Month: October 2017

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Columbus Day

Prologue

I did a couple of “end of summer” posts a few weeks ago.  One was about my trip to the Heath Fair and the other was about mine and Christine’s trip down the river on a couple of inflatable kayaks.  One was planned for a few months to be an end of summer activity.  The other, the kayaks, came up at the last minute after trying more than once to do it earlier in the season.  However, it worked out because we ended up kayaking during the eclipse, which was cool.  Finally, I did a post about Labor Day, the official unofficial end of summer.

Journal

The funny thing about all of those posts is that they were supposed to represent the end of summer in some way, shape, or form.  However, none of them lived up to the name because summer like weather has continued into last week and it might even push 80 later on in this week.  At the risk of sounding like a damned dirty hippie (Ah, who am I kidding?  I am a damned dirty hippie.) this weather doesn’t feel right at all.  I’ve said more than once that if we are living in a simulation, it feels like that simulation realizes that we screwed up big time and is pushing hard for a full reset.

Ah, a discussion for another time, perhaps.  This latest “end of summer” post comes courtesy of the Cape house that belongs to Christine’s principal.  We stayed there for a weekend over the summer and she invited us to stay again this Columbus Day weekend.  Initially, Christine’s parents were going to go to Emerald Lake (another of my favorite places), but they ended up not going because it looked like rain in the forecast.  So, unencumbered by plans, we jumped on the opportunity to spend maybe one last weekend of the year on our home away from home.  By that, I mean the Cape, not the house.  I don’t want to sound presumptuous.

There were some complications that necessitated a slight altering of plans.  Christine went down with our oldest and youngest on Friday.  Our middle and I had to wait until Saturday afternoon because he had a soccer game and I’m the coach.  More on that next week.  The important thing is that as soon as the game ended, we were on the road to meet them at the house.  We missed almost all traffic, other than a bit of a snag for what looked like a parade of sports cars, mostly Corvettes, near the town where the New England Patriots play.  I have no idea what that was all about, but it was neat to see all of the cars and made sitting in traffic slightly more bearable.

Saturday was just a day for hanging at the house.  We went for a quick walk down to Great Pond with the boys.  We were going to walk more after that, but they don’t have much stamina for a longer walk, so we ended up turning around and going back to the house.  Unable to spend time on the Cape without going to a beach, we went to Coast Guard beach and then visited the lighthouse that was close by.  After that, we went back to the house for the night.  While Christine cooked dinner, the boys and I played a game of Magic the Gathering.  We actually ended up playing a few games and I’m glad to have had some time to play the game and it has me interested in the game again after a several month absence.  In fact, for a while there, I thought I might be finished with the game completely.  Alas, that is a story for 2 Generations Gaming.

After dinner, we watched Captain Underpants with the boys.  Honestly, I’m not sure why.  They had already seen it and neither Christine nor I cared much about the movie.  But, it was a family movie night and it actually wasn’t as terrible as I feared.  After the boys went to bed, Christine and I watched Moonrise Kingdom.  That one wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be, so I guess it was a night of false hope and unfulfilled expectations all around.

We made up for it the next day with a trip back to the National Seashore beach.  The boys swam, in the ocean, 10 days into October.  I even got a bit crazy and hopped in.  I can confirm that, even though the temperature was high 70s, the water was doggone cold.  It wasn’t as cold as up in Maine a few years ago, but it was still a shock to the system.  That night, we overpaid for some chowder, bisque, and stuffies, but heck, it was vacation.  We also made up for the subpar movie night by watching “Gifted”, which was surprisingly very good.

Monday was supposed to be spent driving back.  Instead, it was spent sitting in a gas station parking lot waiting for a AAA tow driver that took over 3 hours to arrive.  By the time he did, the tire place was closed, so we ended up getting one more day on the beach (oh no, how terrible!) instead of going back to work on Tuesday.

Epilogue

We paid for our extra day on the beach with one of those “long” short weeks that are infamous and every teacher will know what you’re talking about if you tell them you’ve experienced one.  But, we all survived the craziness of the flat tire, the subsequent craziness of the week, and are finally (?) ready to face the end of summer.  If only it would actually end.  Christine has mentioned more than once that she doesn’t want to go apple picking when it is so warm.

Well, I will say that it was chilly all day today.  In spite of the fact that the sun was out most of the afternoon, it didn’t warm up like it has.  I’m not much of a summer fan, but this summer has been good for family fun and activities that we normally haven’t done in years past.  I can’t say completely what is different other than attitudes and a willingness to try these new things.

Sure, getting the invite to a Cape house twice in a year when we were willing to give up camping completely helped.  Also, buying the Groupon deal for the kayak trip on a whim came into play.  The boys are showing more interest in things.  That drives what we do and also what we find enjoyable.  So, I’m not a summer guy, but this summer was fun.  Fall is, so far, turning out to be fun, too, but that can’t last.  It’s only a matter of time before we are trapped in the house and trying not to reenact “The Shining”.

