Cape Cod Vacation, Part 2 of 2

Here's how we spent the final days of our vacation two weeks ago...

Thursday, August 7th
Three new arrivals came to visit for two days and a night: my sister Jennifer, her daughter Hayley, and Hayley's friend Emily, who we've known since she and Hayley were young kids. We all went to Hyannis, the next town over from ours, famous for being home to one of the Kennedy family compounds. It has a really nice main street with unique shops and restaurants and outdoor cafes. We also went on a short tour at the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory to see how potato chips are made, and we got free little bags of chips at the end. Yum! Free, freshly made chips are always good!

The Cape has playgrounds too...

Hanging out in Hyannis. This would have been a nice family picture if only Peter weren't hiding behind John's head!

The flowers in front of the library were lovely.

I like classic, authentic Cape Cod clapboard houses and buildings.

Hayley and John in the car

In the evening, my mom, Jennifer, and I went out and did the coolest thing and by far my most favorite thing of the whole week. We went to the immaculately maintained old town of Barnstable for a Haunted History Tour. It was excellent! I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed it. It was from about 7:00 to 9:30 p.m., and it was led by members of the Cape and Islands Paranormal Research Society (http://www.caiprs.com/). In fact, the man who led the tour is good friends with Jason from one of my favorite shows, Ghost Hunters. The tour was the perfect blend of history and actual ghost stories, which makes sense, since hauntings are usually intertwined with the history of the place where the haunting occurs. We had a few very interesting experiences. I won't go into them here, but suffice it to say that I was more spooked than I've been in a long time! I'm definitely planning on doing this again next year!

The tour guide dressed in a colonial cape and hat. This was the first stop. This place is haunted! Among other things, the lights go on and off at random. The people who work there have actually seen the light switch flip up and down on its own.

The Crocker Tavern House, which dates back to the 1700s. This house is now in operation as a vacation rental, which is cool, but I'd be nervous to stay here given the weird things that happen in the house to this very day.

A creepy graveyard we spent some time in, haunted by two spirits. One is a little girl (we saw her grave) and the other is a big, dark, brooding type of entity that frightens even some professional paranormal researchers.
I wish I had more pictures, but it got dark out. There were several stops, and the last place we walked to was "The House of Eleven Ghosts," the Cape's most haunted house. It was really creepy, and really cool.

Friday, August 8th
We spent most of the day at Provincetown, which is up at the tip of the Cape. It's where the Mayflower first landed before landing for good at Plymouth. P-Town, as it's known, is a really unique place. It has tons of cool shops, and it's a really liberal, alternative kind of town despite being so old and historic. The thing that makes it really distinctive is that it's become a mecca for the gay community, which makes for some rather interesting sightseeing.

Hayley and John at a lookout point in Provincetown.

The view was so beautiful! I like how you can see the shadows of the clouds on the trees.
Trees, sand dunes, ocean

I feel guilty looking at this picture. Poor John didn't have his sunglasses, and it was bright up there!

John wants down...

...so we put him down

Another rocky beach, another opportunity to throw rocks in the water!
This looks more like a chunk of asphalt than a rock!

Jennifer and Mom

What would a summer outing be without ice cream? John ran around and frolicked without his shorts on in front of the Pilgrim Memorial. Hey, it's P-Town, so it's cool.
Jennifer, Emily, Hayley, and Mom
The Pilgrim Memorial tower

Can you spy John Howland and the Tilly names? Peter and John are their direct descendants.
Saturday, August 9th
My mom and I went out for a nice morning drive through some of the nearby towns. We went to the Sydenstricker Gallery (http://www.sydenstricker.com/) in Brewster, where she bought me a nice dish to add to my collection for my birthday.

When we got home, it was time to pack up, clean the house, and go. I was sad to leave, for two reasons. One, it was the end of vacation. Two, it was our last time in the house we've stayed at for the past four years. It's owned by friends of ours from my old ward in Mass., and they just sold it because they're moving to Utah. I'm going to miss it. We've had a lot of fun times there over the years, and it had a good location on the Cape and near the beach, and it had a wonderful hammock in the backyard that we all fought over. Next summer, we'll find another house to rent and maybe try out a new town, until someday we can afford to buy our own house on the Cape. Now that would be a dream come true! (Hint, hint for future birthday ideas, Peter!)

The temptation of jumping on a just-made bed was just too great...

Farewell, living room and kitchen
I'm going to miss this cute little house!

Peter's favorite place

Johnny and I out at lunch before leaving
Cape Cod is a wonderful summer vacation spot, and we had a great week there!

Obama-Biden: First Impressions

I think Obama's choice of Senator Joseph Biden for his running mate is a good one. Biden has a lot of experience in politics, particulary in international matters, which Obama needs. In short, Biden is older, he's white, he's from the East Coast, and he's experienced, which balances the ticket pretty nicely. I wasn't particularly impressed with him when he was running for President, but I can't argue with what seems to be his good experience. I'll be curious to find out more about him in the coming weeks and months leading up to the election. I'm still not planning on voting for Obama, but having Biden on there makes me a little bit more likely to, and if/when Obama does win, maybe I'll feel better about it with Biden as the Vice President.

