Scituate Summer Part IV: Party Day

Saturday was a lot of fun. Luke had finally arrived, Bowker was out for the day; our family felt complete. The girls were trying out the swing Joe had rigged in the side yard,

with help from Jon and Bowker.

There was an intense game of Polish horseshoes going...

The sky turned dark and threatening, and then it started to pour...

The ever-prepared Nanny whipped out some crafts for the girls on the screen porch.

But manly men don't go inside when it starts raining...they keep right on playing.

And sometimes, if they're extra manly they take their shirts off...

And then they all go jump in the ocean (not pictured.)

Scituate Summer Part III: Everybody at the Beach

It was so much fun when everyone was in town at the beach together. Pigtails look twice as cute, and sand tastes twice as delicious when you have a cousin to share them with...

For someone who had to take his Boards in a matter of days, Uncle Joe was really relaxed...I think it showed on his face...

There were plenty of babies for Luke to steal...

Stevie, protective new parent that he is, showed extreme dedication in protecting his little daughter's snow-white skin from the rays of the sun. Seriously, he carried that big old beach umbrella over her the whole walk from the beach. He was super dedicated...

...see?

Kateri thinks her Uncle Steve is hilarious...or maybe he's just telling her he knows how it feels to be ridiculed for having an abnormally long torso.

Uncle Jon lost his wedding ring at the beach :( Sorry Jon, that stinks...we have been keeping an eye out for it every day...just in case.

but other than that, everybody had a ball!

Bye, Fifi!

Scituate Summer Part II: Cousins!

The best part of our trip to Scituate: getting to spend some time with our sweet little cousins. The three of them are so different and so precious: Fiona
Leah

and Abby

Here are my girls getting ready for the chaos of our attempt to get a picture of all of the grandgirls together. As Nanny says, the results don't really provide a single perfect portrait,

but they would make a great flipbook!

I think Abby's expressions are my favorite. She just looks so skeptical of the whole operation.

Scituate Summer 2010: Part I

After weeks of waking up to Lili and Audrey's daily query: "Can we start packing our suitcase today?" we finally made it to Scituate. Hooray! Lili and Audrey both got wetsuits for their birthday from Nanny and Papa this year. We

lost no time in trying them out, along with Audrey's new princess pink snorkel gear. It was a big day of firsts for both of the girls. Lili bravely jumped off of Pirachi (the big rock in the background) for the first time this year. I'm glad I didn't let Audrey climb up there to watch, because I'm sure she would have been begging me to jump off as well. I'm still waiting for her to develop a healthy fear of the ocean. I might be waiting a long, long time...more on that later.

Instead of cliff-jumping, Audrey got a snorkel lesson from Papa, and took to it immediately.

Kateri didn't need a wetsuit; she still has enough blubber to keep her warm.