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Cape May: Part One

oh, I have SO many pictures to show you. We just got back from our very first family beach vacation. Also, our very first family road trip. Also, our first swim in an ocean. Also, our first beach wedding! So many firsts. But one thing at a time. This is going to take a few posts as we saw so much stuff and had so much fun that it can't all be crammed into one little post. So here goes.

After a 10 hour drive, which was really a 14 hour road trip (what with the stops to eat and stops to pee and stops to eat some more) we arrived very late at night in warm and beautiful Cape May, New Jersey. I don't think I've ever actually been to New Jersey before, and was only vaguely aware that it had beaches due to a certain reality show which is the interest of full disclosure I will admit that I did actually watch. But " Jersey Shore" did absolutely nothing to prepare me for how lovely Cape May is. Cape May is down at the very bottom of New Jersey, and is a small, picturesque beach town, full of victorian architecture and some of the prettiest beaches on the Atlantic Coast. It was so pretty and the scale of it was so manageable. I really liked it. 

Anyhow, gushing about the location aside, we got up on our first morning in Cape May and after breakfast went straight to the beach. The beach we chose was recommended to us both by the owner of the house we rented, and my soon-to-be sister in law (more on that later). It was The Cove beach, rated in the top 21 beaches in America. And whoever does those ratings was right. The boys had never really been on an actual ocean beach before (we dipped our toes in the Pacific for about 10 minutes the last time we were in Vancouver, but didn't have a proper beach visit there really) and were full of excitement about it. We go to a little lake beach here in Ontario from time to time, but aside from the occasional bottle cap, there is not much to find in the sand there. But here, in Cape May: SHELLS! So many SHELLS. They could hardly contain their excitement. 

When we finally tore them away from the tide line and its bounty, it was a joy to watch them experience the waves for the first time.  They were just delighted to feel the waves wash up and slosh against their legs. 

Their squeals of pleasure at the simple reality of the tides was one of those parenting moments that you look forward to. 

They were easily convinced to put their buckets and shovels down, get their water wings on, and hit the surf. 

Though of course, when you are four, you don't actually do much swimming in the ocean. You mostly just wade in and get buffeted about by the waves.

And its all much easier if you have your mom or dad's hand to hold onto. 

I should also mention, in the interest if "keeping it real" parenting wise, that taking a vacation with kids is not really a vacation per se. I prefer to call it a trip. We took a trip with the kids. Which was fun and all, but also still a lot of work. I mean, look at these kids. 

I probably had the two whitest kids on that beach. Honestly, I looks like we climbed out of a basement in Iceland or something! Like, have they ever even seen the sun before? I swear, we do go outside in Canada from time to time. Anyhow, my point is that my kids are so white that they practically glow in the dark. And as I know from my own life, skin like ours only has two settings: white or red. Maybe a little light pink in between there. But basically, we do not tan. (this is all my Dad's fault by the way. My mom gets a beautiful, golden brown tan. My dad burns like a lobster. I blame the red hair gene). Which is all to say that when we go somewhere sunny and hot, putting sunscreen on little people is my full time job. Oh, and have I mentioned that little people HATE HAVING SUNSCREEN PUT ON! They hate having it applied almost as much as I hate applying it. The phrase "greasing a pig" comes to mind. Except I'll bet the pigs don't whine as much. 

Back to swimming though. One of the best features of The Cove beach was this great tidal pool. It was big, and clear and warm from the sun, and not connected to the ocean once the tide went out, so it was the perfect place for little kids to play and swim. No waves, no undertow, no deeper than a pair of adult knees. It was perfect. The kids spent hours in there. 

One of the best parts of this trip, according to my seven year old, was all the wildlife we saw. There were lots of crabs on this beach. Teeny tiny ones like this guy, and bigger ones too. Though none to big. But I did get my toe pinched when I was wading out in the water. Twice! Hubs thought I was imaging things, but I was not. Other beach goers confirmed the pinchieness of the local crabs. Not enough to break the skin though. And so very fascinating to find some, dig them up with your shovel and watch them scurry along and burrow themselves back into the wet beach sand until just their little eyeballs peeked out. We could have done that for hours!

