Day 46, Year 11: Another Successful Day
Date: Monday, December 7, 2015
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Still Warm for December
Location: At Home with the Goldpebbles in East Falmouth, MA

We are holding our breath waiting for the ‘crash’, but so far so good with the boys. We had another incredibly successful day. We got the lunches packed and the boys all off to school without so much as a complaint. Whew! Sure hope every morning goes as smoothly.

This morning Mark took my old computer that crashed on the trip here from Myrtle Beach to Hyannis to a different computer repair place just to get a second opinion. And this afternoon we got a call saying the only problem was one of the two memory slots (and cards), not a crashed hard-drive and blown mother board as we were told when we took it into the repair shop here in Falmouth. The good news is that we should have the computer back in a day or so. The computer had 6 rams of memory in two slots, one with 4 rams and one with 2. The blown slot is the one with 2, so the computer will never be able to have the same memory capacity, but it will be usable. And all the data will be recovered. That was very welcome news. I drove Ollie to Woods Hole to school and shopped my way home buying more groceries and a few items for those crafts projects we’ll probably not get done. By the time I got everything I bought put away, ate lunch, and prepped the taco dinner for tonight, it was time to go back to pick Ollie up. I had to leave a little early to try to find Chanukah candles. We had enough candles to light the Menorah last night, but that was it. Of course it was the last place I checked that had the candles, so we are now set. Tonight when we started to light the candles Sam announced that we had not said the prayers last night. We have no idea what those are, so he suggested that we look it up on the computer. Then he started saying the prayers from memory, so no computer necessary! He has been working very hard at being a model big brother in his parents’ absence and I know they will be very proud of him when they read this. Jonah’s ear infection got instantly better with the antibiotic and he is also working hard at being a good brother. King Ollie is being a little demanding, so I’m just hoping that he’s not spoiled to death by the time Heather and Jed return. I tend to give into his demands just to keep the peace, even though I know I shouldn’t. On the other hand, I can tell he misses mommy in a different way from the older boys, so I don’t want to come down too hard on him. Or maybe that’s just how a grandmother rationalizes less than perfect behavior from an incredibly adorable three year-old grandchild.

Tomorrow is a short school day for Sam and Jonah. It is an early release day when the students are sent home so teachers can have the afternoon for professional development. We have no grand plans for the afternoon other than balancing play with projects. Some of the projects are Christmas-related and others are school-related. Jonah has a book report due and Sam has a school craft fair project and a science project due next week. We have had incredibly warm, sunny weather for this time of year in New England, but the forecast is for cooler weather with the possibility of rain tomorrow. So having lots to do inside sounds like a good plan.

Day 45, Year 11: Christmas Parade
Date: Sunday, December 6, 2015
Weather: Sunny, High in the 50’s F, Low in the 40’s
Location: At Home with the Goldpebbles in East Falmouth, MA

Today was filled with the Christmas parade. Ollie and I dropped Mark, Sam, and Jonah off at 10:30 am to meet up with the Cub Scouts who would be marching in the parade. The parade wasn’t slated to start until noon, but participants had to be there early. Scouts Jonah’s age needed an adult to march with them, so Mark took that on. I thought Ollie and I would have time to go to the grocery store and go home to put things away before heading downtown, but I had forgotten that shopping with a three year-old takes three times as long as shopping alone. So we bought the food and just left it in the van while we watched the two-hour long parade. After the parade we had lunch before heading home. We hadn’t been home long before Heather called and we did a quick Skype video call so the boys could say hello to momma. It was 9:30 pm in Paris and she was exhausted. So got almost no sleep on the flight over and it was morning when she got there, so there was no time to sleep. So she was turning in early tonight. After talking to Heather, the boys continued playing outside and I started prepping dinner. I’m not sure where the time went, but before we knew it, the day was over. I had all sorts of grand plans for doing holiday baking and crafts projects with the boys this week, but I must have been hallucinating. It is all you can do to just get the basics done in a day with three boys!

