2017 Life Logs, Day 222: Getting Ready for Travel and Beach Time
2017 Life Logs, Day 222: Getting Ready for Travel and Beach Time
Date: Thursday, August 10, 2017
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 82, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Ollie and I spent our morning getting ready for the Goldstone trip to Sweden. Ollie needed a light weight rain jacket and when I talked with Jed this morning, he expressed the need for another carry-on size bag. When the Goldstones arrive in Bergen, Norway, they will be taking buses and trains to get to Sweden. And once there, they will also be traveling by bus and train. Having luggage they can easily handle will be very important. I took over two large bags I bought to transport things to Justin and Jo in Puerto Rico, but one of those is just too big to handle easily. So, Ollie and I headed to Hyannis this morning to do some shopping. We did a ‘hunt and kill’ trip through Sears. We got an American Tourister spinner rolling bag for $23. I spotted this bag with a special price reduction tag. It said $63.00, so that made it the best bag for the price on the floor. But when I went to buy it, the cashier pointed out that the price tag described a different bag. She called the manager, which took a very long time, but when he came, he was happy to sell the bag to me for the price on the tag. When the cashier rang it up, the total was only $23. I pointed out to her that this price was much cheaper than the price tag indicated, but she said she had to sell it to me for that amount. Fine with me! We then went to the Lands End section at Sears and found a rain jacket for Ollie. He also found a pair of sports pants and a long sleeve shirt that he loved, so we bought that as well, and then headed home. By the time we dropped off the new luggage, it was time to go pick up Sam and Jonah from soccer camp. And the day tumbled on from there. We had lunch at my house and made our way to Stoney Beach in Woods Hole to meet up with the Hennen’s—Jeanne, with sons Cole and Leo. They bought a one-man inflatable kayak yesterday and brought that to the beach. Immediately Sam and Cole took off in the kayak. Leo is a fantastic collector of critters and he spent his afternoon collecting pipefish, a baby pufferfish, and a crab.
It was low tide and a great time for snorkeling, so we all did a bit of that as well.
Near the end of the afternoon when Jeanne brought the kayak to shore, Ollie asked her if he could take it out. She looked at me and I told her that he was actually an experienced kayaker. But I assured her that I would follow along. Ollie easily handled the kayak and then Jonah wanted a turn and he showed off his skill as well. When Jonah returned, Jeanne decided to go out again and Ollie asked if he could tag along on the back of the kayak.
When the boys return from Sweden, we will have to get our two-man inflatable in the water. There has just been no time for any kind of boating this summer. And summer is slipping away. It was almost 7:30 when I finally drove home from the Goldstones and the sun was setting. Just a few weeks ago, sunset was closer to 8:30. Ouch! This summer has passed too quickly.
Ollie was in full soccer dress this morning when he went to TD Bank with me. I managed to get my online banking account locked and needed to go in to show ID and get the online account unlocked. This took a while and one of the managers came out of her office with a small rubber ball that looked like a soccer ball and gave it to Ollie. The bright green color matched his shirt and socks exactly. He was thrilled!
That worked out great as Sam was reading a book on a Kindle and was very happy to stay in the car and read while the other two played. Then we headed to the beach where we discovered that no boogie boards or flotation devices of any type were allowed. Not sure why, but it wasn’t really an issue as the water was very cold and boys got in and out very quickly. Jonah found a warm place in the sand to just lay back and relax while Sam and Ollie built a sand castle.
And before we knew it, it was time to go get dinner and get back to the beach in time for the seal release by the National Marine Life Center. Heather was driving home from Boston and had sent a text that she was on her way to join us. We left the beach just after 5 o’clock and returned at 5:45, and in that time the tide had gone out so far that the beach was totally transformed. I had left my beach chair with the kids towels and shovels on the beach not realizing that it was the perfect thing to do. When we got back, the yellow tape had been set up to define where we would be allowed to sit and watch the seal release. My chair was in just the right place. So, I unknowingly had saved us a place. Heather arrived and we watched the release together.