We did a lot of beach combing, and found so many shells, though the locals all tell us that the shelling is not as good as it used to be. We found no whelks, and many shells were small and broken. Which did not matter much to us, as pretty much all of it was a wonderful novelty. But this was my favourite find of our whole trip. This odd little bit of broken shell, drilled through all over with the most perfect holes. Its a larger, hunter/predator shell creature that does this. Though they usually only make one hole. I don't know why this one was so full of holes, but I do know that I find it beautiful. I want to make a pendant out of it and wear it when its cold outside, so I can remember the warm place where I found it.

And after our long day on the beach, full of wonder and sunscreen re-applications and slightly sandy snacks, we headed back to our beach-town cottage and rinsed off the sand in the outdoor shower (another marvel!) and put on fresh clothes and curled up in chairs on the veranda for a late afternoon cup of tea and a cuddle. It was a good day.

SPRING!

The first day of Spring was almost a couple of weeks ago, and I meant to post these pictures then, but you know, life happens. Ridiculous cakes have to be baked, swimming lessons had to start, committee meetings were scheduled and I forgot. But then I remembered, and wanted to share. Because the calendar said SPRING! Ad how we have longed for, waited for, hoped for SPRING. And since the calendar said so, we went out into the world for a little walk to see if what was marked in that little box had changed the way the world looked. And lo and behold, it had!First things first, we had to go to the forest's edge and see if the snowdrops had come up yet. 

We had to really get down there and look hard...

You're close guys...

...turn around.

There they are! Not quite out in full bloom yet, but peeping their little tops up in a very hopeful way.

Then there was a quick stop by the fort for some general silliness. 

And then we set off down the still snowy path, a little deeper into the woods where the trees are keeping the snow around for a little bit longer. It was slippery and crunchy at the same time, and we had to be careful where we stepped. 

We found a dead tree, beautifully pockmarked with with woodpecker holes.

We had to look inside and see if there were any bugs left. Or woodpeckers for that matter. 

And we never forget to investigate the creek. We need to stand on the bridge and drop sticks into the water and see how fast the go from one side to the other (a game called Pooh Sticks for those of you familiar with Winnie the Pooh's adventures).

but first we needed to find some sticks. The Little Guy found a perfect, tiny one. 

And the Little Dude found a very BIG one. 

Because all that beautiful, lacey, ice along the edge of the creek…

…just HAD to be smashed.I can't even tell you what fun he had doing it. We went all along the edge of the creek with our giant stick, leaving a very satisfying trail of destruction in our wake. Oddly, it was also a very satisfying parenting moment, because it was good to see him combining all the physical skills of balance, aim and precision as he carefully managed standing on the slippery creek bank, wielding a long, heavy object, shifting his centre of gravity, and aiming accurately to break the ice. Its funny how a simple, unplanned activity can be as valuable than signing up for gymnastics!

Anyhow, the weather has continued to shift, with the temperature swinging up and down, and the snow slowly disappearing. Because its coming. Spring is coming. And we are very, very happy about it. 

 

 

How to spend a snowy afternoon

In case you haven't noticed, its definitely winter! I know we've had years where we complained about not having a 'real' winter here in Ontario, but this year its about as real as it gets. 

Hubs did a LOT of shovelling the other day, and being the creative re-user that he is, he did not just chuck the snow aside and forget about it, but used it to make more fun for his little helpers. A fort!

The Little Dude in particular was very proud of the for that he helped build. It was originally to have a roof, but that plan was abandoned due to a lack of structural integrity and the desire not to accidentally smother our kids. Though knowing my boys and the way they work, this will probably not be the final iteration of this particular fort. I have a feeling that an expansion/remodel is coming soon. But for today, they had so much fun building it and their cheeks were SO red when they finally came in, full of excitement and clamouring for hot cocoa.

