Memorial Day Weekend on the Cape

We just returned from a great weekend on the Cape.  Our landlords have always generously offered one side of their beach duplexes for us to stay in during the off-season on the Cape.  This year, we asked if we could stay for Memorial Day weekend as a special birthday present to me and they agreed. What a wonderful present it was to get to spend time with my family in such a memorable setting!

Early in the week, we discovered that the forecast was for rain Friday through Sunday, as well as wind and low temperatures (50 degree highs), but Monday was supposed to be sunny.  Naturally, we had originally planned to spend most of our time outdoors that weekend, and weren't sure if the rain would keep us from doing that, but we decided to take our chances and go anyway.  It wasn't only the weather that turned out to be hit and miss, but it was an excellent weekend over all and I'm so glad we went!

Friday, May 24th--
We packed the Sienna with bikes and luggage on Thursday night so, after putting all the food in the cooler Friday morning, I picked up the kids from school early (at noon) and we all drove together to pick up Olli at work.  The point was to miss most of the traffic by leaving earlier in the day and it worked!  We had a rainy drive, but the weather cleared upon our arrival and we had a chance to walk along the beach together.  During the walk, we saw a ray/skate on the shore that had just been caught by a seagull--this fascinated our children.  We were also sure to write our names in the sand and this was the first time that every member of our family was able to write their own name--I can't believe how much our children have grown since moving to MA and taking a trip to the Cape our first fall here!

Later that afternoon, the kids and I prepared strawberry shortcake from a recipe in Lukas' children's cookbook.  Even though the bottoms became burned (the one responsible will not be named), the remaining portions of the biscuits were yummy together with fruit, vanilla ice cream AND whipped cream.

The kids and I preparing the strawberries for the shortcake

We had planned to go to the S'Cargo Cafe for dinner that night in honor of my birthday.  We had eaten there once before (for lunch) with Oma and Opa, but couldn't remember the name of the restaurant at first and didn't make any reservations.  Unfortunately, the wait was over an hour when we arrived, so we needed to find an alternative.  By trying to follow directions from our landlord about a family restaurant nearby, we ended up in a Tuscan restaurant with good food, but no kids menu, if you know what I mean.  It was a low-light sort of ambiance, which made me nervous about whether or not we should attempt this with kids in tow, but we were the only patrons at the time so we decided to stay and see how the kids did.  They were very well behaved--and the wait staff mentioned so at the end.  We had Brainquest cards with us to work on which helped keep the kids calm and quiet until the food arrived. The kitchen made Lukas pasta with tomato sauce and Isa chicken with potatoes, so they were perfectly content.  I had bass and Olli had veal. We rented Les Miserables from a redbox to watch while the kids were sleeping--first time for Olli to see any version of the musical--and we both enjoyed it.

Saturday, May 25th--
Although it had rained significantly overnight, the weather was crisp, but dry in the morning so I went jogging while Lukas rode his bike beside me and Olli and Isa joined us halfway through.

After we were all cleaned up, we headed to Chatham to visit the train museum there.  Unfortunately, upon arrival, we discovered that the museum doesn't open until mid-June so we walked along the beach near the lighthouse instead.  There are normally hundreds of seals hanging out on a narrow island nearby and therefore, there have been Great White Shark sightings in the coastal waters there. There weren't any seals (or sharks) to be seen that day though.

It started to rain just as we headed to the Museum of Natural History in Brewster.  While there, the kids learned more about sharks through a special exhibit.  We examined jaw bones and teeth, stood inside a shark cage (for divers to observe sharks) and watched several videos about various types of sharks.  The kids were fascinated by the multiple aquariums in the basement of the museum, one of which was housing a blue lobster!

Upon arriving back at the beach house, we discovered that we had a non-working key and were temporarily locked out.  Thankfully, it was no longer raining and we got the situation sorted out in enough time for Olli to watch Bayern Munich (Olli's favorite soccer team) win an "important soccer championship".  The sun disappeared by the time the match was over, but it was dry long enough for us to go to the beach again and for the kids to dig in the sand for awhile.

Sunday, May 26th--

We got up early and drove an hour to Woods Hole where we caught a ferry to Martha's Vineyard. Due to various extenuating circumstances and unexpected off-site parking, we almost missed the boat, but we made it after all with literally 2-3 minutes to spare.  We had a 45 minute boat-ride to decompress from the stress and play Go Fish with the kids so we were in good spirits when we arrived on the famous island.

