So the primary destination of our trip was Brewster, Massachusetts where we would get to have another great Cape Cod vacation. Once we made it to the house we wasted little time in putting on our bathing suits and heading down to the bay beach. The girls could not wait to see the water and we were excited to know that at least for six days we were going to be spending relatively little time in the car.
The sun was shining, the water was warm, and all four of us were in good spirits. We spent an hour or two wading in the water, checking out the hermit crabs, and talking about what we wanted to do that week. It seemed very hard to believe that it had been two years since we had last rented a place in Brewster. But we all seemed to acclimate to Cape Cod life quickly.
We benefited from the poor weather of the previous days because the fireworks show had been postponed to Sunday night and we got to check out the show at Rock Harbor. The girls dressed for the occasion and were excited to check out their first real fireworks display. It was crowded, loud, and a bit windy, but we think they enjoyed it. What frightened them was the quick spreading fire that occurred on the dunes in the middle of the harbor caused by flying embers from the fireworks. It certainly made for an exciting end to the show.
We got to Brewster on Sunday and the very next day were joined by Aunt Suzy, Uncle Brian, and Zoey, who also decided to extend a visit out east by joining us for the week. Callie and Reese could not have been more excited to see Zoey and to spend the entire week with all three of their Colorado relatives. Low tide fit perfectly into our daily schedule and enabled us all to create some pretty impressive castles, pools, and other vague structures.
The Colorado crew certainly brought their A game when it came to activities, as they always do, and Callie was ready to throw a ball to Aunt Suzy or have a water squirting battle with Uncle Brian at a moment's notice. Suzy and Brian make us feel like we are a bit lazy when it comes to engaging with our children, but we then just realized that the two of them simply seldom stop moving themselves. We want to blame it on the fact that they train in high altitude in Colorado, but it might be that they are just simply fit and friendly.
On the first night we were all together we took a walk to have dinner at the The Starvin' Marlin, which, surprisingly enough, had very little seafood on the menu. In any case, there were a few great spots for photos along the way, and we could not resist putting the girls in the fields of flowers for a picturesque cousin montage. It is harder than you may think to get all three girls to smile and look at the camera at once. It's still a cute picture, though.
It was not hard, however, to get the girls to play together. They absolutely loved being able to run around and be crazy. Because we were under the same roof, from the moment they woke up to the moment they went to bed they were excited to be with each other. Reese in particular was happy to not be the youngest and both Callie and Reese enjoyed teaching Zoey everything that they knew.
We were happy to see that the girls easily integrated Zoey into their normal play routines and there never was any bickering over who got to play with Zoey because they were all playing together. It was quite neat how the girls would go easily from one scenario to another where two would be playing together than the third would jump in and then another would drift out. Just a great time overall.
Because Zoey takes naps in the afternoons we got the loud people out of the house and tried out some things we hadn't had the chance to do yet. One day that meant we rented bikes and hopped on the fantastic Cape Cod Rail Trail, which was less than a mile from our rental house. All the Bowes girls loved their first adventure on the trail. John used to spend hours with his Dad and by himself when he was growing up, so it was fun to share that experience as a family.
One of the most amazing things happened when we stopped for lunch just after we crossed into Harwich. There was a cute pond, a nice picnic table, and all was set for a nice rest. Then Callie said, "Hey, I just saw Sophie!" She explained that Sophie went to her school back in Lexington. We smiled sweetly, knowing this was impossible. Then, however, we were proven wrong a couple minutes later when Sophie and her mom pulled up on their bike. They had come back because Sophie had spotted Callie and her mother had had the same reaction we did. So there we were, nearly 1000 miles from Lexington, having a great chat with some folks who live right around the corner. It is a small world.
So Sarah and Callie rode a tandem bike, and while it took a little while to get used to the feel of it, Sarah was soon comfortable enough to bike and take pictures. Of course when you bike and take pictures, you don't always get them right side up. Such is life. Callie had a blast riding the bike and smiling for the camera.
Of course no trip to the Cape is complete without a whale watch. However, this particular trip may have spoiled us for whale watching forever. No joke, the naturalist estimated that we saw three dozen humpback whales by the time we were done. And most of those sightings came while the whales were bubble net feeding, which is so unbelievably awesome to see. At one point it did not matter where you were on the boat because you had humpbacks feeding in front of you. We were literally (and yes, we do know what literally means) surrounded by whales. Did we mention it was awesome?
