Cape-ing on the weekends

We've spent the better part of the past two weekends down on the Cape, splitting our time between painting and the beach.  Oh, and eating at the Red Cottage.  My kids love that restaurant.  I'm fond of it because they serve breakfast through lunchtime and, most of the time, breakfast foods are my favorite.  For Father's Day weekend, we drove to the cottage after dinner Friday night.  We decided to eat breakfast out on Saturday knowing that Sunday would be crowded.


Cinnamon bun french toast.

After breakfast, I painted while Rich took care of yard work (the not-so-fun side of vacation home ownership when you don't want to pay others to do it for you) and then we hung out on the beach all afternoon.








I love when they play together without drama.


Wispy clouds.

Emily requested a visit to Nauset Beach so we headed there after dinner to walk and look for sharks and rocks.  They've built a new ramp and an eating area to replace what was washed away during the winter storms.


New grass.


Split personality.  When we walked onto the beach, the sky and water to my left was a nice blue but gray to my right.  I was standing right in the middle of the split.  (I thought that was kind of cool.  You can see how the reflection of the sky impacts what color we see when we look at the water.)


Apparently, it was a good day for getting along.



Always dancing.




Mommy and me sneakers.






Emily found a piece of asphalt that had been washed onto the beach during a storm.

We didn't spot any sharks, but we did see some seals and a . . . coyote.  I follow Cape Cod news and so I knew a coyote had been spotted at Nauset over the winter.  I assumed it was in a more isolated area.  We were all messing around on the beach near the chairs we had set up when Rich pointed up the beach and asked, "Is that a dog or a coyote?"  I recalled the photos I had seen online and a couple walking near us confirmed that it was a coyote.  Said couple then proceeded to climb the nearest lifeguard tower.  We didn't freak out because the coyote had many opportunities to attack, if it felt the need to do so, before it even came close to us.



Before it reached us, it swerved up to the dunes and we assumed we wouldn't see it again.  We packed up and as we were trudging up the ramp to the parking lot, the coyote was heading straight towards us on the dune.  It appeared that our paths would meet at the top of the ramp.  It spotted us and headed back toward the beach.



This past weekend was rainy but we still headed to the cottage, mainly for painting.  I will never under-appreciate smooth wood and drywall ever again.  Emily begged to eat at the Red Cottage again.  This time we went for lunch but our timing wasn't very good.  So here's the bad part about eating here - it's small inside, which means waiting for a table most of the time, and there is nowhere to wait inside.

Here's waiting for a table when it's nice outside:



And here's what it looks like when it's raining and you're parked close enough to the door to hear them calling names:



I was in the mood for my favorite photojournalist type of photography that day.



We haven't even reached July yet but I'm already dreading losing this warm weather.