A Photo Essay: Cape Cod Sunrise

This morning I left the house at 6am.  Yes, I did it for fun.  I find that when I'm on vacation, it's nice every once in a while to go watch the sunrise.  Then to find a few geocaches.  I'm compulsive like that.

This week for Thanksgiving we went to Cape Cod to visit GG and Great Papa.  It was our first trip that direction for Turkey day, and we made a great time of it!  They are so wonderful.  After having three days of Turkey Dinner, I think I'll have to reduce my portion size next week... especially since after each meal I enjoyed a "sampler platter" with a sliver of three or four pies.  For the week: apple, blueberry, coconut cream, pecan, and pumpkin.

Anyway, here's a selection of pictures that I took this morning on our walk down to Cockle Cove and Forest Beach.  Later, we hit the bicycle path to go find some additional geocaches.

Forest Beach, Chatham, MA.  Sunrise at 6:42 a.m.

The air was fresh, the sky was clear enough to get some color.

Brother-in-law Sean came with me for the morning jaunt.

Chatham-style vandalism: Let's paint scenery on the "Stay off the seagrass signage."

Shells washed ashore en masse on this beach.

Our hike down the rail trail was equally relaxing.  Sean found his favorite pillow.

Down on the Cape, it's intriguing to see more moss up in the trees than on the ground.

Yes, that's me.  Approaching the Tree Cemetery.

As of Late

Fall in New England is in full swing--it's our favorite time of year to spend together as a family. Here's what we've been up to over the last few weeks!

The Deerfield Fair

My latest quilt finish

(Thanks to Joe, as usual, for being my model)

Time to paint pumpkins!

Our first-born is ready to write Santa for two front teeth!

 A Saturday hike up Rag Rock

...and sometimes playing outside in the fall is fun...and sometimes it's not

Ian's Half-Birthday, Blueberries, and Newport Polo

The catching up continues!

Last winter, we sat down with Ian to talk about his sixth birthday party....and we all lamented the fact that all of us winter-born folks know to be true: being a kid with a winter birthday means that you can't do all of the fun outside things that all of the summer-born kids can do. The solution? We'd have a HALF-birthday party for him in August.

But what was so much MORE exciting was that--thanks to co-scheduling with my cousin, Isaac's, temple endowment--we were able to have our favorite friends AND family (31 people!!) to celebrate! Ian's request was to play at a playground (we chose the AWESOME playground at the new elementary school in the neighborhood), and eat hot dogs and chips. (Two foods that we rarely--if ever--have). 

Again, as is our late-summer routine, I took the boys to pick blueberries (and picked up some peach seconds at the same time....mmmmmm). Ian was THRILLED to get his very own container this year, and Blake was less-than thrilled to NOT have his own. 

For the sixth year running, we made the summer trek down to Newport, Rhode Island to see the US Polo Team play. We usually go in June to the match against Scotland...but this year we wanted to go see the English team play--which happened to be the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Oh, boy--what a difference a weekend makes. It was SOOOOOO crowded--more than 4,000 people were there. (Four-thousand people!!) We had a GREAT time, but we might go back to the June schedule next year. =)

Ian wanted me to make a "giant sandwich," and since sandwiches are basically my favorite thing in the world right now, I was happy to oblige. Blake couldn't get enough of his portion--it was hilarious watching him eat it.

One thing I love about polo is how it's sort of "yuppy tail-gating." The people next to us had a tablecloth, candles, and a cheese platter that they nursed during the whole match. My mouth was watering.

Ponies. Not horses. Ponies. Being a Non-Horse-Person, I didn't realize that these were the SMALL ones.

No one loves a halftime divot-stomp more than Ian...

...except maybe Blake.

Polo is fun for all ages!!!

See? TONS of people!

I love me some English polo post-game high-fives!

Unseasonable Snowfall.

Somehow, over the last 12 months, we've gotten more than our fair share of snow in these Northeast parts of the country.  I think we had 72" at Logan airport last winter, or something in that neighborhood.  We took images of our snow in our yard taller than our Outback.

So far this snow season (what!?  Snow season before Christmas!), we've already had a big fluffy--which I mean the big silver-dollar sized heavy clumps-- snow for Halloween before the leaves fell, which toppled no less than 6 trees within 100 yards of our house (none of which damaged anything!).  Many of the neighboring towns "postponed" trick or treating until the next weekend when they could restore electricity to the neighborhoods.

As we drove up to Maine Wednesday, we noticed powder on the ground as we proceeded northward, and were pleasantly surprised to see about six inches of powder at the grands' house.  I took a walk on Thanksgiving morning to capture the essence of the snowfall.  It was 24 degrees Fahrenheit around sunrise, when I went out.  For the record, I think the snow looks much better in Maine than it does in Massachusetts, as it has so many more elegant evergreens upon which to drape.

Camping

Joe and Ian took off with the scouts last Friday night for a camping trip in New Hampshire. Judging by how excited Ian was before the camp out, and then how excited he was after he got home...well, I'd say that a good time was had by all. Those two tend to have a fun time together, regardless, so I'm not in any way surprised.