Cape Cod Vacation Summer 2016

The last few weeks have been busy buys busy. We took a vacation the first week of July which was wonderful but it's been non-stop with work and things since we've been back. It was our first trip traveling as a family of 4 and it was a revelation. Having that time off of work to spend time enjoying each other was amazing. And this effort was hugely helped by my wonderful dad. He lives on Cape Cod so we went and stayed at his house with him. He wanted us to have as a relaxing time as possible so he played with the kids, cooked, did the majority of the dishes and laundry, and even babysat so we could go out to dinner as a couple. Having another adult around willing to engage in parenting was so helpful!

Cape Cod is where my dad grew up and we woudl visit my grandparents there almost every summer so being there with my kids felt very nostalgic. It's one of my most favorite places in the world! And it's such a great place for kids.

My dad and C finding the first quahog of the trip (a tradition). It was a small one but it still counted!

 

This beach is to me the most perfect beach for kids. it's on the bay side of Cape Cod so there are almost no waves so the kids can be free to play and splash in the water. Also when the tide goes out it goes out for miles which makes great sand flats to play aorund on.

  

Happy water baby :)

 

Happy water baby and mama :)

Just the best. You can take the kids to a beach like this for the whole day and they won't get bored.

Mini-golf is one of our Cape Cod traditions. This was the first time C could actually kind of play the game. We get P to at least use her hands to put a ball in the holes after each round.

My uncle lives in Cape Cod too so my cousin and her family came for the weekend and our kids finally got to meet! Especially since this is where we played together as kids ourselves.

 My goodness I love these guys

Cousins playing together for the first time. It was a success!

This pond is close to my dad's house and another of our favorite spots. It's a great place to stop after the beach to clean off the salt water.

 We went through the basement at my dad's house (which used to be my grandparents house) and found this plastic pirate ship from my dad's childhood. The plastic was brittle and we lost a few pieces but it's a testament to how the classics never go out of style.

 

First Encounter Beach at low tide on our last day there. Looking for shells, enjoying the shallow "puddles", crab spotting, and lots of general running around. 

Sunset over the pond behind my dads house (no filter). We miss you Cape Cod!! Hopefully we'll be back next summer.

Backyard tea party

My mom got C a tea set for Christmas and I'm impressed with how much use it gets during playtime. I wonder what it is about having tea that little girls seem to love recreating over and over again. Is it the ritual of setting everything up? Or feeling like a "big girl" who drinks tea and chats with friends? Whatever it is, it's adorable. This little tea party was just us girls but other typical participants include her T-Rex stuffed doll.

Growing Butterflies

 We don't have a dog or any cats. But we do have a fish pond at our place and he have to fed the fish and turtles that live there every day. So when people ask C if she has pets she says she has fishies, turtles, and butterflies :) Butterflies because we have grown 2 sets of butterflies now from caterpillars and C loves it. She is obsessed with her "butterfly friends" and looks for the ones we've released in the yard every day. I'll be ordering a third batch of caterpillars soon so we can keep going!

Memorial Day weekend 2016

The joys of a 3-day weekend! Because it also means a 4-day work week :) We stayed local which meant hiking, visiting with friends, and enjoying time at home. Nothing major but it was just right.

This little nugget loves her daddy. She's his mini-me.

We finally did it! We showed C Star Wars. We have family that are waiting for their kids to be older but asking aorund my group of friends many of the 3-4 year olds have seen it (and loved it). Ours also loved it and has been talking about it ever since. Her favorite characters are Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and the stormtroopers which goes to show how appealing the bad guys can be (Vader's cape!). She also loved Leia braid and bun combo from the end scene.

Enjoying an evening the backyard.

Still into Queen Elsa.

It's 2016 and we're back!

It's a new year, we have a new addition to family, and we are in a new home. I want to start sharing some of our life here again so here are some scenes from life recently. Above is D and C doing one of my favorite things: singing and playing the guitar together.

We bought a combo bike trailer and stroller for the girls because we can now walk to and from their daycare. They both love the idea of riding together and get excited but about 10 minutes in one is crying or screaming so it's a work in progress.

 These two...

These are pics from Mother's Day. It was just a typical Sunday because those are my favorite days anyway. We went to the Farmer's Market, got lunch, took a nap. Perfect. And the breastfeeding one because no shame!

C is so into dress-up. I really didn't buy her a lot of "girlie" things at first as it wasn't my thing as a young girl, but she loves it and now I find myself getting her princess everything.

 

 My family. I love them so. And we all love our swurfer :)

We finally got to the beach

Ever since New Years Day I've wanted to get down to the beach. It's only a 20 minute drive and we're lucky to be in California where you can go to the beach on a sunny day in January. But sickness and other plans always got in the way. But this Saturday we actually had a morning free where the three of us had time to each being a family. What a treat! To the beach!

The water was chilly but we enjoyed walking in the sand, looking at the sea birds, sitting on rocks, and using the playground equipment they have right on the sand.

Though one of the reasons we love going to the beach is the restaurant they have on the pier. The Pepper loves their fish sticks and we love the Buffalo shrimp sliders. They also have a deck with tables and a great view of the ocean.

 

Our little girl is really enjoying very girly lady like things right now. She has replaced her love of her red hat with love of hair bows. Each morning she likes to pick out her own bow from the pile of different colored ones we have (she left this morning with a light pink version). We also introduced her to Winnie-the-Pooh, who she unsurprisingly connected to right away.

Such a little ham. This is her sad face.

Luckily that face face came back quickly :)

Horses and tangarines

This last weekend was beautiful here in Ojai so we decided to head over to our friends ranch and enjoy walking thorugh their orange groves. There was an added bonus that our friends were taking their horses out, a treat for the Pepper who loves all things horsey right now.

Everything right now is related to big things and small things. Big things are mommies, little things are babies. It's very cute. So of course she wanted us to pick a mommy tangerine and a baby tangerine. She has started to want to dress herself so she picked her outfit. It's all about dresses right now which makes me regret buying all those practical t-shirts going unused in her closet. She also loves to wear both her bracelets and doesn't liek to leave the house without her hat.

Even though we spend a lot of time visiting our friend's horses this was the Pepper's first time on a horse! Look at that happy face. She was so thrilled. I hope we can do more of this for her.