The kids at the front of the ferry boat right before disembarking

It was very cold, windy and drizzly the first half of our stay on the island, but we made the most of it and the second half was worth it for sure!  Our boat docked at Oak Bluffs where Lukas, Isabel and I got to ride the oldest continuously running carousel in the U.S.  The horses had "real" manes and tails and each rider got to try to pull metal rings from dispensers around the carousel while it was running and place them on spires on top of the horses' heads.  A special brass ring would earn a person a free carousel ride.  We didn't win one, but we had fun trying!

In line for the famous carousel 

Isa and I rode next to each other and Lukas rode behind us

Lukas' straps weren't tight enough at first for him to be able to stand up to reach the rings, so an attendant helped him while the carousel was running 

Pulling a ring from the dispenser--Success! 

Isa and I at the end of our fun ride--we had already turned in our rings

Lukas at the end of the ride--see his rings on top of the horse's head?

After the carousel ride, we headed for the Gingerbread Cottages in "Cottage City", the site of an annual Methodist Church camp that started in 1835.  At first the families in attendance would stay in tents, but as the years went by, they built their own cottages to stay in and each one tried to out-do the last, making for very ornate houses.

Lukas standing in front of a few of the cottages.  The one on the far right is named "Kloenschnack.

This is the main meeting house where there are still festivals to this day 

Isa's favorite house--well, sort of.  (We later saw a cottage that was pink with hearts all over it and it jumped to the top of her list, but this house was a close second for sure!) 

Lukas' favorite house was next door to the purple one.  It was his favorite because there was a police notice in the window that stated that while the cottage was unoccupied, it would be under surveillance and if any property damage occurred, there would be an investigation and prosecution to the full extent of the law. He just told me again this morning that he wants to be a police officer when he grows up.

After a bit of a disappointing lunch, for which we had to pay ATM fees to get cash no less, we took a bus to Edgartown--my favorite spot on our trip to the Vineyard.  Edgartown was the island's first colonial settlement and is full of Greek Revival houses built by whaling captains in the early 19th century.

After several minutes of watching (from a tall platform) a special ferry/barge move cars across the Edgartown Harbor to another small island, called Chappaquiddick, we took a family photo.  You can see one of the Vineyard's lighthouses (we walked to this one) in the distance over Isa's right shoulder.

Our family 

The lighthouse as we approached on foot

The kids at the top of the lighthouse

Looking down from the lighthouse

We had originally intended to visit the famous cliffs and lighthouse at Aquinnah, but couldn't afford the 3-hour round trip, so we took a bus to Vineyard Haven instead.  We wanted to see the two lighthouses there because they were a part of what was once one of New England's busiest ports when ships were powered by wind and canvas.  However, they turned out to be too far away as well, so we settled for a view of them from the ferry ride back to Woods Hole. 

One of the two lighthouses at Vineyard Haven--this is actually still attached to a house!

Both kids did really well with all the walking that day.  Isa even skipped her nap for the trip, but caught a little snooze on the bus ride back to the parking lot to pick up our car. :-)

Monday, May 27th--

I woke up to the constant, rapid beeping of the house alarm at 5:45AM Monday morning.  There was some sort of error with one of the sensors and, although we tried entering the security code, bypassing the sensor and our landlord even tried turning off power to the box later that morning, we couldn't get it to turn off for more than a minute or two the entire day long!  Thankfully, Monday also boasted the best weather of the weekend and probably the best weather we've ever had during a stay on the cape so we gladly spent most of the day outside.  The weather was so enticing that we actually changed our original plans and chose to stay the entire day instead of leaving the Cape after lunch like we originally planned.

After some cinnamon rolls (also burned on the bottom--but we won't say who was responsible!), we loaded up the bikes and rode a few miles on the Cape Cod Rail Trail.  It was a beautiful half-hour ride and the kids did super--Lukas on his own bike and Isa on the trailer bike.

We stopped at a playground with an old wooden school house and wind mill on the way back and the kids had a blast "playing school".  They wrote with chalk (supplied by the playground) on the school house walls and were teaching us lessons in addition, rhyming and spelling.

Lunch was had at the S'cargo Cafe and worth the wait.  That afternoon, we headed to the beach--this time in swimsuits!  The kids and Olli actually waded into the water--although it was still frigid--and went "wave jumping".  (I've tried to upload a video clip of this, but have given up after more than an hour of trying to get youtube to communicate with our blog.  Maybe Olli can figure it out later.)

