another beautiful summer weekend

Jack, Elizabeth, and I went for a walk on Mackworth Island in Falmouth on Saturday afternoon.  The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway and is home to the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf.  There's a wooded walking path that goes all around the island, with stairs that go down to the beach and ocean at various points along the way.  We spent lots of time on the beaches, looking in tidal pools and collecting shells--Jack and I enjoyed exploring the beach.  We'd walked quite a ways before we found what Elizabeth had been looking forward to seeing:  the Fairy House Village!  There were at least a hundred different houses:  big and little, from the very simple and to the unbelievably elaborate.  Elizabeth had a great time building her very own fairy house.  A fairy house may only be built of found items, so she used bits of tree bark, pine cones, twigs, rocks, and shells to construct hers.  When she was done, it was beautiful!  We stopped at a school playground and played there for a while, then went to Toots for ice cream, and then headed home.  Once home, they played outside on the swingset until Elizabeth was stung on the face by a bee?  a wasp?  I'm not sure, but we came inside and put ice on it until she felt better.  She and I played Scrabble before we (finally!) went to bed.  (By the way, she won!).  We spent the next morning in the pool.  Jack, however, watched a movie and took a nap.  (Though he really enjoyed his swimming lessons last summer, Jack's not too thrilled with our pool right now.  Maybe next year will be better?).  A couple weekends ago, he got in the pool with Elizabeth and I and was having a great time sitting on one of the floats until he leaned over too far and fell off the float.  He briefly went underwater before his arm floaties brought him to the surface and I could get to him.  Poor little guy!  We'll try again this weekend!

And, I signed Elizabeth up for dance today on my way home from work.  She'll take ballet and tap/jazz lessons back-to-back again on Saturdays.  Classes begin in September...oh, my goodness!  That's next month!