Cape Cod Vacation, Part 1 of 2

We went on our annual vacation to Cape Cod from August 2nd to 9th. As always, we had a very nice week there. It was our fourth year in a row vacationing at the Cape. We started doing it when John was a cute, chubby little 5-month-old baby and we had to drive all the way up from New Jersey. It's a place that we love, and I can't wait to go back again next year.

Saturday, August 2nd
We got a late start because we spent the morning picking up my new car at the dealership, something that Peter surprised me with just the night before. Then we had to go home and load it up with our things. It's much easier to pack up an SUV than a sedan! I was so happy with the Highlander that I didn't even care that we were running as late as we were and that we totally got stuck in traffic headed into the Cape. Hey, just more time to bond with my new friend.

Sunday, August 3rd
We went to church in the morning at the branch on the Cape, which was really nice. Then we spent a pleasant, peaceful day at home, resting, reading, and napping. The weather was gorgeous. Later in the day, we walked to the beach, which is only about five minutes down the road. John loves to throw rocks in the water, so he had a blast doing that.


Getting ready to launch a rock into the ocean. This kid has a pretty good arm!

My little Baywatch hunk, running along the beach

My sister Elizabeth and her boyfriend Justin stayed with us over the weekend. John and Justin are good buddies, and John was sad when Justin had to leave.

Monday, August 4th
We went up to Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire for the day. Peter and I had been there in June, and my family used to go when we were younger. Because of the SUV, we were all able to fit into one car, which was very convenient! (It was me, Peter, John, my mom, Elizabeth, and my neice Hayley, who we picked up at her house.) It was a fun day!

John was sleepy when we arrived, so he wasn't too into the rides until later on after dinner, when he got a second wind and had a lot more fun. These pictures are taken earlier when he was tired. I couldn't take more pictures later because my camera's battery died.



I like this picture of Peter and John relaxing on the grass.

What the heck?! We traveled all that way and spent all that money, and he has the most fun running around and around this tree. It figures!
Tuesday, August 5th
We went out to breakfast with my mom and Elizabeth at The Pancake Man, a favorite place of my family's. I got dee-lish French Toast topped with strawberries and whipped cream. In the afternoon we went to the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis (we go there at least once every vacation), where John actually liked the carousel this year. Last year, he hated it and screamed and cried when I took him on it. I wish I had a picture of him on it this year, but I hadn't recharged my camera battery yet, so I have no pictures of this day. Peter and I went out to dinner in the evening and we had a nice time. The place we went had really good clam chowder and lobster, and good dessert too.

Wednesday, August 6th
Today we drove up to Boston and went to the Science Museum. It was a good day to do it because the weather was cool and rainy. The Science Museum was fantastic and we really enjoyed it. Its only downside was the big crowds, which is typical of many things in Boston. But the Museum is huge, so the crowds didn't seem as bad as they really were (except at lunchtime, which was a complete zoo!).

Fun with magnets

John found his beloved planets!

He wanted to climb right up on this bear. It's funny how you can see my mom on the right rushing over to stop him from doing so!

The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., had a really nice, big temporary exhibit at the museum of all sorts of awesome baseball memorabilia.
Are we looking at a future baseball star here? I hope so!
One big grasshopper...

A nice view of Boston from where we were parked at the Museum.

That evening, back on the Cape, Peter and I went out to dinner and a movie. We saw The Dark Knight, which was very good.

Stay tuned for the rest of the week, which I'll be posting soon. It involves the coolest thing I've probably ever done on the Cape, as well as one, uh, interesting town that we went to!

The Definition of Excellence

Michael Phelps is an amazing athlete. I really enjoyed watching him swim his way into history last week with eight gold medal wins at the Olympics. What an inspiration!

Just for Fun

My friend Katie e-mailed this to me today. I'm posting my responses here for fun...

