First, a brief background on the Holzes. Gordon and Andrew have been friends for a long time. Ummm at least high school, maybe longer - I wasn't there so I'm not sure. Oh - I just got clarification! Apparently they met in 7th grade, but Gordon's reputation preceded him. Andrew and Gordon went to different elementary schools, West End and East End (Pet Shop Boys anyone?). And in 3rd or 4th grade Gordon was easily the biggest kid on his little league team. So Andrew knew of Gordon as that "big Chinese kid" from West End. Ha! Tammy met them in college, she and Andrew were married a while back and now they have two children, Julia (6) and Nate (nearly 3). We spend as much time as we can with them - both in New Jersey and Boston. When I met them Tammy was pregnant with Julia. Gordon and I were enamored with Julia immediately and thought "wow kids are so great, lets have a bunch too!" ha ha - no seriously - she was one of my first "kid experiences" and definitely got me looking forward to starting our own family some day. Nate came along in 2005 - Tammy was pretty pregnant with him at our wedding actually.
Julia, Andrew and Nate This year we decided to try a traditional "family vacation". You know - when you go somewhere other than the house of one of the families involved and wreck that place instead? We converged on New London, CT when looking for a place that was accessible to both of us, near a beach, yet also near other attractions. We ended up in a house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms and an outdoor shower. The house itself is a bit dated and cooking in the kitchen is a little of a challenge, but the space and location are really great. Everyone has their own bedroom and there are even two family rooms - so people can get some time off when they need it.
We are within walking distance of a little private beach that is just perfect for us in terms of size. It's close enough that we can haul sand chairs, umbrellas, boogie boards and little ones by foot without wanting to shoot ourselves before we get there. There's a little dock thing for jumping off that is easy to swim too and a bunch of rocks for exploring. Julia is big into that and was excited to find starfish around the beach on their first day here. She was less psyched on Sunday because it was seaweed-y and the beach "smelled yucky".
Julia watching the oceanGordon and I had a wedding to attend in Newport, RI on Saturday night so the Holzes arrived a day before we did. We drove down on Sunday morning and spent the afternoon exploring our little beach. Lily had a GREAT time. She loved the sand, she loved the water. Gordon took her out on one of the boogie boards and she loved that too. Nate and Andrew had dug a huge hole and Lily decided to move the ocean from its current place into that hole. She found a plastic Dora cup that someone had discarded - much more manageable for her than the big plastic buckets - and proceeded to troop back and forth between the ocean and the hole, bringing back cupfuls of water to dump in each time. She was SO determined. Man, she's definitely my kid. It sort of reminded me of how, when working for my Dad at his engineering firm in the summer, I would spend ALL day going through files and removing ONE piece of paper from each one just because they told me too. The futility of the task did not deter me, I was all dogged persistence. Well, that's Lily. I'm so sorry kiddo!
Surfer Girl
Nate hamming it up
Little girl, big bucket
Determination at its cutest
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