Vacation Roundup

I know, I know -- this is supposed to be a blog about our renovation. But I took so many photos during our week on the Cape that I just had to share a few more...

Here's a house that has trimmed its hedge to resemble a whale, complete with water spouting from the blowhole.
And this one has a playhouse that is an exact replica of itself!
This is the view along the little harborfront beach across the street from our house.
Every Friday night in the summer (since 1936!) there is a free concert at the local bandstand. People show up very early to stake out a spot on the lawn, and come back later in the evening with a picnic dinner. It is a great evening of campy, family-friendly fun! Kids and adults are encouraged to dance around the bandstand for certain portions of the evening, and there are several audience-participation numbers (Old McDonald, BINGO, etc). The band leader is 86, and most of the musicians are about the same age, with a few high school and college kids mixed in. They all don bunny ears for grand finale -- the Bunny Hop! It is a real hoot to watch everyone get caught up in the silliness -- not just little kids, but parents, grandparents, and even teenagers!
Saturday Josh spent 5 hours windsurfing. I made him take me out to dinner to make up for it.
Josh's cousin Hugh and his fiancee Lyndsay (and their dog, Olive) arrived late Saturday night. That made it even harder for us to leave the next morning, but we'll all be back in a couple weeks for Josh's grandmother's (Florrie) memorial service.
It took us nearly 12 hours to drive home, thanks to all the traffic on I-95. It was strange to walk into our house -- I think our vacation had so effectively taken our minds off of the renovation that we practically forgot all about it, so we were expecting the house to look like it did 7 months ago. We were pleasantly surprised that it did not.

Speaking of the memorial service, I forgot to mention earlier that Uncle Josh had given us an assignment right before he left. He asked us to go to the local cemetery where Josh's grandfather is buried and remove his old grave marker -- the family had new matching ones made for Josh's grandparents -- and then fill in the hole and scatter some grass seed so it will look a little nicer when it's time to bury Florrie's ashes next to her husband's. So, Josh and I showed up at the cemetery on Wednesday with shovels, gloves, and a tarp. I'm sure that didn't look suspicious at all...