But don't be fooled. We build a snow fort from time to time, around here but we are, generally speaking, indoor people. Most of our winter fun looks like this: This is what we call a Book Nest.

One of these gets built pretty much every day, with or without my help. 

Its simple really, you just need all the pillows you can find, your favourite "rainbow blanket" and a generous pile of books/graphic novels/comics. 

I can appreciate a snow fort, really, I can, but as far as my personal tastes go, this is the way to spend a snowy afternoon. Just add a cup of tea and its basically heaven. 

skating: aka, "The 1940's called and they want their toys back".

So its pretty cold these days. Can't say I like it. I know its barely January, but I would just like to note that I am pretty much DONE with winter. That being said, though the weather is awful, it does make for some pretty nice ice on the pond. And so, we go skating with the kids. Or as I like to call it "45 minutes of getting outside gear on, for 15 minutes of falling down"Its important to have your Grandpa on hand when you are trying to stand on those darn skates. 

Because ice is slippery. 

And when Granpa gets tired of holding you up, just call on Gran. 

We've also got one of these fancy things. Perfect for the not-so-accomplished skater. Though while  Grandpa often has the latest and greatest things to play with, he also has some good, erm - antiques. 

These are the skates that the Little Guy (3 years old) was trying to skootch around on.

They were soon abandoned in favour of just sliding on his boots. 

But this little thing was the real hit of the day. What is it, you ask? Good question. Grandpa charmingly calls it a "Priksleigh" in Dutch, or a "Pick Sled" in English. The story on this is that when my Dad (aka Grandpa) was 9 or 10 he had one of these because he sustained a concussion one year and was not allowed to skate on real skates. But of course, staying off the frozen canals where all his friends were skating was NOT an option. So he pushed himself around on a little sled like this. Much less of a chance of injury, being so near the ground and all. And he was almost as fast on it as he had been on proper skates, having no trouble keeping up with the other boys as they flew around the canals of our little farming community. But what and arm workout! I can only imagine that he was the most ripped little boy in the settlement that winter. Interesting side note; my Grandpa's Dad (that would be my Opa) used one of these as a grown up for hunting purposes. He'd lay on it on his stomach and slide along the ice on the ditches all stealthy-like to sneak up on water fowl and rabbits and whatnot that he wanted to catch. 

Anyhow, if you want to make one its a simple enough concept. First you getcherself a couple of sticks. An old broom handle works nicely. Then you drill holes into those sticks and pound some nails into the end of those holes so that they pointy side sticks out. Yep, that looks like a real safe toy!

Then you get a piece of board. And a chunk of two by four. Cut some slots into the bottom of the two by four and then jam some old skate blades in there. Then hammer the whole deal together. Like I said real safe. (Seriously though, since this is the internet and I have no idea who is reading this, I will just add a disclaimer: This is NOT a child's toy. If you do make one of these they should only be used by a responsible adult, or at the very least with adult supervision at all times. Helmets are also a good idea.)

Et Voila! You sit on the sled and use the pointy nail-sticks to push yourself around the ice. Since you are a responsible adult and all. 

This can be accomplished with up to three people on the sled. So long two of the people are really small. But I'll tell you what, it is not very easy going with all that extra weight. 

But when your run out of steam, you can always ask someone to push you. And after all, Grandpa is the one with all the experience on the Pick Sled. Its almost more fun than skating!

Because you know, at three-years-old skating is not really "fun" yet. Good thing we had those helmets on. Lots of falls. And luckily there are so many big people around to help. Someone's gotta get in there with a wadded up Kleenex to wipe the cold, runny noses. That's what big people are for. 

snowflakes

ok, the snow that is falling right now is ridiculous. Its not the volume of snow that is ridiculous (we had THAT last week) but the quality of the snow is what is blowing my mind. 

Look at this! Is that not oddly perfect? That's what I call Hollywood snow, because it is so freaking photogenic. Its like Martha Stewart is hanging over the edges of heaven right now, using her Martha Stewart Brand Craft Punch to cut snow flakes out of high quality vellum or specially-ordered artisan-made German all-wool felt. (that enough hyphens for ya?)

