Jane Austen Tea Party!

 My friend Jordan threw a fun little Jane Austen Tea Party in the park on a sunny Saturday in August. The only thing missing was the tea! 😆 That's what happens when Latter-Day Saint Word of Wisdom-following women have a tea party! We indulged with punch and lemon water instead, as well as an assortment of delicious delicacies that we all contributed. It was fun to get dressed up and spend time together and honor the illustrious Miss Austen!

There's me on the side...

...and here's my plate of goodies. One of several, actually. I know how to feed myself well when there's good food to be had! 😋 But in a ladylike way of course. We each brought our own teacup and plate. 

We also each brought a drawing, poem, charade, or quote for this nice little book that Jordan put together and which one of us then won through a drawing (not me 😭). Some of the drawings and poems were really good! We have some talented artists in our midst. I am definitely not one of them. 😆

We did a reading of a scene from an adaptation of an Austen novel that Jordan's mom wrote. Her mom is a huge Janeite, as super-fans are called. I felt so cultured and highbrow! Well, I mean, I am anyway, right? 😉

There were four cute babies who joined us, and they were a delight. I've always loved babies.

Someday in the economy of heaven I know I will have more babies, including daughters and more sons! 

It really was a delightful way to spend a few hours on a beautiful summer Saturday. 

Jane Austen is one of my favorite classic authors. My favorite of hers is Sense and Sensibility followed closely by Pride and Prejudice. I used to watch the six-hour A&E movie version with Colin Firth in college a lot (too much, my freshman year roommate would say! 😆). Good times then, and good times now!

The Owls of August

 Some good owl things came into my life in August!

These two didn't stay in my life because I didn't buy them, but they were cute so I snapped a picture.

These were birthday gifts from my dad, and the cute little owl with turquoise eyes was from my sister Elizabeth. 

This is my first 3D wooden puzzle of an owl! Or of anything, for that matter. It will be fun to put together.

I got these at the Cape--I found the "Owling" book at the Cape Cod Lavender Farm's gift shop and I really like it. The other three are flea market finds.

Totally vintage!

It was a good month for owls! 🦉

Cape Randoms

Here was Sam on his last first day of camp at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. 😭 

This camp has been a part of his life since preschool. It's a good one, and I'll miss it. After this summer he's aged out. Although he can come back next year as a junior volunteer, which I hope to convince him to do! 🤞

At the Inflatable Park, though you'd never know it from the background. They continued to work on renovations this summer.

I've been wanting to get a headboard for the upstairs queen bed at the Cape house for awhile. I found a good one at the consignment store and was going to get it, but when I returned the next day to do so, it had been sold! I should have moved faster on it!

Alfresco lunch

Summer on the Cape wouldn't be complete without a dinner at Lobster Boat! I like their lobster roll. I mean, lobstah roll.

Here's Sam at the playground at the lake beach we like to go to. He and John have played on this playground over the years for over a decade.

In fact, I was very pregnant with Sam when we took John here to play thirteen years ago. Look at him now!

Getting gas at a pretty gas station near the house. It's true, gas stations can be pretty when they want to be!

Some shells and flowers I collected that week. Sam gave me the little bunch of flowers. 💜 

The walk to/from the beach

Walking on trails behind the Museum of Natural History that lead out to the sea.

It was another good summer on the Cape of two separate weeks, the first being the first week of July for the 4th and the second being the first week of August for my birthday. It was our 18th summer in a row going to the Cape, and in spite of my belief that the world is probably going to fall apart 😕, I hope there will be many more to follow! 💙 

Beach Blessings

My second favorite beach at which to end a day on the Cape is Bayview Beach in Hyannis, which is a short drive down backroads from the house. 

Sam ventured out into the water in his clothes as Sam is wont to do. 

John preferred to stay on shore but he used to go into the water fully clothed too.

Can you see the two threats being made in this picture? 😆

I'm so glad that we made time to go to our favorite lake beach on the Cape. We hadn't been there in awhile. Before we bought the house, this was our favorite neighborhood to rent in. The water is nice and clean and warm, and the boys like to swim across the lake and back. Also, whenever I end up getting a stand-up paddleboard, this is the place that I'll probably come to use it the most!  

I went on my favorite nature walk to the beach and took a different path through the woods on Wing Island behind the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History than I usually do and it brought me to this staircase that I don't think I'd used since the boys were a lot younger! (That was a really long sentence, sorry!) It was good to see it again! And it was good to see the sea in not-too-distant, uh, distance too! 😁

That soft white sand feels so good on bare feet. I can practically feel it now!

Looking back towards Wing Island.

Me and my friend the sea. 

It was low tide so it was pretty far out.

Saving the best for last, my favorite beach of all, "our beach," the pretty little one down the street. I love it there, and one of my favorite things to do is to walk down to it at the end of the day. 

My seat by the sea. But only when the tide is low. 😄

I'm truly blessed by beaches that are special to me and by the beauty of nature in my life. 💙

FlowRiding Fun

 One of our perennial favorites for many years, the Cape Cod Inflatable Park acquired a FlowRider this summer which the boys were looking forward to using. They'd done FlowRiding before at indoor waterparks and on one of our cruises, and they even took lessons at one of the parks they went to, so they're pretty experienced at FlowRiding. I took them on a damp afternoon in August when the park wasn't crowded and the line for the FlowRider wasn't long. They had fun, and I enjoyed watching them have fun. {I have very little interest in trying this for myself!}

Sam had become much better at this since the last time I saw him try it years ago.

John was able to get up and maintain a kneeling position with no hands! They weren't allowed to stand up and actually "surf" (I'm fine with that rule!).

The lifeguard was kind of nice to look at too. 😉

And here was Sam again. On this attempt he made it up to his knees for awhile! It was awesome!

No hands for Sam, too!

It was a fun way for the boys to get wet and have fun on what was already a wet summer afternoon!