The vineyard

Sooo, it's a week late.  Sorry 'bout that.

Last weekend, Brittany and I took the girls down to the cape and to Martha's Vineyard.  I'd bought a groupon thing for ferry tickets and it was the last weekend we were going to be able to go.  So, off we went.

We left the house around 7am and drove the nearly 2 hours to get to the cape.  The girls did great in the car and it was an easy drive.  We got there, parked, and got on the Ferry - which was kinda cool.  Abby was excited about the boat.  She knew we were going on a boat to go ride a carousel, and that's all she really cared about.  The boat ride was about 90 mins and the girls did well on it as well.  The only mishap was when we failed to hear the announcement about covering the children's ears when the blew the boat horn....and we were sitting right under the horn.  So, that went over like a (screaming) lead balloon.

We got to the vineyard and started to walk around.  They were having a festival that day, so it was nice that all the shops pretty much had their booths set up outside.  We walked around, browsed, and went to ride the carousel.

The Flying Horse Carousel is the oldest platform carousel in the country.  It was pretty cool.  They have these little wooden arms full of metal rings that you try to grab as you pass.  If you grab a brass ring, you get a free ride.  Abby and I just had fun grabbing rings.  At first Abby didn't want to ride it, and then she ended up having fun (of course)  But at the end, she said she was done.

So, we went on our way.  We ate lunch and found live music and Abby danced all day long.  We found this pink whale mascot for the Vineyard Vines store.  Great store, cute clothes, iconic island feel....but at $38 for a toddler's T-shirt?  We didn't stay too long.  Nevertheless, their Mascot rocked, and Abby was enthalled.  She just kept hugging him and kissing him and holding his fin.  It was cute.

Eventually the whale took a break and we were able to pull Abby away.  She danced some more, we shopped some, and then we all took a few more carousel rides.  Even E got to ride it!  Her first one!  But, I didn't get any pictures of that.  :-/

Right before we got on the carousel for the last time, we ran and got ice cream and played in an arcade, where we introduced Abby to the concept of tokens and tickets.  She was happy with that idea.  She ended up winning enough tickets for a Hacky Sack and a Tootsie-pop. 

We got back on the boat with only a few minutes to spare before it's departure.  Abby was exhausted.  Tired.  And More Exhausted.  And then she remembered the scary boat horn.  Thus, this:

But as soon as it was over?  She all but begged to be put to bed.  I love this picture, mostly because she's still holding her sucker.  She slept that way for over an hour.

Here's a picture of E, because she got a bit neglected on the camera front. 

We got back to land, picked up some fast food and drove home.  The girls did Great on the way home too.  We were all worn out, but it was a really great trip and now I can mark that off of my list of "things to do in New England"