Cape Cod 2009

I think that Cape Cod is hands down my favorite place in New England. I have now been there 3 times thanks to wonderful invites from super cool friends. Whether it is winter or summer there, it is just a place where I feel like I can breathe. Maybe it's because I feel like I can see OUT and through the trees and into the wide open sandy beaches and water. I love all of it. Everything is so charming there. I love the sailboat masts, the old towns, the darling shops, and having absolutely no pressure to look like a California hottie in my swimming suit. People are pretty real here in Massachusetts! The cute little "Cape" houses are so quaint. Maybe I'm partial to them because that is the kind of house we have. I love our little house. So does Grace. If you don't know what a "Cape" is, it's basically like an old doll house. It has a main floor with bedrooms built into the attic space for a little second floor.

This trip to the cape was exceptionally relaxing and much needed. We pretty much beached it the entire time. Ok, we logged quite a few hours in the pool too because my little fishes just couldn't get enough swimming! They would go from ocean to pool and back all day if you'd let them.

(a little bucket of hermit crabs that Benjamin caught on a beach walk.)(Grace and Daddy playing some Star Wars on the beach in the moonlight with their new light sabers.)(after Linda and I spent hours building a sand castle last year only to have it immediately wrecked by the kids, we opted for a breakfast castle this year. the work to pleasure ratio was much improved! YUM!)

We also went to the Circus in the little town of Sandwich. I haven't been to a real Circus since I was a kid. It was pretty darn fun actually. I'm always amazed at the acrobatics and the juggling. Those are skills I will never hope to have.

Our grand outing this time was a whale watch. We went out on a huge ocean boat from Barnstable harbor, up through Cape Cod Bay and out a little ways into the open Atlantic. The ride was pretty choppy. Luckily, no one got sea sick. (queasy, but no one actually lost it.)

The whales were utterly amazing. I actually cried a little under my sunglasses. I have loved whales since I was in second grade and my "mean" teacher, Miss Rogers (she was actually from Boston! teaching in Lander, Wyoming of all places) got me hooked onto whales. I could jot a few memories about her too, but that would be too big of a tangent. There is just something majestic about an animal that big and graceful. I'm also astounded that the biggest whales live on some of the smallest food you could think of. We were told that they have done autopsies of dead whales and found arrowheads over 200 years old embedded in their blubber. They are living history. Some of them may have been here since the revolutionary war. That is crazy!
Well, we pulled up to a couple of humpback whales. At first, we just saw the rounds of their backs and spotted a couple of blows from the blow holes. I don't know why, but I kind of thought that might be it - that we would just watch them swim around the boat. Then, after quite a few minutes of waiting, one of them started to show off with a flipper flap. That was pretty cool. Then, nothing happened for a while, so the boat captain decided to seek out another group of whales. As soon as we pulled away from these two humpbacks, they started jumping out of the water with their whole bodies (breaching.) Everyone on the boat was shrieking, so the driver turned around to see if we could go back and catch some more action. Oh my goodness, they kept it up for quite a while. It was so hard to catch on camera or on video though. You weren't sure whether to keep watching through the lens and risk missing it with your own eyes, or whether to live in the moment and just watch it and forget the camera.
Grace and Hattie loved it. At first, Hattie refused to come to the side of the boat to see them, but she finally agreed and I think she was pretty happy about her decision.

Our favorite part of our two summers on the cape now, is spending time with our friends, the Dotys. They are totally amazing hosts. Our kids love playing with Benjamin and Jack (ok, after about 3.5 days, Benjamin and Grace have a war over who is the alpha child.) But, really, you couldn't hang out with finer folks.

Every time I go, I come home and try to figure out how I could live on the cape year round. It boils down to impossible considering David would be over 2 hours from work and my bank account just isn't as big as the Kennedys'. But, one can dream!

(babe, if you want to write more and throw in some more pics, be my guest...)