Beach Days in September

I am pretty sure that September is my favorite time of year here on the Vineyard. The tourists have left, for the most part, the humidity breaks, the crowds and traffic become scarce, the older kids are back at school, it seems to just be a little bit easier to breathe around here.

We have been so lucky with such glorious weather! Michael has been working the midnight shift, which means he is resting during the day now. The annual fisherman's derby came, and I think he wanted to take every opportunity he had to take a few casts, knowing he wouldn't be able to dedicate as much time to it as he would have liked to this year.

I was having a day where I felt trapped in the house all day, so when the question came up, "what do you want to do?" Go to the beach, was my answer!

I didn't go there to tan, or even go into the ocean, I'm not a big ocean fan to begin with, and in September it is far too cold for me!

The sunset was pretty that night, and we all seemed to have a nice time. Isaac spent the time bulldozing the sand, and making bird nests in it. I got to try out some different modes on my camera, and Michael tried to catch the big one.

Ahhhh, thank you September.

Call me the dragonfly whisperer

Isaac and I were going for a walk a few weeks ago with a couple of friends of ours. We were looking for more ducks to visit, so we stopped off at a very beautiful, very quite little pond. We didn't see any ducks, but we did see a Heron, we I hadn't ever seen here before. They look just ridiculous when they're flying, I can say that much. It's almost what I imagine flamingos look like when they fly.

While we were there, tossing pebbles into the pond, a bright red dragonfly landed on my hand. I waited a little while to see if he would fly away, but he didn't. So we continued on our walk down the bike path a ways, all the while this little dragonfly stayed on my hand. He was there the whole way to the farm, the whole time we were at the farm, and I eventually coaxed him to climb onto a pumpkin stem for fear he would never leave.

You'd be amazed at how many times that's happened to me before. I don't know what it is about me that dragonflies like so much. Maybe I look like a bug or something?

Pita and the Ducks

My childhood friend Kate decided to move back to the island this summer, and I for one could not be happier about it! It's nice to have a friend who has more in common with me than babies!! She has a super cute little dog named Pita, who she and her mom rescued from the street in Mexico. Isaac and she get along so well, I think it's because they're both so small and have slightly unruly hair.

On this one adventurous day, we walked into town from Kate's house and found some very friendly ducks, and baby ducks too! Great times, and of course I happened to have a container of duck food in the stroller, for just an occasion as this! It's always good to be prepared for anything I always say!

Future Rock Star

Annnnnd, he's TWO!

It blows me away that our little tiny tot is already a TWO year old! I'm not sure how it happened really. I must have taken too long of a blink.

We had two parties for Isaac this year, I thought we'd keep up the tradition. One family party, and one friends party. Both went off without a glitch! I went a little nuts with handmaking everything for his kids party, cakes, decorations and such, so I wanted to take it easy with the family party. Thank you Dairy Queen : )

He got so many wonderful presents this year, including two big wheels! One from each set of grandparents, which I think is so great! A giant cardboard playhouse, which he colored on right away, his very first pair of rollerblades, which we've already put a mile or two on.

My sister Andi ended up coming all the way here from Barrington, NH just for the kids party! She of course brought him one of his all time favorite toys. . . A stand up keyboard, with microphone! It's pretty awesome, it's hilarious to be in the other room, and hear him start to sing into it.

I was really happy to see that so many of his friends were able to make it to the party. Everyone had allot of fun, maximum fun, minimum meltdowns!

My father had made me a playhouse when I was younger, that fit perfectly into the prince/princess theme of the party! Without the roof on it, it looked just like a castle! I made Isaac a special birthday shirt, which is of course in his keepsake box now. I'm not sure, but I think this years party trumped last years!

Fifth Grade, here we come!

I can't believe that Ian is in fifth grade this year! He's moving right on up! And literally too, he's now on the third floor of the school : )

He is adjusting well to the bigger homework work load, and the older kid activity classes like shop class, and home ec. The only complaint he's had so far are the much, much, much shorter recesses. Ha. I love it!

9-4-11 The day I saved a bee

The day I saved a bee. . .

Oh yes, for those who don't know me, I am a lover of all (99.9% anyway) things. Snakes are the only exception. The idea of hunting sickens me, road kill makes me get all teary-eyed, dont get me started on fur coats.

Every day, many times a day even, the pool had to be cleaned, skimmed off at the very least. There were always tons of leaves, a thin layer of pollen on windy days, the occasional caterpillar and some sticks.

On this particular day, I saw something struggling in the water, being a lover of all (99.9% anyway) things, I swooped it up with my pool net and let it crawl onto my arm. It looked like a beautiful, harmless bumble bee, who had taken a tumble into the water.

The poor thing couldn't fly because its wings were so saturated, so I let it hang out on me for a little while until it got it's barrings.

It felt really funny having it crawl over my arm and hand, I guess I had never really looked at a bee very close up before. They have little barbs all over their legs and feet, which kept sticking to my skin. I was like tiny bits of Velcro scratching me.

I felt good that I could save it's life, but it didn't occur to me that my bee allergy would make me have this strange reaction to it even touching me. I broke out in teeny tiny blisters, everywhere it's little feet touched me. Bizarre.

But I was happy to save that little guys day! Next time I'll be sure to wear long sleeves though.