Jake is still young enough that he can't walk for miles and miles on end without wanting to be carried but he's old enough that I certainly can't carry him around anymore. As such he usually rides on Daddy's shoulders when we walk for extended periods of time or for great distances. Over the weekend we discussed me taking Jake with us on our trip to the Vineyard but I told Jake that he would have to ride in the stroller and he didn't want to do that because "he's not a baby." I figured that was the end of it but I was wrong.
Monday night I had a work thing that I was hosting at the Pavilion and didn't get home until a little after 10 p.m. When I got home the kids were already in bed and Mom asked me if I had been planning on taking Jake with us the next day. I told her I hadn't been planning on it but apparently she and Lincoln discussed it and he told her he thought I was taking Jake and therefore he told his parents they didn't need to babysit Jake on Tuesday. I'm not sure what conversation he had participated in last week but that is not what I thought we had decided. My mother had a good point though about the fact that Hannah had just been off with Grandma and Grandpa for three weeks and Jake also had to stay home last May when Grandma, Hannah, and I took a day trip down to NYC so she thought he should be able to go with us to the Vineyard. I could definitely see her reasoning behind telling Jake he could go with us but I have to say I was a little apprehensive about the fact that it was 10:30 p.m. and I had no one to watch Jake the next day and no choice but to take him with us on a trip where I was going to have to wrestle him into a stroller when he whined about walking and why couldn't I carry him on my shoulders like Daddy does.
At this point I figured there was nothing I could do about it so Lincoln dug out the stroller and the next morning we sat Jake down and explained how it was going to work. He seemed game so at 7:15 a.m. Mom, Hannah, Jake and I headed down to catch the ferry from Woods Hole, MA. Luckily we allowed plenty of time because I had never taken the ferry over as a walk-on passenger and didn't realize how far away the parking lot was from the ferry dock. The only open parking lot was a 20-minute drive away and you had to catch a shuttle. It was an extremely close call but we managed to make it on the ferry that we had been aiming for and headed over to Oak Bluffs on MV. The kids did awesome and really hustled when we had to quickly park, hop on the shuttle, buy the tickets, and race onto the ferry.
Every time we've gone over to the Vineyard in the past we've always driven on so I've never noticed how they get the walk-on passengers off the boat. It was absolutely insane getting off the boat. The walk-on passengers were herded into this super long line, which of course was mostly out in the open air and under the intense 95 degree sun, and inched along bit by bit. I made a joke that it almost seemed like they were making us go through customs or reenact Ellis Island because it was such a slow line.
Once we finally got through the line we headed into Oak Bluffs and thought we'd find some nice air-conditioned shops but most of them were not very cool and it was pretty miserable walking around. We decided to head over to lunch and re-group for the day. Originally we had planned on taking a taxi over to Edgartown after lunch to walk around there for awhile but it didn't seem like anyone was going to be up to doing a lot of shopping in the heat. Jake was whining like crazy that he wanted to go to the beach even though that had never been in our plans for the day. Despite how great he was during the chaos of getting on and off the ferry he definitely went down hill once we were on the Vineyard. Nothing was what he wanted to do and he "missed Daddy and wanted to go home."
At lunch we all cooled off a bit and had a great meal. We then decided that it was too miserable to go shopping over in Edgartown and that we should head to the East Chop beach in Oak Bluffs. Unfortunately we didn't have any swimsuits for the kids so we headed over to some of the cheap souvenir shops and picked up some Martha's Vineyard shorts and tank tops for the kids. Both kids were quite the walking advertisement for the Vineyard with "Vineyard" written across their butts and on Hannah's tank top. We headed over to the beach and let them play in the water in their new clothes before putting them back in their dry clothes afterwards.
Jake's attitude improved considerably after we fed him lunch and let everyone cool off a bit and especially after we decided we'd head over to the beach for awhile. The only problem at the beach was the fact that he wanted to go climbing on the rocks and over the sand dune, which he usually does with Daddy, and neither Mommy nor Grandma were willing or able to do it with him on this trip. At one point Grandma took the kids for a walk down the beach towards the rocks while I sat with our stuff at the other end of the beach. Jake came running back ahead of Grandma and Hannah and came up to me with a very expectant look on his face.Jake: Are you going to ask me if I had a good time?
Me: Um. Okay. Did you have a good time?
Jake: No, I did not. Grandma wouldn't let me go climbing!
After playing at the beach for about an hour we headed back towards the ferry docks and stopped for ice cream along the way. The ride back was fairly uneventful and we were all pretty worn out from the long day in the sun. By the time we got off the ferry, caught the shuttle, and were in line to exit the parking lot it was 5:05 p.m. Jake was asleep by 5:09.
Once we got back home it was time for Hannah's birthday dinner. Dad and Lincoln had made a great taco dinner and Lincoln's parents came over about 30 minutes after we got home. We all had a nice dinner and then did cake and presents.
With the exception of Jake's mini meltdown between the time we arrived on the Vineyard and when we finished eating lunch he did a really great job throughout the day. He was a trouper in the heat. He walked almost all day except for when we came back from the beach and then he climbed into the stroller without any fuss or complaining. All in all he did really great on the "grown-up day" that he had been invited to go on with us.Me (as I'm kissing him goodnight): Jake, I just want tell you what a great job you did today and that I'm very, very proud of you. You did an awesome job and I think that the next time we have a "grown-up day" you can come with us again.
Jake: I think maybe I don't want to go next time. I'll miss Daddy too much.
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