As a way of bringing closure to our good times at Cape Cod, each of us (with some adult supervision, when needed) created a post to provide some insight on some of our favorite things about our 10 days at the Cape. This is Sarah's post.

We go to the beach a lot.  One day we made a foot pool.  A kid asked us if he could help.   We said sure and the kid's name was Josh.  And then his sister asked us and we said sure and her name was Claire.
Then we played with the splat ball with Josh and Claire and we had a lots of fun with them.  Later on that day we found out that we lived really close to each other.

On our last day, we played badminton with them.  They had a net that they bringed so that we could all play.  We bringed our badminton thingees (Editor's note: thingees translates to racquets).  And we played with them.  They bringed their racquets too.  They bringed four of them.  We only brought two (Editor's note:  I too am unsure what to make of Sarah's consistent use of "bringed" and then suddenly switching to "brought" in the last sentence).

And in the morning we left from Cape Cod.  We were really sad because we like Cape Cod with a lot.  We liked the beach.  We liked everything there.  But now we can email Josh and Claire, so we can Skype with them and we'll see each other again soon.

Editor's note:  After drafting her Cape Cod reflections, Sarah reviewed our photos and provided commentary on the ones she wanted to include in the blog.  In hindsight, I should have thought to ask Sarah to pick a few photos.  I'm pretty sure if she had her way, she would have posted all the photos to this blog with a quick blurb to explain the photo's significance.  Instead, you'll need to settle for Sarah's insight on 11 of the photos we took at the Cape.

At Cape Cod we went to the beach a lot.  It was really fun.  We went in the water and had a water gun fight.  We got on our body boards and rode waves.  It was really cool.  One day we were building a foot pool and we met some kids named Josh and Claire.  They live in Ohio!

We went on a bike trail and I got to use my new neon green Trek bike.  We went I'd say about a mile maybe and we went past a lake (it was a freshwater lake).  A few days later, we biked back to the lake and played in it.  The water was really clear and it tasted good.  I found a clam at the lake.  We opened it and apparently it was still alive - I think we killed it.  :(

I got a new skimboard at Outer Banks and I went skimboarding for the first time with my new board.  I could skimboard pretty often, but only at high tide.  It's really fun, but you gotta get used to it.  The first year I got my first skimboard, I kept on falling off.  If the beach isn't level, it's hard to keep your balance.  I'm working on doing a 360 (it's when you put your hand down so it barely touches the water and it makes you spin 360 degrees).

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Grand Slam.  Grand Slam is like a bumper boat, batting cage, and arcade combination.  It's really fun.  The bumper boats are cool because not only are you in water (it's basically bumper cars), but you can squirt water too.  I totally soaked Dad at bumper boats.

 I did the batting cage where it went 35 miles per hour.  Dad did a really fast batting cage and did really good.  We never really do the arcade, but Grand Slam has a radar cage and we did that.  I topped out at 32 miles per hour.  (Dad originally typed 332 miles per hour.  I wish it really was that fast.  Nobody would be able to hit off of me if I threw that fast. And my pitches would be faster than Nolan Ryan and Stephen Strasburg.)

As a way of bringing closure to our good times at Cape Cod, each of us (with some adult supervision, when needed) created a post to provide some insight on some of our favorite things about our 10 days at the Cape. This is John's post.

In 2008, I installed a trailer hitch on our Subaru. At the same time, I bought a bike rack to use with said trailer hitch.  The bike rack holds four bikes.  Sarah was only 2 years old at the time and, understandably, not quite riding a bike.  However, my hitch/bike rack plan assumed that she would eventually become a bike rider and when that day came, the hitch/bike rack would be know as the "greatest purchase ever" because of its instrumental role in supporting the Finamore family bike rides.  That day when the extreme importance of the hitch/bike rack would be known to the world came this year at the Cape.