Now I'm imagining the conversation between Martha Stewart and God.

Martha: You've done some really lovely work. Especially in the plant world. Succulents are featured in our "Good Things" spread this month. 

God: Hey Martha.

Martha: Yes? 

God: Take it down a notch. 

I imagine he would say it nicely and imbue it with love. But still.  And I include this picture, even though the focus on the snowflake is not so great, just to make the point that, Good LORD, my hands! These pictures are enough to give an manicurist nightmares. But that being said, who has the time? My hands are for doing, not looking at. Unless I'm using them to establish scale. And then we all suffer together. 

a perfect day on the river

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but this past week has been just gorgeous around here! This Monday was, in particular, a perfect day. Sunny, warm but not too hot - just ideal fall weather that feels like a second chance at summer. So my Dad - Grandfather extraordinaire - had the bright idea to take the Little Dude out of school and bring the Little Guy along out for a little family boat ride on the river. Needless to say, L.D. did not object to a day off school at all.  We drove Grandpa's boat down to the local dock, and with all the strength that a three and six year old can muster, we got it out into the water. 

Here we are, all life-jacketed up and ready to go!

We got out on the river, and oh what fun it was!

There were fall colours, and drooping willow trees.

And something new to see around every bend in the river. 

There were tall graceful Herons rising from the banks, and big flocks of Cormorants, eager to get out of our noisy way, skimming over the water like ghosts. 

We stopped in the shallows to look at the forest of seaweed below us, and catch a wishful glimpse of turtles or fish. 

The sky above us was as beautiful as the waters below. 

We even discovered a whole tree full of Cormorants. 

I love like a long-necked bird in silhouette. 

We stopped and had lunch in a little town on Cooks Bay.

And then got back in the boat for a leisurely trip back down the river. The Little Dude favoured this spot at the front of the boat where he could "stretch out and relax." Because life in grade one can be very stressful.

And of course, Big Monkey-see, Little Monkey-do. Though really, the Little Guy's favourite spot to sit...

...was in GranGran's arms.

Both boys really enjoyed the novelty of being in a vehicle that did not involve car seats and seat belts. Such freedom!

Captain Grandpa was the man behind the wheel most of the time. 

But he welcomed the help of little co-captains.

The Little Guy could not have been happier about the chance to drive the boat. 

And after seeing how much fun his little brother had, even the Little Dude had to try his hand at it. 

Eventually it was time to leave the river in our wake (sorry, could not help it)

And say goodbye to our day on the river. But it was a lovely outing that will live in our minds as one of those golden memories of our children's childhood for years to come. 

harvest

Can you feel it? The way that summer is slowly drawing to a close? I can. The nights are slightly cooler, the greens are a little bit duller, and the biggest tell-tale sign, my allergies are acting up. But there is another more picturesque thing that will tell you summer is almost over. The grain harvest. 

Grandpa and Gran had us out to their place a week or so ago when their neighbor was harvesting their grain.

We've seen it before, (last year) but it is still fascinating!

There are lovely big tractors to see.

And Combines to watch...

...and ride in if you are lucky! (I spy a Little Guy, on his Grandpa's knee...)

We also learned a neat thing from Gran and Grandpa. 

You get yourself a head of wheat.

You rub the kernels in between the palms of you hands. 

Then you end up with a handful that looks like this. 

Then you have to blow on it to separate the wheat from the chaff. And then you can pop the wheat kernels into your mouth and chew them. And they turn into a sort of tasteless, chewy gum. (all thanks to the miracle of gluten, she says sarcastically) It doesn't taste good, but it is oddly satisfying, and the activity itself is fun. 

