The 4th of July weekend was packed with wholesome activities! Saturday night was the big blowout party at one of the neighbors' houses (across the street). After a hot day at the beach, we came back to the house to prepare our dishes. P & I made our signature appetizer- baguette rounds with fig preserves, pear slices, and goat cheese... yum!
 |
| James made a great Flag Cupcake platter |
 |
| P & I could do this... drinks and sunset by the beach?!? anytime..... |
 |
| Some of the great kids at the party |
 |
| Kate was one of J&B's friends' daughter- cutest thing ever! | | | |
|
|
|
 |
| The night ended with several IMPRESSIVE fireworks shows- one of them put on by the host and his friends. It ended up being a bunch of shows since their neighbors on either side of them plus people down on the other end of the beach also had loaded up on fireworks! |
|
Sunday's official activities started off with the Children's Bike Parade. All the kids in the neighborhood decorated their bikes with streamers, flags, pinwheels, and anything else patriotic. Everyone seemed to be wearing stripes and/or red, white, and blue!
 |
| Willie on his cool "adult" bike |
 |
| Ollie and his decked out BMX |
 |
| A great photo by Betsy- a neighborhood kid concentrating on sucking his Freezepop amidst the frenzy. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
After the Bike Parade, everyone went down to the beach for the Sand Sculpture Contest. Apparently, this contest is kind of a big deal, but we didn't really do any advanced planning since we were so busy with everything up until the trip, and frankly, because we weren't really doing it to win. Betsy just wanted to make sure that we had an idea that the kids would understand and be excited to be part of.
 |
| North Scituate Beach (the house where the 4th of July party was held the night before is one of those houses just beyond- they access the beach from a ladder in their backyard! |
| |
So, we just went in to have fun, not to win... B, J, P, and I literally came up with our idea that morning when the kids were on the Bike Parade. It was decided to be an "
Under The Sea-tuate" theme (as in "Scituate") centered around an enormous octopus whose tentacles were wrapped around the Scituate Lighthouse, a surfboard, and an anchor.
 |
| J and W hauling wet sand and tools for our masterpiece! |
 |
| Hard at work forming the octopus and its thick tentacles! |
 |
| There was also a mermaid under a large scalloped shell (viewed from above). Ollie brought up bunches of seaweed to wrap around the anchor and for the mermaid's hair. |
 |
| Our neighbors' entry was an iPod (their pun: Mi(not) Pod (the area they lived in Scituate was called "Minot") |
There were a bunch of prizes awarded to the 50(?) entrants (Best Teamwork, Most Unique, etc.) We thought our entry was pretty cool, but were shocked when we were awarded the GRAND PRIZE!!!
 |
| Ollie and Willie and friend Ryan, on the podium, accepting the silver Campbell Cup |
 |
| O was a pretty proud winner! |
 |
| We were pretty proud ourselves... |
 |
| It was big enough for us to sit on top of/in between the tentacles! |
 |
| After the judging of the sand sculpture contest, the kids joined in for a wholesome game of Tug Of War! |
It was a great wholesome, fun in the sun weekend. Since we don't get to see James, Betsy, and the kids much, we really enjoyed our time together. Can't wait to have them down in NYC again!