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:10 a.m.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Both, but not together.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Dark Knight
4. What is your favorite TV show? My favorite classics are The Cosby Show, Dr. Quinn, and Murder, She Wrote (don't laugh!). My favorite current ones are probably Ghost Hunters and The O'Reilly Factor.
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal
6. What is your middle name? Josaleen
7. What food do you dislike? Veal, lamb, duck, and other weird meats like that
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? They Might Be Giants "Here Come the 123's." It's John's CD, but those songs are really catchy and fun! I love it!
9. What kind of car do you drive? A Toyota...Highlander! Brand-new, 2008, silver. I just got it 10 days ago. I'm in love with it.
10. Favorite sandwich? Turkey sub with provolone cheese and tomato and lettuce and mayo with a little bit of oil
11. What characteristic do you despise? Intentional rudeness
12. Favorite item of clothing? My skirt collection
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Italy or Hawaii. If I had to choose one, Hawaii. I love tropical islands.
14. Where would you retire? Massachusetts, because I love it more than any tropical island. I'd spend most of the winters on an island or someplace warm in the U.S., though. The older I get, the less I like winter, so at that rate by the time I'm at retirement age I'll probably totally despise winter.
15. What was your most recent memorable birthday? My 28th (it was less than two weeks ago) because Peter totally surprised me by buying me a new car the day after my birthday. I'm a hard person to surprise, and Peter is usually unsuccessful at hiding things effectively, so the fact that I was so surprised made it very memorable. That, and the new car itself.
16. Furthest place you are sending this? It's on the world-wide web, so anywhere!
17. Person you expect to send it back first? Umm, doesn't apply. If I were e-mailing it, Amy or Alyson.
18. When is your birthday? July 31st
19. Morning person or night person? Both. I prefer being an early riser though. I feel like I do so much more with my day that way (as long as I wasn't a night owl the night before).
20. What is your shoe size? 8
21. Pets? My dog Christy and my two cats, Brody and Bentwood
22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? My new car! (Did I mention that yet?). My younger sister shared some exciting news last week, but I'm not allowed to talk yet. I've probably already said too much!
23. What did you want to be when you were little? A ballerina
24. How are you today? Good, calm, peaceful, happy
25. What is your favorite flower? Roses, especially pale pink roses
26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? This Friday, August 15th. I'm going back to New York City for the first time in years for a good friend's wedding. I've missed that city, and that friend, a lot.
27. What are you listening to right now? The Red Sox game. The Sox are killing the Texas Rangers, 10-2 in the 2nd inning. Yes!!
28. Do you wish on stars? Yes, I've done that for years when walking my dog at night. It's a natural thing to do when you look up and try to find the constellations.
29. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Forest green
30. How is the weather right now? Beautiful and mild
31. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Petechuck. "When are you coming home?"
32. Favorite soft drink? Sprite
33. Favorite restaurant? Chain: The Cheesecake Factory. Independent: The Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Mass.
34. Hair color? Blond. I'm a natural blonde, though it's now a dark blond and is no longer the white blond of my youth, unless I get it highlighted, which I've been doing more often.
35. What was your favorite toy as a child? My dolls and Barbies. I was such a girly girl.
36. Summer or winter? Most definitely summer
37. Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla cake, french vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate everything else
38. Coffee or tea? Herbal tea and hot chocolate
39. Do you want your friends to email you back? I just hope my friends are reading this
40. When was the last time you cried? Ummm...Sunday, August 3rd, while vacationing at Cape Cod. It was my mother's fault!
41. What is under your bed? A massaging bedrest from Brookstone that Peter got me for Christmas last year.
42. What did you do last night? Baked brownies (I was craving brownie batter), worked on my blog, watched the Olympics, got caught up on reading the local newspaper (The Hartford Courant).
43. What are you afraid of? John or Peter dying. Getting cancer. Having someone break into our house and attack us. Getting into a serious car accident.
44. Salty or sweet? Sweet
45. How many keys on your key ring? Two or three
46. How many years at your current job? Mother: three. Freelance copyeditor: About two.
47. Favorite day of the week? I like the quiet orderliness of the mid-week days.
48. Do you make friends easily? Yes, but not close friends as easily.
49. How many people will you send this to? It's on my blog, so hello world!
50. How many will respond? Maybe one or two kind souls will leave a comment.
51. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? Yes. For some reason I find it interesting to know these little details about people.

Whew!

Okay, I just spent over an hour changing the look of this blog around. I found a few backgrounds that I really liked on "The Cutest Blog on the Block," but they wouldn't upload properly, so I used this one instead from another site. I like it, though not as much as some of the other ones, and not as much as my old one. But it will suffice and I think it looks nice enough. Thank you for your help, Alyson and Jessie (and Shandi!). Now it's time to move on!

I love this picture. Reading a good book outside in pleasant weather is one of the best things in life. I created a special spot in my backyard under the trees and off to the side, with a wonderfully comfortable lounge chair just for this purpose. Now I need to use it more often before the mild weather goes away. This picture inspires me to do so!

Back from Vacation

We had a great time at Cape Cod last week and we got back yesterday evening. It's sad that summer is almost over, but I'm glad to be back home again, relaxed and rested and ready to live real life again.

I'll write about the Cape later this week. I wanted to write my July Month-in-Review before leaving but things got too busy, so I'm going to try and finish that up soon. I like having those month-by-month happenings of my little life to look back on and read. There are actually a lot of things I want to write about right now, and I hope I can find the time to do it all this month!

I was bummed to see that my blog background had turned to mush while I was away. I loved that background! Stupid Photobucket! (since it looks like it's their fault.) Can anyone give me some good websites or resources that have cute, simple backgrounds to download that won't lose everything on your blog? I don't like this plain white background and I don't have the savvy or the time to figure out how to make it nice again without some help. Somebody, anybody? Please help me!

The Amazing Watermelon Days of Summer

Thank goodness for watermelon! Because of its sweet and juicy influence, John has grown to really like eating different types of fruit this summer. He's now a fan of pineapple, melon, cantaloupe, blueberries, papaya, and kiwi, along with his old favorites bananas and grapes. But he continues to love watermelon more than just about anything else!

We both enjoy our watermelon photo sessions. He gets watermelon, and I get fun pictures!