As you can see, Olli did figure it out! :-)

That evening, before heading home, we had a cookout on the balcony overlooking the ocean--what a way to end a great weekend of fun!

There's nothing like nice, soft, warm sand in between your fingers and toes!

Our afternoon beach camp

May Memories

The kids had their last AWANA night this past Friday.  They've both been working hard all year long memorizing Bible verses and earning patches for their Cubbies vests.  In addition to attendance awards,  Lukas received a special blue ribbon for completing both of the Cubbie-Bear Scripture Books (he will move to the Sparkies group next year) and Isa received a miniature Cubbie-Bear Teddy pin for completing her first Scripture Book.  They were very excited about the awards and we were very proud of their accomplishments!

Lukas wearing his Cubbie-Bear Vest (one patch fell off last week and has since been replaced) and holding his class mascot (Schnucki, the stuffed rabbit) whom we had with us that weekend

Lukas and Isabel receiving their attendance awards

Lukas with his blue ribbon award

Isa holding her miniature Cubbie-Bear award

We had a fun surprise one morning when we were at the breakfast table and I happened to notice that we were eating from one cereal box with an expiration date for Isabel's next birthday (01-31-14) and another box with an expiration date for Lukas' next birthday (09-06-13).  What are the chances?! Since it seemed so unlikely, Olli thought it worthy of a photo.

Each of our children holding the cereal box with their birthday date on it

On Mother's Day, I enjoyed a great day of celebration.  Lukas and Olli prepared "Overnight Blueberry French Toast" Saturday afternoon and served it for breakfast Sunday morning before church.  It was delicious and such a treat that "my guys" made it for me.  We had a Boston Market meal for lunch, went bike riding in the afternoon and ate dinner at Bertucci's.  It was a wonderful day with my family!

Here I am with both of my great kids on Mother's Day before church

On Friday, May 17th, we went to an event at the Blue Bunny (a local children's book/toy store) called "Community Heroes".  Each child was to come dressed up as a community hero (i.e. doctor/nurse, police officer, firefighter etc.).  During the event, older children read books about community heroes aloud and then the kids made "appreciation cards" in the shape of police cars, fire engines etc. to give to our local community heroes.  The evening was produced by a non-profit organization called "Catching Joy" with which the kids and I have partcipated before for various events.

Lukas was dressed as a policeman and Isa as a fire chief (Isa is holding her class mascot, a stuffed penguin named Fridolin who was visiting us that weekend)

Isabel making a fire engine card and Lukas (behind Isa) working on his police car.  He wrote "Thank you for your service" on the back of his.  (I helped him spell the word "service", but he spelled everything else correctly on his own.)

The next day, we went to Sam's (a friend from church) bike birthday party.  Sam was turning four and just learned how to ride a bike without training wheels (he used a balance bike first too) so he wanted to have a bike-themed party.  The kids rode all sorts of wheeled vehicles and later had a photo scavenger hunt around the house and yard of our hosts.  Cupcakes were also a highlight, of course.

Isa on her balance bike.  (It belonged to Lukas first, but she doesn't remember that.)  She's always pointing out how her bike has whales on it (which are really dolphins) and that's its selling point.  Of course, the Hello Kitty helmet and matching bike bell are also important! :-)

From left to right: Eli (Sam's little brother), Lukas, Isa, Sam and Mr. Mike (Sam's dad)

Our Scavenger Hunt Team: Isa (3), Lukas (5), Grace (3)

The Hunt: The kids were given a photo of an object in (or outside) the hosts' house and they had to determine the location of that object, go to it, and find the next photo clue.

Isa eating a cupcake with an icing bicycle on top (next to Violet, Grace's sister) 

We just bought a trailer bike for Isa to ride on for our family "bike tours" since we recently sold our regular bike trailer (because Isabel was too tall for the seat belt straps).  The trailer bike attaches to the seat of Olli's bike. We tested it out today and she loved it!  She can use the pedals, but isn't completely efficient at it right now and rocks back and forth a little in her attempts to do so.  This made the bike trip a lot of work for Olli, but not so much that he didn't enjoy the ride too.  We hope to use this on the Cape next weekend for my birthday trip.

Isa on the trailer bike attachment