Day 251, Year 7: Monday with the Grandkids
Date: Monday, July 16, 2012
Weather: Sunny and Hot
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Monday is the day that Heather hosts her morning call-in program and then
tries juggle time at work with time with Oliver. Jed stays at home with
Oliver in the morning and then brings him to Woods Hole around 11 am.
Heather’s program is over by that time, so she can take a break and nurse
the baby. Then today I took over by taking Oliver on an hour long stroll
through Woods Hole. He was sleeping, so I made a stop at the Bell Tower
gardens. It was shady and cool and I sat and watched Oliver sleep. Then
the bells starting tolling to let us know it was high noon. The bells sound
delightful when we are on the boat, but not so when you are sitting
directing under the tower. That woke him up in a hurry and we left as fast
as we could. It only took seconds for him to get back to sleep and we then
continued our tour. When it was time for me to go into Falmouth to pick Sam
and Jonah up from school, Mark rowed to shore in his new kayak and took over
with Oliver. When Oliver woke up he was hungry, so Mark called Heather and
she walked down the hill to nurse him. When I returned with Sam and Jonah,
we all headed out to Windbird. Sam and Jonah went down for naps and Heather
continued to work on the computer while holding a sleeping Oliver. I tried
to relieve her, but it seemed that every time I took him, he woke up and
starting crying for momma. So Heather didn’t get as much work done as she
had hoped, but we all had a good time. When Sam and Jonah got up, we
inflated the little pool we bought when Sam came to visit us in Thailand in
2009. We filled the new solar shower and let the boys go at it with water
play. It seemed the only way to survive on this very hot day. Jed joined
us for dinner before heading out to an evening meeting, but the rest of us
continued the fun into the evening. Mark took Sam out for a dinghy explore
while Jonah played in the pool and then I took both Sam and Jonah out in the
dinghy and we had a great time. They helped me fill the water jerry cans at
the dock, and they really were a big help. Sam controlled the water flow
and Jonah brought the hose out to the dinghy and then returned it and coiled
it on the dock when we were done. All I had to do was stay in the dinghy
and fill the cans.

We’ll have to stay close to home tomorrow as we have no car. I drove the
car into town this morning to the garage for repairs. We have a leaky oil
pan gasket and there is some sort of leak in the power steering system. We
thought we’d have the car back today, but they just didn’t get to it. So
hopefully the repairs will be made and we’ll have wheels again by late
afternoon tomorrow. This morning I rode the trolley back to Woods Hole
after delivering the car to the garage and that will have to be our mode of
transportation until we have the car back again. In the summer, the trolley
runs from Woods Hole to Falmouth every half hour and it only costs $1.00 for
seniors.