Because our house was less than a half mile from the bay we got in some good beach time in every day. It certainly helped that the weather was amazing the entire time we were there. It rained one night when we were sleeping, and that was it. So we spent many hours playing in the sand and the calm, warm, water of Cape Cod bay. Tough to beat.
On Callie's last day of kindergarten, her teacher Mrs. Bradley gave each kid a baggie of goodies which contained several things, including a beach ball. Mrs. Bradley said it was given to ensure each kid would have a ball over the summer. Callie wanted to make sure we took it to Cape Cod and we took this picture to show Mrs. Bradley that we were indeed having a ball. Thanks Mrs. Bradley!
This picture is one of the best ones we have that captures the spirit of Reese and how much she enjoys playing in water. She would crouch down and jump up like she was going to be able to get completely out of the bay. We had to constantly keep an eye on her because she had more confidence than she should have in her ability to survive in such conditions. We really need to get this one some swimming lessons sooner rather than later.
Another outing undertaken while Zoey was napping brought us to downtown Chatham where we visited the fishing pier and the candy shop. Guess which one the girls liked more? Here Reese holds a gummy shark, something that has a lot more meaning in Chatham over the past couple of years because great white sharks have been spotted off the coast, drawn in most likely by the growing number of seals hanging around the fishing pier.
Although we did not see any sharks, we did see the seals at the pier that a great white might find appealing. Callie, on the other hand, went for the more traditional gummy worm. The girls loved getting their bags of candy and we enjoyed walking around and checking out the different stores in the cute downtown area. No doubt we will be back there the next time we are on the Cape.
On our first family vacation to Cape Cod two years ago we met up with the Skonieczny's to watch the sun set one night. Sarah capture a great picture of John and Reese with the sun setting in the background. We loved that picture so much that we decided to try and recreate it. Reese has definitely grown a bit in those two years, but she is as cute as ever.
The girls had a great time running around on the beach as we waited for the sun to set, and they posed for a variety of pictures, which their parents greatly appreciated. Truth be told we all ran around a little bit to stay one step ahead of the thousands of little insects that were apparently having a big old party down by the water. It was a bit brutal, but somehow we managed to survive.
Fortunately we were not the only ones at the beach that night, and we were able to have one of the other families take a group picture for us.
Everyone got into the fun except for Zoey, who thought we were all a little crazy. And she is right.
One of the other great things about having the Hannens there was that Suzy and John were able to relive some of their childhood memories when they went to Cape Cod. Here we see the two of them racing to see who will dive into the water first at Seymour Pond right along the Bike Trail. Reese and Zoey could only look in awe at the majesty of the moment.
Our last night together on the Cape we made our way to the ocean side and checked out the sights at Nauset Light Beach. It was a beautiful night and the water was unbelievably warm. Even Sarah was able to stick her feet in it without flinching. It was hard not to take advantage of the empty life guard stands for yet another cousin picture. At this point they were used to the drill and knew exactly what to do to get us off their backs.
Reese in particular loved this excursion and could not get enough of the ocean. You probably can't tell from this picture but her skirt and shirt were soaking wet because she kept getting closer and closer to the waves as they came crashing in. The giggling that greeted every wave was so much fun to see. Callie also had a great time doing cartwheels in the water and just soaking in the moment.
Although Zoey preferred to take on the waves in the comfort of her mother's arms, she also had a lot of fun at the beach. We really felt lucky to spend a whole week with them because we got a chance to get to know Zoey much better and she was able to get a lot more comfortable with us. A good time was definitely had by all.
It was hard to believe that we had just about reached the end of the week. None of us wanted to leave the beach that night, especially Callie. But one good thing is that this visit continued our streak of eight straight days seeing the Atlantic Ocean, which is a very big deal from those of us who reside in a landlocked state.
Whether we wanted to admit or not, when Saturday morning arrived it was time for us to say goodbye to our cute house on Point of Rocks Road. It certainly treated us well and Brewster once again proved to be a fantastic destination.
But our adventure was still far from over. The next stop was Sudbury, Massachusetts.
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