We arrived in great time on Saturday. Left at 5am, expecting it to take around 8 hours to get up there (figuring pit stops for the kiddos). Um, no... We arrived in time to take the 11am freighter across!!! So much for our 3:45pm ferry reservations. Uncle Dan came over and joined us for dinner that night. It was great to see him again.
Sunday we took a short drive to the alpaca farm and got to see the babies. Alpacas are adorable - so short and fuzzy!! Amazingly enough, it only takes them 7 minutes per alpaca to shear off said fuzzies. Knowing it can take about a half hour for a sheep to be shorn, 7 minutes is pretty darn impressive.
Michaela and Ava enjoyed their first ice skating experience on Monday. The rink here on the island has walkers for the little kids, which was perfect for them. Ava, after about a minute of trying to figure out how to move, started skating with gusto, legs flailing underneath her, as she pushed ahead. Typical Ava style - reckless abandon. Lots of falling, despite a walker, but she had a blast. She is our fearless child and proved it once again towards the end of our time there. "Mommy, take it, I don't want. I do it by myself." I took her walker and off she went a foot or two, then plop. Back up, and tried again. She was doing just fabulous all on her own - until she fell face first. A bump on the noggin and some tears and she was done. (By this point, she was so tired, I couldn't blame her!)
Michaela is our methodical child. She analyzes things and takes her time, studying to make sure she gets it right. After about 10 minutes, she was feeling pretty confident out there and referred to skating as "walking on ice". Which is pretty much what she did - a walking shuffle. She remained steady, started gaining speed with her style of the skating shuffle, and only fell a handful of times.
Watching the two of them, with their different approach, was so much fun. To see little Ava tearing haphazardly across the ice while Michaela, a grin from ear to ear, steadily skated around - a total blast. We swirled around them on our skates, sometimes helping them or skating next to them, other times taking off for a loop around the rink. My mom caught a lot of it on video while Logan napped in his stroller. When he woke up, Mike scooped him up and took him out for a tiny twirl around the ice. Leave it to Logan to enjoy it!
That night, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dan came for dinner. My mom made a delicious pork roast, homemade scalloped potatoes, fresh green beans, and artisan bread. It was great to catch up with them. :)
Our little clan of 5 went into Edgartown on Tuesday. Both my parents were working, so we enjoyed lunch at The Wharf and then went into one or two shops. Edgartown is dead in the winter... After my mom came home from work, she and Michaela went to town and saw The Bee Movie (Ava was supposed to go, but she was tired and didn't want to leave Mommy & Daddy.) Dinner was clam chowder - MMMMMM...
Yesterday, we took the On Time II (a 3 car ferry) over to Chappaquiddick. The girls were thrilled to ride the tiny ferry, sitting outside in the cool air. Once on Chappy, we drove to Cape Poge wildlife refuge and walked across the sand to the beach. Logan could NOT take his eyes off the water. (Think we have another water baby on our hands!) We were adventurous - Ava & Mommy tried to dip our fingers into the cold water, but before we could do it, a bigger wave came up on shore. RUNNNNN! Our feet remained dry - whew! Then Daddy decides he can get closest to the water, so he and Logan (snuggled tight in the front carrier) raced the waves. Ava found half an oyster shell, which she kept as a treasure. It was silly, fun and COLD - but worth the trek across the sand.
After Cape Poge, we went to Mytoi Gardens. While nowhere near as vibrant as it would be in the spring and summer, it was still fun to walk around the Japanese inspired garden. Ava kept crying out, "C'mon, jeyes!" (That would be "C'mon, guys" to those of us who speak English.) and racing ahead. The colors of the Japanese maples were amazing. Bold vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges - the trees looked like they were ablaze. Just gorgeous.
Well, sounds like dinner is just about ready. Time for turkey! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
