Post-Christmas on the Cape 2016

Our fourth visit of the year to Cape Cod!

Nancy and Grandma Kathy

Aunt Nesie and Doreen

Opening presents with Grandma, Aunt Mary, James, Aunt Nesie, Kevin

A kitchen!

Great-grandma Ruth and Kevin

Opening more presents

Chris, Nancy, Miranda, Mary, James

Katie, Kevin, and Mike

Girls gossiping

Boys hiding in the cave

Katie and me

Cuties snuggling

Me, Katie, Kevin, and Mike at the 28 Club


Grandma took them to Taylor Brays Farm


Taylor Brays Farm


At Aunt Nesie's house: James, Katie, Nesie


Steve, Miranda, and Kevin

Andrew Moves to Japan! 2015

Today Andrew is moving to Japan! He will be teaching conversational English to businessmen, and exploring Japan without a car for the next year... or possibly two!

So last weekend, we went up to the Cape to have some quality bonding time and to have a little family going away party for him. Saturday we had the party with Andrew's favorite meal, his mom's spaghetti and meatballs, Great-grammy's award-winning apple pie, and a cheesecake that said Bon Voyage Andrew!

Six Clouthers and Great-grandma

Uncle Andrew playing bubbles with his niece and nephew

With his beautiful mom

Aunt Mary doing puzzles with the kiddies

Besties

Some of the Rogers at the party

Bonus pictures of James, Miranda, and Harry being cute.

Cute overload.

Party relaxation

Brothers ignoring each other.

Goodbye cake!

On Sunday, we had some more fun playing with the kids by the pond, going on a family hike in Shawme-Crowell State Forest, while Great-grammy and Grand-Aunt Mary babysat Miranda who is not hiking-ready yet.

 

Playing by the pond

Hiking around

Blowing through both of their naptimes together

Practicing baseball

Uncle Andrew helping with James's swing

We also popped over to "church" which is what Kevin's entire family calls the 28 Club. They are quite "religious."

Post-28-Club hilarity #Ineedaselfiestick

Everyone will miss him a great deal which has been evidenced by the outpouring of support and sadness on his Facebook wall from all his friends in Florida. For those of you not friends with Andrew on Facebook, it was seriously epic. Like a Facebook birthday times five million with old pictures and stories about Andrew. But mostly, people are really excited for Andrew. It's an instant win to be going on a huge adventure! I'm super excited he started a blog "Memoirs of Japandrew" so that in a small way, we can go on the adventure with him! Congratulations on doing something super awesome, Andrew!

Saying sayonara to the pond, for now.

• Our last visit with Andrew on the Cape, December 2014
• Andrew's last visit to New York to see us and meet Miranda, May 2014
• Andrew's super awesome 30th birthday in Key West, November 2013

Post-Christmas on the Cape 2013

So we stayed on the Cape for a full week, which was maybe longer than advisable, and possibly longer than anyone wanted us there. But we had so much fun!

James got to spend more quality time with Dolores's granddaughters Ellen (6.5), Lillian (almost 4), and Beatrice (almost 2). Ellen is a under-represented in the photos, especially since she practically babysat James one morning.

James with Lillian and Beatrice

James and Beatrice on a mini-Roundabout

James also spent a lot of quality time with Grandma, who among other things took him to the train store. He also had an afternoon with Aunt Mary doing puzzles and reading books, and an evening with Aunt Nesie doing holiday crafts and drawing.

At the train store- here comes the elf on the train!

James loves it

A little hands-on train time.

He also got a visit from his Great-great Aunt Barbara, and Grandma's cousin Mike and his wife Melinie, and their daughter (and Kevin's second cousin) Abigail who's close in age to James.

Grandma, James, Abigail, Melinie, and Mike

Kissing cousins James and Abigail

Kevin and I also got to go for an easy little hike at Fort Hill near the ocean and we saw two movies with Andrew. And a big highlight for me was our two trips to the 28 Club on our trip. Granted, I can't drink, but the company was so fantastic I didn't even mind. Tuesday evening Kevin, Andrew, Katie, Chris and I joined his uncle George, cousin Mike, and cousin Megan for a few quick drinks before dinner.

Saturday, my friend Jaime and Kevin's friend Casey came up and joined us for a family dinner and drinks at the 28 Club. Another one of Casey's friend James joined us too. Hilarity ensued. And I successfully drove everyone home despite being pretty rusty. We had a big sleepover.

