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  • Coneheads

    This may sound crazy -- in fact, I can hardly believe it myself -- but our girls had never had ice cream cones until this weekend. They'd had ice cream, mind you; in bowls and on plates next to slices of "happy birthday to you" (their term for birthday cake). But they'd never experienced the sweet, drippy joy that is an ice cream cone on a summer day.

     

    So, while we were out on the Cape this weekend I was hell-bent on making it happen. The friends we were staying with recommended the perfect spot: Four Seas Ice Cream in Centerville, which has been in operation for seventy-five years. That's since 1934 for those out there who, like me, are quick-arithemetic-challenged. (When I saw the sign, I said to Alastair "Wow, so they've been around since, like, the twenties! Or, wait, the forties?") It's apparently a Cape Cod institution, and a quick web search suggests that they invented chocolate chip ice cream and were/are beloved by the Kennedys. So, it seems we chose quite a memorable spot for this important milestone. And, of course, we documented it on film:

     

     

     

     

     

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  • Pooping in the Wind, and Other Vacation Highlights

    We spent a lovely July fourth weekend with family friends in beautiful Marion, MA -- a trip which is now becoming an annual tradition, much to our delight. There was eating, drinking, sand castle making, tennis playing, rocks into the ocean throwing, syntax mangling (see "rocks into the ocean throwing") and, yes, pooping in the wind.

     

    This last item was actually quite poetic, the poop part notwithstanding. We were enjoying a lovely evening at the house of the family matriarch. After supper, the children -- ours and numerous others -- were frolicking in the yard overlooking Buzzard's Bay. Elsa and Clio were particularly interested in wheeling a baby stroller around and around a patch of high grass and fern, and at one point Elsa seemed to have been stuck in one spot for a long while. Alastair went over to see what was happening and Elsa told him she was, you know -- busy -- and asked him to go away. Alastair reported back to me, saying "Elsa is a bear in the woods." (Get it?) So, a few more minutes passed and I went down to see what was up, and collect her for a diaper change, but she still wasn't interested in going anywhere:

     

    ME: Should we go inside and change your diaper?

    ELSA: No. I want to stand here. It's windy!!

    ME: Yeah, it is windy. Are you still making a poop?

    ELSA: Yeah. 

    ME: OK, so you want to just stay here?

    ELSA: Yeah. I want to poop in the wind.

     

    The girl really does have an appreciation for the finer things in life, no?  She had another poetic diaper moment at another point during the weekend, when I was changing her diaper while she was lying on the grass, and she looked up at the foliage of the oaks, blowing in the wind, and said "the trees are playing peekaboo with me!" 

     

     But I will subject you to no more poop anecdotes. Instead some pictures:

     


     

    Here we all are watching the Marion Fourth of July Parade. Note the way the sunlight -- a rare thing in New England these days -- glares off our pale, pasty New England legs.

     

    More pics after the jump

     

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  • Down the Cape

    It's amazing what a difference a brief change of scenery can make. We accepted a last minute invitation from some friends to join them at their family's cottage on the Cape, and I am so very glad we did. Despite all the packing and schlepping, despite the fact that there aren't a whole lot of toddler-friendly activities on Cape Cod in February, and despite the fact that we did a good deal of just hanging out, eating, refereeing toddler brawls over toys, etc -- in other words, the same kinds of things we could have done at home -- it was awfully nice to be somewhere other than home for a little while. No distractions, no things we knew we really ought to be doing (taxes, anyone?). Instead, just lots of lazy goofing around with our kids and our friends and their kid. Some fresh seafood. Too many valentine chocolates. A fair amount of wine.

     

    I think the girls really appreciated the change of scene, too. New stairs to climb! New stuff to look at! A new room to sleep in! (They were so excited about getting to sleep in their port-a-cribs that they both insisted on going "night night" as soon as we set them up. For all of forty seconds.) Both of them were in good moods most of the time. Clio was silly. Elsa was adventurous. (She kept wanting to go up and down the stairs: "be right back, OK?")  They were clearly enjoying themselves.

     

     

    What'd you do to get those beads, party girl? (And who knew a doorstop could be so much fun?)

     

    More pics after the jump...

     

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About the Blogger

Jane Roper

Jane Roper in Boston

One baby? Piece of cake. Try two. This working mother gives you the inside scoop on the ultimate in extreme parenting: twins.

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