Since we are spending most of the summer in California (June 17-Sept. 1), we had a couple weeks in late May and early June to pack in East-Coast-summer activities.
The last weekend in May, there was a clambake at the lab to celebrate the 3 Seas Program's anniversary. The food was delicious, and one of the best parts was watching Caden grab cooked clams out of the wood/screen box, pry them open, and eat them in a single bite. It somehow seems ironic considering that he doesn't even like sauce on his pasta, but we're glad to see him developing a love of seafood!
Caden enjoyed lots of beach playtime with friends Summer and Mae.
On Sunday, we headed out for our first family vacation of 2009: 4 days/3 nights on Cape Cod, largely thanks to lots of travel suggestions from our friend, Jackie, from BML who knows the Cape well.
We spent Sunday evening at [Nauset Head?] beach, relaxing, making sandcastles, reading, snacking, and (on our way back to the car) ridding ourselves of numerous ticks (on the beach - who knew?), the only annoyance of our beach trip.
Monday, we explored the Salt Pond Visitors Center and went on a long, beatifully-sunny hike and picnic along the marsh. Then, we spent the afternoon playing in the pool (toes and legs for the boys, actually swimming for Mama) and on the play structure at the hotel (the basic Blue Dolphin Inn near Wellfleet, MA). Here, we're trying out Dada's new waterproof lab camera:
Ready for the big boy swing!
Monday night, we had dinner (at Jackie's suggestion) at PJ's, a drive-in fish-n-chips place. Caden chowed on clam strips.
With ice cream in hand, we headed over to the Wellfleet Drive-In movie theater - Caden's first official time at the movies (not counting the Baby Brigade movie in Oakland, when he was 6 months old). We saw the movie 'Up' and all had a wonderful time!
On Tuesday, we explored Provincetown, out on the tip of the outer (or lower) Cape. It was a drizzly day, so we spent most of the time indoors. We had malasadas at the Portuguese Bakery (unfortunately, they weren't quite as good as the ones we loved in Hawaii), found a toy shop for Caden, took a picture by 'Jo Mamas' bagel shop for Ama Jo (Caden politely explained to the shop owner 'we've already had breakfast')...
...then finished our explorations at the pirate museum which documents the ongoing excavation of a sunken pirate ship off the Cape. Caden really enjoyed the museum and touching the pirate cannon, and he spoke pirate the rest of the day (e.g. 'shiver me my timbers!')
Before heading home on Wednesday, we went out to breakfast, then went for a really nice walk on a trail and boardwalk (we're blogging about this so late that we don't remember any of the names!)
We've had several nice weekends enjoying parks, picnics and excursions close to home.
On Mom's Day, Mama returned to a delicious salmon dinner and peanut butter-chocolate cheesecake. Yum! Mama got her turn to have Caden to herself when Dada went to Alabama to give a seminar at Dauphin Island Marine Lab that following week. Here's a picture of one of Caden's most innovative designs yet - check out the square blocks oriented on point!
Saturday, the 16th, we finally decided it was about time for a quintessential Boston activity: a ride on the swan boats! The boats have been in operation since 1877, and Caden knows all about them from 'Make Way for Ducklings'.
We sat on rows of benches for about 10 minutes while a person in the back (on the swan) pedaled us around a figure 8 in the Boston Gardens.
After the swan boat ride, we met up with Elisa, a good friend of Mama's from waaayy back, who is a grad student at Brown. We had a nice (but a bit chilly) lunch at the Parish Cafe, then Caden and Dada took the T home while Mama and Elisa spent the evening shopping and sitting at cafes on Newbury Street. It was one of those days that made us really glad we live close to a city, even if we do consider ourselves country mice!
Back at home, Caden discovered a word game on the shelf called 'Bananagrams' and wanted to play with it. We realized the letter tiles are great for kids that are learning how to spell but still can't write yet. It was so cool to see Caden spell his name by himself!!
The next weekend - Memorial Day weekend - the weather was absolutely perfect (except for a short rainshower while we were hiking), and we had all sorts of fun activities to keep us from being blue that we were missing family get-togethers out on the west coast!
Saturday, we enjoyed our usual outings to the Magic Hat (thrift shop), YMCA, and grocery store. Then, that evening, our neighbors Sarah, Chris, and little Micah invited us over for a BBQ and bocce ball. Caden decided to dress like a pirate for the occasion!
