2 more lbs lost -

and I made Michaela take a picture of me!

(Oh yeah, last week in NH, I lost a half pound! Slowly, slowly...)

Day 2 of the Ice Cream Taste Test

Today we tried an ice cream place called The Ice Cream Smuggler and we thoroughly enjoyed our ice cream sampling, check out this shop on line http://www.icecreamsmuggler.com/! Michaela and Talya are loving this highly scientific experiment!

The Tuesday Beach Club

The first Tuesday that we were on the Cape, Talya, Ayelet and I met Carly, Kelsey and their mom, Lisa. They live here year round and Carly and Kelsey (friends, not sisters) are getting ready to start kindergarten in the fall. The kids hit it off right away and so did Lisa and I! Since then, we have had a standing beach date every Tuesday. Today was no exception!
And then this evening, we began the Great Cape Cod Ice Cream Taste Test. Sundae School look out, we are testing your competition. The contenders are Krista K's (that is where we went tonight), Cape Cod Creamery, The Brewster Scoop, Smugglers and Sundae School. Our hypothesis is that Sundae School will come out on top, we will see. We are judging the ice cream shops on Taste, Flavor and Topping Selection, Service, Aesthetics, Quality of Preparation, Convenience and Cost. Each of us has committed to ordering the same thing at each shop to make sure we are comparing apples to apples. Tomorrow we will try the Cape Cod Creamery!

Back at Cape Cod

After a few more days of travel and visiting, the girls and I are back at the Cape! We had a beautiful day of beach, Sundae School, reading, and an evening bunny hunt. Talya insisted on having her picture taken with one of the bunnies that we saw on our walk. It is hard to see, but the bunny is just to her right. We saw 14 bunnies on our hour long walk this evening!
Hanging out with Nono!


Play time at Derek and Nina's, Ayelet in Elsie's arms.

And other cool snaps...

In case you can't make out the writing, it says "Future star of the Boston Red Sox"!

And then, UNCLE JASON!!!!

A wonderful visit with Uncle Jason, Ariana and cousin Michael.

A Wonderful Day In Boston - Starting With

A visit to Community Boating Inc. where Ron and I met so long ago. Romantic, isn't it?

Kids still sail for $1.00 all summer!

Fun With The Yancey Cousins

Our Day At Dartmouth College

It was so wonderful to visit Dartmouth, it has been several years since we visited. We had lunch at EBA's (Everything But Anchovies) where I used to waitress when I was a student. How wonderful it was to be in a place where "everybody knows your name". The owner of the restaurant recognized me as soon as we walked in the door, it was as though I had just finished my shift yesterday, not more than 15 years ago. She scooped up Ayelet and doted on the big girls. We had a great lunch, then we shopped and walked around campus. So much has changed and so much has stayed the same.

Michaela's Chair

Wow! One of the activities that Michaela signed up for during camp was woodworking (hmmm, wonder where she got that interest from, I don't think it is me...). Her woodworking project was creating this wonderful chair. She is so proud of it!

Camp Ramah - Our Michaela is Back!!

Michaela's Bunk, #12.
Her friends.
Bunk #12's counselors, Hannah and Rachel.

Ready For Shabbat

Happy Girl

Ayelet Turned 4 Months This Week

It is hard to believe that Ayelet is 4 months old. She is such a love, Talya and I have been having a great time watching her grow! Here are some highlights:

• She and I weighed in tonight at Weight Watchers, she is up to 13.4 lbs (and I have lost another 2 lbs)!
• She not only rolls over from front to back, she rolls back and forth in her crib and on her play mat.
• She has a lovey that she holds on to when she sleeps.
• She grabs things that she is interested in and brings them to her mouth.
• She smiles and laughs frequently and with great joy.
• She loves watching me when she is not in my arms and at all other times, she keeps her eyes on her sister.
• She loves the ocean (I dipped her legs in and she loved it).
• She is getting more and more comfortable at the beach.
• With the help of her lovey, she is able to soothe herself to sleep.
• When we are at Sundae School, she lies in my arms and watches the ceiling fans go round and round.
• She is working on sitting up on her own, she is getting stronger and stronger by the day.