The three pups being released were rescued this spring after being separated from their mothers and subsequently stranded in three different locations. The Marine Life Center worked to rehabilitate them and had to teach them how to eat fish. They had to start by tube feeding them a milk-based formula and then switched to a fish-based formula. From there they found ways to introduce fish into their diets and it was determined that they are now ready to go back into the wild. Jane Goodseal, Sealiva Earle, and Johnny Appleseal were all very reluctant and by the time we left, they were still being coaxed into the water.
We hope they all three finally took the plunge, but it was time for our Goldpebble pups to head down the beach to the jetty on the north side of the canal.
Heather went with the boys and I took the gear and headed to the car. I drove to the jetty to offer transportation back to Heather’s car for the ride home. The boys loved their sunset walk on the jetty and were reluctant to leave, but both Heather and myself were exhausted. In addition to her own program this week, Heather has hosted another morning show and made the trip to WGBH in Boston. And she has been doing the interviews for her program for the next three Mondays when she will be out of town. Add to that the wonderful, but at the same time, stressful news that her weekly program will start airing in Boston as soon as she returns from Sweden and you have one stressed momma. But ready or not, the shows will go one and the bags will get packed for Sweden and we will all be on our way in the wee hours of Saturday morning. I will drop the Goldstones at the airport in Providence, RI. They will fly to Sweden and I will head on to Nyack, New York, to spend a couple of days with friends Ed and Lynne. I hope they are ready for an exhausted guest! 
Ollie got to feed the horseshoe crab with a syringe and learned exactly where to find its mouth.
He also helped with the feeding of the spider crabs and held an urchin, a scallop, and a large whelk.
He was thrilled and learned a lot in a short period of time. We then went to pick Sam and Jonah up from soccer camp and headed back to Woods Hole to have lunch with Heather and Jed. Heather had to leave early for work this morning and has to do the same for the next two mornings, so the boys wanted to have lunch with mommy and daddy. We ate at Pie in the Sky which is across the street from a hill between Heather’s office and Jed’s. An on this hill is a very special tree that the boys love to climb. Before and after lunch, they climbed the tree and found the most amazing things to do.
Jonah became a sloth and a chameleon.
Ollie hugged the tree and used one of the above ground roots as a slide.
And Sam sat high in the tree and read his book on mommy’s Kindle.
It is so wonderful to watch children play like this. But finally, we pulled ourselves away and headed to my house to complete some laundry for the Goldstones as their washer is on the blink and then on home to do some packing for Sweden. As we were unpacking the car, Sam discovered that he did not have his soccer ball. When I picked him up at the soccer field, we both agreed that I sent him to the car with his ball and bag, but the ball just just wasn’t there. So, we headed back to the soccer field. There was no soccer ball, but there was a red-tailed hawk sitting on the top of one of the soccer goals and the boys were so excited that they were able to walk right up to the goal to see the hawk up-close.
We decided that even though we didn’t find the ball, the trip back to town was worth it. And then, low and behold, when we finally got home, Sam miraculously found the soccer ball under his seat. Unfortunately, our afternoon at home didn’t happen, but we had a great time. It was four o’clock when we got home and we spent the next two hours trying to go through clothes for the trip to Sweden. When I finally got home, I unfortunately had to spend a great deal of my evening on the phone with my internet provider. One minute I had wifi, the next I did not. It took two hours and it is now much later than I had hoped to be up, but I do once again have internet.
It was just two weeks ago when Jonah first decided that he might be able to swim and put his head in the water. He walked away today with a 6th place ribbon, but the important thing was that he made it!
And he was really proud of what he had done. Sam was disappointed with a 5th place, but he was up against some strong team members and he was only a second behind three other team members.
And it was great to see how the team bonded after the competition.
I talked to both boys on the way home about setting goals for next summer. Both only competed in free-style today, and both agreed that they would compete in at least two competitions next year. They will not get to participate in the pizza party on Thursday, the last day of swim classes for the summer, because they are now in a week-long UK Elite Soccer Camp. So we celebrated today with a trip to Smitty’s for an ice cream treat on the way home. 
