Play Ball

What a full day we had here at our house.

The morning started with the girls having softball.

They did great considering it was only their second practice.  Opening day is next week.

It will be fun to watch them play.

D playing 1st base.  She looks very serious.

E playing over near 3rd base.

The coaches did a great job rotating all the girls through the positions.

And they all got some great batting/running the base practice.

E playing catcher while D is hitting.

D playing catcher.

D&E were the only girls that volunteered to play catcher.

I was very proud of them for trying it.  They both did great.

Hubby stayed home while we were at softball practice to get started on some much needed yard work.

Once home, I went out to join him.

Throughout the day, bushes were pulled, leaves blown, and shrubs trimmed.

Hubby even worked on building a small rock wall that will line the backside of the vegetable garden.

Every time he brought a wheelbarrow full of brush & clippings, he would fill it with a few rocks to add to the wall.

I have to say those rocks looked heavy as he was pushing the wheelbarrow back up the hill from the woods.

This was just the start of a lot of yard work that we will be doing over the next couple months.

Glad it was a good day to get a lot done.  Tomorrow looks like a complete washout.

potd #110.  E playing catcher.  Good form E.

Feel Better

Isn't it funny how things happen to the kids when the mom isn't around?

Hubby took the day off today.  Which was great.

The girls and him made plans to go back to the rock climbing gym while I went to get my nails done.

And then we made plans to meet up at one of our favorite burger places for lunch. We were also meeting my mil for lunch too.

I will back the story up just a bit.

Yesterday when we were outside, E was wanting to take a stick and do some whittling with her Swiss Army knife.  She was wanting to make it shaped into a point, like an arrow.

Hubby had bought the girls' each a Swiss Army knife for Christmas.  We hold on to them and they know they are not allowed to use it without adult supervision.

Thankfully my girls are rule followers.

So, I told E yesterday no way.  I told her that she needed to wait until Hubby was home and that he would show her what to do.  She was good with that.

Fast forward to this morning.

E asked Hubby if he would show her how to do the whittling with her Swiss Army knife.  Hubby was happy to show her.

As I was leaving for my nail appointment, all was good.  D was finishing her piano practice.  E and Hubby were outside starting their whittling.

Fast forward to me meeting Hubby and the girls for lunch.

As I get out of my car and walk up to them I can see E has a look on her face.  Kind of a smile and kind of a "something's up" look.

I innocently ask how rock climbing went.

And that's when the story comes out.

They didn't make it to rock climbing.

"How come?" I ask.

And then E holds up her pointer finger on her right hand.  Her bandaged pointer finger.

When they were whittling, something happened and the knife slipped a bit.  And E cut her finger.

Thankfully not too bad.  No stitches needed.  Barely.

I am assured by both E and Hubby that she is fine.

Hmmmm.  Not so sure about this.

Hubby assures me she is fine.  And that it's not a bad cut.  And that E now has a greater appreciation for the Swiss Army knife.

Well, she better or there will be no more Swiss Army knife for E.

By the end of today, her finger was feeling even better.  Healing nicely.

She'll have a good scar.  And a story to tell.  That's what scars are all about, right? The stories that go with them.

potd #109.  This lego "Feel Better" sign has been in our house for almost a year and a half.  E made it for D when D shut her finger in the car door.  To say the least, D was very sad/upset that day.

E very quietly went in the basement where the legos are and made this for her.  I love that she misspelled better.

It was such a sweet gesture, I couldn't bring myself to take it apart.  So, we keep it. And whenever anyone is feeling sad, sick, or hurt one of the girls will go get the "Feel Better" sign.

Today as Hubby was helping E and getting her settled, D rushed off to the hall table to get the "Feel Better" sign for E.  Sweet sissy love.

Jumping Rope

D has discovered the joy of jumping rope.

And she was jumping all day.

Just about every spare moment.

I love the mid-air jump shot.

Both of the girls got new jump ropes from Sissy for Easter.

Today D happened to come across her new jump rope.

She jumped high.

She jumped low.

She even tried jumping backwards.

Apparently there are kids in her & E's class that can only jump rope backwards.

Interesting.

Here is some crazy jump roping.

I am amazed looking at this picture that she didn't end up falling.

E even got in on the jump roping.  Then my camera battery died.  Oops, should have charged it last night.

I love her hair in this picture.  Definitely some jump rope happening here.

I will not be surprised if she wakes up wanting to jump rope tomorrow.

D loved to count how many times she could jump before missing.  I think she got close to 40 times.

She made me laugh when she said, "Mom, jump roping is so much fun!"

potd #108.  D discovers the joy of jumping rope.  Love the expression on her face.

Home Sweet Home

There's no place like home.

We got home this afternoon from the Cape.

The ride would have been great if we didn't hit traffic as we neared the Sagamore Bridge.  It took us over an hour to go a little over 2 miles.

Bleck.

They are doing road work on the bridge.  Sissy and I are hoping that they will be done with the roadwork before summer.  We shall see.

So, what should have taken us 45 minutes to get off the Cape took us 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Bleck.

Our ride home today took us just about 4 hours.  It should have taken us only about 2 hours 30 minutes.

It felt great to finally get home.

Lucy was very happy to see us.

And we were home for about 2 minutes and D found her way over to the piano.

She really does always have music on the brain.  All week she was humming away.  Sometimes even singing.

When the girls were little we listened to a lot of Laurie Berkner.  She has such great kids music with wonderful lyrics.  Her songs still pop into my head.

One of her songs is called Song in my Tummy.  It's a cute, catchy tune.

One line in the song is "I've got a song in my heart".  I always think of D when I hear that lyric.

Because she really does have a song in her heart.  Always.

Here is D playing a song called, "The Campbells Are Coming."  It is one of her piano songs and she has it memorized.  She really enjoys playing  this song.

This afternoon after getting home, I took Lucy out in the back yard.  It was amazing to see all the leaves that have popped out in the last 5 days.

And the flowers that are starting to bloom.

I have no idea what these white flowers are called.  I wish I did because they are beautiful.  And they smell amazing.  This bush is in the backyard and it is filled with blooms this year.

So pretty.

potd #107.  Lucy smiling.  I think she was glad we were home.

A Dilly Day

Our last day here at the Cape.

D&E are very sad we have to go home tomorrow.

We made sure to fill our day with a bunch of fun things.

Thrifting, going to the beach, and heading out to the movies tonight.  Chock full of good stuff.

This morning we headed out to do a little thrifting.  Who knew there were so many thrift shops on the Cape.

Yesterday we went to a few and today we stopped at a few more that were not open yesterday.

One of our stops that wasn't a thrift shop was the Brewster General Store.

It is like stepping back in time when you walk in to the store.  First of all it's in a building that was built in 1852 as a church.  It was turned into a general store in 1866. Now there's some history for you.

There's creaky wood floors, a penny candy counter, kitchen gadgets, groceries, toys. You name it and they have it.  For the most part.

One thing that they do have which we have never bought before is a barrel of dill pickles.  Never bough that is, until today.

D saw the pickles and decided she really wanted to have one.  Next thing you know it CC Sissy, niece M, and niece K are also buying pickles.

After making our purchases we headed outside to sit on benches that are in front of the store. All the pickle eaters sat to eat.

D eating some of her pickle.  E is not really a pickle fan.  So, D shared some with her.

I love D's face.  These were some juicy pickles.

Nothing like licking some pickle juice off your arm.  I guess you know you're having a good day when this is happening.

It was learned pretty quick that to keep from dripping juice all over yourself, you needed to lean way over when taking a bite.  It also helped to suck out some pickle juice as you were biting.  Yes, I speak from experience.

E trying a bite of her sisters' pickle.  She so badly wants to like pickles.

E's reaction after her bite.  Think she liked it?

And yet, she took another bite.

After about her 3rd bite, she gave the pickle back to her sister.  I was impressed because they were very dilly pickles.  

D was happy to finish the pickle.  I think I may have had the last couple bites.  

After thrifting and pickle eating, we headed back to UT's house to head down to the beach.

It was perfect low tide to go exploring.

I just love the ripples that are made in the sand bars when the tide goes out.

A look back at the beach from amidst the sand bars and tidal pools.  UT's house is the 2nd house from the right.  

Unfortunately for D her low tide exploring ended a bit early.  

The tidal pools are filled with shells and sometimes even snails and crabs. And they have lots of broken shells.

As D was running through one,  her big toe hit a broken razor clam shell. And she got a good slice in the middle of the bottom of her big toe.  

There was blood and crying.  

And we had to figure out how to get her back to shore and up the beach stairs.

First, Sissy and CC Sissy tried carrying her with her arms around their shoulders and them holding her legs.

That didn't work well.

At this point, she had calmed down a bit.  So I was able to carry her through the tidal pools and then she was able to walk on the sand bars.  This worked.

And by the time we got too far, the bleeding stopped.

Up the stairs we went and she soaked her foot in some water.  A couple band-aids later and all was good.

Phew.

I think the lemonade that CC Sissy brought for her while we sat out on the benches that are at the top of the stairs helped too.

We were even able to squeeze in a game of Yahtzee before ordering pizza for dinner.

And then we were off to see Mirror, Mirror.

It was a great last day.

potd #106.  I.love.this.picture.  

D is so cautious when it comes to crossing the tidal pools.  I took this picture when we had first gone down to the beach, well before the toe cut.  

So, E and CC Sissy were already on the other side of the tidal pool on the next sand bar.  Sissy and I were lagging and D was in between.  

So, D got to the edge of the tidal pool and stopped.  Usually it is her worry of crabs that makes her so cautious.  Can't say I blame her.  Getting bit by a crab hurts. However, this time of year the crabs really aren't out a lot.  Yet.

I could hear D calling something out to E, but I had no idea what she was saying.

Next thing I know E is walking back through the tidal pool back to D.

And when E gets to D, she takes D by the hand and leads her across the tidal pool.  

  

Such sweet sissy love.

Summer-Like

For April, it sure felt like July today.

And it looked like July too.

Simply gorgeous.

After a super yummy breakfast out again this morning, we took a walk on the beach. Lots of sea glass was found.

I love this Snoopy t-shirt I bought E at Target.  She loves Snoopy.

Amazing sunset tonight.  We stopped at a local harbor just as the sun sunk beneath the horizon.  The sky was full of pinks, reds, and oranges.  Just like in July. Summer can't come soon enough.

The clouds were so wispy.  And pinkish/orangish.  Beautiful.

potd #105.  On our travels today we stopped at a small harbor.  This dinghy was on shore.  I just loved the name, "Salty".  How perfect.

Flashback

Ok, for those of you who lived through the October storm you will sympathize with the dilemma that we are dealing with here at the Cape right now.

Last night, around 11, Sissy & I were getting ready for bed.

I was rinsing some water down the kitchen sink when I realized it wasn't really draining.

Sissy comes out of the bathroom and says, "Hey, I think someone clogged the toilet."

What?!?!

So,  I mention to her that the kitchen sink isn't draining.

She tries plunging the toilet and flushing a few times.  NOTHING.

Hubby and Bil are in bed at this point.

I mention to Sissy that maybe we should check the toilet in the basement to see if that one works.

Off we go.  

As we are approaching the "bathroom"(picture a toilet in a big closet), I start hearing water.

Uh-oh.  That doesn't sound good.

We get to the bathroom and flip on the light.

And water is pouring out of the toilet.  Double uh-oh.

We decide this is a bigger problem than either of us can handle.  So I go wake up Hubby.

Hubby groggily comes downstairs.  And that's when we notice that there is also water in the utility sink right next to the bathroom.  And it's not really draining.

Hubby is now bailing water from the toilet and tossing it outside.

This is so not good.

Sissy at this point has woken up my bil and he is down in the mix.  

After much looking around the guys decide that there isn't anything they can do at that point.  We need to wait until morning to call UT and then his plumber.

Fast forward to this morning and let's just say cranky isn't really the right word to describe all of us.

There is just something about taking away the ability of using a flushing toilet and people are instantly on edge.

It was not pretty.

After what seemed like an eternity and a failed desperate call to an "emergency" plumber(which was going to be ridiculously expensive), we finally got a hold of UT's plumber's wife.

We are told that we should hear back from their son who is starting to take over some of the work for his father.

Phew, we thought. He will come out and fix it, we thought.

So Hubby, my bil, and nephew J all pack up and head home.  All of us thinking that the plumber would call us back.

HA!

We heard nothing for hours.  And hours.  Hubby kept calling and there was no answer.  And no answer.

Finally he got through to the wife again.  And he expressed our dilemma of whether or not to stay or leave.  

Long story short we got the complete run around all day from this plumber and nothing has been fixed.

And we've become very creative when having to use the bathroom.

And we are having flashbacks to October when we had no power for 8 days.  The only thing that is better this time is that we actually have electricity.  

And we are still able to shower because the "beach" shower in the basement drains out into the sand.  Don't ask me how that works.  All I know is it works.

The 5 of us girls are not very happy campers.

We spent a good chunk of the day out and about.  Where there were bathrooms.  

The weather was beautiful.  This afternoon we went down to the beach to explore.

Then it was out for dinner.  Where there were bathrooms.

We got home tonight and played a rousing couple of rounds of Yahtzee.  

Sissy and I have decided we will be relentless tomorrow when we start calling the plumber at 8 a.m.

Because if this doesn't get fixed tomorrow, we will be heading back home.

And that isn't going to make any of us happy.  Except for the fact that there will be working toilets. 

D&E are keeping their fingers crossed that the plumber can fix the problem.  

D&E heading down to the beach

E checking back to see if I am coming down with them.  I did a few minutes later.  It was good for them to go down and play a bit for themselves.  And it was good for me too.  Remember, we were all a wee bit cranky.

I just love this new yellow sweatshirt on D.  The yellow looks fantastic on her.  One of our stops today was at a Cuffy's for new pullover sweatshirts.  E picked out a blue one.

Little D playing on the beach.  This is one of the best parts of the Cape.  The tidal pools that are created on the bay side during low tide provides such great play time. For all ages.  Seriously, we can all spend hours playing down in low tide.  Especially come summertime.

potd #104.  D, E, and niece K.  All in their new sweatshirts.  Love the colors.