streets with me and the dogs. Since I wasn’t sure how our divide and conquer dynamic was going to work, I only scheduled about an hour and a half for touristy stuff and another half-hour for lunch.

As we packed up and moved on to the next stop, I was surprised to hear the kids say that they wish we could have stayed longer. At that point, we did have to stick to the schedule because we were meeting our hosts to get our cottage keys and I didn’t want to hold them up, but I decided that for the next few days, as much as possible, if things were going well, I would not interrupt them for something so trivial as a schedule.

E was the one who originally sparked the idea for the trip north because she wanted to visit Salem. While I remembered many a trip to Salem, usually for, well, let’s just say the kind of activities college kids like to pursue, I also remembered it being pretty cheesy and I didn’t have high expectations that the kids would maintain much of an interest in it. I was in for yet another surprise as Salem has really changed a lot for the better since my college days, and we had a thoroughly enjoyable day mixing shopping, history, and good food.

One of the things that struck me was that my kids are getting much better at looking out for things that they know will interest the others, or they are also getting less close minded about their siblings’ suggestions.

For example, we almost walked by one of the most interesting and unique shops we’ve ever been in, but G spied something in the window and wanted a closer look. His “can we stop here” was met with “sures” and “yeahs” rather than the typical “ugh do we have tos.” While we were in the shop, both E and G made sure that A was aware that there was a unique collection of lapel pins for sale. A has an extensive collection of them and is always on the lookout for more.

It may not sound like much, and believe me, there were just as many, if not more of their typical bickering and sniping at each other episodes. But, it wasn’t all like that, and I am encouraged that if they can do it once a day, or for five minutes, then eventually, they’ll be able to look out for each other all day long.

Whether it’s due to them maturing, or them realizing that they need each other more than ever, I don’t know, but I’m just glad to see it happening.

Last year, I tried to make a big Easter breakfast, Steve style, and ended up burning it, and no one was interested in eating by the time it was on the table, both because it was awfully prepared, and because we just didn’t have the heart.

This year, I turned it into brunch, and kept it in my wheelhouse of pancakes and bacon. As we sat in the breakfast nook at the cottage, arguing about whether pancakes should be topped with hot fudge or maple syrup, it still didn’t feel quite right, but it wasn’t quite wrong either.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing columnist who appears weekly in the Times News.