by Judy Handley | Aug 4, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 216: Can’t Stay Away from the Water
Date: Friday, August 4, 2017
Weather: Sunny Day; High 80, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Even when we all agree that we just don’t need to go to the beach again, we end up going to the beach. After all, it is summer on Cape Cod and the beaches constantly beckon us to come enjoy. Since swim lessons ended yesterday, there was no reason that we had to go to the beach today. And a few days ago, all three boys said they just wanted to stay home and play. But yesterday, they changed their minds and wanted to spend the entire day at the each. I proposed a compromise where we would stay home in the morning and then spend the entire afternoon at the beach. That won full approval, so that is what we did. The boys decided to go to Wood Neck. We usually go 2-3 hours before low tide, but this time we arrived at dead low. Where Lazy River meets Buzzards Bay, it looked like a mini-delta at low tide with lots of sand bars exposed.
All three boys enjoyed the shallow water with a sandy bottom with no rocks. We swam and snorkeled and jumped waves and then slowly worked our way back up Lazy River toward the marsh. Sam went ahead to be on the lookout for the arrival of friends Cole and Leo and their mom Jeanne. Ollie, Jonah, and I lazed in pools of very warm water and had sea weed battles. Once Cole and Leo arrived, we headed into the marsh where the water was even warmer.
Jonah caught a big crab
and Ollie collected tiny hermit crabs. Sam took the GoPro and experimented with underwater videos. The boys frolicked in the water and then Heather arrived. We spent more time playing in the marsh and then we headed back out to where Lazy River meets Buzzards Bay. Since the tide was coming in, we could then ride the tide back up the towards the marsh. It was a super fun afternoon at the beach.
The boys are programmed at this point to head to my place after time at the beach to take showers and have their coveted screen time. So, we all headed to Oma’s and decided to order sushi for dinner. Jed was riding his bike home from Woods Hole and didn’t get our message, but once he got home, we called him to fill him in our plans. In fact, we asked him to pice all headed to Oma’s and decided to order sushi for dinner. Jed was riding his bike home from Woods Hole and didn’t get our message, but once he got home, we called him to fill him in our plans. In fact, we asked him to pick up the sushi. We had a really lovely evening enjoying that sushi on the deck overlooking Falmouth Harbor.
by Judy Handley | Aug 3, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 215: Last Day of Swim Lessons
Date: Thursday, August 3, 2017
Weather: Hazy AM, Clear and Sunny PM; High 84, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
During the first summer of Camp Oma in 2013 Sam and Jonah swim lessons in the fresh water pond at Goodwill Park. Then last summer we had lessons at Falmouth Heights Beach. Sam has always loved being in the water, but he didn’t really enjoy swim lessons. Jonah always had a fear of putting his head in the water and he didn’t enjoy swim lessons either. Both boys were very reluctant to participate in lessons this year, but we persisted and today I couldn’t have been a prouder Oma. Today was the last day of lessons for 2017 and both Sam and Jonah made tremendous progress. Sam is becoming a competitive swimmer and Jonah has overcome his fear of the water. Hallelujah! And even though they might not admit it, I think both Sam and Jonah will actually miss the swim lessons. Things really clicked for them this summer. Their instructor was a rough and tumble young man named Michael and his assistant was Lauren—quiet and caring. The two of them made a great team, but even they were shocked at Jonah’s magical turn-about this week.
Last week I started playing a beach football game with Jonah. If he won, I had to go under water. I got dunked many times and all of sudden, Jonah decided he could put that head of his underwater as well. He has worn his ladybug floaties for as long as I can remember, but today he me take them out of the car and put them in the basement. He said he doesn’t need them anymore, and he doesn’t. He is not a strong swimmer yet, but he can tread water and can swim a short distance free style. Ollie was not old enough for ‘official’ lessons, but he has had lesson with Oma every day and he has made great progress as well. The boys are excited to go to the swim meet on Monday. Sam is going to participate in the free style competition and Jonah might as well. The swim classes made posters today and we bought Falmouth Heights bright red t-shirts that the boys will wear to the swim meet on Monday to show their pride in being part of the Heights team. Swim teams from the other town beaches will be doing the same. It should be a lot of fun. And we celebrated the end of successful swim lessons today by buying large shaved-ice flavored cones. Happy boys!
