June 13th - They're Getting Bored

June 13th
It’s still cold. It’s still raining. But I still love it here.
I woke to a really bad headache. I don’t know if it’s the weather or the kids. I snuck down to the lobby for coffee and curled up with a pile of pamphlets of things to do on the Cape. They have at least 100 pamphlets, in the event that the weather sucks and you’ve already revisited your past…and can’t bar hop with 4 kids in tow). The Holiday was on TBS (yeah TBS), which I love. So it turned out to be a nice Sunday morning…the little ones were hovered around their portable DVD player watching dumb Sponge Bob.
At least for a little while…after significant whining from the gruesome foursome, I dragged myself away from the movie to take them to Dunkin Donuts. Unfortunately, when I started the car, the Check Engine Soon light was on….specifically for low tire pressure. After we hit Dunkin, it took me four gas stations before I could get a tire gage. All four tires were below 28 lbs….so I really had to fill them up…in the pouring rain, by myself. Who needs a name (although maybe a man just would have done it without a tire gage)
Then I took the kids to the Chatham Lighthouse and the Nauset Lighthouse. They weren’t too impressed. It probably didn’t help that there was so much fog that you really couldn’t see the beach. Such a very dreary day. Gin called, while we were heading back to Harwich, to make plans for dinner with Karen & Leslie. I stopped at George’s Pizza on Main Street for takeout. It was the first pizza I’d ever eaten….and it was in the same place, with the same owners for forty years. Impressive. The pizza smelled the same too….scent is amazing for awakening long dormant memories. I was so excited to eat it….first bite, wonderful. Second bite, marginal. Third bite….pizza tasted like crap. Kids wouldn’t eat it either. So much for the good ole days.
While I was driving the kids around, I was listening to the radio and my imagination was working overtime. Totally plotted a book….set on the Cape of course. I got a million stories in my head…I need to quit daydreaming and get to work.
But that won’ be happening anytime soon. Back at the hotel the kids were going wild. Seriously, it was like being in a zoo. Hunter was trying to watch the NASCAR race, with the volume turned up full blast; Bear was running around like a caged monkey on speed; Aud was chasing Cammy around…loudly…and he was disagreeing with her actions….loudly. Calgon – take me away! Today was the day that I seriously asked myself what in the hell was I doing? Everyone said I was crazy….today, I felt they were right. I hadn’t planned on constant rain. Really, it had rained every single day, but two. Every day. Eleven freakin days.
I took Bear and Aud to the indoor pool in the hopes of burning off some of their energy. We were having dinner with Gin, Karen, & Leslie (and because of the rain, dinner in a restaurant, not a cookout in their yard). I was nervous.
Karen and Leslie live in Hyannis, where I was born. I took the kids by the hospital where I was born & the Melody Tent where I used to see shows with my mom. So, I was late getting to Karen’s. We chatted for about 10 minutes before we headed to the harbor for dinner. The restaurant was called Spanky’s and it was perfect for the kids. I had lobster and it was delicious. The kids were relatively good (for them).
After dinner, we all drove back to Dennis for some ice cream. It may sound dorky…but when I was envisioning being on the Cape with my kids, I was imaging this:
The kids would be lightly sun burnt and windblown, dressed in crisp pastels with happy smiles glowing on their cherub faces (not even close). We’d had have dinner at a waterside restaurant (check) and we’d laugh and they’d be exceptionally well behaved (maybe a little bit). After dinner, as a reward for their good behavior (not really good, not really bad), we’d take a drive to an ice-cream parlor as the sun set (what sun?) We’d sit outtside on the deck (raining) and eat our cool summer treat. Today was good as it was gonna get. We ate inside and the place had an electric piano that played nickelodeon tunes. The kids loved it. They all danced around the piano, laughing and getting a standing ovation from the other patrons. Sometimes, the real stuff is just better.
Back at the hotel…I dumped Aud with Gin (who had a room so we could leave early in the a.m.) I packed us up and watched the Celtics game with Hunter. They won…yeah!
Tomorrow we’re headed to Rhode Island to see Kendall and then…if Ginny agrees, we’re going to push it to Adamstown. I want to save on the two hotel rooms we’d need in Connecticut…and cut up the whole luggage/packing thing for such a short stop. Plus…we are out of clean clothes. I got to get to Pittsburgh to do some laundry. It would take me a day and a half to do it all with Gin’s slow washing machine. Gin….love you, but time is of the essence.

Silly Band: Hunter, I guess.
Quote: Cammy, ”Mom, can you stop the shower? I have to show you something for you.” - I didn’t stop the shower, but popped my head out to the cutest thing holding a doodle pad with a “drawing” of God knows what.