Manor By the Sean

I grew up spending a few weeks of every summer at my grandparents house outside of Chicago with my cousins.  My mom is one of three sisters, the middle sister.  Bobbie, her older sister had three boys and Sherry, her much younger sister, waited for her prince charming, but eventually added a girl cousin to the mix. I have so many fond memories of those weeks at "Camp Underwood".  My grandma, Isabel, would hire a mother's helper/swim instructor, she planned a few outings, but mostly we just played outside together.  

This summer, my cousin Gregg and I got a bee in our bonnet to recreate Camp Underwood with the new generation of second cousins.  It took a lot of searching, but we found a house on Cape Cod that could accommodate 20+ people and a house right down the beach that could accommodate 6+.  Both houses were on Pleasant Bay (a favorite spot for the Meyer clan) in Orleans.  Somehow we managed to convince Bobbie and Dick to fly from Hawaii and Gregg's brothers Richard and Brad to come from California.  Others arrived from Baltimore, Charleston, Hilton Head, Boston, and Connecticut. All together, there were 29 of us!  We ranged in age from 1.5 - almost 90 years old. 

James did all the leg work involved with renting the "Manor By the Sea" and it was absolutely perfect!  The place had its quirks (like a horribly equipped kitchen and hardly any fire detectors in the house), but it certainly had some rustic charm.  We hardly had a reason to leave the compound. Many days were spent like this: 

The back deck

the beach

the view

 We did go on an outing to the Candy Manor in Chatham...... Because Grandpa Underwood owned a candy company and brought us on tours for many summers, we felt it would only make sense:

We even saw an old Firebird-- the same car Grandma Underwood drove.

There were a few large striped bass caught on an fishing trip:

 A visit to the Great White Shark Conservation Center:

A moonlight fire on the beach:

  

And an original cousin dinner out in Wellfleet:

We were fortunate to have a wonderful babysitter, Georgia-- a student of mine from Vermont who has a second home in Chatham.  She hung out many evenings with the kids, playing games and having fun.

It was such a treat to see all the relationships blossom among the younger generation and to reconnect with the older generation.  It had been decades since the days of Camp Underwood, but I'm pretty sure my grandma Isabel would be proud of her tradition continuing.

Chatham

I've heard that a two week vacation is what it is all about.  This year, my parents rented a house in Chatham for a week.  The plan was to stay there and then move to the rental we had in Orleans for our Underwood family reunion.  It was a lovely spot.  The above photo was taken from the bedroom that I was sleeping in.  And we were a short walk away from downtown Chatham.  The weather was a little dreary for the first weekend, but wonderful the rest of the week.

the lovely beach right down the driveway

searching for sharks

Jumping off dunes on light jouse beach

dinner out at the Lobster Claw

John arrived midweek.  He got a ride to the cape from our friend Jen who was headed to Nickerson State Park to camp with her boys.  This was heaven for Hazey....... to have 11 and 13 year old playmates:

And the kids were thrilled to have John around:

A visit to Chatham needs to involve a viewing of the fishing boats and seals:

Most of our time was spent enjoying this lovely beach:

We visited Monomoy Island National Wildlife Refuge:

 We spent a lot of time watching seals from the kayak:

And on the last day, we drove up to Provincetown to have a delicious lunch and do some great people watching before checking into the next rental.

Fourth of July

We made it to Warren again for the parade.  We were pretty fired up when Bernie Sanders serve as the grand marshal.  He looked tired. 

It was a hot day, so we cooled down at the Prickly Pond and had a short lived family bike ride at Blueberry Lake in Warren. 

We also spent some time catching up with Cara and Tom and their extended family:

Swimming in the river

Dancing by the river

Everybody got a little Julius love:

The kids and I managed to get another day at Medora and Spencer's pond before taking off for the Cape.  This is my happy place: