{Sorry in advance for the bazillion pictures in this post! My camera is probably going to graft to my hand at some point!}
We took off for a week at the beach house in Rhode Island, a little fun before Ollie has to go back to Summer School next week. If you don't know this about us yet, here it is: we don't sit still for very long. It just ain't our thang. And so, we kept quite busy in RI. Naturally, we made it to the beach a few times, but we also had a few adventures on the side when we needed a break from the sand and waves.
ROGER WILLIAMS ZOO
We went back to Roger Williams Zoo, and this time we just bit the bullet and got a Membership Pass. Basically, if we go there one more time it's paid for... and I can 100% guarantee we are going to make that money back and more- the kiddos go CRAZY for this place! We actually visited some animals this time (I think I speak for us all when I say that the resident snapping turtle was our favorite animal of the day!) But, inevitably, we ended up at the water station at Our Big Backyard, and that was where we spent the bulk of the day. As you will see in the pictures, Ollie had just as much fun as the first time we visited. Peyton was loving it until she was splashed by another child (In a water park! Can you imagine?) and then, well, as you can see, she morphed into Miss Grumpus.
VISITING WITH FRIENDS IN MATUNUK
We were lucky enough to have friends staying nearby so Ollie & Peyton actually got to play with other kids. It was a thrill for Frucce's all around, as Jon and I got a break from playing monster trucks and Littlest Pet Shop and the kiddos got to run and scream and tumble. Our friends were staying at this great rental house in a little cove- dock included!- so the kids spent a great deal of time poking around for crabs and oysters and other sea creatures. It was really quite beautiful to witness them enjoy such simple pleasures. (Oh, and my friend Heather is this amazing cook and she put out this beautiful appetizer spread- garlic scape pesto bruschetta! artisinal cheeses!- which I basically plowed through single handedly as we chatted and watched the kids play... and somehow she got Peyton to eat pâté. Like, a lot of it. Scraping it off the baguette with her teeth. It was a thing to see.)
THE FANTASTIC UMBRELLA FACTORY
We always try to make it to the Umbrella Factory because the kids go crazy for it and really, it's just an all-around cool place. There are all these little shops and cafes hidden in this labyrinth of bamboo, flowers and branches... and the have animals (emu's, goats, chickens...) that you can feed, which is (naturally) the reason we go. The goats are absolute characters- if I wasn't so fearful of them, I'd adore them. On our way out, Peyton picked a fight with the nastiest looking goose I've ever seen. He got a stick pointed at him, she got hissed at, words were exchanged... It was nature's way of saying: it's time to go.
KITE FLYING AT THE BEACH
Peyton could spend all day at the beach, splashing in the waves and rolling in the sand... But Ollie is more of an inlander, shall we say? The beach is not his favorite place in the world. BUT: On our last day, Jon's parents bought the kids a couple of kites and oh. my. goodness! They went crazy for them! (They actually asked me this morning if we could go to the beach and fly their kites!) But mostly, Oliver couldn't get enough! At one point, Peyton asked if we could go back home and Ollie said, "No, we just stay here at beesh."
And then I fainted.
And that's the end of our first adventure of the summer. Next up: Massachusetts road trip for my niece's FIRST(!) birthday and then it's on to North Conway.
I hope you all are enjoying the early days of summer as much as we are!
Cheers!
P.S. I also got to read a book- a real book!- over vacation! (Like, one not authored by Dr. Seuss.) My sister loaned me The Fault in Our Stars and, though ample tears were shed, I would still recommend it.
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