Cape Cod Scenes

I'm finally catching up on our Cape Cod trip back in August. We returned to Chatham and stayed in a cute condo right across from Lighthouse Beach. It was great to be able to pop across the street to fly kites, work out, look for seals, and just run play in the beautiful dunes. Of course swimming there is still limited due to great white sharks, but we got plenty of splashing and minnow catching in at Oyster Pond.
Patrick and Madeline pursued the minnows of Oyster Pond with the zeal of Captain Ahab. This year Patrick devised a pond system for holding captured minnows and we observed a new fish behavior: minnow jumping. We scrambled around the beach chasing minnows who'd flung themselves out of the Patrick's pond and returned them to the sea.
After four years we're still discovering new things in Chatham. This year we consulted our hikes book and found Monomoy Nature Preserve...a gorgeous hiking spot just 5 minutes from Lighthouse Beach. And of course we finally caught a Cape Cod League baseball game, which was idyllic. Patrick and Madeline happily discovered a church flea market, where they purchased 'new' toys: a helicopter and a groovy purple hippy bus that converts to a disco. They were as happy as Cape Cod clams with their purchases.
We managed to hit Rocky Point on the way up and back and so had some fun pool swims and a visit from Aunt Melissa to celebrate her bday to top it all off.

Our backyard: Lighthouse Beach!

Keeping careful watch over minnows

The fishermen

Checking out the tide pools at Monomoy

Shirley Temples

We hiked Newport's gorgeous Cliff Walk on the way to Cape Cod:
beautiful ocean views and beautiful house views: our favorite combo.

Happy Birthday Aunt Melissa!

Up in the Air

In August, we flew kites almost every afternoon at Lighthouse Beach thanks to the great gusts of wind. Madeline did great with her princess kite, and really seemed to enjoy having an activity in which she and her brother were on equal footing.

Back to School

Patrick and Madeline sailed through days one and two with flying colors. On the first day, the only tears were mine. 

The Great Cookie Challenge

We spent Labor Day pitting two tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipes against each other: Neiman Marcus vs. New York Times. The winner? Well, who loses when you have two batches of chocolate chip cookies? But Donald and I both preferred Neiman Marcus, hands down. With oatmeal, pecans, and chopped Hershey bars, it is the new recipe to beat. Ironically Patrick and Madeline loved making the cookies but deemed the final product in both cases TOO SWEET. This is somewhat suspect coming from two individuals who would cheerfully wash down a bag of gummy bears with a can of Sprite.

Baby Love

Donald snapped this at 10 p.m. last  night. Lately Madeline has been lining up her dolls to attend "Jackie's Wedding" almost every night; Jackie being my cousin whose wedding Madeline has only heard about second-hand. She knows however that a wedding involves cake, a pretty dress, dancing, and apparently as many guests as her crib will hold.

Fine Dining

Patrick asked for a Hawaiian shirt for his birthday so he could look like his dad when he 'dressed up.' This year we introduced the kids to the wonders of the Shirley Temple, seen here at the clambake at the Chatham Bars Inn.

Field of Dreams

We arrived in Chatham last Sat in time to catch a Cape Cod League playoff game between Orleans and Chatham on a perfectly cool Cape Cod night. Patrick and Madeline enjoyed running races against each other after a long day in the car.