Happy Birthday Ayelet!

A Lovely Visit With Cousins Elizabeth and Asher

Practice Makes Perfect - Ayelet and Talya Rolling Over

Cape Cod is Green...and Mom Friendly

Amy, this is for you...

I have always been impressed by how "green" Seattle is - and in Seattle, I try to do my part to protect the environment. I recycle and compost, I use my re-usable grocery bags at the store, we are currently a 1 car family and when I was working, I usually walked or took the bus.


Well, Seattle, Cape Cod is on to this as well! At entrance to the Stop and Shop supermarket in Dennis, there is a kiosk covered in re-usable grocery bags. There is also a staff person stationed there encouraging shoppers to make the switch to the re-usable grocery bags. At the kiosk, there is also something that is clearly designed for Moms shopping with small children - the easy scan.

The easy scan system has made grocery shopping a pleasure for Talya, Ayelet and I since we have been at Cape Cod. We take our reusable grocery bags with us, I get Ayelet set up in the cart and I get Talya set up with the scanner. As we shop, she scans each item and I put it directly into our reusable grocery bags. When we are done, we take our scanner to an easy scan check out stand, scan the end of shopping bar code, and then pay - cash, credit, debit, check. It is so easy and so quick and I get to pack my grocery bags just the way I want to.

Now for the entertaining part - Talya LOVES to scan. Before we discovered the easy scan system, she was quite the grocery store complainer. She wanted to ride in the cart, she didn't want to walk, why does Ayelet get to ride in the cart? can I get this Mom? why not? but I'm HUNGRY, you get the picture. Well, now she has a job to do and a fun one no less. She carries the scanner around and every time I select something (from our list of course), she scans it and I bag it. She doesn't even notice what it is we are buying, she just thinks it is so cool.

Amy, hopefully easy scan will come to Seattle soon, then Naomi can ride in the cart, Talia can scan, and Samuel can read product labels!

Ayelet Has a Lovey

Each of my girls has their own special blanket and their own special lovey. These are the blankets and the loveys that they need when they go to sleep, no matter where they are. How these items are selected is a mystery to me, somehow each of them knows what fits them, it really doesn't matter what I think and with each of them, I have had to try several before finding the right ones. Well, Ayelet has clearly identified her lovey. This lovey was a gift from my Aunt Doris and she loves it. It is soft and when I pull the string it plays a lullaby. When I put her down for her nap or for bed at night, I pull the string, put the lovey on her arm and she almost immediately calms down (most of the time), grabs it and hugs it.

A Cloudy, Hot, Humid, Sometimes Rainy Day on Cape Cod

A visit to the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory,
A ride on the carousel at the mall, and
Lunch at Friendly's (yes, that is Ayelet sitting in a high chair)!

Thanks Nina, Derek, Adam and Ben for a wonderful visit!

Morning Snaps, Then Nona Arrived

From Friday, The Excavators

Great entertainment for a Friday morning...at 7:00 am.

Yummy Dress and Girls Night Out!

Thank you Amy for this darling dress, it doesn't just look good, it tastes good too!

I was celebrating tonight - since we have been in Boston/Cape Cod, 3+ weeks, I have lost 7.2 lbs (Thursday is WW day)! Finally the pounds that weren't budging in Seattle are starting to come off, yeah! I jokingly call this the Sundae School diet - our daily ice cream forays are enough of a treat to truly satisfy and keep me from other not so healthy choices. Those ice cream treats in combination with our daily constitutionals (aka our evening bunny hunts) have really made a difference! So tonight, I splurged - a little... enough. Talya and I shared a Fish and Chips dinner from the famous Kream N' Kone (Cape Cod Life's "Best Fried Seafood Anywhere") - I know, why splurge on fish and chips, but let me just say, there is nothing like Cape Cod fish and chips, the Haddock and Flounder are so fresh and deep fried anything once in a while is a treat! Then, we got sundaes at Sundae School! We got our picture taken in front of Tayla's favorite Sundae School attraction, the player piano.

