Day Trip to Rhode Island

The nice thing about living in New England is not having to drive far to find something totally different from your every day life. I grew up in spitting distance from Massachusetts and Rhode Island (although I never did try that) and was only a car ride from shopping at Quincy Market or sunbathing in the ocean sand. It's a glorious place to live.

After I got married, I moved out here to the Western Hills of Connecticut, and now I'm close to New York state, which adds another dimension to my travels. So much to see, so little time. Soon my family and I will take our annual drive up to Freeport, Maine, where we shop at the outlet stores and buy WAY too much at LLBean. I'm also getting excited to travel up thru the Berkshires to check out the fall colors next week.

This past weekend we took a van ride to Rhode Island. Hubby and I, and the 3 kids. My son is hours away from turning 6 and my girls are 4 and 3. We usually take a few summer trips over to the ocean to dig for clams and eat some great seafood, but our lives got hectic this year. And with the weather still summer-like, we thought a jaunt to the beach to get some good food and stick our toes in the sand would be a fun family trip.

And it was. We got to the beach and it was so foggy. Come to find out, it was just that little piece of land sticking out into the ocean that was foggy, that wonderful town called Point Judith. On our way home, the sun came back out as we traveled farther inland. The lobster and steamers were glorious; the kids LOVED to collect shells and dip their toes in the salty water. My son is all excited to bring his shells to show-and-tell at school tomorrow. And the ride was full of laughter, music and happy, content kids. Thank goodness my kids have always traveled well.

It was a wonderful family day trip. And it didn't take long to get there.

Blogtoberfest!

Last year I missed Blogtoberfest but I heard it was a blast. People posted about how much fun they had, how interesting it was to meet other Boston area bloggers, and how many new ideas they got about posting. It was organized by Jenny, of All Eyes on Jenny, who is an artist and has a funny blog about the single life in Boston. Ah, memories!

Well, like all great things, Blogtoberfest is returning this year! I've already signed up, but I'm hoping the NEMamas represent. Anyone else interested in going? It is a way to get our site noticed, and maybe we can sponsor some sort of small prize.

Blogtoberfest sounds like a blast. And don't we all need an evening out without children? I know I do.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

The Pour House
907 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts

Cape Cod in the Fall

One of the things I love about living on Cape Cod is the way the people leave at the end of August. Don't get me wrong - I'm not a tourist-hater - but the drop in population (and traffic) is always welcome. Since we moved here almost 8 years ago, the year-round population has increased to almost 250,000 residents spread throughout the Cape. In contrast, I read a recent article that said almost 6 million people visit the Cape each year, which is roughly equivalent to the entire population of the state of Massachusetts!

With this kind of population explosion and contraction each year, many businesses shut down for the off-season. Over the years that we have lived here, I have discovered many year-round places to enjoy, but if you are thinking of coming here for a visit, I recommend coming in the fall. September and October are great down here - the weather is mild, still hot enough for the beach at times but cooler at night. The seasonal businesses don't begin shutting down until the end of October. You can drive up to almost any restaurant, park right in front, and be seated immediately, no matter how crowded and exclusive it may be in the summer months.

The best part is the great outdoors. Right now, it's green and lush outside, but in a few weeks, the colors will start to come out. The cranberry bogs will turn scarlet, and the trees will flame, and a walk around the bog in the back of our house will be a new adventure for my kids. The bugs that make slogging through the woods miserable for them will go away, and as the undergrowth thins out the kids are happy once again to go poking around for rocks and leaves and twigs - treasure!

If you are thinking of coming to the Cape in the fall with your kids for outdoor fun, The Insider's Guide to Cape Cod website has loads of information. There are conservation areas and walking trails all over the Cape. One of our favorite places is the Botanical Trails in Yarmouthport. You can also find guides on the websites of most towns under conservation or recreation. For example, here is the list of downloadable PDF files for various Barnstable trails.