Casey and Kevin enjoying drinks

Casey, Andrew, Kevin, me, Jaime

It was a wonderful break, and now we're looking forward to 2014-- the year we have our little girl and Kevin's short story collection gets published. Good things ahead! Happy New Year!

Cape Cod- June 2013

Kevin has a summer teaching schedule that is very conducive to long weekends, and Great-grandma Ruth was celebrating her birthday this weekend, so we left for the Cape early Thursday morning and came back Sunday afternoon. We picked up Kevin's cousin Chris and his little dachshund Harry on the way so we had a very full an fun car ride. Our first stop, naturally was Great-grandmas for lunch. James oftentimes sits in regular chairs now, and Great-grandma even game him little sandwiches which he nibbled but generally ignored in favor of potato chips. Great-grandma is so wonderful with James. Even though she's 90 (89 that day) she keeps toys at her place for him and plays with him when he visits. She reads him books and feeds him snacks.

Lunch with his great-grandma

Next stop was Grandma Kathy's. James always has a wonderful time with Grandma, so we left them to it. Kevin and I went out for our 4th wedding anniversary,and were home early enough to put James to bed. Grandma gave James a stuffed Mickey Mouse doll which James ran around celebrating, and then took to bed with him along with stuffed Fudgie. So now James has every naptime and bedtime with both Fudgie and Mickey! Grandma had to leave to pick up Andrew and Katie at the airport. Unfortunately, Katie's flight left Baltimore and then returned to Baltimore so none of them got home until 3 am!

Citrus-flavored snuggles for grandma

Stretching exercises

Bugging Nomar in the Scratch Lounge

Going for a walk with Nomar and Grandma

Gift from grandma! Mickey! Mickey!

Friday was Great Grandma Ruth's real birthday, but since the party was planned for Sunday only some of us were there. Kathy, Nesie, Steve, and all four grandchildren, James, and I were there. We ordered Chinese food, and Nesie baked a cake so we sang Happy Birthday and celebrated.

Harry the dog + Legos + Snuggles from Great Aunt Nesie = James heaven

Katie, Steve, James, Kathy, and Andrew

Chinese food and cake!

After singing happy birthday

James asked for cake: "Cake! Cake! My turn! Yummy yummy!"

Even though I've known about it for a long time, I've only recently fallen in love with the 28 Club. ("The bar where I grew up."-Kevin) It's a dive bar, but like most dive bars we go to, it's plenty nice. And the drinks are very cheap. To be fair, the regulars seemed a little put out that we existed. This was even before we might have had the opportunity to do anything obnoxious. Perhaps they thought we were summer crowd people since they easily ignored us when we went in November. Anyway, everyone was put in a pleasant mood by the Bruins- sending them to the Stanley Cup playoffs! Woo! I am more of a fan now that the Bruins saved Casey. For some reason when we got home I thought I should make nachos for everyone complete with blue tortilla chips, plum tomatos, and fresh advocado- yum!

Katie and Andrew with 28 Club lighting.

Me and Kevin schmoooping it up

Bruins win! Woo!

Nachos

I had to get up with James 3 hours after going to bed. I was so very very tired on Saturday! When James and I emerged from naptime we went out to lunch in Hyannis with Kathy and Andrew. James ate burger straight from the bun, and ate mussels for the first time! We were a little nervous but he was fine. Then we did a big long walk of Hyannis after which I was ready for another nap. Luckily Great Aunt Nesie offered to babysit James for the rest of the evening. We're so lucky James is so loved on the Cape. There was actually a bit of a babysitting tug-of-war because Great-Aunt Mary also wanted to babysit, but she babysat James on our last visit, and Nesie was also very nearby to us. Katie actually walked him back before bedtime. James had such a good time there- he learned Uncle Chris's name, and counted up to 20 for the first time there!

Lunch in Hyannis

First mussels with Grandma

Grandma walking in Hyannis with her three boys

Huge Adirondack chair in Hyannis

Street art in Hyannis

Unbelievably, this was our 30th trip to the Cape since Kevin and I have been together, and James's 14th visit since he was born. Of course, Kevin grew up on the Cape, and even I used to visit with my family when I was younger, so we've actually been there a lot more than that. Our last visit to the Cape was just this April, and we're already planning our next trip. We love it and we love everyone there.