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Celebrating the Eclipse

Prologue

I wouldn’t say that I’m a Groupon professional, or even a semi-pro.  We have used it more than once to enjoy a night out at dinner, or to go to the local Barcade for a birthday celebration, or to pretend to be pirates on a cruise through Cape Cod Bay.  I also wouldn’t say that I’m a river kayaking pro, semi-pro, or even a well practiced amateur.  However, both of these things came together when I noticed a Groupon for a local river kayak trip and, without thinking, pulled the trigger.

Journal

I have wanted a kayak for at least 15 years now.  Anytime we go into a sporting goods store, I wander to look at fishing equipment, camping equipment, sometimes hunting, and the kayak aisle.  The last few years, I’ve noticed that our Wal*Mart has been carrying kayaks and I drop not so subtle hints to Christine whenever we are in the store and pass by them.  I bought her a paddle board a couple of years ago in the hopes that it might inspire her to get me a kayak so that we could spend time alone as a couple on the water while the boys hung out together on the beach.  Heck, they are almost getting old enough to paddle themselves in the canoe.  Yes, we have a canoe.  More on that in a bit.

I have been on a kayak a few times.  My brother in law got one a few years ago for his birthday (I know!) and our friends have a couple that they’ve taken us out with them once or twice.  Once, I even got to kayak the disappearing island in Crowninshield, which was awesome!  But, I still do not have a kayak of my own.

I did sort of compromise about 5 years ago and bought a canoe because the boys were all little.  So, we could take them all out on the canoe together with little to no risk of capsizing.  Notice that I did leave open the possibility.  We were all in the canoe as a family on Emerald Lake.  Liam asked if he could jump out of the canoe to swim.  Sure, we responded.  Well, he decided that the best course of action was literally standing up to jump out.  As you can imagine, that ended up with all of us in the lake, swimming to the shore.  Unable to flip myself back into it, I dragged the canoe behind me as I swam.  That was one of the first phones that I ruined with water.  But, at least my wallet only got wet instead of ending up at the bottom of the lake as it did last summer.

What does all of this have to do with Groupon and the eclipse in August?  I already mentioned that, without hesitation, I signed us up for a 2 for 1 deal on a local river kayak trip.  That was in April or May.  I’m not sure.  It was definitely at the end of spring/beginning of summer that I bought the deal.  It got added to the calendar in June, then July, and forgotten both times.  We lucked out and ended up kidless for three days in July, but didn’t go.  Admittedly, we both had to work, but that was only in the morning.  I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure that we could have still made it to the trip in the afternoon.

Whatever the case, we didn’t go on those three days.  Instead, we did what we usually do and put it off until almost the last possible second.  Christine insists that it wasn’t intentional, and I believe her for the most part, but she ended up making the reservation for August 21, 2017.  That’s right.  The day of the (sing it!) “total eclipse of the sun!”  As a result, her parents had to watch the kids.  While dropping them off, her father made a joke about it going dark while we were out on the water.  I replied, as I always do, “Yep, you can have all our debt.”  That got a chuckle and off we went.

During the drive, she admitted to being somewhat nervous because she’s never paddled in any kind of moving water.  Neither have I, but I’m the sort to just take things as they come.  If we end up swept over a waterfall, well at least it happened during the eclipse!  Naturally, everyone was talking about it.  One family, who obviously better planned for the occasion, brought their glasses to view.  Christine and I sneaked peaks at the sun through clouds, doing exactly what we were told not to do.

Luckily, we didn’t damage our eyesight and we can blame our ignorance on the precedent set by our illustrious leader.  After the safety speech and check, as we walked to the bus that was going to take us up river, I noticed that you could view the eclipse in the tinted rear windows of some of the vehicles.  I didn’t think to take a picture, partly because I had to leave the phone behind in the car just in case of a tip.  Initially, I was going to just say “Eff that”. Then, I realized that I was really saying, “Eff me and my expensive phone.”  So, my pictures are only from before even getting in the boat.

As we went down the river and I found myself missing the phone because the views were simply awesome, I thought about getting some sort of waterproof camera for just those adventures.  We also talked about maybe doing the trip again during the fall for the foliage, but that might get filed away as something that we discuss and then don’t follow through.  For my part, though, I’ve brought it up more than once.  So, who knows, maybe we will.

Epilogue

We took the time alone to both remark on the beauty around us and to talk.  We didn’t talk about work or money.  We didn’t talk about kids, but we did both think that they’d get a kick out of the trip.  She did mention how we hadn’t been fighting as much, which is a positive step forward from where we were the past two summers.

Even though this write up comes almost a month later, looking back I see that this trip happened the day after we went to the Heath Fair.  It was the last week of summer for us and we were trying to squeeze in as much as possible, it would seem.  Also, even though this was more of an adventure than our other trips this year, we still stayed close to home, used the time to communicate and show our love for one another.  I would say sometimes, that’s all you need.  But, it should be all you need always.