A Much Needed Weekend Off at the Cape

With the intense schedule we've been keeping the last few months and an even more intense last few weeks, we were happy that a scheduled long weekend trip to Cape Cod was going to give us a little relaxing time. Our good friend Craig had arranged for us to come down to his parents' place in Brewster, MA along with another family. I took off Friday so that we could get some house selling\buying errands and tasks done and during Dylan's nap time, we made the drive down.

Before I give you the scoop on the happy weekend, let me fill you in on a few details from last week's craziness. On Tuesday, Mike had agreed to take care of our friend Kari's son for the day. He's a great kid but a big mamma's boy and I would be lying if I'd said I wasn't worried that Mike was going to have a tough day with a crying kid. My concerns were for naught as Ryan played great with Dylan, had a great time playing at the park, then took the world's longest nap (3.5 hours) right up until his Mom came to pick him up. Dylan was the kid that was high maintenance that day. The poor guy had some sort of stomach bug and was a bit of a mess. As Dylan's been a really healthy kid, Mike found himself in new territory and wasn't sure what to do with the situation. He and I had several phone chats that day, had some temperature readings and he and I both participated in the clean up of the throw up. My poor baby didn't feel good and it was very sad to see! Luckily, once we put him to bed that night, it was the end of the bug. Other than being a little extra tired on Wednesday, he seemed to be back to himself. Whew!

Good thing too because Wednesday, the boys had to get out of the house for the buyers' inspection. It went mostly well but there were a few surprises that we had to call in the professionals on for consult. For the rest of the week, there were a lot of phone calls\emails back and forth to realtors, contractors, electricians, etc to try and get the negotiations settled. We're still awaiting an on site consultation from an electrician on a few issues, but have the rest of the matters settled and should get the P&S signed on Thursday this week. The "For Sale" sign out in front of our house officially shows "Sale Pending!"

So, when Friday came around, we were looking forward to disconnecting from all of that business for a couple of days and heading down to where there's a slower pace of life. Even though we didn't head down in the peak time for the worst of the Cape traffic, we did have delays. I know the Cape is a great place to go and all, but I could never be one of those families that does frequent weekend trips there. Dealing with the traffic on a regular basis would be my idea of a nightmare, not of a vacation.

Once we got there on Friday, we unpacked the car and sat down to chat with our hosts - the home owners (Craig's parents) Bob and Judy, Craig and his girlfriend Dana, and other weekend house guests Craig's uncle David and aunt Lori. A couple of hours after we arrived, the last of the weekend crew finally got through their traffic battle - Mike and Craig's friend Brett, his wife Faith and their kids Katelyn and Tyler. The rest of the afternoon was spent not doing much of anything (yay!) and then we got ready for dinner.

Like people that have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we forgot to bring the all important camera. Thankfully, Faith was gracious enough to share her photos. Between that and my trustee iPhone, I was able to actually collect a few decent ones of our trip.

For dinner, we headed to the nearby Sesuit Harbor Cafe in Dennis, Ma. It's a no frills, walk up to order, sit outside on picnic tables, byob kind of super fresh seafood place.....basically, awesome. So awesome that it's a pretty popular place. While some of our group patiently waited in the long line to make our way to order, those of us with young-un's to entertain headed down to the water. Dylan and Katelyn had a great time throwing rocks in the water and observing many small hermit crabs scuttling about.

Boats Stacked High at the Marina (Dylan really wanted to "get in the boat")

Dylan and Katelyn Having Fun Throwing Rocks

Dylan had been a great job steering clear of the water or just getting in up to his ankles. Of course, just as we were heading up to see where the folks were in line, he lost his balance and sat right down in the water! Without a change of clothes handy, he looked pretty funny running around with just a t-shirt, diaper and sneakers the rest of the night!

The food was fantastic! While we savored it all, Dylan and Katelyn wandered about. Katelyn was a great kid watcher and it was so nice to have her around to offer a little help to us.

Dinner at the Marina
(Not the most flattering picture of Mike and I.
While I have gained weight, this picture makes it look
like about 20 pounds more than actuality...
plus Mike and I both appear to have mouths full of food.)

Bob, David, Lori, Judy

Soccer Buds - Brett, Craig, Mike

Hosts - Craig and Dana

Mike Digging the Hole

Which Grew a Lot Over the Course of our Time at the Beach

Dylan (that face!) with the Seaweed He Carried Around for about 45 Minutes

Enjoying the Water

Us!

Katelyn and Tyler

Craig's Sea Monster (from all the sand we dug for the hole)

We got to the beach sometime after 9 and had a great time until 11:30ish when Dylan was begging to go to the car. The poor little guy was pooped out. So, Mike rode a bike back to the house and came back to fetch Dylan and I. Back at the house, Dylan had a great nap and Mike and I snoozed a bit as well before he got a call to grab a car and go down to get the next batch of folks ready to call the beach day done. Once everyone was back, Bob, Craig, Dana and Mike got changed to go run a 5 mile race. When Craig first told us about it, I was going to take Dylan to walk it....but that was when we thought it was a 5K. Adding another 1.9 miles to that distance would have been too much for my inflamed sciatic nerve to take. So, while they were off running, Dylan and I went for a walk through the nearby marsh, back to the beach where we had been that morning and back. It was 2-2.5 miles and I was in pain after that so I was happy to have not done more.

When the racers were back, it was time for dinner! Craig and his parents had planned a big cookout for the night, inviting over some other local friends of theirs. It was a night of great food, great people and great conversations. After a very long day of fun in the sun and a little exercise, we called it an early night to get some shut eye. Sunday morning, we got up, packed up and left so that we could avoid the traffic getting back. Plus, it was tax free weekend and we had some big ticket items to buy for the new place!

Lots of stores were having sales in addition to the tax free incentive, so it was a great time to get that new washer\dryer we needed as well as the treadmill (we've been wanting for quite some time) to put in our new home gym space. After traveling all weekend, spending lots of money and dealing with the crowds all day, we were all happy to come home for a mellow night at home. We all watched a movie together and ordered in some food. For the most part, it was a relaxing long weekend. Unfortunately, I think the extreme activity over the last month has caught up to me and I just can't seem to get feeling rested, no matter how much sleep I get at night. This will definitely be, yet another, early to bed night for me!