Clouds to Sun

The other beach I like to go to in the evenings (or any time, really) is Bayview Beach. It's a quick drive down back roads and it has a great close-up view of the boats as they go in and out of Hyannis Harbor, which can make for some pretty fun waves, too. On this particular evening last July we had the beach to ourselves.  

Although we did have this flock of geese to keep us company.

I told you the boats get really close!

Sunbeams starting to poke through

I like this house and how and where it's situated.

I love these shots 💓

A fishing boat calling it a night.

When the sun broke through the clouds, it lit up the sand and water all nice and golden.

This picture made it on to last year's Christmas card. It's a good one!

Cloudy or sunny, we love our summer evenings on the beach!

Five Things for Friday

1. My big accomplishment this week was that I finally finished reading Little Women! It took me about twice as long as I thought it would to read it (six weeks instead of three)--it's a loooong book (and the print is small!). But it was a good book and I'm glad I finally read it. My mom and I went to a local play of Little Women two weeks ago and I'm watching the new PBS production of it now.

This is the review I wrote on Goodreads:

After a number of failed starts when I was younger, I finally read Little Women! I enjoyed it, although it was slow and a little tedious at times, and I think it's too long--it felt like it would never end. I can see why it didn't hold my interest very much when I was a kid. But overall I liked the story and the characters and the good virtues and morals taught throughout. I can see why it's an all-American classic. (Although I'm a traitor and personally prefer the works of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte!)

2. Here's something else I was proud about this week. We've been getting lots of papers in the mail for the new mortgage on our new house, most of which are boring, but I was interested in reading through our credit reports when they came in. Peter and I both have excellent credit scores, but I'm pleased to report that all of my credit scores are higher than his! 🙌 

3. I'd been planning on posting this picture of Megan Markle's dad in honor of the royal wedding tomorrow because I thought it was really cute. Now it turns out that this photo was probably pre-arranged with the paparazzi, along with some others, which makes it less cute, but oh well. The sentiment is sweet, even if it is staged.

I'm planning on getting up early tomorrow morning to watch the wedding. I love weddings and I love England so how could I not? (I'll tell you how, if I oversleep or am too sleepy to get up! That dang time difference is not convenient for us Americans!)

4. I think our yard is at its prettiest in the spring when the flowers are blooming on the trees, so last week I made sure to go out and take pictures, since it's our last spring here. 😞

The big yard and the surrounding views of fields and woods are one of the things that attracted us most to buying this house eight years ago, and they haven't disappointed at all. I don't think we'll ever have a yard like this again.

  

  

Four weeks from today is our closing date for the Iowa house and then we'll no longer be the owners of this beautiful property. 💔 I'm going to miss the house, the yard, and Iowa City so much.

5. I have an overly ambitious goal to get all of the blog posts that I want to do about last summer done before we move. This is unrealistic, especially given the following: my dad is coming to visit, Memorial Day weekend, the last day of school, this little thing called getting ready to move, and I won't have access to the computer during the last few days before the closing date. But I'm still gonna try! We all have our quirks, and for some reason I'll feel better about everything if my blog posts about last summer are done before I move. 

😂😂😂

Part of Your World

One of my favorite things to do at the Cape is to go down the street to "our beach" in the evenings. It's a relaxing way to end the day, and it helps to tire the boys out so that they sleep well. I enjoy the sound and sight of the waves and the feeling of the fresh sea breeze and the peaceful environment of a quiet beach.  

This rock always reminds me of the Ariel rock from The Little Mermaid when she finishes singing "Part of Your World."

 Goal for this summer: get one or both boys to pose on the rock like Ariel, without letting on what I'm doing (because they won't cooperate if they know that's what I'm doing!).

I like how these pictures of Sam turned out. He's such a babydoll! 

Apparently he didn't feel like jumping in!

I love wrapping up summer days this way with my two little mer-men!

Just the Facts Please!

Who: Me, Peter, John, Sam, my mom, my brother Nate, and his girlfriend Kat
What: Good times on Cape Cod
When: Saturday, July 8, 2017
Where: The Cape--Yarmouth, Massachusetts to be exact
Why: Because we like spending time together and we love the Cape!

We went to the Whydah Pirate Museum, a newer museum in Yarmouth that is legitimately really good. It has real finds from active dive sites, as well as actual treasure found at a recently discovered historic shipwreck off the coast of the Cape, and lots of other interesting things.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Old Yarmouth Inn, a historic building (from 1696!) with an excellent restaurant. And it's haunted!

The best part of dinner is dessert...

 

A pretty view from the parking lot. 

 After dinner we went over to the boardwalk pier at Gray's Beach because it's always good for a nice walk and lovely views.

The tide was low.

Failed attempts at a nice family picture:

Ugh! This one was my fault!

Peter with his heir and his spare (I love saying that!).

It was a great day. And that's a fact!

The Rest of the Vineyard

Just a few random last pictures from our quick little trip to Martha's Vineyard last July.

This Vineyard Vines store is so preppy and cute! (The merchandise prices, however, are not cute at all!)

I think this may be the original store?

We've done about half of these over the years.

 I really liked the double porches on this house, and the hydrangea bushes.

It looks straight out across the common in Oak Bluffs to the sea.

And once again the pretty view from our hotel room in Edgartown.

We ate dinner at a restaurant across the street that was one of those old historic American tavern-type places. They're amongst my favorite places to eat.

I started reading this book, Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, while we were there. I'd read some of her other books before and she lives on the Vineyard. It's a historical fiction novel set on the Vineyard in the 1600s and is loosely based on real people and events. I love reading a book in its actual setting; it makes it come alive even more.

This was a great book!

A few pictures of our room on the morning that we left.

 Once again I highly recommend the Vineyard Square Hotel!

It was SO RAINY that day. This was while we were waiting for the ferry. 

We and our bags got COMPLETELY soaked when we got back to the mainland because our car was parked across the street and at the end of a big parking lot. We had to run for it but running made no difference--we were doomed to get soaked to the bone no matter what. It was a very soggy end to a nice little getaway!