151206 Day 45 Cape Cod, USA–Christmas Parade

Day 44, Year 11: Big Weekend for Santa
Date: Saturday, December 5, 2015
Weather: Sunny, High 50 degrees F, Low in the 30’s
Location: At Home with the Goldpebbles in East Falmouth, MA

Our day started by greeting Santa Claus on the dock in Falmouth Harbor. Each year he comes to town by boat and spends the weekend here. We saw him again tonight when we went downtown for the lighting of the Green. And tomorrow we will see him again in the Christmas parade. It is a big weekend for Santa in Falmouth making it a big holiday weekend for little boys. Sam has outgrown the need to sit on Santa’s lap, but Ollie and Jonah are believers and they sat with Santa this morning and told him what they want for Christmas. I loved Jonah’s simple wish. He just wants surprises for Christmas.

Heather and Jed left today at 4:30 pm headed for Logan Airport. Heather flew out at 8:10 pm headed to the Climate Conference in Paris. Jed saw her off and then boarded his plane headed to England, and then later in the week to Paris, for meetings with various collaborators. It is the first time that both parents have been away from the boys and it will be the longest that Heather has ever been away from her boys. But our hope is the entire week goes as well as this first evening. The boys played outside with Molly and Joey from next door until dark while Granddad worked on getting the lights on the big evergreen in the front yard working. I then invited them all in to watch some of George Balanchine’s production of Tschaikovsky’s ballet ‘The Nutcracker.’ I wasn’t sure just how a ballet would go over with the boys, but they really seemed to enjoy it. Sam thought some of the scenes were just too long, but he stuck with it. Molly and Joey stayed for part of it and I had to promise Molly that she can watch the whole video sometime this week. She loved it. Our three boys all agreed that they loved the music more than watching the ballet, but Jonah and Ollie wanted to know when they could finish watching it. So I think it was a success. We stopped to eat dinner and everyone ate quickly and quietly. That might be a first. We had spaghetti and meatballs and things went so smoothly that Mark suggested that we eat that for dinner every night! Then we were off for the lighting of the Green at 7 pm. The boys were incredibly good about staying right with us. Even with the lighting of the ‘tree’ and other Christmas displays, the Green was very dark and crowded with wall to wall people. We made our way right up to where the brass band was playing Christmas carols and sang along for quite some time. Then we walked over to see the nativity scene (Jonah’s request) and on to the train that children can board. The boys waited patiently to get their turn to board and then Ollie insisted that we go see the Santa’s sleigh display. He is fascinated by Rudolph and just wanted to stand close to him. We left just as the brass band stopped playing carols and headed home for the night. The boys had a bedtime snack of Christmas-shaped sugar cookies that we made today along with some Jello. The Jello was something they normally do not have, but Jonah woke up with an ear infection this morning and had to go to the doctor in the middle of this busy day. He is now on an antibiotic had no complaints at bedtime. Anyway, the Jello was Heather’s concession to his want for something special for going to the doctor. Sam wanted to eat the bedtime snack on a picnic blanket in front of the fire in the living room. All three boys really enjoyed the roaring fire that Granddad had built before we left for the lighting of the Green. We then read and all three boys went to bed. I could tell that Ollie and Sam were missing mommy and daddy, but only Jonah mentioned to me that he really, really misses mommy. But as part of our reading, we sang Christmas carols from Raffi’s ‘Christmas Book’, and that, plus reading ‘The Polar Express’, seemed to distract him enough to make things just fine. Ollie requested that I lay down with him and sing ‘Baby Boy’ and the Shaker song that Mark and I always sang to Heather and Justin, ‘Tis a Gift to Be Simple.’ Jonah suggested that I sing ‘Baby Boy’ (a song Heather made-up when Jonah was a baby) and that he sing ‘Tis a Gift.’ He sang it beautifully and all three boys went right to sleep leaving me with a tear and smile. Like I said earlier, sure hope the rest of the week goes this smoothly here and that Heather and Jed get some time away from work to enjoy Paris together later in the week. As Melissa from next door said this evening, “It doesn’t get any more romantic than Paris at Christmas.”

