A New York Vacation

The summer season is in full swing and vacation time is here. This year, the vacation was coordinated around Ms. Be's vacation and cousin James' high school graduation. The result: a vacation to Shelter Island, New York with a couple of side trips along the way.

The trip began with a stop in Wilmington, Delaware at the St. Anthony Italian festival, where Anna met up with her friend Robin (and Mom met her friend Rose). Anna had a fabulous time with Robin on the rides and threw caution to the wind as she hopped on the little ferris wheel with Robin (along with rides on the airplanes, motorcycles, and teacups). The ferris wheel was their favorite as they opted for a couple of rides. Mom & Dad enjoyed the savory culinary treats, such as Italian sausage, calamari, and delicious cannolis.

From Delaware, it was on to New Jersey for an overnight at the Marriott. Anna was VERY excited about staying in a hotel room and sleeping in her own big bed. She was so excited that she barely stopped talking about how excited she was. Mom & Dad went to sleep while Anna continued to talk.

The next morning was Father's Day and Joe was ready to hit the road early to beat the traffic. The destination: Jones Beach on Long Island. Joe had a great Father's Day, which included authentic New York bagels (complete with a very long line of authentic New Yorkers trying to order their bagels) and the chance to spend a sunny afternoon at the beach he went to growing up. Anna had a great time jumping in the waves and watching Mom & Dad build sandcastles.

At the end of the afternoon, it was off to the east end of Long Island to catch the ferry to Shelter Island. The island was beautiful with a mixture of old victorian homes and smaller cottages. Over 1/3 of the island is owned by the nature conservancy. There are approximately 1,800 year-round resident and the island is decidely anti-touristy. There is no Starbucks (or any other chain stores for that matter). Our home for the week was a lovely 2-bedroom "villa" overlooking the harbor.

The island was full of various beaches, fishing and boating opportunities and biking. The first day was spent fishing at "reel point." Anna was very excited about fishing with her Dad and proceeded to stand right next to him chatting the entire time. "Dad - watch me cast....Good cast Dad" etc... If Dad moved, Anna moved with him. Anna has not graduated to an actual hook yet (Dad may be concerned about her close proximity to him) so she uses a sinker with a yellow worm at the end. She is very adept at catching seaweed. Dad caught one fish for his efforts. The beach was beautiful and full of hundreds of shells, which Anna gathered between casting.

The second day Anna went on her first kayaking trip, complete with her own paddle. Everyone piled into a 2-person kayak with a kid's seat in the middle. Paddling a 2-person kayak is challenging in its own right trying to coordinate strokes let along adding a 4-year old with a paddle in the middle. Needless to say, it was quite a sight from the shore. Everyone was eventually sucessful in their efforts to paddle around the tidal marsh and along the bay to look at turtles. It wasn't long before Anna was proclaiming she was a good kayaker and telling her parents that they were not paddling correctly. The afternoon was spent at another beach where we met up with a family that lives 2 miles from us in Vienna. The oldest boy was Anna's age and will be starting kindergarten in the fall at Anna's school. Small world!

The second half of the week was rainy and overcast in the afternoon. We were still able to visit the Nature Conservancy and do a bit more fishing between rainstorms. Anna used the opportunity to practice her Uno skills and has become quite the card player. She has the strategy down. Her biggest challenge is hold all the cards in her hand. On Friday morning, we left the island and headed to the south fork of Long Island where we visited Montauk point Lighthouse. The view was spectacular and Anna climbed all the way to the top of the lighthouse. She also enjoyed climbing the large rocks on the beach.

From the south fork, it was on to Aunt Mary's house for James' high school graduation. Aunt Mary was expecting 60 people for the party, but was cooking enough food to feed approximately 600. She did manage to take a break from the work to get her nails done with Anna. Anna was quite excited about the trip and came back with pink finger and toenails, complete with rainbows and flowers. Everything was fine until Anna decided she wanted to take a rest and realized she could not suck her newly painted thumb. Aunt Mary removed the nail polish from one thumb and Anna was satisfied.

James' party was a huge success and full of family and friends. Anna was thrilled to see her big cousins, and attached herself to cousin Andrew. It is not many teenagers that are willing to entertain their little cousins, but Andrew did a great job and was a good sport about it. Anna joined in with the other boys in attendance for a water gun fight. In between all the activity, she filled herself with a hot dog, lemonade, and twizzlers (mom was not happy about this and tried to cut her off). It was great to see all of the family and to celebrate with Deborah, who also graduate from high school.

Anna is already planning her next vacation, which include a trip to Grandma's and to cousin Andrew & Luke's house. She is also planning to have Luke and Andrew come visit, informing her mom that "we just need to give them our address." In the meantime, we will fondly recall the cool breezes of Shelter Island as we settle in for the impending 4th of July heat wave in Washington. Temperatures are expected to near 100 degrees. Oh boy.....

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