We had an extended lunch at Oma’s today. I put out the makings for personal pizzas and let the boys build their own pizzas on English muffins.
This was a big hit. And Sam set about putting together the two new deck chairs that arrived yesterday. Last August Mark and I bought two bar-height chairs for the deck. Since there have been only two chairs and three little boys, it has been a constant battle for who gets to sit in the tall chairs. Now we will all have tall chairs. And I was amazed at Sam’s ability to look at the directions and start the assembly process with no help from me.
by Judy Handley | Aug 2, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 214: Swim Lessons, Fun with Friends, Turtle Release
Date: Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 82, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
It was a marathon 12-hour Camp Oma day, but long as it was, I think the Goldpebbles enjoyed all 720 minutes. Between morning swim lessons and an evening turtle release, the boys played at home with neighborhood friends, Cole and Leo. Their family returned yesterday from a two-week vacation visiting family in California, so we invited them over to play for the afternoon. The boys got out the slip and slide and had a great time sliding down the hill in the backyard. At one point, Sam came to the kitchen door to tell me someone was at the front door. I went to the door and no one was there. In fact, no one was in sight. When I got back to the kitchen, Sam had disappeared, but I saw muddy footprints leading from the door to the sink. Hmmmm. I looked out back and saw mounds of bubbles on the slip and slide. Sam had tricked me so he could confiscate the dish washing liquid to speed up the slide. And it did. They were having so much fun there was no way I could be angry with Sam for his little deception. After the slip and slide, the boys played croquet in the front yard and then enjoyed time on the swing set. It was quite refreshing to see boys ranging in age from 5 to 11 having so much fun on a summer day.
At 5 pm, Cole and Leo went home and I headed north to Craigsville Beach with the Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. We bought dinner at the Craigsville Beach Grill and took it across the street to eat on the beach. Just as we finished, who would appear but Cole and Leo. Cole and his mother were part of a training in the fall learning how to rescue stranded turtles. So, when they heard we were going to the release, they also decided to come watch the release of the eight Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles that were rescued last fall. Kemp’s Ridley are the smallest and most endangered of all sea turtles and every fall some of these little guys get caught in the Cape Cod Bay and can’t find their way out to head south before the cold weather comes. They then get cold stunned and end up stranded on Cape Cod beaches. Various organizations work together to rescue them and the National Marine Life Center in Bourne takes care of them through the winter and prepares them for release once the waters of the Cape Cod Bay are warm enough. Today was that day and hundreds of people came to watch.
Somehow the Goldpebbles, along with Cole and Leo, headed in the right direction at just the right time and we ended up with a front row view. The turtles didn’t arrive on time, so we had a very long wait. But the boys waited willingly and enjoyed seeing these turtles head out to sea.
Then they asked if they could head out to sea as well. So off they went frolicking in the water. They were delighted with the water temperature . . . much warmer than Falmouth beaches they declared. But when I checked water temps tonight, the data tells me the water is only one degree warmer here. Whatever, they enjoyed a late evening romp and then we fought the traffic to head home. Long, but lovely day.
by Judy Handley | Aug 1, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 213: Welcome, August
Date: Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day; High 84, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
As I am sure you are aware, today was the first day of August. Welcome to the last month of summer! The weather today was once again sunny and warm. I went to pick up Sam, Jonah, and Ollie and we headed to Falmouth Heights Beach for swim lessons. And today was another banner day for Jonah. When his class headed to the water, he was the first one in and he dove underwater. I heard Michael, the instructor, yell, “Jonah?” Michael couldn’t believe that Jonah was finally ready to get that head underwater. After lessons, Jonah spent time with friends
and Ollie and Sam collected floating eel grass and made ovens (pits in the sand) for cooking stew at the water’s edge. The boys had requested we head home for a low-key afternoon, but when I tried to get them away from the beach, it was difficult. I gave the 15-minute warning and we all headed back into the water. Sam frolicked with his boogie board, Ollie snorkeled, and Jonah asked me to hold his boogie board so he could dive under and come up on the other side. He did this over and over and then decided to do what the swim instructors call ‘whale breach’—jumping up and flopping your whole body down sideways in the water. After many breaches, he finally declared he was ready to go. Unfortunately I have no photos of this as I was in the water with Jonah. Maybe I can capture it tomorrow. But the important thing is that Jonah is evidence that every kid will swim when he or she is ready, and Jonah is now ready. Fantastic!