Sunday, we decided to start Caden 'in training' for hiking (this summer) and backpacking (someday). We went up to Dogtown, an old fishing town site in Gloucester on Cape Ann. We picnicked on the side of the trail/gravel road. Caden was a great hiker! He hiked in front almost the whole way and insisted on preferentially taking the small trails 'less travelled'. He really enjoyed the house ruins - old cellars. We didn't quite make it to the rocks that were carved to inspire the transients that moved into Dogtown after the fishers left - things like 'When work ceases, values decay'. Definitely a reason to go back!
Caden's hiking got a little more tentative after the brief rain storm when the mosquitos came out. Their bites did hurt; here's Caden's 'anti-mosquito position' after getting bit on the cheek. He later instructed Mama to walk next to him and be the 'brusher' that kept the skeeters away.
Monday was the nicest day of the weekend, and we spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and eating smoked fish tacos with our friends Luke and Marielle in Nahant. Caden entertained himself all afternoon by playing football ('Beaver's ball'), catching bugs with his bug container, and periodically collecting and bringing out anything of Luke's that he thought would be fun to play with, like sunglasses, Boggle, and Guitar Hero guitars. By the time we left, he couldn't keep his eyes open and fell asleep on the living room chair while the adults played all the rock band parts on Guitar Hero.
This weekend has been particularly mellow, with us all trying to get the house in order for the summer. We went walking on the Marblehead rail trail both days, and Caden did more great hiking, especially with playgrounds as destinations. This coming week, Mama and Dada are going to be finishing up drafts of a paper and a grant proposal, respectively, then we are going on a short family trip before we head to California and the crazy field season starts! We realized that even though we have all travelled quite a bit so far this year (Caden to OR; Dada to HI, VT, and AL; Mama to Mexico, HI, OR, and CA), we haven't been anywhere overnight *as a family* since New Years!
The last weekend of April was quite exciting! Dada was hosting his Ph.D. advisor, Bruce Menge, who came out to the MSC (Marine Science Center) to give the annual Riser Lecture. Caden got to participate in many of the activities, beginning with a fancy dinner on Thursday night. Of course, he could hardly stand keeping still and not being the center of attention with so many of his friends around the table (Sal, Steve, Kylla) and managed to individually coax everyone into a visit to the lobster pond. Man he was excited when the waitress brought Dada [their] lobster dinner (he loved the calamari, too, and got to have ice cream for being so good)!
Friday, things got even better when Heather, Jeremy (other friends from Lubmengo Lab days), and, especially, Isaac arrived. Caden and Isaac stayed with a babysitter (our 14-yr old neighbor, Katherine) while the parents went to the lecture and reception and dinner at the Nahant country club. What a nice surprise it was to return at 9:30 pm to 2 fast-asleep kids and a little book they had all put together about their activities of the evening (including playing baseball, reading books, and eating pizza)!
Saturday, we had brunch with Heather, Jeremy, Isaac and Bruce. Because of the Monday holiday, the garbage truck showed up, causing much excitement.
At one point, Caden walked over to Bruce and said 'can I have a hug?' That reminds Mama of a story her parents like to tell about her requesting hugs from visitors! Bruce seemed to enjoy playing blocks, helped Caden with his ice cream during lunch at Lime Rickey's, and started getting excited when big trucks drove past!
After a great visit, Dada drove Bruce to the airport on Sunday morning and returned via D'Amici's Italian Bakery where he picked up cannolli for us. Caden was happy to discover a new treat! It was our first perfect spring weekend, weather-wise, so we spent lots of time on the deck on Sunday.
In the evening, since Nana and Aunt Erika were in Colorado visiting Great Grandpa Ray, we got to video chat with them! Caden was so excited, and it was wonderful to see the smile on Grandpa Ray's face. Caden 'listened to' Grandpa's heart with his stethoscope and played virtual catch with him with his baseball (on the screen, from L to R, is Grandpa Ray, Aunt Erika, and cousins Monica and Sean).
Mama was gone in California last week - meeting with people and doing research at Bodega, then giving a seminar at Moss Landing Marine Lab - so Dada and Caden didn't have a camera (although they managed to capture Caden with underwear on his head on the webcam to send to Mama).
We've had lots of good family time since Mama got back. Caden is still building with blocks constantly. Here's a 'castle' he built all by himself, with 3 people asleep upstairs, and is about to knock down using Rocky the Crane.
He has also rediscovered cooking in his kitchen since Nana sent a pair of plastic gloves, and he observed that gloves are sometimes used in food preparation.