For rainy days, there are other options, such as the Cape Cod Children's Museum, but honestly? Some of the best nature walks I've had with my kids have been on these not-too-warm, not-too-cold drizzly fall days ...just like today!

Do I have a meet-up idea for you!

I'm a Pottery Barn affiliate (I have PB ads on my blog occasionally) and today I got email from PB about a FREE decorating class they're offering. Yes, that would be FREE. My all time favorite word.

The class will be Sunday, August 19. The ad says "Join us for a complementary class and learn tips on organizing and adding style to your workspace." Just what I need as my workspace is disorganized and messy! Hey, I share it with two teenagers. I'm not the worst of the slobs in our house.



Anyhow, I want to call and sign up, and I need a show of hands to see who else wants to go. My closest Pottery Barn is at the Atrium in Chestnut Hill. But according to the web site, there are more in the general New England area. If you can't make it to Chestnut Hill, maybe you can make it to one of these stores and we can compare notes.

So who is up for a decorating challange? And just to make sure you're up it, post a photo of your workspace so we can see who needs the most help. I bet I win!

Sparing you the 5 bad Hopper puns that just sprang to mind

This weekend, we were entertaining the Southern grandparents. They haven't always been Southern, they just happen to live down in Dixieland now and venture north on occasion to make disparaging comments about the weather and the manners of complete strangers. Seriously, it's like being with former smokers who now can't stand to be within a quarter mile of cigarette smoke. Only much more annoying.

Whenever they come to New England for any period of time, they have a few rituals- if it's summer, they go to P-town, do the nostalgia tours of their hometowns, walk the beach in Newburyport (where they lived for many years) and scarf down as much Bertuccis pizza as they can without becoming sick. Aside: we may have snowy winters, but at least we have good pizza. Many (not all) Southerners view Dominos and Papa Johns as simply wonderful and live their whole lives in ignorance of places like Ernesto's and Pizzeria Regina and Bertuccis or even (my favorite, I'll admit) Papa Gino's. While Dominos certainly serves a purpose, it's not the pinnacle of pizza by any stretch and should only be turned to in the case of a pizza emergency.

Friday found us all at the Museum of Fine Arts for the Edward Hopper Exhibit. I am a proud art geek. I have a degree in art history and have been known to spend hours gazing at things many consider completely uninteresting. My dad's an artist and Hopper is his muse, so I knew we were going to have a good time, regardless of what went on inside the galleries. I am happy to say that the exhibit exceeded our expectations.

Hopper is the Hemingway of American Modernism. His style is stark, but it does the trick; it's all about what you don't see. The exhibit begins with many of his earliest etchings and oils and follows his style through various media. By the end of his exhibit- and life- you will see the icons for which he's most known and remembered.

Kiddo and I rented audio tours, which for four bucks (for hers, mine was slightly more) was well worth the money. She was able to zero in on paintings with the headphone icon and listen to descriptions of the works. That held her long enough for me to look around, then we did a short "lesson" about the various works, composition, the finer points of curation (she's getting good at telling why certain things are hung together). When she had finally had enough, I handed her my ipod and she sat on the big cushiony thing in the last gallery.

By the time we left the exhibit it was way past her usual dinner time so we hit the cafeteria for a slice of pizza. A man approached us and said "We followed you and your daughter through the exhibit. You're a very good teacher." It was lovely to receive praise from a complete stranger, but it also got me thinking about leading an outing for the Mamas and our assorted cubs this fall. We could pay our own admission and Kiddo and I would love to lead a scavenger hunt for some of the younger kids (that's how I always kept her occupied in the museum when she was younger- a clip board, some paper, and a whole lotta crayons). We also make Art in Bloom a yearly tradition and I'd love to organize an outing for that weekend in the spring as well. Let me know if you have any interest. Until then- get thee to Hopper. The exhibit closes on August 19th and advance tickets are required which include admission to the rest of the exhibits. General admission to the museum is FREE on Wednesday nights.