April Vacation 2026: Cape Cod

 For Sam's April vacation this year, we went to our tried-and-true favorite, our loyal standby: Cape Cod. We had planned to go on an amusement park road trip to Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, but Sam hadn't been feeling well, so we canceled that trip and went to the Cape instead.

We had dinner at The Knack, which has fantastic hamburgers, onion rings, and milkshakes. And lemonade. 😋

An ode to freshly made onion rings galore...

Sam and I went out to breakfast together one morning. I had blueberry French Toast. 

Don't let his expression fool you; his breakfast was good, too. 😆

We went to the mall, where I bought him some new kicks. (Is it cool or dorky that I called them "kicks"? 😄)

My planner, my son, my bed, my room

LOL

We played a chilly, slightly damp game of mini-golf, which David won and Sam lost.

David and Mom

Sam was being "special." Look at his face in these pictures. 😂

Then he had a more normal expression, but David wasn't smiling as much. Argh!

We had brunch at a longtime favorite, The Keltic Kitchen. My omelet was delicious!

The four of us (David, me, Mom, and Sam) did a big spring yard clean-up that week. Look at all the brush we collected!

And look at how nice and clean the yard looked:

We went for a walk at Sea Gull Beach. Sam did his special face again on the lifeguard stand.

He took some nice pictures of David and me at the end of the rock jetty.

These guys were boating a dock in to shore. I'd never seen that done before.

We had a delicious dinner at one of our most favorite restaurants of all, Brazilian Grill.

I did some shopping at Lemon Tree Village Shops in Brewster, where I spotted some cu-hoot owl things.

I love this—owls and meditation go together well!

I ended up buying this beautiful handmade leather journal.

It was a nice five days at the Cape; I'm thankful that we always have it as an option! 

The Boston Marathon 2026 (Recently Married Edition)

 This year's Boston Marathon was a little different because it was David's first time seeing it. With our marriage last fall, we both now live together right near the route in my good old hometown of Hopkinton, where the marathon begins. So we were able to easily get a good spot along the route, less than a mile from the start line. Despite the chill in the air, which was good for the runners, it was fun to watch! 

The calm before the storm...

We took some selfies while we waited. It's fun having a significant other after years of not having one!

First came the wheelchairs, handcycles, and duos, all of which are are always inspiring.

These runners run and push the wheelchair and its inhabitant the whole way. It's inspiring, and there's such great philosophical/inspirational/religious symbolism in that.

Next came the elite men, made up of world-record holders, Olympians, and the most excellent of excellent runners. 😄 

I like seeing the live coverage of the race on TV a little later and recognizing the winners from seeing them earlier that day and in my pictures. The black man in the blue shorts ended up winning the whole thing. 

The next wave was the elite women.

A cool military plane flew by as part of the festivities.

Then came the para division, which is always a tearjerker for me.

A blind athlete with a guide

And finally, the first of several waves of all the rest of the runners started...tens of thousands of them (over 25,000!).

Filling in more...

Everyone cheers the runners on, and it's such a good time! 

We tried to take some selfies with the wave of runners in the back, with varying results:

The road was totally filled with runners by this point!

This is how side roads to the route are blocked off so that cars can't get through.

Here are some of David's pictures. From this first one, it looks like a normal spring morning, nothing special. Who would ever guess that ~25,000 runners were lined up nearby, getting ready to run one of the world's hardest marathons?

I enjoy ringing the cowbell for the runners.

I crack myself up

I hope we'll be back again for next year's race—it's such a fun and inspiring tradition!