Cloudy Day Fun!

Today didn't have the best weather forecast, so we decided (especially after having such a good time last night!) that we would head back to the aquarium.

There was a small scavenger hunt set up...

Just so you get a sense that this isn't not a big place by any stretch of the imagination!

This big guy is about 90 years old!  Crazy!  We see him every year :)

This is like what we saw last night on our marine ecology field trip.  How cool is that?

I like to get in on the action too!  As long as it is just a spider crab I'm holding...they don't really pinch too much.

C loves the touch tank!  He is holding a knobbed whelk.  We often find these on the beach ourselves.

J holding a spider crab.  Just a tad bigger than the one I was holding ;)

C spent a lot of time trying to catch this little fish.  Success!

These guys are really just so ugly!

After our time at the aquarium (we were actually there for over an hour!)  We walked down the street to one of the boys favorite shops on the island...

J loves to surf, and C is a great boogie boarder, but this is the real reason they love this place so much!

The Secret Candy Room in the way back of the store!

They were each given $1.50 and left with a few little treats for the day!

Night time Marine Ecology Field Trip!

After a day when I had just absolutely had it with my kids we headed out for a 9:00PM field trip to look at marine life. Just so we are clear, the boys are usually in bed between 8:30 and 9:00.  I think perhaps I am a wee bit crazy!  I was second guessing myself, but the boys were so excited to be off adventuring in the dark :)  They even apologized to each other for not being nice all day.  So, off to a good start!
I tried my best to document the outing, but only had my phone with me.  I was afraid I'd drop my good camera in the water!  Please excuse the poor quality of the photos.

 The boys on the back deck ready to head out!

Looking over the dock at squid and fish.  I never knew that squid came out to feed at night.  Did you?

Two interns at the aquarium dragged a huge net out in the harbor and when they brought it ashore, we were to go through all the muck to find animals.

 C found this giant crab.

J found a flounder, a pipe fish, and many small crabs.  An eel was also found.

Here is C looking at all the collected specimens.

After we went through the net, looked at everything and released it, we walked to the end of the dock and looked at the Comb Jellies at night.  SO SO cool.  We got to see the bioluminescence!  That was pretty amazing.  I wish I had pictures, but not only did I think they wouldn't turn out right, I was scared to death that C was going to fall right in the water!

We got home around 10, called Hubby to tell him all about it, and then the boys went right off to bed. It was a really long day, but the boys had a great time.  Poor C is missing his Daddy, who hopefully will be able to catch a flight over Friday night. (fingers crossed!)

(just had to add that the boys are NOT wearing lights around their necks (although that would have been a good idea) the flash is just reflecting the reflector fabric Patagonia puts on those pull overs!)  :)

Drip castles, meet up with friends and golf

We had a great day at the beach today. We were able to meet up with Preppy Sue (a friend I met blogging years ago) and her family.  Her kids R and R are right around the same age as J and C, so it was great to have them to play with:)  And it was nice for this momma to have some chatting time on the beach as well!  And I think my boys were going to kill each other if they had just had each other to play with today.  Sigh.  One of those days....

Anyway, the beach was great!  The surf was very calm today (as you can see in the picture) so the boys had no interest in boogie boarding.  The kids all decided that they were going to build a village out of drip castles.  Yippee!

There is a castle, a village, a blacksmith shop, a wealthy town and some barracks.

This is a house from the wealthy town :)

And this is the castle. And maybe some of the barracks.  Not really sure...I thought this picture was pretty cool though ;)

Another great beach day on Nantucket :)

After getting back from the beach, we headed to the golf course for J's golf lesson:

C brought his clubs along, and hit balls, but didn't want to take a lesson today.  Next week ;)

And yes, I have a righty and a lefty.  Too bad they don't both play the same way.  Now I can't pass they clubs down!

 Tonight we are going on a Night time Marine Ecology Field Trip through the Maria Mitchell Association. (If you ever come to Nantucket with kids, you MUST do at least one field trip with them, they are fabulous!!)Yay!  More to post about tomorrow :)

Nantucket Life Saving Museum

A few days ago C realized we hadn't made our annual visit to the Lifesaving Museum yet.  Well, today we awoke (quite suddenly!) to a very intense and LOUD thunder storm, which passed quickly over the island, but left some lingering clouds.  A perfect day to go on an indoor adventure!  Off we headed :)

As you can see, by the time we arrived the sun was out and blue skies were overhead!

The boys enjoyed reading about the first life saving boats.  Due to the shoals around Nantucket, many ships wrecked off the coast.  

C is pointing to the Breeches Buoy.  This was used when a ship wrecked close to shore.  One would be hoisted down from the ship to shore in this contraption via a pulley system.  Yikes!

This is Marshall!  Both boys requested that he come home with us for their rooms. :)

Once outside the museum, we found a path that we hadn't seen before.  It lead up to a new picnic area. C wants to go back and have a picnic before we leave.

This is the view from the new picnic area.  I'd say I have to agree with C!  It's a great place for a picnic!

Summer Fun!

We are having a wonderful time on Nantucket!  The boys and I arrived June 25 and leave a week from Friday to meet hubby in Provincetown at the end of the PanMass Challenge. (a 200 mile bike ride that raises money for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute find out more here!)

We are thankful to have had hubby here for weekends, as well as a ten day stretch where he was actually on vacation!  So much fun! :)

We have been spending many days at the beach and enjoying the company of our "summer" friends.

While we have had (and are having) a great time, I am getting excited to start some projects when we return home.  And I am excited to see the boys bathroom, which we have been having redone while we are here.

I deemed last year to be the "year of me" (as unselfishly as possible when calling it that!!) and I lost 35 lbs.  Working to discern a theme for this year.  I usually am able to come up with a theme while sitting on the beach.  I still have almost two weeks left...but am open to any suggestions ;)

It's certainly been forever since I posted, but hopefully it will be a more frequent event!

New blog!

Hi there everyone (if I even still have any followers left!!)  I have a new blog going (and do hope to get this one going again too)

I hope you check the new blog out and I do hope to be back here soon with more of my new bathroom photos. (Can I just tell you quickly how much I LOVE my new bathroom???)

Cheers!
Gabi

Almost done!!