Girls Weekend

While the guys were camping with the Scouts, Lauren and Grace declared a "girls weekend" and planned out 36 hours of fun. 

To their credit, the first order of business was to shop for George and his upcoming 8th birthday. It was completely fortuitous that their was a monsoon-like summer rain while we were at Target, requiring us to simply shelter at the Target for an hour or so.  

Lauren found unicorn salt and pepper shakers. 

Grace explored the Swell selection. 

Grace also found a pair of water shoes that George owns... in Skip's size. They are a little... bigger.  

We concluded our shopping with Starbucks because... it was on the list! 

We did all of those things on the list, except we did not quite make the 9:30 curfew imposed by Lauren. We did have a lot of fun! 

Scouts Camping Trip

George and Skip enjoyed a Cub Scouts camping trip to see dismalites (think fireflies) at a cavern a couple of hours away. 

If you know Skip, you know he LOVES RVs. However, he describes the possibility of purchasing an RV as a "near check experience" because... well... he isn't fond of parting with hard-earned money.  When he mentioned the idea of renting a small camper for their upcoming trip, I totally encouraged it!  

They drove to their camp early Saturday morning, spent the night and then were back home after lunch on Sunday. They fished, toured the cavern, swam, hiked and rode bikes. They had such a great time!

Pool Days 2019

These guys are the best. We like to wake up; pack a pool bag; pack a lunch, thermos and snack; and go to the pool. I remember pool days with my brothers, and every year I tell the trio that I will love remembering our pool days for as long as I live. These are the best days of my life, for sure.  

Pointe Camp 2019

We purposefully decided to have a relaxing, unstructured summer. Lauren and Grace committed to two things... swimming and attending a pointe workshop, twice a week for 8 weeks. After their first class, they were excited to tell me that the class was extended to two hours. They are super excited to have some extra time with dance. 

Back at the Y

We took a couple of weeks to rest from travel, but now we are settling into our summer routine. The Y is one of our favorite summer hang outs. 

Cape Cod: Hyannis Port and the return flight

We were lucky to have an early afternoon flight to return home so we had time to explore Hyannis Port on the way to the airport. We explored the little town, saw the Kennedy Compound and the surrounding homes. We didn't feel right about photographing private homes, but it was all stunning. 

This crew had a great time, but they were ready to head home. 

George said Snoopy was a little nervous about the flight, but he did fine. 

The trio's favorite part of the trip was getting to fly and attach an experience to all of Skip's stories about traveling for work. He taught them how to grab a big pretzel on the go, in lieu of lunch or dinner, and he showed them how he finds a place to work during layovers. They liked all of the restaurants and shops. 

When we connected and got on our second and last flight, Grace sat with me, and Skip sat with Lauren and George. Suddenly, Ms. J, the girls' middle school principal, is walking down the aisle. Lauren was dutifully reading her 4th or 5th book, but Grace had decided to take a break from reading (she had read 3-4 books) and watch a movie on the flight home. We invited her to sit with us, and as she was putting her bag away, I leaned over to Grace and said, "You better get your summer reading out! Read something! Read ANYthing!" haha! We had a good laugh about it, but she had more than earned a good movie on the flight.  

We had a great trip, but we were quite happy to be back home. 

Cape Cod: Coast Guard Beach

Because we were visiting Cape Cade pre-season, the towns were pretty quiet, and the beaches were mostly empty. However, when we visited Coast Guard Beach, called "The Great Beach" by Henry David Thoreau, we new it was something special because parking/shuttle service was elaborate, and the beach was crowded, even during the pre-season. 

This is THE beach. 

Like with most experiences, photographs are completely inadequate -- at least mine are. I made the decision not to travel with my DSLR, and I regretted that choice upon seeing so many photographers capturing the beauty of this beach, home to panoramic vistas, marshlands, sand bars, seals and sharks.  

This was by far our favorite day and favorite beach. We stayed so long that Skip rode the shuttle back, and sneakily parked the car so that we could enjoy an extra couple of hours before the park closed. 

This was such a wonderful day at the beach and a fantastic way to spend our last full day.  

Provincetown and Race Point Beach

We next explored Provincetown and then headed out to Race Point Beach. Honestly, the we declared each new beach our favorite. Maguire Landing had such stunning views, but Race Point had brown sugar beaches and such a "big" sky.  

Also, in case you have ever wondered, Flag Day in Massachusetts is a big deal. We saw flags proudly raised everywhere up and down the National Seashore. 

We spent a very lazy day at this beach, and we mostly had the beach to ourselves. (Their school session would not end for another two weeks.) We did our usual beach routine... the girls read (I think Lauren read 3-4 books on this trip), and the guys got in the water a little, threw the baseball and ran around.  

Skip's favorite beach sighting was observing a Class A RV drive onto the sand at approximately 30 miles per hour. He loved it!

William George proudly brought me the below skull, and I was tasked with keeping up with it. Luckily, I photographed it, because it was sadly misplaced.   

At the end of a long beach day, we were ready for ice cream. Is there anything better at the beach?