Xiaoniu 小妞

We just got back last weekend from our trip to Cape Cod. It was the first vacation we’ve taken since getting married and the first one that we’ve taken with Sue’s sister Amy. It was also the very first vacation for both James and Emelia. We all had a great time, but I doubt I’m not the only one that is relieved to be home again. Picture and video will be posted later.

Day 0

I took off the day before leaving to take care of some last minute chores like getting an oil change for the van and having the screw removed from the rear tire. Not to mention some last minute laundry and packing. It was exciting to get ready for a big trip and I was eager to get all the last minute stuff done as soon as possible.

Day 1

We left the house just after 9am and hoped to arrive around 1:30pm figuring that we would drive for four hours and take one stop during the trip. We ended up hitting some bad traffic in a few places which made for frazzled nerves and irritated children.

The intersection of I-90 and I-84 is horribly busy. We spent some time getting passed that and then trying to get off of I-90 and onto I-495. That took longer than necessary because of the long lines of folks without Fast Lane and EzPass tags. We also hit some heavy traffic getting to and going over the Bourne bridge and traveling down route 6 once on the cape.

By the time we finally arrived at the house we were all eager to get out of the van and stretch our legs. The kids were whiny and Emelia did plenty of crying during the last hour of the trip. We took a quick look at the house, chose bedrooms and relieved the van of all our stuff. Then it was off to the pizza/Mexican food restaurant right next door for a couple of pies.

Afterwards we made our way home to unpack our bags and then Sue and I got on the road yet again in order to scope out the local shopping. We decided to buy food locally and had to find the stores. I completely forgot to write down the addresses for the stores. It took about 30 minutes and numerous stops for directions before finding BJ’s and Stop ’n’ Shop. We stocked up on a case of water and lots of food for the week.

After the long day of driving and shopping we went back to the house and crashed. Sleeping should have been easy, but I just couldn’t sleep on the bed we had and the pillow was worthless.

Day 2

On our first full day on the cape we made our way down to Craigville beach. The beach is actually about one quarter of a mile away and we ended up walking there just to check it out. We ended up staying there and walked back to the house for the van and a load of supplies.

Craigville beach was great. The surf was very calm and the water was warm like pool water. I was able to coax Emelia into going into the water while in my arms. The noise made her nervous and sometimes she indicated that she wanted to get out, but she didn’t cry. She got a good feel for the water and got plenty of time to play in the sand. Even Sue had a great time. I was able to coax her out into the water to jump when the waves came crashing in.

The beach was busy this day though. I took Emelia for a walk to calm her down for a nap and it was then that I got a chance to see how the place had filled up. All of the parking lots were full and people were lined up and waiting for somebody to leave so that they could park their car. What a joke. Thankfully we had a parking pass that got us free parking and we arrived early so we beat the rush.

Day 3

One stop that was a must for us was Provincetown. Sue and I like the atmosphere and walking around and into the small shops, although, on this trip we did little more than walk around for the day. With kids in tow it was tough to do anything else.

After a while Mike and James boarded a whale watching boat and spent a good three hours at see watching whales. The rest of us made our way to a pub/restaurant (Governor Bradford) for lunch and to soak up the a/c. Emelia did well, but was bored. We spent a lot of time entertaining and feeding her throughout the day.

The trip back was a huge chore. For some unknown reason the police closed down a section of route 6 and forced two lanes of traffic onto a single lane back road. To compound the problem this was at the time when people, like us, were leaving P-town to return home. It was also time for most folks to head home from the beach.

It was frustrating and excruciatingly boring for everybody in the car, especially Emelia who was wide awake and bored our of her mind. She did a lot of crying that day. It took about 2 and half hours to get home. An hour and half delay spent on the back roads of Truro and Wellfleet.

Day 4

On day four we decided to head out to Craigville beach again. We figured that we could get some sun and fun in before the afternoon storms rolled in. It didn’t take long before the sky darkened and we were ordered out of the water and out of the area. The first loud crack of thunder and lightning lit a fire under some asses that day. Everybody was taking their time getting out of there until they heard the thunder. They were working a lot faster after that. We made it home just in time to see a sprinkle of rain hit the area. North of our area got hit much worse.

When things dried up Sue and I brought Emelia out for a walk around Craigville village. It is an interesting area and I was able to venture back for another look later in the week. I wish I brought my camera and got some pictures, but I’m not sure if it would have been allowed. There was an odd air about the place.

That night Amy and Mike decided to take their night off and go out to dinner by themselves. We planned this in advance and took our night off on Day 6. They headed out to Captain Parker’s Pub for some grub while we took care of the kids. They never miss going there at least once each trip out to the cape.

Day 5

Day five was for the kids. We started the day by making our way out to Pancake Man for a great breakfast of the artery clogging type. The Steak Bomb omelette with three pancakes for me. A fruit bowl for Meimei. Yum!

After filling up we made our way to the Zooquarium where the kids got to look at some fish and pet a few animals. Mike and I took a break and didn’t go in on this one. It did not seem worth it for all parents to go and in the end it saved us money. There was no need for all of us to go in.

Last up before heading home for dinner was the Cape Cod chip factory. It has a short, self guided tour of the factory. Basically, you get to walk down a hallway and stare at the people making chips all the while reading the information written on the walls. Last up is buying their chips at full price in their gift shop. I would have at least expected to buy chips at a cheaper price than our supermarket, but at least it was all fresh. They are a small company, but they make a hell of a chip.

