by Judy Handley | Sep 6, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 303, Year 7: Happy Anniversary to Heather and Jed
Date: Thursday, September 6, 2012
Weather: Back to Beautiful Weather
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Nine years ago, on a beautiful September day in Boothbay, Maine, Heather and
Jed were married at the Spruce Point Inn surrounded by friends and family.
It was a beautiful wedding on the waterfront. Nine years later, Heather and
Jed continue to live on Cape Cod, but now they share their lives with three
beautiful little boys. It has been a wonderful and productive nine years,
definitely something to celebrate, but right now both Heather and Jed are so
busy that celebrating an anniversary is just not high on the agenda.
Tonight they celebrated by having a quiet dinner at home so they could get
Sam and Jonah to bed early. Tomorrow is the last day of this first week of
school and the number one priority is making sure Sam and Jonah are well
rested. Heather and Jed have learned that in these formative years, the
needs of the little ones come first and foremost. Celebrating family is
what makes for a happy anniversary.
I spent my day at Heather and Jed’s baking banana bread, making granola, and
canning the ‘miracle’ mineral chicken broth that I have been making since
Mark started his chemo treatment. It is not only delicious; it is chocked
full of good stuff for you. But doing all of this made it a busy day.
Jonah doesn’t go to school on Thursdays and Sam was home today as
kindergarteners are ‘phased in’ half at a time. He went to school yesterday
with half of his class. The other half attended today and tomorrow they
will all go and meet each other. So having all three boys at home slowed
the progress a bit, but we got it all done. Tomorrow Mark and I head to
Boston at 6:30 am. Mark has a test scheduled for 9:30 am which means we
will be driving into the city during morning rush hour. He then has another
scan that begins at 1 pm and continues until 4 pm. I don’t think it lasts
this long, but he has to be ‘available.’ So once again, we will be driving
home during rush hour. It will be a long day, but we can always find things
to do when in Boston. So we will just enjoy the day and endure the long
drives during rush hour.
by Judy Handley | Sep 5, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 302, Year 7: First Day of School
Date: Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Weather: Rainy, Rainy Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today was the first day of the 2012-2013 school year for Sam and Jonah. Sam
is now officially a kindergartener at the East Falmouth Elementary School
and Jonah is returned to the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative three full days
a week. Mark was called into work at West Marine early this morning, so I
took him in and then went to Heather and Jed’s to get some ‘historic’ photos
of this first day of school. It was a smooth beginning. After the whole
family walked to school with Sam, I drove the van to pick them up and we all
delivered Jonah to school in Woods Hole. Once Heather and I (along with
Oliver) got back home, Oliver and I played together for the morning while
Heather worked. Then the three of us went to the supermarket. By the time
we got home, it was time for Heather to go pick up Sam. His school day
starts at 9 am and ends at 3:30 pm, five days a week. It is a long day for
a five year-old with no rest time, but the academic push driven by the
current testing system doesn’t allow for down time. Regardless, Sam seemed
to make it through his first day just fine. He has the day off tomorrow as
kindergarteners start with only half the class attending one day and the
other half the next day. Then on Friday he will attend with all of his
classmates. Jonah’s move to the big kid classroom went very smoothly. He
does still get naptime and he went right down today in his new sleeping bag.
And he was very happy that he had outside playtime ‘between the rain drops.’
It was raining so hard in the afternoon that Heather had to drive to pick up
Sam. After she got home with Sam, I then drove to Woods Hole to pick up Jed
and Jonah. And then it was time for me to pick up Mark. So there was a lot
of driving today, but it was a good first day of school for all.
by Judy Handley | Sep 4, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 301, Year 7: Happy Grandkids
Date: Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Weather: Rain Early and Late, Overcast in the Middle
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today was a day of getting things ready for the start of school tomorrow.
Mark and I kept Oliver and Jonah while Heather, Jed, and Sam went to
kindergarten. It was the first day of school in Falmouth, but for
kindergarteners, it was a day to come to school with parents for an hour and
a half so they could fill out required paperwork. At home, Jonah and I made
chocolate chip cookies for an ‘after school’ treat and we made and played
with play dough. Jonah delighted in watching the liquid mixture turn into
play dough when heated and, of course, he loved playing with it. While
Jonah and I played in the kitchen, Mark played with Oliver. When he put him
in his new exersaucer, Oliver jumped for joy. Mark learned that Oliver can
now roll all the way across the living room. And when Oliver’s energy
slowed down, Mark held him while he slept. Mark and I had a great morning
with two very happy little boys. And when Sam returned from kindergarten,
he was also bouncing and happy. It was wonderful to see such happy little
ones.
Sam goes for his first day of kindergarten tomorrow and Jonah goes back to
the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative. He was there all of last year but only
half days on three days a week. This year he will be going for a full day
three days a week and he will be in a new class. He will now be in the
class Sam was in and he will have new teachers. Since he is going to be
there all day, he will nap there in the afternoons. Last week Heather took
Jonah shopping to pick out material for making a reversible sleeping bag for
naptime at school. Today Heather and Mark made the sleeping bag. It has
fire engines on one side and sports equipment on the other side and Jonah
loves it. Sam declared that it is the best sleeping bag he has ever seen
and that made Jonah beam.
