Detecting a pattern

Jake on the Vineyard:

Jake in Maine:

Martha's Vineyard - a photo essay

Leo on the Vineyard - a photo essay

Martha's Vineyard

I haven't posted anything about our trip to the Vineyard yet because I wanted to post pictures and as much as I love this blog software, it's a pain in the butt to post pictures. So I'm going to at least get this written and then I'll start working on the pictures. I also need to post about our trip to Maine this past weekend.

Our trip to MV was fantastic. Shani and I headed down on Thursday with Tracy, Cliff, Hunter, and Hunter's friend Alex. It was very foggy when we left Cape Cod but by the time we got to the Vineyard the skies had cleared and it was beautiful and sunny. This was especially great since last year we had a mostly cold, rainy, miserable weekend.

Once we got the car unpacked Tracy, Shani and I headed down to East Chop Beach which is closest to the house. The boys and Cliff decided they wanted to stay back at the house so us three girls decided to have some grown-up time at the beach. It was very relaxing and a lot of fun although it resulted in a fairly bad sunburn on my back. Oh well, it was definitely worth it.

After the beach we went back to the house, got Cliff and the boys, and headed out to lunch. Later that day Cliff's daughter and her boyfriend joined us. We ordered pizza and sat around having a few beers and watching the Celtics lose to the Lakers in the NBA finals.

On Friday we all got up and headed over to the beach at Chappy. After we spent a few hours there Shani and I headed back to pick up Link and the kids from the ferry. That Friday was Hannah's last day of school and she had her talent show in the morning. She was doing a jump rope routine with two other girls and there was no way she could miss it. After she finished the talent show the three of them headed down to catch the ferry over to MV.

Friday night Shani stayed with the kids while the grown-ups went out for an "adult only" evening. We headed over to Edgartown and had cocktails at a nice place down on the water. After that we found a great little pub that served racks of beer. After a great dinner we headed back to the house.

On Saturday we had another great day and headed down to East Chop Beach again. Earlier in the morning we had walked down there with Leo and he loved to run around. That afternoon we took him with us to the beach (even though we weren't supposed to) but we couldn't let him run. He basically just curled up on my beach chair and took a nap. The kids had a great time playing in the waves and then we headed back to the house. Cliff's daughter and her boyfriend had left that day and that night Tracy, Cliff, and the boys went out to dinner and the rest of us hung back at the house and Lincoln cooked.

Sunday morning Lincoln and I took the kids and Leo down to the beach. This time we got down there a little earlier so we were able to stay down there for quite awhile before we were supposed to have the dog off the beach. Leo was having a blast and even loved jumping from rock to rock. Sunday ended up being cloudy and windy but it was still hot and humid - with no rain - so once again we headed out to the beach. This time we went to South Beach which is one I have never been to before. It has fantastic sand but the current out there is pretty intense. It was fun to watch the kids play in the waves but it was also a little nerve wracking. It's definitely not a place you can take your eyes off the kids for even a second.

Finally we headed back to the house, packed up and headed home again. This year's trip more than made up for last year's trip and as usual, I'm already looking forward to next year. MV is such a great place for a vacation and when you're there it's hard to believe that you're still in the state. It totally feels like a vacation that you had to travel a long ways to get there.

Hopefully I will get the pictures up soon but first I have to sift through the millions of pictures that I took and pick out my favorites.

Back home......again

We returned from our annual Martha's Vineyard trip last night. It was a fantastic trip and we had absolutely beautiful weather. I have lots of pictures to post later. We also discovered this weekend that Leo is absolutely a beach dog. While he wasn't too keen on the waves he didn't mind going in the water of the little tide pool. And he absolutely loved running up and down on the beach.

Hannah's birthday on Martha's Vineyard

Yesterday was Hannah's 8th birthday so I decided to take the day off of work. Hannah loves the Vineyard and I've been wanting to show Mom the Vineyard since the first time we went there a few years ago so we decided that we would drive down and take the ferry over for the day. What we didn't anticipate was that it would be 95 degrees and hot, hot, hot. I'm not really complaining about the weather since summer is FINALLY here but it did require us to change our plans a little once we got there. Of course we had to change our plans a little even before we got there because Lincoln and I apparently did not participate in the same conversation last week where we decided (or so I thought) that Jake would be staying home while we went to the Vineyard since Lincoln wasn't going with us either.

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.

Happy 8th Birthday Hannah!

Holy cow! I can't believe Hannah is EIGHT. It seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital giving birth to her. The time really does fly by. In another 8 years it will be time to get her drivers license.

Today Hannah, Jake, Grandma Dena, and I are off to Martha's Vineyard for the day. We're going to walk on the ferry and head over to walk around Oak Bluffs for awhile. Summer is finally here and it's going to be a hot one! I am so excited. When we get back tonight Daddy, Grandpa Dan and Grandma and Grandpa Snow will be here to celebrate Hannah's birthday. Should be a fun day all around.

People in glass houses......LOL

Jake was very concerned about the seagulls while we were down at the beach last weekend and kept asking me where they were. When we were packing up Tracy noticed one on the sand right behind us.

Me: Hey Jake! Look. (pointing at the seagull)

Boy's voice: Look! An eagle!

Tracy: You must be so proud of him.

Me: That was actually your son.

Teaching bad habits

This weekend while Lincoln and Jake were playing Baggo in the front yard at the Vineyard house Jake took his straw out of his juice box and said it was a "beer". He and Lincoln would toss a few bean bags and then Jake would saunter over to the steps where they had left their drinks and say "Let's go drink our beer."

Lincoln of course thought that was a great idea and would join him.

More of my favorite Martha's Vineyard pictures

At the beach: Jake and Lincoln had the foam swords at the beach again this year. Don't worry, they defended mankind against the great waves once again. We are all safe for another year.





Twins: Anything that Hunter did this weekend was something that Jake had to do too. If Hunter ordered a hamburger than Jake ordered a hamburger. If Hunter watched the grown-ups play Baggo then Jake did it too. If Hunter sat on the beach......you get the drift.



Ahhh....vacation:
Hannah's crush: Hannah developed a major crush on Mikey this weekend. She hung on his every word and followed him around everywhere.

A brief glimpse of sun: This picture was taken while walking back to the house from town. Usually I get a million of these gorgeous scenery shots while we're down at the Vineyard but this is the only from this summer.

Bike riding: I couldn't get a still shot of Hannah on her bike. She is loving the freedom that she's discovered on her bike this summer and is constantly on the go.

Jake playing catcher: I'll give you three guesses to guess who was batting. And the first two don't count.

Jake "butt boarding" with Mikey:

Climbing trees: My little tomboy in pink.

The Cookie Caper (and the Post Cookie Crash): Lincoln bought a container of cookies on Saturday and Jakey had three of them right in a row.

Laurie: Make sure you ask your Mommy if it's okay to have another cookie.

Jake: They're Daddy's.

As though that justifies everything.

Ahhhhhh......vacation: Tracy enjoys a nice cold Corona.

The end of our long weekend. Our final meal before heading for the ferry: