Month: September 2024

I started horseback riding lessons this week. (Thank you, Papa and Yaya!) First things first, Diane put some spurs on my ‘tenni-runners’:

My horse’s name is Jack. I gave him a good brushing before saddling him:

Meera is doing the lessons too:

I started building my model Viking ship (Thank you, Nana!) this week. It requires a lot of very detailed painting and gluing:

I’ve been doing a lot of supplemental soccer practices with the Bigs after school. I’m getting better.

On Sunday we did a guided fishing trip on the Crooked River. (Thank you, Papa and Uncle Geoff!) It was a beautiful day, and we all caught a lot of fish. Here I am hooked into a monster. Wyatt, our guide, is going to scoop him into the net for me.

Here’s the Mother with one of her many fish:

We all had a great time!

Been a while since my last regular blog, so lots to catch up on here. I used my Boy Scout Handbook to learn to tie a tie:

Jameson came with us to Elk Lake one day:

We (he, mostly) caught a lot of crayfish. Some were huge!

Hunter came over for a sleepover:

The Mother was pretty nervous about it going well, so she she cooked and baked (just like The Nan would). She made four different kinds of pizza.

Cheese:

Bacon:

Pesto and chicken:

And zucchini, broccoli, and feta:

And she made chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

We camped out in the backyard:

It went great. No cooking and baking needed, but it was yummy.

I’m back in school. First-day photo:

We drove to Beaverton to buy a new (to us) truck:

We’ve done some repairs. The garage door opener liked to open by itself intermittently. Not cool, so we replaced it. Now we can tell from our phones if it is open.

The oven broke. We could still turn it on, but we could only turn it off by turning off the circuit breaker in the garage. Inconvenient. We fixed it:

I went mountain biking with Jameson and his dad:

His dad took us out for lunch and ice cream:

The Mother tried out a new recipe last week. Baked potatoes with egg and tonnato sauce (egg yolks, lemon juice, parsley, tuna, capers, anchovies, garlic, and olive oil). Not our favorite.

It was the Bigs’ 17th anniversary this Sunday. We went to Podski’s for pierogies and Thai food to celebrate:

When we first got to Wellfleet was a bit cool and cloudy, so we went for a walk across Uncle Tim’s Bridge:

Then we went to Nauset Light:

And walked along our beach south to Marconi Beach:

We ran into Nana and GUM on the way back:

The next day we went to the dunes in Provincetown:

And went into town:

I bought myself a sweatshirt (thanks, Pop):

The Super-Blue Moon from our deck:

We went sailing in Wellfleet Harbor:

I took control of the boat:

We sailed to Great Island, where we beached the boat and hung out on the beach for a little while:

Lobster dinner on Nana and GUM’s deck:

Out to dinner at C-Shore:

We got a few days of surfing in:

I got a towel poncho for my birthday. Now I can easily change into and out of my wetsuit in the parking lot when we go surfing:

I did some kite flying on our beach:

Our cottage:

Sunrise from our deck:

I tired myself right out:

Up next, a visit with Yaya and Papa. We had dinner at The Collective with Uncle Geoff, Tobin, and Aunt Jessica.

I spent A LOT of time playing with Theo

and Coby. I LOVE them.

Then we headed up to Vermont. Is this the nicest welcome center ever?

We rode our bikes from Waitsfield to Bristol.

This required going over the Lincoln Gap. It is the highest vehicle-accessible mountain pass in Vermont and steepest paved mile in the US.

It was hard,

but I made it.

The next day we rode from Bristol to Rochester. I indulged in a creemee.

I also had a bit of fun with the light fixture in our room.

The last day we rode from Rochester back to Waitsfield. This ride required two gaps. No problem after riding Lincoln Gap, right?

WRONG, Braintree gap was basically a 4-wheel/drainage ditch. We pushed our bikes for a long time.

Before our second pass, we stopped for a swim in Roxbury Falls.

When I made it back, I was tired, but it was my birthday and there was an ice cream cake waiting for me.

Yaya and Papa had some temperature control issues, but I knew whose cake it was.

The next day, we all went blueberry picking.

And, I went swimming in the Mad River.

Then we went to American Flatbread for some delicious pizza.

I ended the trip with a MAPLE creemee.

We stopped by Dad’s friend, JP’s, house on our way to the Cape. He had two amazing dogs and one super cool cat. Here I am with their Newfie, Alta. He was bigger than The Mother and didn’t get up much, but I thought he was pretty awesome.

We stopped at the Dartmouth Skiway. on our way out of town.

First day in RI, Ryan took me fishing

then we hit the beach.

We had dinner at the Chicken Coop.

The next day, we hit the beach again.

Then the weather got a little cold, so we played some tennis, went to see the trolls

and went bowling. We also went to Uncle Chris’s for dinner.

One night I made my famous Chicken Marbella for dinner.

And, another night I helped Nan make a poke cake.

We also went mini golfing in the rain.

It must be noted that Uncle Chris won.

And one night all the adults ditched the kids and went to the Oyster Bar.

The Bigs drove to Jersey to see the one and only Great Grandma Marie.

And they made me pose for a lot of pictures.

I took some pictures too, with my new drone. Here is a snapshot of Pop’s garden.

We had a couple more sunny days, so we took advantage of the nice weather and soaked up as much salt water as we could.

After flying in to Logan,

Uncle Jim and Aunt Cheryl took us on a whirlwind tour of Boston. The first night we had dinner on JIm’s roof deck. I LOVED it. Check out the view:

On Day 1, we went to the library (first public library),

walked the Commonwealth Mall to Boston Common, and then went on the Freedom Trail. This is Paul Revere’s house.

Then we had a delicious lunch (and sweets 🙂 ) in the North End.

Next a carousel ride,

followed by a duck boat tour.

For mere mortals, that would be a pretty full day, but Pop told Jim I have to go and go and go, so the day was not over yet. Next up? Top of the Prudential Building. The absolute BEST way to see the whole city.

Day 2 started with the MIT Museum.

Then we rode along the Emerald Necklace to the Arboretum.

And then on to the Museum of Fine Arts

for dinner (where The Mother confused the Chihuly behind Uncle Jim in the picture below for a real plant),

and an amazing treasure hunt through the museum (best way to see a museum EVER).

Afterwards, we biked home – stopping at Northeastern – where the original Red Sox stadium was located.

I had so much fun hanging out with Uncle Jim and Aunt Cheryl. It was hard to leave.

It was also hard to leave because we had all our luggage and bikes to get on the train :).

Up next, RI.