On a side-note, I'd like to comment on how my child is dressed. Which is like a miniature redneck with access to a Mall. My point is that I have been letting him dress himself. And also make some decisions about the clothing that we purchase. And since he is six, he favours superheros and lego marketing tie-ins. Oh, and he has a soft spot for fluorescent green. And while I like Lego and Spiderman and fluorescent green, its all a bit much for me. If I had my way, it'd be a bit more, erm, stylish, and logo/movie character free but I'm letting him go for it these days. Just sayin'. Oh, and also, he's kind of a maximalist in terms of accessories and embellishments. Note that he has added Hallowe'en cat stickers to his sunglasses, and refuses to take them off. They are his favourite sunglasses. Ah well, his outfit might make me wince, but his pride in his new hat and Lego themed shirt warms my heart. And there was a lot of beauty out in the fields that day. 

The exquisite whorl of the blossoms on the Queen Anne's Lace.

The geometric beauty of the freshly shorn wheat field. 

And this beautiful lady, who is somehow as golden as the wheat itself. (We miss you Gran and Grandpa, come home soon!)

weekend fun, aka: the search for fish

Well, that was lovely. Just had a great weekend with some friends who came up to our neck of the woods to stay and play and relax and eat stuff. So, so nice! I was mostly busy having a good time, so I didn't take that many pictures, but I did manage to document what I shall call The Great Fish Quest of August 2014.The Little Dude was adamant that we should catch some fish. And our visiting kid-friend/honorary cousin was very keen on the idea too. Their initial strategy was to scoop a bucket into the water as quickly as possible in the general direction of fish. It didn't work very well. 

So we headed to another location. 

There must be fish down there. And there were. But they were out of bucket scooping range, so we had to adopt another strategy....

...at a third location! Good ole' fishing poles at the dock. It was a good plan. There were lots of fish. we could see them. But they were very, very sneaky fish and snitched the worms off our hooks almost as fast as we dangled them into the water. 

The Little Guy had his own "fishing rope". FYI, it was not very successful either. 

But while were not not exactly catching fish by the bucketful, we were having a lovely time sitting in the sun on the dock, watching the sun sparkle on the water and daring each other to be the next to put a worm on the hook (we particularly missed you at that moment Grandpa)

And finally, FINALLY, after waiting and trying and trying again we managed to catch a FISH!And a fairly big one at that. Note the heroic pose of the mighty fisherman. And this poor guy didn't catch anything! (insert sad trombone noise here)

But here's the thing we all learned while fishing. Its not really about catching fish. 

we're jammin'

My apologies for the corny post title, but really, we could not stop singing the Bob Marley the whole time we worked. Because, you know, we were making jam. 

And I'd also like to apologize for my absence recently. We were away, you see. I should have told you where I was going and when I'd be back, but this was our first real trip together as a family and between the packing and the stress of last minute worrying I totally forgot. Anyhow, more on our trip later. The short version is that Hubs' family lives in BC and we went out there for a long overdue visit. We haven't been out there in, like, five years! Great Grandma has never even met our Little Guy, which is nuts, but you know, plane tickets don't grow on trees. 

Anyhow, while we were there we had the pleasure of spending a day with my sister-in-law's two oldest daughters, who are almost exactly the same age as our Little Dude and Little Guy. It was such a great time, as they kids really get along. Which is a good thing because the weather did NOT co-operate. It rained and drizzled and was grey all day. Eventually we could not stand being inside any more and decided to make a run for the park. Which was just as wet as everywhere else. No sliding or swinging unless you wanted very wet bums. So we wandered from the park into a nearby field for a walk. And guess what we found!
Blackberries! Just miles upon miles of wild blackberry bushes bordered every field. It was kind of amazing. After picking all we could hold in our hands, we headed home (because also, we were wet) and then sent Hubs back out with a plastic bag.

Which he proceeded to fill.

So many berries! Enough for jam, clearly, so I sent hubs out to the stores for jars and sugar and got to work with the kids. 

First we gently washed and rinsed the perfect little berries. 

And then we all lined up to get a turn at mashing. 

