Cape Cod

In July, we took a trip to Cape Cod.  I've already blogged about the first part of that trip, which was a quick stop in Boston and a visit to Boston's Children's Museum.  After leaving the city, we made the drive out to Cape Cod.  Neither Sachin nor I had ever been there before, but we had read that it was laid back and family-oriented, which is just the kind of vacation we were looking for.  We also already knew from a previous trip to Florida that Lochlan loves the beach.  Part of our life with Lochlan is trying to follow his lead, so his passion for the beach made this a good destination choice for us.

**If you click on any photo, it will open up a clearer image.  At least it does on my phone.

Our rental home for the week was in West Harwich.  A couple of years ago, we started doing rentals for vacations and I don't know how we can ever go back to hotels.  I love the space that rental homes offer.  This one was super cute. 

 I fell in love with coastal decor while in Cape Cod.

I had been nervous to see on Google Maps that our rental house was a 2 min drive from two different cemeteries, but it turns out that it wasn't a big deal because, as we came to find out, Cape Cod is FULL of cemeteries and you are hardly ever more than a few minutes drive from one!

I should have taken notes on our trip to blog it accurately.  I'll try to reconstruct the trip as best I can.

On our first day, we went to the ZooQuarium, which, shockingly, is a combination of a zoo and an aquarium.  It was pretty hot and humid, so none of us really enjoyed it all that much.  The best part was the restaurant next door, Captain Parker's Pub.  It had some amazing clam chowder. 

Then we went to a beach.  I confess, I have my beaches jumbled in my head but I am pretty sure the one we went to that day was Corporation Beach.  We found that by hitting beaches later in the day, we avoided having to pay heavy parking fees.  
Lochlan wasn't sure about the water at first, but once he got used to it, we couldn't get him OUT of the water.  He kept taking our hands and pulling us back toward the ocean.  

 The next day, we drove up the Atlantic coast and explored a little bit of the Cape Cod National Seashore.  We stopped at Highland Light, at which point Lochlan fell asleep.  

Next, we went to Skaket Beach.  We had heard that it had shallow, warm water and that it was a great beach for young children.  It lived up to its reputation!  We were there during low tide and you could walk out pretty far.  It was also an amazing place to watch the sunset!!
The downside to Skaket Beach was that come sunset, we were eaten alive by no-see-ums or midges or sand fleas or whatever you want to call them.  Mosquitoes have always loved me but these were not ordinary mosquitoes!  Sachin and I were both covered in welts all over our bodies the next day.  I think I counted 25 on my arms alone!  They were agonizingly painful and itchy and lasted for a couple of weeks.  Thankfully, they spared Lochlan and devoured us instead. 
Here are some more images from Skaket Beach.

 Another day, we made a quick stop at the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory and then headed to Mashpee to visit the Cape Cod Children's Museum.  Due to traffic, we got to the museum about 45 minutes before they closed, which was a bummer, because we would have loved to stay longer.  This museum was just awesome!  For a small simple place, it was so well thought out.  Everywhere I turned, I discovered more fun activities for kids (and some for adults too!)  You could easily spend hours there.  Except for the fact that there was no A/C on.  We were sweating buckets.  But it was still a great place to visit!

After we left the museum, we went to see Nobska Point Lighthouse in Woods Hole.  (Lochlan fell asleep again.  He seemed to do a good job of avoiding lighthouses!)

We spent the evening in Falmouth where we strolled around Main Street and shopped a bit, and then had a delicious dinner at an Indian restaurant.

Another day, we went to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.  It's basically a nice nature preserve with trails and educational exhibits.  We went there in the morning but the humidity got the better of us quickly so we walked one trail and then escaped to our car where the A/C was a sweet relief.

Later, we headed to Mayflower Beach, which was crowded but fun.  The water was shallow, warm, and crystal clear.  Lochlan enjoyed more beach time.  I tried to get him to use the shovels we brought, but he wasn't interested.  He just liked to wade in the water and sit down, poking his fingers into the wet sand as the waves came in and out.

Later that evening, we went into Chatham and took a walk on the beach there before dinner.

On our last day in Cape Cod, we decided to take a break from the beach and go to a pond instead.  Cape Cod is full of ponds and I heard they are popular spots to hit in the summertime.  I think the one we went to was Long Pond, but I could be making that up.  It was just lovely there, very idyllic.

Cape Cod is a great family vacation destination.  It definitely involved a lot of daily planning and decision-making, so that aspect made it more complicated than, say, going to a resort.  But it felt very authentic and the place definitely has its own kind of charm.  I hope that we head back there one day in the future!

Getting Artsy

I am still trying to catch up on summer posts.  Hopefully, I'll be done before Thanksgiving. Argh.  But here is one coming at you, chock full of photos!