Caleb has a new bike (courtesy of Santa).  Sarah, on the other hand, has been riding a bike with training wheels (also courtesy of Santa), but has begun transitioning to Caleb's old bike that doesn't have training wheels.  With baseball practice and games taking up most of our spring and early summer, Sarah hadn't done much practicing on the bike without training wheels recently.  As a result, we brought both bikes for her with the thought that we could do some non-training wheels practicing during our vacation. 

It turns out Sarah didn't really need much practice.  I did a little holding of her seat to help her balance during her rides on our first full day, but by our second day she was riding on her own.  And by the end of our visit, she was a master.  And with this newfound biking ability came a desire from Sarah to bike everywhere.  And, since everyone loves a good bike ride, Caleb joined in on many of our trips.  

I didn't keep track of how much we actually biked, but given our trips to the one-stop convenience store for donuts and the morning paper, the ice cream shop for italian ice, the bakery for breakfast treats, the much-loved Dog House hot dog stand for lunch, the Cape Cod bike trail with a stop for lunch, the Cape Cod bike trail on a different day to take a dip in a lake, and our morning trips to the beach to provide the house with a beach report, I'm guessing Sarah, Caleb, and I probably biked somewhere in the vicinity of 20 miles.  Not too shabby for a girl who just learned to ride a bike and a boy who is still adjusting to his new bike.

So, when I think back on Cape Cod 2012, I will think of it as the year I began taking bike trips with the kids. And I will smile when I think about these first few Finamore family biking adventures.

After hearing Caleb's poetry recital, Sarah decided she wanted to show off her artistic talents by writing a story.  Given that Sarah learned to read this past school year and is just starting to write out sentences, we didn't know what to expect.  But since we still had a few more hours before arriving in Cape Cod, we were certainly willing to find out.

To be honest, the only thing that will do Sarah's story justice is a video of her doing a reading of her story, "Dog Cat Cow."  Luckily, I had a feeling this was going to be good, so I videotaped it.  

But before you watch the video, let me mention a few things:

1.  I too have never heard of a dog cat cow.

2.  I too am not sure why the title of the story is 'dog cat cow' but the subject of the story was a 'cat cow dog'.

(SPOILER ALERT - The third item provides some insight on the plot of "Dog Cat Cow.")
3.  I too was relieved to hear that the cat cow dog got some food.

Written by guest blogger, Kate.  :)

So I was the first driver this morning, taking the 5am to 8:30 first leg. We stopped at the beloved Vince Lombardi rest area, last gas stop in Jersey, filled the tank and got some snacks. I tried to buy a single serve container of watermelon chunks. Then they told me it cost $4.69. I could buy a whole watermelon for that! So I gave in to the service area fast food culture, and we ate prepackaged muffins and cinnamon rolls. Sometimes I can't help it, my cheap gene overtakes my desire to feed my children healthy options. John drove for a while and then Sarah needed a potty stop. So now it's almost 11am and I say I'll drive again, thinking I can probably finish the trip.

Ha.

I get about an hour down the road and I am sleepy eyed and my back is throbbing. How did I get so dang old?

John is kind enough not to make fun of me and points out an exit ramp on our immediate right. Sarah announces she has to go potty again, which gets me off the hook a little for the extra stop, so as we get off, what's the first option for a restroom?

Ice cream for lunch is acceptable on the 4th of July, right?

We packed the car after dinner, got some shut eye (though, as always, not as much as we would have preferred), and began the 4th of July holiday in the car at 5am heading to Cape Cod.

Following our standard road trip protocol, we had stocked the backseat of the car with books, snacks, and writing utensils to help the kids pass the 9+ hour trip. After reading and snacking for a bit, Caleb proclaimed he wanted to write some haiku. Within a few minutes he had created an ode to his travel pillow and a gem about roses.

My travel pillow
is comfy and very soft
I use it on trips

A rose has petals
A rose is so beautiful
Please stop and smell it

And after the poetry recital, we took a few pictures of the artist and his cute little sister.