Monday, Aug. 14th
I was home for a whole day after The Cape. No picture, but I know I did a week's worth of laundry, grocery shopped, Jenga-ed the kids' schedules, prepared breakfast foods-lunches-beach snacks and drinks, and packed up for the next thing :)
Tuesday, Aug. 15th
We were up and out bright and early. Jon and Annie dropped their girls at our house and grabbed us and all our stuff at 7:30. We'd been scheming for a while on just the right celebration for Colombo and Karen's upcoming 50th Anniversary. Months ago we began tossing ideas around and for a variety of reasons, landed on doing a getaway to Block Island. It's been a special place to them (and us) for the better part of a couple decades and they've celebrated many anniversaries there. It worked for our schedules and also felt doable for Papa who is still rehabbing after an ankle replacement in January. It was actually Lisa who first tossed out the idea, and as we crossed others off the list, Block just seemed perfect! Unfortunately, due to a hectic summer travel schedule, Nick and Katie did not join us.
From our house, we went to pick Colombo and Karen up at their house. We had reserved the dates by asking them to babysit for us and only let them in on the bare minimum details days in advance. When we pulled up their driveway at 8:00, Papa was waiting at the front door, giddy. They both were just so excited.
We were quite the sight walking onto the ferry with two days worth of clothes, food, and beach gear, but we managed. ...and off we went!
We landed at 11:30a and walked to our hotel, just steps from the ferry. I walked out from the lobby to 'catch' them soaking it in. I snapped this pic and sent it to Lisa, to which she responded: #worthit I thought,
yes...so worth it.
The weather wasn't awesome- cool and cloudy- but we were thankful for no rain. We walked to Town Beach (1 mile) to sit on the beach while we waited for rooms to be ready. We chatted, laughed, ate, told stories, and toasted the milestone. We got the call that rooms were ready just in time! We had all added all the layers we had and were being driven from the beach by the wind. The Block Island Beach House was amazing in the way they cared for our group. They were incredibly attentive and accommodating, storing anything we didn't need with us and striving to make our stay comfortable. Porch sitting and people watching for the WIN this afternoon.
We went to grab a drink before dinner on the Harborside Inn porch. On a sad note, this historic hotel and restaurant would be destroyed by a fire just two days later, shutting down the entire island for two days!
Dinner at Eli's.
Papa wrote a poem for Ninny and read it to her. So sweet!
Wednesday, Aug. 16th
Colombo walked down to grab Payne's Killer Donuts at the docks where we spent many weeks at on the boat. We met up in the lobby for coffee and donuts and to plan out our day. The newly renovated hotel under new management did a genius job of preserving the history, while adding in the modern touches of shabby-chic / bo-ho.
We spent an hour or two dipping in and out of all the shops down the main street, then we planted ourselves on the beach right next to the hotel and patiently waited for the sun that finally came.
We grabbed an easy dinner at Aldo's and then made our way back to the ferry for the last one out of the day.
Two full, wonderful days. Mission accomplished. Hearts full.
Thursday, Aug. 17th
Back home for a couple days to reset once again, do all the things, and prepare for our whole family, Family Vacation! We had a call with the oncologist with not much news or takeaways from it.
I picked up Harlem from daycare to see him for the afternoon. It had been a while. We miss him! His mom is working long days and he is getting established into the daycare routine. Oh, and I've been gone for a month! It was so good to have him!
Friday, Aug. 18th
We hadn't planned on it, but Harlem's mom actually needed me to grab him this day as the daycare closed early, so we got a bonus afternoon with him.
I spent many hours in the kitchen cooking food and doing as much as I could ahead of time for our upcoming vacation.
Saturday, Aug. 19th
It's so strange to be attending baby showers for our peers' kids! How can that be?!?! Jazlyn (right) is a bit older than Maddy but they were good friends through middle school years, and Alayna (left) is 6 days younger than Renna. So the sisters' journeys are parallel, which is just so fun.
I came home to some more cooking in the kitchen and pool maintenance.
Colombo, Renna, and I left the house since it was the location for the youth Guys' Night Out.
Came home to many, many teenage boys, so I snuck up to my room to finish packing.
Pop and Kiki texted from their latest adventure- a preseason game at Lambeau Stadium in Greenbay- Packers vs. Patriots.
Sunday, Aug. 20th
I had planned to stay home and watch church online so I could maximize my time to ready our crew for departure, but once I learned that Amanda was on praise team, I made sure to be in-person. She did a great job!
We had an hour and a half at home to load up while the boys finished serving at second service. My planning and trying to get ahead of the game paid off and I was sitting around for 1/2 an hour waiting to go. C3 had the task of getting my pile into the truck. ...to be continued...