Instead of the paparazzi, Heather calls me the ‘oma’razzi. I just have to
get photos of those special moments, so tomorrow morning I will drive into
Falmouth to get photos of Sam’s arrival at school and will leave Mark in
Woods Hole to get photos of Jonah when he arrives at school. Mark then
works at West Marine for the day and I’ll spend the day at Heather’s helping
with Oliver while she does some work at home. Tomorrow is supposed to be a
rainier day than today, but hopefully that won’t dampen the spirits on the
first day of school.
by Judy Handley | Sep 3, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 300, Year 7: Labor Day Fun
Date: Monday, September 3, 2012
Weather: Beautiful Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
It was another jam-packed day full of fun. We picked up anchor at Hadley
just after 7 am, leaving immediately and picked up a mooring in Great Harbor
at 7:30. Then we ate breakfast and headed to shore. We met Heather when
she arrived at work and then drove her van back to her house so we could
bring all three kids to Windbird for the day. Our car has only two car
seats, thus the need to use Heather and Jed’s van. We played with the boys
in the backyard for a bit and then returned to Woods Hole, leaving Jed and
his ailing back at home. He threw his back out while in Maine and still has
not fully recovered. We waited for Heather to finish work around 11:30 am
and then piled into the dinghy and back out to Windbird. We packed a picnic
lunch and headed to Devil’s Foot Island for some serious play. Sam and
Jonah found two big boards and devised what they called a diving
springboard. They played for the longest time just walking out the board,
preparing for their dive, and then jumping in the water. Jonah stood on
rocks and pretended to be a statue, Sam took the straw from his juice box
and blew into the sand watching the sand erupt and then used it to blow
bubbles in the water. We had forgotten the sand toys, but the activities
they devised were much more creative. When we got back to Windbird, it was
time for naps. Then Heather returned to work while Sam, Jonah, Oliver, and
I assisted Captain Mark as we brought Windbird back into Eel Pond at the 5
pm opening. Jed took the bus down and had dinner with us. It was a
delightful day and the perfect way to wind down summer. But as Jed reminded
me this evening, we still have three weeks of summer. We’ll try to enjoy
each and every minute of it. Justin and Jo called this evening to let us
know they have booked their flights for coming to visit during the last two
weeks of October. We will be well into fall by that time, but we will hope
for warm, sunny Cape Cod fall days while they are here. We are all so
an
xious to meet Miss Coco and see Ziggy again.
by Judy Handley | Sep 2, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 299, Year 7: Double Header
Date: Sunday, September 2, 2012
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Light ESE Winds
Latitude: 41 30.883 N
Longitude: 070 42.069 W
Location: Hadley Harbor, Naushon Island, Massachusetts
Windbird is happily at anchor in Hadley Harbor tonight after playing a
double header today. Our first ‘game’ was reconnecting Scott and Kelly and
their six year-old twins, Will and Alex, Scott worked with Mark at New
Hampshire Pubic Radio and today they arrived early for a sail to Martha’s
Vineyard. We ate a picnic lunch in Vineyard Haven and then took a bus to
Edgartown. Scott and Kelly honeymooned at the Harborview Inn on the
waterfront in Edgartown fifteen years ago. They hadn’t been back to
Martha’s Vineyard since then, so they had a little walk down memory lane.
When we returned them to shore in Eel Pond, we took off again-this time to
go through the ‘hole’ to Hadley Harbor in Buzzards Bay to meet Susie Klein
and Jim Hammitt for our second ‘game’ of the day. We met Susie in a HAM
radio class before taking off in 2005 for our trip around the world and Jim
and Susie’s sail from Boston to the Azores and on to the Mediterranean. It
was just fantastic to catch up with both couples. It would have been great
to have more time with both, but we will just have to get together again
soon. I’d love to write more about today, but it is very late and we have
to get up to get through the ‘hole’ before 8 am in the morning. So I’ll
sign off for tonight with promises of adding more detail in tomorrow’s log.
by Judy Handley | Sep 1, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 298, Year 7: Yard Sale Day
Date: Saturday, September 1, 2012
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Cooler
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Heather was on a roll today. By the time Mark and I arrived around 8:30 am,
the yard sale was already in full swing. Heather and Jed had everything out
on the lawn and people were starting to trickle by. Heather’s goal today
was to get rid of stuff. If she made any money doing that, then fine, but
anything that didn’t sell was going to the Swap Shop at the dump by day’s
end anyway. She didn’t make a huge amount of money, but she doubled her
goal and feels much the richer for just getting rid of unwanted ‘stuff.’ I
spent my day taking care of Oliver while Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah ran
the yard sale. Oliver is congested again and obviously just doesn’t feel
quite right, but he is still full of smiles and giggles. He was up every
two hours during the night and I held him most of the day today to keep him
happy. Heather is exhausted and needs some sleep but as long as he is
congested I don’t think she is going to get it. In fact, I don’t think she
has had an uninterrupted night’s sleep since Sam was born. I don’t know how
she keeps going. Tomorrow is a busy sailing day for us and then on Monday
we are planning on having Heather, Jed, and boys onboard for some
end-of-summer fun. On Tuesday, it is time to get Sam and Jonah ready to go
back to school. Maybe on Wednesday, once Mark and Jed have gone to work and
Sam and Jonah are off to school, Heather can get some sleep while I take
care of Oliver. That would be a worthwhile goal.
