New England

We rarely take non-climbing vacations, and now that my mom has moved away, visits to New England will probably be few and far between. However, there were three new babies among us (Amelie born in June 2013, Helen in December 2013, and Caleb in February 2014), so some time earlier this year Katie, Christina, and I (roommates from our study abroad semester in Italy) dreamed up the idea of getting together over the summer to meet the babies.  I used to go up to Cape Cod for 2 weeks every summer with the Rosenfelds (the benefits of being friends with an only child), so I thought it would be fun to go back there and relive my childhood. We found the house we used to rent in Harwichport, rode bikes on the Cape Cod Rail Trail, gathered shells on the beach, and ate lots of bakery doughnuts and ice cream. It wasn't quite the same experience as an adult with two toddlers... I didn't have hours of free time to while away playing cards and making friendship bracelets and riding my bike to the CVS for nail polish and candy... but it was still pretty fun. Christina's family's house was perfect for us, with lots of beds to accommodate everyone and lots of toys to entertain the kids. Katie's 7 year old twins Nicky and Owen were great playmates/babysitters for Logan, despite being a few years older, and it was nice to see the babies play together (in that grabbing at eachother's faces way that babies play).  We had a couple cloudy/rainy days and one perfect sunny day, but even the rain was kind of nice... we don't get much rain here and it was nice to fall asleep to the sound of rain.  We found time to catch up in the short snippets of time during naps or while washing dishes.  We also rode the ferry out to Nantucket and got to spend a day with the Smialowski's, the parents of my best friend Meaghan from childhood.  They gave us a tour of the island, including the old cobblestone streets and ship captains' houses, fed us all my old childhood favorites (the chicken salad!), doted on my children, and generally made us feel very welcome and at home.

 After Cape Cod, we drove down to Newtown, stopping to see my MIT field hockey friends Michelle & Katie on the way. Michelle has two kids about my kids' ages, and every toy a child could dream of, including a bouncy house in the basement. Logan thought it was the greatest. In Newtown we stayed with Aunt Susie. She's in the middle of selling her house, and despite potential showings she let us invade her home for 2 days. Logan had a ball swimming in her pool despite the rather cloudy weather. He reminded me of Andrew at that age-- always the first one in and last one out of the pool, no matter how cold. Fortunately he did not repeat Andrew's floater incident.  I took the family on a tour of Newtown which I think they thoroughly enjoyed.  We saw the flagpole (several times), Trinity, general store, town hall, ice cream shop, my schools, all the fields where Auntie Kenny played soccer, the diner, 2 town parks, the Governor's Horse Guard, Fairfield Hills. We spent an evening at Rowledge Pond with Uncle Andrew.  Captain Andrew and First Mate LoLo canoed around the pond, and Logan caught a fish on his first cast. Fortunately Andrew was there to take it off the hook, as the rest of us don't do that (that was always my Dad's job). I didn't go by our house. I decided it was better to just remember it as it was when it was ours. We ended our trip in New York City, with a picnic in Central Park with Eileen, Nicole, and Neha and their families, and then dinner with Meg & JD in Brooklyn. It was a whirlwind tour and we were glad to get home at the end, but its nice every once in a while to get to see all those old friends that I only get to talk with by phone and email these days.  After the airplane ride home we swore we would not fly again for a very long time, but alas we are taking our longest flight ever with kids in just 2 months... the things we do for fun. 

The crew in Cape Cod (minus Dan): Katie's mom Sally, Christina, Helen, Nicky, Brian, Katie, Caleb, Amelie, Owen, me, Mark, Logan, and Juneau.

Katie, Christina, & Helen on the beach.  Logan thought every shell was a treasure that Mom should carry for him.  We did find two starfish and a nice conch shell.

Christina & Helen

Amelie building sand castles at the beach next to the house.  She wasn't so sure about the sand-- she's her daddy's mountain girl.  That, and I figured out later, little sand flies were biting her.

Bike ride on the Cape Cod National Seashore

They were pretty content in the bike trailer.  The highlight was going through the tunnels and making train noises.

Dee & Logan at the beach.  Logan loved the game where you wait for the waves to come in and then run from them.  Except he was more inclined to run into them, and tried to drag Dee along with him.

Running into the waves

Nantucket beach

Joe, Logan, Me, Amelie, and Dee at the ferry

First Mate LoLo and Captain Andrew

Learning to thread the lure

Logan's big catch!

Andrew's big catch

Logan & Uncle Andrew

Miss Amelie watching the action from the shore

Amelie at the swimming pond

Picnic in Central Park. Amelie and Molly are about the same age, and found their shoes/feet quite tasty.

The best picture I managed... Nicole, Eileen, Logan, Serena, Molly, Amelie.  Logan's new thing is to kick his foot up and say "Ka-chow!" for pictures, so I get a lot of pictures of the bottom of his foot.

Amelie & Meg in Brooklyn