Charlotte's Web: The Vineyard

It is safe to say Martha's Vineyard is one of mom & dad's favorite vacation spots. It's not as warm and sunny as Aruba, not as lush and mountainous as St. Thomas, not as exciting as New York, and not as posh as Nantucket, but is a great place for a family vacation.

Saturday:
The trip started early Saturday morning, pulling Charlotte out of bed and loading everyone into the already packed minivan. Nanny and Grampa stayed over friday night and left with us. They were followed us to the ferry in Woods Hole. Charlotte slept most of the way until about an hour into the trip when mom needed to use the bathroom. The only problem was the rest area was 5 miles away and dad was only driving 80 miles an hour. Since mom is upset I am writing this I will only tell you that all we did make it to the rest area in time....with only seconds to spare.
We made it to the ferry early and Tiffany, Ian, and Liam ended up right behind us on the drive. We were all able to catch the 9:30 instead of the 10:30 boat. The seas were rough but Charlotte and her cousin Liam had fun. We made it to the island and checked out our new house for the week!

Sunday:
Hurricane Eduardo brought us lots of rain and wind. We did a whole lot of nothing. We mostly stayed inside, cooked pot roast, and played with the kids. The house had a piano. Charlotte learned how to play Mozart. She truly has a gift.

Monday & Tuesday: Shopping in town. We are not sure which town because dad can't remember. There were MANY shopping trips. Way too many to remember where they were or what was purchased. We did go to every Black Dog store on the island at least twice. There was also a beach trip in here one of the days. It was cold, windy, and Charlotte showed us once again how much she loves to eat sand.

Wednesday: The boys went fishing. We all had bets with each other. $5 to the person who caught the first fish, $5 for the person who caught the most fish, and $5 to the person who caught the biggest fish. Grampa won the first fish, Ian won the most fish (I think it was 12) and dad won the biggest fish (he caught TWO at once!).

Once we got home it was the girls turn to go out while the boys watched the kids. The girls went shopping. Suprise Suprise. Liam celebrated his first birthday on Wednesday. He got to eat cake and had a blast! Hard to imagine he is 1 year old already.

Thursday: Beach day. More sand for Charlotte. Dad tried taking her into the ocean but she did not like it.

She wanted sand so we let her eat some...thinking after one mouthfull she would get the hint it was not fun to eat. She reached down into the sand with her hand, grabbed a fistfull and shoveled it in her mouth. She chewed, swallowed, and repeated. What is wrong with our daughter? Is she never going to be able to have a sandbox? Her cousin didn't even want to touch the sand let alone eat it. Here she was thinking it was some kind of salty treat. Thursday night mom and dad went to dinner alone at Lure. It was one of the best meals dad had ever had in his life.

Friday: Repeat of above beach day only a warmer day. Dad took Charlotte for a walk and looked for beach rocks. Charlotte liked licking the rocks. Very strange kid she is. Friday night we all went out to Sharky's Cantina in Oak Bluffs. Mom got tanked on Mojitos. Charlotte loved looking at the shark above her head and ate some beans. Liam fell in love with the manager of the restaurant because she was blonde.

Saturday: We packed up the cars to come home. We did a little shopping and had lunch at the black dog. The ferry ride home was great, it was warm and sunny and Charlotte LOVED the wind on the bow of the ship!

Memorable moments of vacation:
** Charlotte playing with lobsters. Then us eating them.