The summer went by so quickly!  On 8/25 Andrew took the kids out in a rowboat on a nearby lake/pond.

Here are some pretty awesome portraits that Sarah drew of me and Andrew.

If I recall correctly, Blaine made this hat as some sort of identification for “Kid Police”.

On Monday we had some doctor appointments in the city so we made a day of it!  In between appointments we had a picnic lunch in Central Park and rented a toy sailboat.

Then we had ice cream and listened to a jazz trio.

This picture makes me laugh because usually Blaine is reluctant to be in any photo, but this was one I was taking of a scratch that showed up on our car, and he was eager to jump in!

Another day we went to the beach in the morning and had Bona Bona ice cream in the afternoon.  So delicious!

Another day we went to the zoo again, because our membership was about to expire.  We had to park in a strange spot but we were excited to see the red panda was just beyond the fence!

It was a rainy day so at one point we had to duck into the lego building area to wait out the rain.

The kids really liked this hump-backed cow, and this was the first time Sarah was really into feeding the animals.

Then we stopped to see the sea lions, and ended up staying for awhile because they were about to be fed.  They were very excited!

We decided to check out the “World of Birds” since we’d never been there before.  It was… okay.

But we were very excited to see this bird on the walk back to the car — trumpeter swans, with babies!  This reminded us of Louis from the book, The Trumpet of the Swan.  Also makes me wonder if the Bronx Zoo needs to clip the swans’ wings as they planned to in the book.  🙁

We left for Eastham on 8/17 in two cars, one with Andrew and the kids, the other with me, Mom, and Mol.  The second car stopped in Newport, RI, for the first lobster roll of the trip at Anthony’s Seafood.  It was delicious!

On Day 2 of our trip we went out for some Hole-in-One Donuts.

And we spent the rest of the day at our local bay beach.

Andrew got out the kayak from our rental and took the kids for a ride.

That night we had a yummy dinner at a place called Local Break.

On Monday morning we went on the Cap’n Kids Fishing Adventure.  It was a reasonable 2 hour trip with fishing, pulling up a crab trap, and swabbing the deck.

After fishing we went to lunch at the Wild Goose in Chatham (lobster roll #2).

Meanwhile, Mom-Mom and Aunt Molly took a trip into Provincetown for breakfast at the Portuguese Bakery.

The next day we went to Coast Guard beach on the national seashore.

We saw lots of seals!

Back at the house, some ping pong.  The kids’ skills improved a lot over the week!

The next day we went on a hike at the Visitors’ Center, then we played mini golf and had lunch at Arnold’s.

Mom won, with two holes in one!

After lunch we went on another hike at the White Cedar Swamp Trail.

Then we got some ice cream.

We had such a nice time at Coast Guard beach we decided to go back on Thursday.

That night we had dinner at Cap’t Cass in Rock Harbor.

Our last day was a little rainy in the morning so we went to a kids activity at the visitors center.

Then back to our bay beach in the afternoon!

Blaine even got into the kayak by himself (though note Andrew’s steadying hand on the stern).

Our last dinner at our VRBO, with a beautiful sunset.

One day in August, Sarah and I visited the Square House Museum in Rye while Blaine was at PT/OT.  It was a historic house turned inn where George Washington had once stayed!

Our neighbors lost a giant 200-year-old Maple tree in their backyard, and the kids were very impressed by this telescoping crane brought in to take it down.

On Manor Beach Day the kids admired the work of DJ Bob, former Fire Chief of Mamaroneck.

Sarah went to a birthday party featuring something called the “Bubble Bus” which made smoke-filled bubbles to pop.

Pirate Day at Badger.

One weekend we hosted some of our neighbors for a summer BBQ in the backyard.

Blaine looked forward to playing with the “Everblocks” at the library all summer.  We finally got to go after camp ended.

During our week off between camp and Cape Cod, we went into the city one day to visit the Guggenheim.  Sarah wanted to get all dressed up with two braids.

Sarah also got very into beading this August.