After our daily ritual of showers, screen time, and lunch at my house, we headed home for a free and easy afternoon. It was so delightful to see the boys sitting outside in the grass reading books, swinging, and just relaxing.
Tomorrow will be more of the same with the addition of a 7 pm turtle release. Kemp Ridley turtles, the smallest and most endangered of all sea turtles, come north to visit every summer, and every fall, a few stragglers stay too long and are harmed by the cold. And every fall they are rescued and then rehabilitated at the National Marine Life Center before being released the following summer. Ollie and I found out about this last week when visited the Marine Life Center and tomorrow night we will witness the release of eight turtles on Craigsville Beach located between here and Hyannis. We are all looking forward to this.
by Judy Handley | Jul 31, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 212: End of the ‘Blue’ Month on Cape Cod
Date: Monday, July 31, 2017
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day; High 78, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I’m having a really hard time believing that today is that last day of July, but those beautiful blue hydrangeas that adorn The Studio property are fading. And that tells me that Cape Cod’s ‘blue’ month has come to an end. Hydrangeas and Cape Cod are synonymous and they are in their glory during the month of July, as are the lavender plants that add another touch of blue.
All are fading into August, but I am hoping this is not signaling the end of summer. With our slow start on summer weather, I’m hoping for a warmer than normal August and September.
Camp Oma was in full swing today with a return to swim lessons at Falmouth Heights Beach. The boys swore they didn’t want to go, but after a week away from lessons, both Sam and Jonah shone. Their skills have improved greatly this summer and today Jonah actually got that bushy head of hair under the water multiple times. And Ollie did a lot of swimming and floating and swears that tomorrow he’ll get his head underwater as well. I’ll call this success! We stayed at the beach longer than planned as the boys were enjoying a beach baseball game with friends. After the game, we headed back into the water for one more swim and then we headed to my place for showers and lunch. It was 2:30 pm before we finally headed to the Goldstone’s. Jed finished building the shed last week and Heather was taking the afternoon to paint. The boys wanted to help, so we spent the latter part of the afternoon painting. All three boys pitched in and they did a great job.
I left shortly after 5 pm and Sam was still working with his mom to complete the job.
The shed kit came with primer paint on the outside walls, but Heather had hoped to get two coats of paint on top of that. One gallon of paint only did one coat, so she’ll have to make a return trip to Home Depot for more paint for that second coat.
When I got home, I got a call from Justin saying things were crazy at Finca Maravilla after the afternoon delivery of my birthday presents for Coco. I sent roller skates for her and for Ziggy and after arrival, they had immediately put them on and were learning to skate in the living room. In typical Coco style, she had no clothes on, so what I got to see on Skype video was naked roller skating at its finest.
There was lots of giggling and squeals, so I think both Ziggy and Coco enjoyed the skates. Coco’s main present from me was a slack line, so I’ll have to check in on another afternoon and see the kids in action on that.
by Judy Handley | Jul 30, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 211: Happy 5th Birthday to Coco
Date: Sunday, July 30, 2017
Weather: Overcast; High 75, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
After four boy grandchildren, along came the one and only Coco. She turned five today and if I had to pick one word to describe her, it would be spirited. She has a spark in those eyes and a smile that just doesn’t quit.
And she’s been this way since birth.
09 Beautiful, Sweet, Smiley Baby Coco Annabelle
I got to see Coco and Ziggy via Skype video this evening after Coco’s birthday party. We had a family birthday party in West Virginia and then Coco had a party with her family in England. Today she had a party with her friends in Puerto Rico and my gifts to her will arrive tomorrow, so she will have yet another birthday celebration. Happy birthday, Coco!
I went for an early morning bike ride with the Newcomers biking group, went to the grocery store, and then came home and spent a quiet day cooking and making a little progress on editing and organizing photos. I am months behind now, but once the summer is over, I’ll have time to catch up. Tomorrow morning it is back to the beach for swim lessons for the Goldpebbles. The weather was beautiful today and is supposed to be that way all week, so Camp Oma will focus on beach activities.
