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!')
Tuesday evening, we went to dinner in Wellfleet, then played at an amazing adjacent playground.
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!)
That following weekend, Auntie Sally, who is doing a 6-week film production internship in New York City, took the bus up to Boston to visit us. We all had a blast showing Sally our home in Massachusetts
and getting together a bunch of old (Auntie Sally, Mama's friend Elisa from Corvallis, Luke - here playing a game Caden made up with a croquet post and ball) and new friends (well, the new friends will soon be old since we have been in MA for almost 2 years now!) for a picnic.
That following week, we got packed for our trip and headed west on Wednesday, June 17. Now, we are settled in back in Bodega Bay - more recent pictures to follow!
