We missed the Manor Beach clambake this year since I mixed up the dates, but we still made it to the beach on Sunday and Monday!  On Monday we were only there for about 20 minutes before it started drizzling, but the clouds were beautiful!

Goodbye, summer!

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.

Here are all the other photos from the rest of July!  One day I made salmon using the marinade my dad always used to make, and it was a delicious trip down memory lane.

Here are the kids getting on the bus to Badger.  The bus might have been their favorite part!

On my birthday I went to Manor Beach solo and had a lovely time.  Andrew and I also had a fabulous sushi dinner in the city that night.

The following weekend the kids helped make and decorate a cake for me.

Andrew also made my current fave dinner, fish tacos!  Yum.

Sarah got her new backpack.  Pandas, of course.

One day at Badger I saw a hawk swoop down and knock a nest of baby birds out of this tree.  The kids and I alerted John, the head of Badger camp, and he and his staff were able to get the nest back up into its spot and the mother bird came back!  We were very impressed.

Sarah enjoying some Italian Ice at Villa Maria.

We finished this amazing wood puzzle Andrew gave me for my birthday from Liberty Puzzles.  It was tricky and beautiful, with many specially shaped pieces like sea creatures and lighthouses.

Blaine (reluctantly) kept a journal this summer, since we wanted him to keep up with his writing practice.  Sarah wanted to keep a drawing journal as well, and here is one of the entries, “Panda at the Zoo.”

Blaine loved using the paddleboard in the pool at Badger.

We bid on the old fire truck steering wheels from the local playground that were auctioned off when the playground was being redone, and won them!  They sat in our basement for months, and this summer I finally got around to building a frame to hold them up!

A hike at Cranberry Lake.

We hit 20,000 miles on our car.  Does anyone care about this sort of information?  Probably not.

Lastly, here are the kids in their tie-dye shirts from camp, ready for Carnival Day on 7/31.

The kids did not start camp until July 8, which gave us a whole week off to do whatever we wanted.  We went to the beach, the Norwalk Aquarium, and the Met.

At the Norwalk Aquarium we saw a porcupine, a megalodon jaw, sea turtles, a shark feeding, sea lions, and meerkats.  It was Taco Tuesday at our favorite lunch place across the street and we got to watch Serena play at Wimbledon.  Then we tried to watch an imax film about the lunar landing 50 years ago but Blaine decided it was too scary.

On the 4th of July we started the day with the Flint Park races.  The whole family participated in the egg and spoon race.  Andrew won first prize on the mayor’s tug-of-war team, and we did not get far in the balloon toss.

After hot dogs, we went for some Carvel and the kids gave me the hand over face move.

In the afternoon we went to the party at the beach and the kids enjoyed listening to the band.  That evening we even lasted late enough to see the fireworks at Manor Park!

On Friday the 5th we got a late start and drove into the city in the afternoon to visit the Met.  Our main goal was to see the Temple of Dendur, so that was our first stop.  After that we wandered through the Medieval section and up to the Impressionist area but the kids quickly declared they’d had enough.  So we went up to the roof garden for some water ice.

We lasted about an hour in the museum — not bad!  Then we went next door to the Ancient Playground to relax, and met up with Andrew so we could walk to dinner at a place called Luke’s Lobster.  A successful art museum outing!

That’s about it for our week.  Here’s a bonus pic of Blaine with a funny paper animal he created — it started out as a cheetah and then became a giraffe.

Mom-Mom and Aunt Molly came to visit on June 28 and the kids were excited to take them to Rye Playland!  It was a hot day but we cooled off with some Carvel soft serve.

Blaine and Aunt Molly went on this ride called the “Slime Bucket” which is a teacup-style ride, and the operator had to stop and get Blaine off when Aunt Molly’s spinning was too much for him.  🙂

After Playland we went to the beach for the Friday Family Fun Night!  It was a beautiful evening and Aunt Molly continued her tradition of swimming fully clothed on visits to Larchmont.

The next day we went back to the beach in the morning and stayed for lunch and part of the afternoon.  Then we came home for showers, Zingo, reading, and dinner.  Andrew made my current fave, fish tacos, and we had homemade chocolate ice cream and Dana Cree’s Nutter Buddies for dessert.

This was also the weekend when we’d signed up to water the Chatsworth gardens!

Thanks for visiting, Mom and Mol!  We had a great time!

June 26 was the last day of school!  Blaine was there for a whopping half hour and then we picked him up again.  We celebrated the official start of summer with lunch at LT.

Here’s Blaine with his classroom aide, Mrs. Rhodes.

And here he is with his first grade teacher, Mrs. Aiello.

He had a wonderful year and we’re so grateful to his teachers and the school team who made it possible.  Can’t believe it went by so quickly and that in September Blaine and Sarah will be going to school together!

Blaine got to choose the outing for the next day, so we headed to the Bronx Zoo to check out the Dinosaurs exhibit!  We got to ride on a truck and see some animatronic dinosaurs.

We made some strawberry shortcake for Father’s Day.

Blaine brought home this book on pandas to read to Sarah.

Sarah got to pick some outings for her days off while Blaine was still in school.  The first day her top choice was go to the park and play frisbee!  Her second pick was the Westchester Children’s Museum.

Sarah is really into playing Uno right now.

T-ball trophies!

I decided to konmari my closet and made a big trip to Goodwill one day.

Blaine has been enjoying helping with cooking — here he is with “Blaine’s mac and cheese” which he made with Andrew one night.

Sarah and I visited Blaine’s class for the “writing workshop” where we got to see his big animal project he’d been working on for awhile.  His group learned all about starfish.

We also got to see Blaine and some classmates recite the pledge over the loudspeaker in the principal’s office.

On one of Blaine’s half days we went to the library so Blaine could get his own library card.

I can not believe our baby is graduating from preschool and getting ready to start Kindergarten!  Sarah does not like it when I call her baby, though, so I need to stop that.  She did a great job with all the songs in the ceremony (my fave was If I Had a Hammer).  After graduation there were cupcakes, more music, and face painting in the garden.  And then we went for a celebratory lunch at Polpettina with Nicholas.  Congratulations, Sarah!

Here is a picture of Sarah’s tile (top right) which she painted and which will remain on the walls at LTNS with all the other graduates’.