151205 Day 44 Cape Cod, USA–Santa Claus Comes to Falmouth

Day 43, Year 11: Holidays by the Sea in Falmouth
Date: Friday, December 4, 2015
Weather: Partly Sunny, High in the 40’s F, Low in the 30’s
Location: At Home with the Goldstones in East Falmouth, MA

We arrived back in Falmouth just in time for the beginning of Holidays by the Sea activities. Tonight was the beginning with Christmas caroling at the Nobska Lighthouse.

151204 Day 43 Cape Cod, USA–Nobska Light Decorated for Christmas

Tomorrow Santa arrives by boat in the harbor and tomorrow night is the lighting of the downtown Green. On Sunday Falmouth hosts a huge Christmas parade and this year Sam and Jonah will be in the parade with their Scout troop. Then on Sunday night we light the first candle to signify the beginning of Hanukkah. Heather and Jed leave late tomorrow afternoon and, of course, the boys will miss them. But we have enough things going on between now and next weekend to keep them from thinking too much about mommy and daddy.

Day 42, Year 11: Aguada, Puerto Rico to Cape Cod
Date: Thursday, December 3, 2015
Weather: Warm in Puerto Rico to Cool in Massachusetts
Location: Back at Home with the Goldstones in East Falmouth, MA

We were up early and on our way to San Juan by 8 am. It takes about two and half hours with traffic so we had the taxi pick us up at 8 am. Our flight wasn’t until 12:20 pm, so we made it with plenty of time to spare. It was hard saying goodbye to Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. We only get to see them about once a year and that’s just not enough for Oma and Granddad. We are just going to have to talk to them via Skype video more often. Both Ziggy and Coco are growing up so quickly and it was wonderful to have a few days to just hang out and get to know them better. We now know just how much Ziggy loves to build with Legos and we know for certain that Coco is a fairy princess. This morning she disappeared from the breakfast table and came back in her gold glittery tights and her fancy pink dress with gold threads woven into the tulle fabric. We are certainly going to miss those little munchkins.

151203 Day 42 Puerto Rico–Early Morning Farewells in PR, Arrival on Cape Cod

After the two and half hour cab ride and an hour and a half wait at the airport, we took off on the four-hour plane trip home. On this end we had an hour wait for a bus from the airport to the Cape and then a two-and-a-half-hour bus ride. So finally at 7 pm, we arrived in Falmouth. Heather, Jonah, and Ollie came to pick us up and finally we were home. Sam and Jed got home after we did and it was wonderful to be reunited with all three Goldpebbles. I sure wish I could be near all five grandchildren all the time, but since I can’t I will just enjoy those I have near me at the moment.

Day 41, Year 11: Last Day in Aguada
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Weather: Partly Sunny with Afternoon Showers, High in the 80’s F
Location: At Home with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, Aguada, Puerto Rico

Today was our last day in Aguada with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco and we spent the day building with Legos. Mark and I ordered a pre-Christmas gift for the kids and it arrived this morning. This Christmas Lego set is really for older children, but with the help of Oma, Granddad, and Daddy, we had the entire set built by bedtime. The set includes Santa, Mrs. Claus, four adorable elves, Santa’s workshop, Santa’s sleigh with reindeer, and a toy making machine complete with little Lego toys. It was loads of fun to build and I think it got us all into the holiday spirit. Ziggy kept us on track as he was certain he could get it all built in one day. But we did take a break around 4 pm to go down to Table Rock for a little snorkel. The big waves started settling down yesterday and today the ocean was fairly calm for the first time since we’ve been here. It was very hot and humid today, so a dip in the ocean was the perfect thing. We came back and Justin worked with Ziggy on Santa’s workshop while the rest of us got ready to go out to dinner. We went to Rincon to a restaurant called Cowboys. It is a great place for kids and the food was very good. It comes complete with Country & Western music and sometimes a real rodeo. Tonight the rodeo arena was empty except for the puddles of water. So Coco and Ziggy did their own version of a rodeo by running through the puddles.

We sure are going to miss Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. Visits are always too short, but we’ve had a lovely time and made lots of memories. We leave here at 8 am in the morning and head to the airport in San Juan. By tomorrow evening we will be back home in Falmouth. I wonder what the temperature is like there? One thing is for sure. It is not in the 80’s!