This summer, Lochlan and I participated in a parent-toddler art class at the Perot Museum of Science in Dallas.  The museum is about a 45 minute drive from our house, but I wanted to do some mommy-son activities with him while I was home in the summer SO I committed us to eight weeks of Monday morning art classes.
The children in the class ranged in age from one to almost three years old and the class was comprised mostly of girls.  There was only one other boy besides Lochlan.  I wonder why this was the case.... do mothers already decide that art is too "girly" for their sons at such a young age?  That would be a disappointing conclusion to draw about gender stereotyping.

I have so much to say about our experience at art class that it's hard to know where to start.  Here's an overview of the structure: Each class began with circle time where we sang a welcome song that greeted each student by name.  Then the museum instructor explained the day's art project to us.  The course had a food theme to it, so all the projects we created were centered around the concept of desserts or sweet treats.  After the circle time, we would proceed to gathering our materials and working on the art. Class concluded with a parachute song and some musical instrument/song time.

Sometimes I think I must have been on drugs when I signed us up for this class.  Did I really think I'd be able to corral Lochlan and get him to participate in such a normal setting?  Our first art class together was a huge wakeup call to the challenges I'd be up against. 
Well, for starters, circle time was NOT his thing.  Lochlan loves to be mobile, so it took every ounce of strength I had to keep him in my lap.  I was actually sore throughout my body the next day!  I noticed the other mothers looking at my subtle attempts to wrestle him back down each week.  I got wise after awhile and started giving him my cell phone to look at so he would be more likely to stay put. 

The art projects themselves were hit and miss with him.  He didn't mind getting his hands messy, so that was a plus.  I'm glad he doesn't have extreme sensory issues.  He was actually rather intrigued by the different materials we used, such as paint, puffy glue paint, shaving cream, etc.  Sometimes he stayed in his chair, others times he would make a break for the door if I wasn't watching him like a hawk. 

Getting to him to use the materials as intended was difficult.  I did a lot of hand-over-hand with him.  Probably the most discouraging thing was his tendency to eat paint if I turned my head for even a second!  One time, I looked at him and to my horror, saw that he had stuffed a paintbrush loaded with gobs of thick paint into his mouth.  There was seriously red paint oozing out of his lips.  To the sink we sped, to wash his mouth out.  

Another time, he got mad that I took his paintbrush from him before he could eat it.  So what did he bite instead? Mommy's hand!  Sigh.  He RARELY bites but boy, that one was a doozy. 

And in general, I left every art class sweaty and completely covered in paint from all the wrangling I did with Lochlan.

Ok, but the positives are we made a few cute art projects.  

 Oh and parachute/music time.  Lochlan LOVES parachutes.  He always started beaming as soon as the parachute came out. He liked to mess around with the musical instruments as well.

I guess, overall, I am just proud that I attempted and survived this art class. I felt like a mommy warrior each week.  And I'm glad I got some quality time with my little guy. He looked REALLY cute in his smock.  :)

P.S. The Perot Museum has the best sweet potato fries EVER.  

Boston Children's Museum

I am doing some of my posts out of order but I am trying to catch up on some of our summer activities before we head further into fall!

In mid-July, we took a trip to Massachusetts.  The flight was about 3.5 hours from DFW to Boston, which made it Lochlan's longest flight to date.  We flew JetBlue, which was so wonderful.  (I wish they would expand their offerings from DFW!) I had been worried about whether Lochlan would fuss on the flight but he did pretty well.  We had lots of snacks, books, little toys (if you are ever taking a toddler on a plane, definitely bring a mini-slinky!) and of course, our iPad.  Lochlan's favorite app is called Paint Sparkles and it will settle him down anytime he is rowdy!

We spent the first day of our trip in Boston itself, before heading out to Cape Cod.  While in Boston, we met up with one of my college roommates, Marie, her husband Dan, and their two-year-old daughter Rita.  Marie and I haven't gotten to see each other a whole lot since graduating Vassar, so it is always good when we can catch up.  She and Dan were actually finishing a week in Cape Cod themselves and we were happy that our trips to MA overlapped by a day!

We decided to take the kiddos to Boston Children's Museum.  I LOVE children's museums in general so this was an easy choice.  The museum has a unique layout and each floor is packed with activities that will appeal to kids of different ages.  Our toddlers were pretty interested in the bubble making section where they got very soapy!  We also took them to another floor that had a special area for kids under three.  There were slides, cars, bead mazes, play kitchens, and lots of other fun things for toddlers.  Lochlan seemed kind of oblivious of Rita but he was excited to run around and explore the museum.  

We will definitely return to this museum again on future trips to MA!