Studies in Blue, Part 2

Studies in Blue, Part I

Good morning Grandparents, family and friends...

This episode is brought to you by JACKTV, a morning show that involves shovelling waffles and veggie sausages in between commercial breaks. Hope everyone has a great Friday!

Jack avec son chapeau

In our continual efforts to distract Jack during breakfast, Jeff came up with this lovely chapeau, which is actually a frisbee from Potbellys! Enjoy!

It is important to have a good hat...

Jack had a great afternoon by the pool in his hat. He's quite the scientist, exploring everything in his reach or in his line of sight. It is fun just to follow him around and try to catch them without interrupting his train of thought. Happily (?), he mostly ignores us when we are trailing around behind him. Signs of things to come in his teenage years?

Hey Dude, the sand is fine!

Jack, come on down here and join me. The sand is FINE! In fact, it's AWESOME!

You can EAT in the sand....

You can bask in the sun in the SAND!

And generally be as happy as a CLAM in the sand!

DO NOT PUT ME DOWN, PAPA!

There is sand, Sand, SANNNNDDDDD down there. Do you hear me? Do NOT put me down. Lord knows what catastrophes await.

(Luckily, Himself survived....)

A Dance in Four Parts; Part IV: Minuet II agitato

A Dance in Four Parts, Part III: Minuet I enfatico

A Dance in Four Parts; Part II: Valse II con brio

A Dance in Four Parts; Part I: Valse I dolcissimo

Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Ray have come to visit and Jack is showing off his technique. This is the first of the four movements of this dance.

Mmmmm . . . Yoghurt!!

Recently, Jack got very interested in feeding himself. He's all about doing things for himself these days. And vanilla yoghurt seems to tast much much better if he's putting it in.

More Race Point

A look of intense and determined concentration, don't you think? He seems mystified about why we're so enamored with this dangerous place, but willing to tough it out for our sake.

Race Point Beach

Toward the end of our time in Provincetown, the three of us went out to Race Point Beach very (very) early one morning. Race Point is a beautiful wide beach that looks north off of the Cape into the Atlantic.

Jack seemed especially eager to get the full measure of joy out of his time on the Cape, and he was getting up between 5:00 and 5:30 each morning. That makes for some lovely time on the beach when no one else is around. This was also the day that Hurricane Earl was forecast to hit the area, so that was probably another reason that the beach was so empty. But, believe me, it was mostly the time of day.

Like I mentioned, Jack hasn't immediately taken to the beach scene. He doesn't seem wild about either the feel of the sand under his shoes (forget about going bare foot; simply not an option right now) or the gentle lapping of the waves against the sand. So his willingness to walk on the beach with Mark was definite progress. He doesn't really look like he's enjoying it yet, but he's definitely giving it the old college try, don't you think?

P-town Vacation

Many apologies for the long delay since our last post. For some reason, we've both fallen out of the blog habit. Probably, in part, because Mark's spending a fair amount of time these days focusing on what his next job is going to be. (Anyone with a good job to offer in the tech sector in DC, please contact us . . . .)

Anyway, here's a small taste of Jack for anyone who's still out there after our long silence. The three of us were up in Provincetown, a lovely little town at the far end of Cape Cod, for 8 days leading up to Labor Day. We stayed in this phenomenal house on one of the highest points in town. It had an absolutely amazing deck that looked down on the town's harbor. Jack loved the deck and spent a fair amount of time running laps on it. Not so terribly into the sand-and-surf scene, but more about that later.

Beach portraits

Evan was a go getter on the beach. Plop him down anywhere and he was happy. He was just happy happy happy! As were his parents Sarah and Tim!

Jack on the other hand had some real concerns about his dads' sanity. He reacted to the sand like it was hot needles and glass (through socks and crocs....). And the water was just waaaaay too much. Basically he never moved off the towel we set out on the beach.

It was clear we had a lot of work to do with Jack as far as the beach goes!

Jack and Evan go to the beach

Early in August, Jack invited his friend Evan to the beach for a long weekend. The boys had a great time. Their parents had even more fun after the guys hit the hay!

Let's just say that we are ALL big fans of Chartreuse now. Made by monks starting in 1609, it goes well with another liquor made from potatoes!