151202 Day 41 Puerto Rico–Last Day in Aguada

Day 40, Year 11: La Parguera
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Weather: Partly Sunny with Late Afternoon Rain, High in the 80’s F
Location: At Home with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, Aguada, Puerto Rico

Today we drove to the southern coast of Puerto Rico to the town of La Parguera. To get there we drove through Mayaguez and San Germán. San Germán was founded in the 1500’s and as you drive through it you can’t help but be impressed by its beauty. Every building was freshly painted. We’d love to return there someday and explore. But today we needed to travel on. After San Germán, we climbed into and out of the mountains, through an agricultural area with what looked like rice fields, and then into an area with very large farms. When we reached La Parguera it was not evident that we were on the waterfront. It’s almost as if the town was built to hide the water. If you looked really hard you could see some boats, but thankfully Jo had been here before and knew just where we should go to rent a boat. But first things first. The town looked almost deserted with most shops and restaurants not open, but we found a delightful little place for lunch. The food was delicious and just want we needed before heading out for our snorkeling adventure. After lunch we went to the place Jo suggested for renting a small motor boat and away we went. This area is mangrove country, so no little islets with white sand beaches. Rather it is a shallow bay with many mangrove islets. We stopped at two different locations for snorkeling. The water was not crystal clear but it was warm and clear enough for us to enjoy the afternoon. Ziggy and I found one place in the mangroves where there were hundreds of baby French Grunts and one lone baby One Spot Butterflyfish. We saw Damselfish, Doctorfish, Bar Jacks, lots of French Grunts, baby Barracuda, and Granddad even spotted a small reef shark. But Mark’s special find of the day was a flounder that he followed and photographed with his GoPro. Justin, Jo, and Ziggy found a sea star that we all enjoyed observing and then Justin, Ziggy, and I snorkeled among the mangroves and found a small group of birds I had never seen before. They were small black, brown, and white birds with very orange legs. They looked a bit like very fat Sandpipers. But when I looked them up this evening, I think we were observing Ruddy Turnstones. These birds breed in the Arctic and winter in the south. The water was warm, the sun was shining, making for a great afternoon. It did rain on the way home, but it stopped just before we got here. All in all, it was a lovely afternoon.

Jo had put a buffalo roast in the slow cooker before we left this morning, so we had a yummy dinner waiting for us. Justin and Granddad went out to get a breadfruit to add to the dinner. You just peel the bread fruit and cut it into small pieces to boil. It is just like eating boiled potatoes. We had a great dinner to end a great day. Tomorrow is our last day here and we will spend time here at home playing with Ziggy and Coco.

151201 Day 40 Puerto Rico–La Parguera

Day 39, Year 11: Playing with Lego Man and the Fairy Princess
Date: Monday, November 30, 2015
Weather: Partly Sunny with Afternoon Showers, High in the low-80’s F
Location: At Home with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, Aguada, Puerto Rico

Playing with Ziggy and Coco is very different from playing with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. The Goldpebbles are all boys and even with the difference in age, they basically all like to play the same thing. Playing with a 6 year-old boy and a 3 year-old girl is quite different. Ziggy is all boy and loves to do the things I am used to doing with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. Coco is ALL girl and firmly believes she is a fairy princess (pronounced with an English accent). She wants to play dollies and go on excursions to Africa and or on shopping trips to London. She packs her bags, changes her outfit to match the trip, and off we go. Today we flew to Africa, did some science experiments, shopped in London, built with Legos, played dollies, and watched movies. I love this last one. Coco opens a book and sets it in front of us. We stare at the book and that is watching a movie. Quite an imagination. In the late afternoon after Justin finished his work, we walked to the beach. I pushed the stroller full of dollies and Justin and Ziggy carried the surfboard. They rode waves while I took photos and Coco played dollies on the beach.

151130 Day 39 Puerto Rico–Fun on the Beach

Tomorrow we are headed to the south coast of Puerto Rico to La Paguera. Since rain is forecast we will adjust our activities to the weather. The hope is to either rent a Hobie and explore the bay or go snorkeling or both. But no matter what we end up doing, Mark and I are just excited to explore a new area.