After Two Challenging Nights...

Ayelet has had two tough nights - ok, let's be honest, I have had two tough nights, she is having a blast! A couple of nights ago, Ayelet decided that night time is time to play, especially between 3:00 am and 5:00 am, with a break for a cat nap until 6:00 am when surely it is time to get up for the day. Thank goodness Nona will be here by Saturday morning - I am looking forward to a good, long Shabbos nap! She wore the onesie that Kathy gave her in honor of my attitude this morning, thanks Kathy!

Talya Helping Out!

Thank you Talya for holding Ayelet while I set us up at the beach! BTW, Ayelet definitely knows her name, Talya and I really noticed today that when we call her she turns and smiles. Such a happy girl!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAELA!

So, we heard from her! After being apart for 16 days, her voice was music to my ears! We didn't know, but Camp provided her with a birthday call to us! Most importantly, she sounded fantastic. She is having an amazing time at camp and she had so much to tell us (we conferenced Ron in so that all of us could speak), the minutes passed way too quickly. It was so wonderful to be able to wish her a happy birthday!

After hanging up with her, I thought about how impressed I have been with her through this whole experience. Even before going to camp, she had such a positive attitude about the experience. "I will make friends," she replied when I asked her how she felt about going to a camp where she wouldn't know anyone. She was excited about the experiences she was sure to have and the friends she would make. She was confident that the adults in her life were right, Camp Ramah would be a special and meaningful experience for her. She was so willing to take the risk. When we arrived at camp, she settled in and introduced herself to her bunk mates with inspiring confidence. Wow, I remember thinking. And now, after talking to her, I am amazed at how she has embraced her experience. She told us about dancing, singing, playing tennis, woodworking, the camp out and sleeping in a tent, studying Ivrit and her upcoming trip to Six Flags. She was so excited about everything. At the same time, what was happening with us was important to her too. "Mom, you wrote that Ayelet rolled over, she must have been so cute," was one of the first things she said to us, and then to Talya "Is Sundae School as good as it was last year?"

I guess this camp experience is just a glimpse of what her growing up will be like in the future. As she continues on her journey to adulthood, she will have more and more experiences that are separate from us, some that we will witness, others that we won't. Those experiences will shape who she is more profoundly than those experiences that Ron and I have created for her during the last 11 years because they will be hers. At the same time, she will stay connected to us, her family because we are an important part of her world, and those parts of our lives that we experience without her will be important to her because we are important to her.

On our end, I realize that everything is different without her. She is missed, especially here on Cape Cod, where she has always been such an integral part of the memories we make. Many of the things that we do every summer aren't the same without her. At the same time, there are new memories that we are making that are distinctively Talya's and Ayelet's. For example, Talya devouring the Cashew Chicken at the kosher Chinese restaurant in Brookline (yes, I was hungry too, but I had NO idea she would like the stuff), easy scan and our reusable bags at the grocery store, reading together at night for a long time, because neither of us could put the books down (Beverly Cleary books), yoga in the living room of the Cape house, making friends at the beach, and the girls snuggling in the big chair, watching Word Girl on PBS while I cook dinner.

There are 12 days until we pick her up. I can't wait to meet the 11 year old young lady that we will be bringing home with us and I can't wait to re-introduce her to her sisters. Happy Birthday Michaela.

Fun Pics From The Last Few Days

Sometimes when I look at her, she takes my breath away.

...working on that thumb.

A visit from Maeve and Nolan.

Chef and Sous Chef Extraordinaire!

Sleeping on the beach - on this hot and humid day, what could be better!

Talya Lunching With Her Friends At The Beach

AT&T is Always With Us

In case it is too hard to read, the banner says "beachgoers, we've got you covered".

A Successful Bunny Hunt!