Happy Birthday Dear Gemma, You're TWO!!

Gemma turned two on August 29... can it be?? I feel like we just welcomed her into our family and already she is two years old. We had a little party for her in Cotuit during the torrential downpours caused by Hurricane Danny. It probably rained 4 or 5 inches that day. We invited some Cotuit friends over to celebrate, along with Mimi and Grandpa, who were visiting from Long Island. The morning started off with some quiet family time and gift opening.



A little hat for the birthday girl:



Right before the party guests arrived, Chris went to check the basement just in time to see water pouring in over the window wells and into our basement. Yikes!! He had to run outside to dig a trench through the new grass in our front lawn to drain off the water. The kids found this highly amusing.


Okay, once the waterfall had been turned off, we enjoyed some beautiful cupcakes decorated by Edie and Mimi. I accidentally bought those candles that won't blow out - that was interesting...


And we all sang happy birthday to Gemma, who seemed VERY proud to be two. I wish I had taken a picture of her eating her cupcake - she had so much frosting up her nose I was afraid she would stop breathing. Well, then again, maybe that wouldn't be the most pleasant photo to post. Happy birthday, little one!

Falmouth Science Playground

Here is another place we visited on our vacation - plucked from the pages of the Cape Cod Children's guidebook (which Edie read religiously!)... this playground in Falmouth has a scientific/ocean theme. It is a huge and really well-designed playspace for toddlers and older kids. My kids give this five stars out of five!

Edie on top of the lighthouse:


Gemma is trying to learn the points of a compass:


But quickly decides that the compass is actually a good dance floor:


Gemma is learning to hang like her sister:



Edie is climbing over the Cape Cod Canal (this mural depicts the Sagamore Bridge and the canal). They need to paint some great white sharks down there...



She makes it to the other side!


Now, of course, it's Gemma's turn. She has to do EVERYTHING her sister does.

Sandwich Heritage Museums and Gardens

What a fantastic place this is.... we had heard about the Sandwich Heritage Museums and Gardens from a few people, especially about its indoor carousel. We spent over four hours there on our first visit, and we loved every minute. There are beautiful gardens, specimen trees, lovely big lawns, lots of hiking paths, a garden maze and a labyrinth in the woods. There are three indoor museums, all housed in amazing historic buildings. First, we visited the collection of antique cars - none of us are particularly interested in cars but we were riveted by this collection. Here are just a couple:



Another museum houses a carved bird exhibit and exhibits on transportation prior to the invention of the automobile. Edie had the opportunity to dress up like a fine Victorian woman and ride her house and cart to town:


The carousel is in a museum with a display of American folk art. I loved the folk art, and the kids loved the carousel - especially the fact that rides were long and unlimited!


Concerts are held during the summer on a beautiful outdoor stage. Edie and Gemmy love to sing and dance, so they hopped up on the stage and pretended to be performing for the (absent) crowd:



Here are some more photos from the day, including this very cool outdoor table and chairs with building blocks.

Edie - Six going on Sixteen

Sigh. Edie has already gotten to the stage where she must "pose" for a photo. It's hard to get a natural-looking smile from her these days. Here she is "posing" after her Cotuit babysitter, Jessie, braided her hair for her. Beautiful, but where is the little girl I long to see??


Here is what cracks me up.... Gemma always wants to get in on photo opportunities, so once she saw Edie posing with her hair, Gemma ran to find something to pose with and dashed into the next photo. She has the perfect unposed smile!!

Our third week in August - HEAT WAVE

Oh my goodness, everyone says when you live on the water on the Cape, you really don't need air conditioning. They are not telling the truth. Maybe it's true for some summers - we certainly didn't need A/C last year. But when you have a heat wave with mounting humidity.... well, let's just say you begin to feel like it would be better to sleep in your car all night. I was alone with the girls last week, while Chris was working in his lovely air conditioned office in Boston. Two of my dearest friends, Rachel and Sarah, had the misfortune of visiting us with their daughters. Rachel and Meejee came on Monday and Tuesday nights before bidding us and our overheated home goodbye and good riddance, but not before we did some fun indoor shopping, ice cream relief, and water play in the backyard. (I am hoping Rachel took some pictures that she can share with me to post here - I was suffering from the early stages of heat stroke.)

Sarah and Lilah arrived Wednesday just as Cotuit was turning into a tropical sauna as Hurricane Bill began to push all kinds of nasty humidity from the south up our way. Look at how hot the girls look here - you can see the glow on their skin:


We tried to have fun - we had our friends Abigail, Grace and mom, Eva, over and played in water and took refuge in the shade.


Gemma fared better than some of the other girls, as the heat doesn't seem to bother her as much.


The next day, we took the girls miniature golfing where they almost jumped into the lagoon and waterfalls. It is getting hotter, thinks Edie.


Do you think we should jump in?


Just kidding - not going in with that shark anyway.


Finally, a cool resting spot.


Alas, by midday Friday, we knew we couldn't last another night, so we told our husbands not to bother joining us, and we drove back to Boston with the girls where modern conveniences awaited us. Sarah and Dave had us over for a great BBQ yesterday, but other than that, I pretty much haven't left the house! We will head back down the Cotuit tonight or tomorrow morning now that it is less humid. Chris is taking two weeks off from work, so our family vacation is beginning!

Here are a couple of photos from the BBQ yesterday afternoon. Papa and Gemmy.


And the Wii princesses.

Our second week in August: Pike-apalooza!!

We had our annual Pike family visit to Cotuit during the second week of August. Carrie, Jim, and Jake flew in from Minnesota, and Aunt Ginny came up from New York with Mimi and Grandpa. We ate amazing seafood every night, thanks to the urging of Jim. It really was a treat. One night, Jim bought us some outstanding oysters which he learned to shuck on the spot, and clams and mussels. Mimi and Ginny cooked some amazing scallops another night. Chris and I (not the most ambitious cooks) bought precooked 2 lb lobsters for everyone another night. Take a peek!


Although the weather wasn't perfect the entire week, we ate outside most nights.


The kids had ice cream almost every night.



Yummy.


Gemma loves her cones.




We managed to get in kayaking and some great beach time. It was a wonderful week and we can't wait until next year!

Inside our Cotuit house

Earlier this year, most likely when we were still experiencing sleep deprivation and new toddler fatigue, our Cotuit neighbor, Ellen, casually asked us if we would be willing to open up our house for the Cotuit Library House Tour in July. Since this is a major fundraising event for the wonderful Cotuit library, we immediately said yes and I pretty much forgot about it. In late May, when the library folks started to contact us to make preparations, I promptly began to have second thoughts. The other homes on the tour were all much grander than ours and most likely didn't suffer from crumbling front steps, bad basement smells, and screen doors that were falling off hinges. Since it was too late to back out, we proceeded to fix some of the most glaring repairs and I did some extra touches to the interior of the house to give me greater confidence that someone walking into the house didn't feel like they had squandered a portion of their $25 tour ticket. I didn't stick around for the tour on July 23, but I hear the event was a success for the library overall which is what mattered the most! And, once I stepped back to just enjoy our house, I realized how far we had come in just a year. We really love it here.

Water Play

The girls love playing in the backyard in Cotuit with sprinklers, a water table, and a slip n' slide. It is a great alternative to the beach some afternoons when mom just can't get the beach gear together.