Driving in the car with Burpy McGee

Hey! Remember how I went on a girls only vacation to Cape Cod for a whole week and I was the youngest person present (which is a good thing)? No? Yeah...probably because I never blog. But here I am blogging about it now for those of you who may have missed my Facebook updates and Tweets while events transpired. And, yes, by "events" I mostly mean "eating food."

Did you not catch the part about it being a girls only vacation? We sat poolside, went to the beach, shopped and ate. And read a lot of books. And crocheted. Because that's how we roll in my family.

So my mom and my sister and I drove up with my mom's cousin, Nancy, and met my Aunt and my cousin's wife, Sherri, at the house. My cousin, Kim, joined us for a couple of days in the middle of the week.

Here we all are at an awesome tea place up the street from my Aunt's house. It's some kind of renovated meat barn that now serves as an art gallery and serves tea parties. It's pretty much amazing. Apparently I like a place that serves dainty tea cakes while I look at location-specific art and giant meat hooks hanging from the ceiling. The thing is, the art is gorgeous and the food is so incredibly tasty...and giant meat hooks! Who doesn't love that?

(and this is where I tell you to please overlook the fact that these are all cell phone pictures. my camera is broken and our life is not properly documented when my camera is broken. end disclaimer.)

Mom and Lauren posing, even though they didn't really want to. How I love them.

L to R: Aunt Sharon, Nancy, Sherri and Kim

Me and my sissie.

Extreme close-up, but the other one is too blurry and gives me three eyes. Which is not a thing that I have. So close-up is what you get.

I didn't get any pictures, but the first day there we all went to brunch and I got to do the one thing I wanted to do on this trip (besides tan and not work), eat delicious Eggs Benedict. Along with a lot of other delicious things, but the Eggs Benedict was divine. And then, Nancy taught me how to make my own AND she put crab meat on them. So my life is pretty much complete.

The second day there (after a day at the beach), I was cooking dinner on the grill (another new skill I learned...but will henceforth claim I did not learn bc I never want to be in charge of grilling things), and I realized how great it was that we all basically did the same things at the same time. We came home, cleaned up, then sat down and picked up a book. I walked into the living room and everyone but me and whoever was in the shower was reading a book. All happily enjoying the peace and quiet of a house free of children. So the week basically went on like that and we were all so happy.

And now a selection of random photos:

The lobster thingy that vibrated when our food was ready at Seafood Sam's.

Eating delish ice cream.

Oh thanks, Forever 21. Thank you so much for this awful mannequin pose. And by awful I mean great.

Dwight K. Shrute.

My mom is awesome. The end.

These statues were every where in this one shopping place we go to. They reminded us too much of a Weeping Angel, so I took a picture and then avoided all the others. This is what happens to you when you watch Doctor Who 75% of the time.

I ate a lobster roll. And it was good.

The Hoho brings presents

Indeed.

Monkey calls Santa "The Hoho." I told Lauren that it sounds slightly inappropriate. Megan says it makes her think of a snack cake delivering presents. Both provide lovely mental images.

Yesterday we got to talk on Skype (best invention ever) so I got to stare at how beautiful Bug is (and how much he's changed in just twoish weeks - the difference is amazing when you don't see them everyday!) and I got to sit and talk to Monkey. Talking to Monkey basically means I just watch him do his thing and listen to whatever he feels like sharing. Sometimes that means nonsense words, sometimes I get a song. Yesterday I got both of those and I got to watch him writing. He wrote my name and said "This is your name, Zizi and you're a famous mom and you're a mom." I have no idea what that really means, but I loved it. I think he also told me at one point he was pretending to be a doctor. I'm guessing he was thinking in terms of writing notes in a folder or on a prescription pad as I'm sure he's seen the doctor do both. He started asking me questions at one point too which was, of course, adorable.

It's amazing how much they've both changed. This is for Lauren's sake that I'm writing this as she sees the boys everyday, but they are different. There were words Monkey was pronouncing much clearer and I even heard a distinct "S" during the alphabet song. Bug's face just looked different. He really is a handsome boy. They both are.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of that. I miss those boys and my sissie and Wil. Not to mention my mom. Mom and I also had a good talk on the phone Saturday morning that made me stop and appreciate the fact that Mom, Lauren and I truly are more than just family, we're friends. It's an amazing blessing and makes all of this easier and more difficult all at the same time.