With two rental cars loaded up (our travel luggage + stuff we’re storing at the Cape), we carvaned to West Harwich, MA to spend a week with my family. My parents (Grammy & Gramps) live half the year in Cape Cod, and we were fortunate to overlap for the week with my sister, Erinn, and her awesome family from the DC area.
Typically we roll onto the Cape for our annual Summer visit with a long list of things we want to do. This year was different. Only two things made this year’s list:
1) Enjoy quality time with my family
2) Have drinks & hors devours on the beach
Thankfully we joyfully knocked both off the list :)
RTW Begins Here!
We arrived at the Cape to find a massive sign above my parents’ garage that said “The RTW Begins Here!” (RTW = Round the World) Incredibly sweet & thoughtful!!! That little gesture went a long way to make us feel loved & supported in our journey ahead.
Cape Crew
Anytime the 11 of us are together, the energy level is high and laughs abound! This week together did not disappoint, and in many ways, it was even more special, given we’ll go a full year before we’ll all be together again. The kiddos (cousins Gibson, Paige, Grayson, Sadie & Mason) are thick as thieves; they play incredibly well together. Whether they were making forts, playing some game they concocted in the backyard, or snuggling into their sleeping bags at bedtime, their chatter & giggles were non-stop. With the kids basically entertaining themselves for large chunks of time, us adults (Grammy, Gramps, Erinn, Diz, Sarah & Doug) got loads of quality time chatting and hanging out.
We filled the week at the Cape with all kinds of fun things, some old favorites & others new:
Animal show at the Museum of Natural History where we got to learn about cockatoos, hedgehogs and fennec fox (among others)
Early family celebration of Grayson’s 8th birthday
4th of July parade in Chatham
Magical 4th of July fireworks down at our local beach
Williams sisters (Sarah & Erinn, not Serena & Venus!) battling it out on the local tennis courts
Pleasant Lake swimming & paddle boarding
Daytrip to “Starfish Island” out on Grammy & Gramps’ boat
Ice cream-palooza
Hike out to Coast Guard beach
Tide pool creature exploring
Miniature golf & chocolate smoothies with Grammy, Aunt E, Uncle Dizzy & boys
Hard to Say Goodbye
Goodbye was hard. Really hard. Even as I write this I’m tearing up. Grammy & Gramps are joining us this Fall in Croatia, Greece & Egypt, so we are thankful & thrilled we’ll get to see them and experience new places together soon enough. So with Grammy & Gramps it was “see you on October 1st in Croatia!”, making for an “easier” goodbye. In all likelihood, though, we won’t see my sister & family until we’re back stateside in Summer 2020. It’s really hard to think of not seeing them - five of the people we care most about - for a whole year. Yes, we’ll have video chats and messaging (which is great), but that isn’t the same as seeing each other a few times a year, which is our norm. Our goodbye to the Locarias was tough & tearful all around.
Rolling out of the Cape house, tooting our horn and waving goodbye, we go knowing the Locarias and Grammy & Gramps will be cheering us on from afar during our year of adventuring; and they know we send our love & support right back to them!
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