Day 38, Year 11: Day in Rincon
Date: Sunday, November 29, 2015
Weather: Overcast with Sprinkles, High in the low-80’s F
Location: At Home with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, Aguada, Puerto Rico

Today we drove to Rincon to go to the morning Farmers Market and then to one of the many surfing beaches in town. We enjoyed the Farmers Market and had lunch in town before heading to the beach. Even though it was sprinkling rain, we were determined to go to Domes Beach. Rincon became famous as a surfing location when it hosted the 1968 World Surfing Championships and Domes was one of the main sites in the competition. Surfers have flocked there ever since . . . today being no exception. Domes Beach is framed at one end by the Rincon Lighthouse and on the other end by a massive nuclear reactor dome that sits right on the edge of the beach. It was built in the 1960’s by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission but thankfully has long since been decommissioned with all the nuclear waste removed. We walked to the Lighthouse end of the beach so Ziggy could play in the caves in the rocks and then we walked to the end of the beach with the dome so that Justin do a little surfing. Then we drove back to the Lighthouse and enjoyed the views looking down on all the surfers. At the right time of year you can also observe whales from the point extending out from the Lighthouse, but today all we saw were surfers. I said they looked like little penguins out in the water, but I think Ziggy’s description of them as a flock of pigeons was more accurate.

We had sprinkles off and on all afternoon and it looks like we are going to rain all week. But we are not going to let the weather stop our explorations. Tomorrow we will spend the day at home to let Justin and Mark get a little work done. And I’m hoping to have a little time to post some photos. Then on Tuesday we are going to drive down to the south coast. We are really looking forward to seeing that area as it where you would anchor if you sailed down the ‘prickly path’ from the Bahamas to the Dominican Republic and down the west coast of Puerto Rico. Since the entire west coast is surfer country, you really need to head to the south coast for a calm place to anchor. We’re not anticipating that we will sail here this season, but we love checking out the possibilities ‘just in case.’

151129 Day 38 Puerto Rico–Rincon Sunday Market and Dome Beach

Day 37, Year 11: Hangin’ Out with Ziggy and Coco
Date: Saturday, November 28, 2015
Weather: Overcast, High in the low-80’s F
Location: At Home with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, Aguada, Puerto Rico

It was another laid-back day just hangin’ out with Ziggy and Coco, but our morning got off to a sad start. Justin came over about 7:30 with Coco and asked if I could play with her for a bit. Of course, I said yes and I didn’t ask any questions. Since Mark was not up yet, I suggested to Coco that we go out to the hammock to read. So we gathered some books and headed out. After reading a book or two, we heard a commotion and saw big birds flying up in the air. We saw that the dogs were up near the chicken and guinea fowl/quail cages and headed that way. Jo and Ziggy were there and we saw that they were trying to get the escaped guinea fowl back into their cage. I figured it was best to just take Coco back to the hammock and continue reading and shortly after I did, Ziggy came over crying saying that the dogs had broken into the cage. The guinea fowl escaped, but they had already found two dead quail. One of them was Ziggy’s pet and he was devastated. He said that the only live quail they had seen was Coco’s and she immediately told Ziggy that she would share with him. That helped a little, but Ziggy was not a happy little boy. We did a quail watch off and on all day, but in the end, we only found and captured the one live quail (Coco’s). The guinea fowl went back into their cage, so they are now safe. The culprits were Yaya and her two pups, Jemma and Barney. Justin and Jo lost five laying hens to these dogs while they were away in England and have now lost their quail who just started laying eggs. A couple of days ago Jo ordered shock collars to train the dogs not to attack the birds. Hopefully they will arrive soon and the training can begin before we lose any more.

Otherwise, we played Legos, worked puzzles, and played games. Mark and I drove into town this morning to pick-up a few things. While we were gone, Jo helped Ziggy and Coco get the tree branch Christmas tree decorated and it looks great. Everyone here in Puerto Rico shifts into gear for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. So now the plaza downtown is decked out in Christmas lights as well. Tomorrow morning we will go to the Sunday morning Farmer’s Market in Rincon and check out the decorations in the plaza there.

151128 Day 37 Puerto Rico–Xmas Tree and Aguada Plaza