Look Ma...No Kids!

All smiles after a morning spent canoeing.


Mores smiles, but if you get a chance, ask us for the true story of our cycling adventure.


The whales came amazingly close to our boat (thank goodness it was a large boat!). We saw numerous whales and their calves swimming and diving around us.

Andy and I spent a great weekend in Cape Cod to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Typically this blog is all about the girls-but here are some photos of us-sans kids. I won't deny that I missed them and worried about them, but that was easily overcome. It was pure joy to jump out of the van, use the bathroom, get a coffee-all in about the same time it takes me and the girls just to get out of the van.

Smith Playhouse

The girls (and Andy!) had a great time on the HUGE wooden slide. They shrieked in delight the entire way down, then yelled MORE! AGAIN!



The playground is huge so we split up-guess who I hung out with? Abria had great fun climbing over all the equipment, swinging, and just generally running around. After awhile she kept saying 'go,go'-I thought she wanted to go to another area of the playground. However, as we neared a bench she ran up to hit and yelled 'mommy, rest!' Good idea! We sat and chilled abit before moving on. She has done this a couple of times at home and it amazes me that she knows when she needs downtime.


This place is such a treasure!

Swimming

This is truly impressive footage. At the beginning of the summer, Alette would not let go of me even in the shallow end. Seriously, I had bruises on my arms each time we went swimming. Then at some point I looked at the pool and there she was, happily playing around in the deep end, no parent needed. Am I proud? absolutely! Did I get a lump in my throat at the sight of my baby girl's independence? absolutely! Luckily Andy was there to reassure me that this is what we want for our kids.

The Beach

Needless to say, it is hot and humid in NC. So, in order to get out and run, I had to start very, very early, but it is difficult to complain about witnessing such a spectacular sunrise.




The girls spent the majority of their beach time digging. Until Andy arrived, most of the creations were shapeless blobs surrounded by small moats. Then, he upped the level of expertise and the creations grew both in size and complexity. Abria however failed to grasp the concept of building and preferred to sit/lie in the sea puddles.
Poor Alette had to abandon several projects as Abria would come up roll over the piles of sand...at least she wasn't eating sand this year.


Mid-week we experienced a HUGE thunder and lightening storm. The dogs went crazy, Abria covered her ears and jumped with every crack of lightening, and the rest of us watched the rain pummel the windows.


Abria and Alette took a short break from the beach to show off their ballet moves.


There is nothing better than a bowl of ice-cream after a hard day of play.


Both girls were a little intimidated by the ocean when we first arrived-the waves are so much larger than those in NJ. However, by the time the storms hit and the waves got really large, both girls were pretty comfortable in the water and loved being taken out to the 'deep end' with their daddy.




It was a week of sand, water, playing, then more sand, water and playing. This was our second year joining the Joshua clan for their beach vacation (in obx) and it was every bit as fun as last year. A little busier maybe since Abria is now mobile and has her own opinions about everything. On the other hand, she no longer eats sand, Alette is a much better swimmer, and both girls had tons of people to entertain and play with. As a parent, it is such a delight to witness the joy one's children can bring to others (sounds terribly conceited but is not intended to be). I guess I am just grateful for times like this past week when my girls are surrounded by love and happiness just emanates from them.

Cooling Off

The beach house this year was terrific-a private walk to the beach (which could be seen from the kitchen) and a pool. We hit the pool everyday. For the first few days it felt like warm bath water as it had been so hot. Then we had a huge thunder/lightening/rain storm which filled the pool with about 5 inches of fresh, very cold, water. Nonetheless, we were again in the pool the next morning. The girls happily splashed around while I froze. Auntie Lisa spotted a rather large crab at the pool's bottom-which seemed like a good excuse to get out and warm up.

We Hit the Woods!

We found all sorts of interesting water life, including tadpoles in various stages of change. It was the first time I had seen frogs with tails! Later we came back with bread to feed all the fish. A couple people in our campsite loop saw snakes, and even a dead rattler. Alette really wanted to go for a snake hunt but I managed to distract her with the promise of a treat (the once in a lifetime opportunity to eat a bag of oreos).


The girls enjoy an early morning snack around the campfire. It was wonderful to be somewhere chilly enough to enjoy a morning fire!


No, Alette does not have seriously rotten teeth. She has been begging for oreos ever since she had them as a snack at nursery school. So her big treat during camping was a bag of mini-oreos-and she was even willing to share one with me.


Abria enjoys some reading in the afternoon sun.


On our way home we stopped by Boulder Field, an absolutely amazing sight! It is acres and acres of huge boulders in the middle of the forest. It'll be fun to visit in a year or two when the girls are a little more capable of scrambling up and down the huge rocks (and are wearing something other than flipflops and crocs).
Alette was so excited to go camping that she broke down in tears when I missed the exit-I actually almost started crying too, but only because the next exit was nearly 9 miles away.
Andy helped set up and spent the first night with us. A big help since the girls were anxious to get going in the morning-they wanted to hike, play on the playground, see the fish, run in the meadow and on and on. Andy helped them burn off some energy while I got to relax back at the campsite :).
Some highlights include swimming in the lake, seeing tadpoles, wild turkeys, and deer, building campfires, and (for the girls) not bathing for three days. Yes, they were stinky...there is only so much lake water can help.