Scituate Summer Part V: My favorite time of day

is evening at the beach. After the crowds cleared out, there were several nights where we packed a picnic dinner and headed down for an evening at the beach. It was heavenly. The girls swam, played, ate, swam and played happily for hours and Nanny and I got to sit and talk and watch the colors change.

Kateri loved evening at the beach, too.

Sometimes Lili brought a book for a change of pace.

My second favorite time of day: morning at the beach. The sun would be sparkling on the water like it does on the Pacific, and the beach would be empty except for a few dog-walkers.

My third favorite time of day: midday at the beach. Okay, I guess I just love the beach. Can you blame me?

My kids and I are so blessed to be able to spend our summer in such a beautiful place. I suspect that many Scituate residents take the astounding natural beauty around them for granted, because I am always surprised at how often we have the beach completely to ourselves.
Not that I am complaining! I am all for a little peace and solitude.

I'm just saying I know how lucky we are. Goodbye, beautiful Scituate beach! We'll see you next summer!

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.

Happy Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day on Sunday with this man right here. What would we do without him? I guess we'd go to Scituate and miss him for two weeks. Sigh. But I guess he'll be there soon enough.

I am just using this post to share this ridiculous photo our dear Miss Emily took of my husband. Doesn't it look like she captured him reaching for the next rung on some corporate ladder? What I REALLY wanted to do for Father's day was pay to have this put on a park bench or side of a bus, with "Luke Speier: Pharmaceutical Sales Rep" and his cell number printed on it.

But we made him some homemade bloody mary mix with some fun garnishes instead...better than a rolodex, I guess.
He also took the whole fam to see Toy Story 3. It was fantastic. Pixar is always cute and clever, but like Finding Nemo, I was suprised at how emotionally involved I was in it by the end. I enjoyed it so much more than any grown-up movie I've seen in a long, long time. I wish the rest of Hollywood would take note and concentrate on telling a great story instead of packing their films with the latest pop-culture references and potty humor. Toy Story 3 was totally clean (I think the word "butt" was used once...) and Audrey's belly laugh was ringing out the whole time.
But anyway, enough of my ranting, I'm off to pack.

Nothing says summer...

...like an organization project half done then gone horribly awry... This was actually from last week, before Kateri fell and got a massive scrape on her chin.