To finish off the day we got out for a game of miniature golf. I was skeptical about bringing Emelia, but in the end she did very well. She had a great day and was patient enough for us to help her play a game of golf. James had a great time playing too.

Day 6

The second to last day was our big trip to the ocean beach. We made our way out to Nauset beach an spend the entire day there. We arrived around 9:30 and left around x3:30. So, we got to see the tide come in from low to high tide.

Everybody had a great time. The water was cold and the waves were only slightly more active than Nantucket sound. A few bigger waves occasionally, but overall it was quite calm for ocean surf. Emelia wanted nothing to do with water that day and spent almost the entire time playing in the sand. I spent a lot of time in the water and playing in the sand with Emelia.

The cold water took some getting used to, but the beach really is nice. The place filled in very quickly after we arrived and just about all of the sand was covered in people and their stuff. We were lucky to have arrived early enough to spread out our things and claim a large area for ourselves. By the end people crowded us in, but nobody was upset.

This was Sue and my night out on the town. We headed out around 5pm and ran some errands. A trip to the store for diapers and a trip to the local grocery store for cheap veggies and fruit. By the time we left we figured out that the store was actually a Brazilian store and everybody around us was speaking Portuguese. It doesn’t sound like Spanish, but you could easily mistake the written language for Spanish if you are careless. The attached Brazilian steakhouse/bakery didn’t click with me until later.

For dinner we headed out to Hyannis for a meal at The Roadhouse Cafe. The deceivingly odd looking building and misnamed restaurant does not match the interior of the building, the service and the food. It was great. The restaurant is upscale, which Sue and I enjoy, and the service was excellent. It didn’t hurt that we were early for dinner, but I feel that our waitress would have been just as nice had the place been packed.

The food was very good as well. They serve fresh sour dough baguette with their dipping oil made up of numerous herbs, spices and salt. Yummy! I ate more than half the bread while enjoying the great company.

We ordered the hot antipasto appetizer to start, which was excellent: stuffed mushroom caps; scallops wrapped in bacon; clams casino; and Oysters Rockefeller. Each item was excellent.

For dinner Sue had a hot and spicy dish of lobster, scallops, and shrimp over linguine. My entree was a pistachio encrusted salmon steak with jasmine rice and asparagus. A nice light meal that hit the spot.

After our meal we went back to the house to find that Emelia went to sleep early for once and we got a chance to chill for a while and let the food digest.

Day 7

Day seven was our last day on the cape. Emelia had a great night of sleep and was in an excellent mood. We spent some time picking up the house, doing laundry and packing our bags before piling up into the van for a trip out to Dennis for a bike trip.

We rented bikes from the local rental place and made our way out onto the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Not one of us has ridden in many years, but we all did surprisingly well. We rented a trailer for Emelia, which I was going to tow with my bike. James was going to ride on the back of one of his parents’ bike, but they were our of seats. So, James ended up in the cart with Emelia. I got the job of pulling both of the kids for the entire trip, which made for a good workout of both body and patience.

The trail is very well maintained and very level so it was pretty easy going even for us older, out of shape folks. We made it about 3 miles before stopping to figure out what to do for lunch. That doesn’t sound like we went far, but with half a dozen stops to take care of the kids, deal with Amy’s crashed bike and stop when crossing main roads we were feeling the pain of the trip and needed a break.

We ended up going to a small Mexican restaurant right down from the trail. We slurped down tasty, fresh tortilla chips with fresh salsa and ordered up some food. Sue got some kind of salad with refried beans and chicken. I got a combo enchiladas plate to share with Emelia, but she didn’t want anything to do with it. I don’t blame her after seeing it for myself. It tasted okay, but looked horrible. Very messy, but tasted okay.

By now Emelia is overtired and ready to nap, but we still had to at least make our way back. Needless to say that the 5 miles back were powered by the screaming child I was towing. How embarrassing it feels when you are helpless to make the kid happy and to get back to the car. So, we made it back and she screamed, a lot.

You always get two kinds of stares too. One says, “You people really should shut that kid up. It’s annoying.” The other stare says, “You poor people. I feel your pain and wish you luck reaching your destination with your sanity in check.” We usually dish out the latter now that we are parents.

I should also mention that when we were at Pancake Man our little one was throwing quite the fit since she wanted to stay outside and play and we needed to leave. A couple getting out of their car right next to us praised our patience and ability not to get flustered by the big display that Emelia was putting on for everybody in that corner of Cape Cod to see. Little do they know that Emelia was only warming up. She can turn it all the way up to 11 when she feels the need.

After returning our bikes and getting the money sorted out we went back home to finish packing our crap and cleaning up the place a bit. We took the time to clean out and eat as much of our food as possible so as to not waste anything. Our cooler would be full on the way home even with our best efforts.

We left on time exactly at 7pm. The trip back was quite uneventful until we hit I-495. Thankfully, Emelia was asleep by then and we only had to answer the occasional question from James until he zonked out. We even made a stop and successfully got Emelia back to sleep without crying, which goes down as a record in my opinion. We hit two parts of I-495 where there was some night-time construction, but that was all. The trip went very well and we got back around 11:30pm.

That’s the long and boring version. I’ll post some pictures as soon as I can.