We didn't have aprons, so we MacGyvered up some impromptu smocks with tea towels held in place with chip clips. They have a certain sort of South-of-the-Border flair. 

Jam making is such a great activity for kids because you really can't screw it up. We make the no-cook freezer jam, for which you can find the instructions printed on a paper inside any box of Certo pectin crystals (I used the measurements from the Raspberry Jam recipe, because they did not have a Blackberry Jam recipe, and it worked out just fine). I like the Certo Light, because it calls for half the sugar. But we do go ahead and use real sugar. Though you could also use Pomona's Universal Pectin and make it with honey. That totally works too, and is a bit more natural. Just suit yourself. But basically you just wash the fruit, mash the fruit, stir in the pectin, wait half an hour, stir in the sugar, and slam it into some jars. Easy peasy, mac and cheesy as my kids say. You really can't make a mistake. Though it is very, very possible that you will make a mess. The blackberry juice will stain the counter if you are not careful. Just use a little baking soda made into a paste with water and scrub the fresh stains, and they will come right off. 

Also, it will stain your fingers. Not much you can do about that. It wears away in a day or two at the most. No biggie. 

The Little Guy soon figured it out and was mashing away with his most intense mashing face, just for good measure. 

His cousin wasn't quite so sure about the mashing to start with...

...but with a bit of encouragement she was soon mashing away like a pro!

The Little Dude, he was born to mash. 

Then, after the pectin was stirred in, it was time to wait. And what better way to spend the time, than with a little reading. We started in on "The House at Plum Creek" and got about three chapters in before we tired of it. 

And then we were off to other books and games. 

And before we knew it, it was stirring time again.

Stir, stir, stir.

Everybody got a turn. 

Luckily you can't overstir jam.

And in the end there was even a little bit of beautiful fresh blackberry juice, from the bottom of the bowl of clean berries. The weight of the layers of berries had sort of juiced some of the bottom ones. This stuff turned out to be very popular. There was only about a half a cup of the stuff, but we divided it into little tiny toy tea cups....

...and drank it with great gusto!

And here's our finished jam! I know, it doesn't look like much, but these are not really jam jars, but half quart canning jars, so if these were actually jam jars, there would be six of them. Which is a respectable batch of jam. 

But that jam, it was SO GOOD, that we decided to do it all over again, and this time strain out all the seeds and make jelly. But we needed more berries first.  So Hubs went out to brave the brambles again! (Look at those legs! Like he was attacked by a gang of feral cats!) But it was worth it. 

strawberry season

Hey you guys, the strawberries are ready! And this year I have TWO eager, capable little berry pickers. 

Its funny, how, as a parent you are watching your kid grow up, literally on a daily basis. And most of the time you don't notice it happening. Its not always measurable, and often veeeerrrrryyy slow, but then one day you suddenly realize that they've mastered something cool or stopped doing something annoying and you are surprised and delighted. And in this case, all of a sudden it seems that The Little Dude is a competent berry picker. Like, he's actually helpful. Not small child "look how I'm helping mommy!" helpful, but all the while they are making a colossal mess or requiring all your attention and keeping you from accomplishing anything yourself. Nope, this year he was legitimately really good at picking berries. 

All the berries he picked were ripe, he hardly ate any of them, and he needed no redirection or chasing down at any point. He was really helpful!

This one, not so much.

I mean, he was really interested in picking, really motivated, I'll give him that. 

But he had one goal and one goal only....

...and that was stuffing as many berries as possible into his face. I swear they should have weighed him on the way in and then weighed him on the way out and charged us for the difference. 

We had some great company too. Auntie Gwen was there to pick with us.

And our cousin Ariana was there too. So it was not only tasty, but fun. Even though I lost my keys in the field, (don't worry, we found them back) and we forgot the Little Guy's hat (the hat which he hates to wear, but cried his heart out over the loss. Seriously). But despite all that, we still had a great time. And now there is a big basket of berries on the kitchen counter, and we've had berries with every meal today. So lovely. It won't be our last trip to the berry field this season. That's for sure.