an extended fourth

We had a lot of plans for our fourth of July. We were going to sleep in because Zak had the day off of work. We were going to go to brunch at a friend's house, spend the entire day at the beach, go to the brewery in the afternoon, then maybe spend the night near a bonfire in our fire pit. I had plans to make blueberry muffins because I had never made them from scratch before and I wanted to make something for Zak to bring to work with him in the morning. I woke up before the boys and put the coffee on. I made the blueberry muffins and just as I put them into the oven, Odin woke up. Perfect timing, so far.

When it came time for brunch, Zak ran out to do something in the garden that should have only taken a few moments. When he took almost ten minutes, I thought he had become distracted (it happens every time!) but then he burst through the door yelling "the bees are swarming!" To which, I panicked slightly and then ran after him outside to see. The bees were indeed swarming and I'll tell you more about that in a separate post (it was a whole other event, honestly.. And Zak has to tell you the story- he's pretty amazing). I called our friend to tell her we wouldn't be coming for brunch.

Odin ended up falling asleep in our bed rather than in the sling which is what I had planned for brunch, so we stayed home and watched the bees and worked in the garden while little love slept. He slept until 3. Beach plans, cancelled. Our friend Toby surprised us with a visit and we picnicked outside as soon as Odin woke up though, so we ended up having a belated lunch with some of our date bread and goat cheese, kale, and champagne.

We did actually manage to go to the brewery and we weren't quite sure what our plans were for the fireworks yet. Another friend called to invite us out on his boat to watch the show from the water! We got out onto the boat, Odin fell asleep in the sling, and then the fireworks were cancelled due to fog.

It was an interesting day and not at all what I expected, but sometimes those end up being the best sorts of days. The fireworks had been rescheduled for the following day and because we messed up Odin's sleeping schedule when we ventured out on the boat, he ended up falling asleep for the night around 6 which gave me time to make sweet and spicy Kale chips for the first time ever and plan a night out for Zak and I (shout out to Vince for coming to hang with our sleeping baby for a few hours!). We ended up going out to listen to the gypsy band over a few dark and stormies and then danced on the beach with even more friends.

It was a very unexpected, but perfectly perfect fourth of July.

chilly beach drinking

We made the mistake of going to Cisco Brewers on Figawi Sunday. Figawi derives from the question, "Where the f--- are we? (Where the figawi?)." It's an annual sailboat race between Hyannis and Nantucket Island on Memorial Day weekend. It's been around for years and floods our little island with thousands of visitors for the weekend. Lots of drinking involved, so obviously the brewery was packed. Zak's friend Pilar (who he met while traveling across the country via hitch-hiking, freight train hopping, and a lot of walking) and his friend Juan were in town for the weekend visiting our island for the first time. Whenever we have a guest, the brewery is the spot to take them. Unless it's Figawi weekend. After standing in an unusually long line, we bought our beers (the tastiest I've ever had) and a couple growlers to bring to the beach. It was nice to escape the sea of polos, whale-print pants, neon wayfarers, and drunk people. The beach was much more soothing and although it was a little chilly, we could actually hear each other talk. Odin loves the company of lots of friends and he loved being surrounded by all of us. He did spend his first year as the only child in a house with six adults. Every plane and seagull that passed overhead earned a little pointed finger and a smile from our little man. 

Just as the question, "should we move on to someplace else?" surfaced, the sky opened up and the rain that had been drenching our island all weekend continued its work. We all ran to the car and came back home to finish our growlers and have some dinner.

little man

I couldn't decide between the top two photos even though I know they're almost identical. He looks like such a little boy in both of them and I'm terribly in love with it! It's so strange to watch him grow up so quickly. As a breastfeeding mama, I see him every day and spend my entire day with him. It's funny how days can go by without the slightest change and then all of a sudden it seems as if he's grown inches overnight. I can see him start to grow taller and leaner and I've noticed his weight's plateaued. Eleven months old now, and it's all happened so quickly. It's almost his first birthday and every now and then the air smells like it did on the day he was born.

We're currently moving out of our house in Sconset. I'm excited to be moving into a place for just our small family. It's bittersweet though. Odin was born in Sconset. His placenta is buried under a fig tree in the front yard. I'll miss our frequent bluff walks. As I've been packing and emptying out our room I've been having ridiculously vivid flashbacks. Odin was born less than 2 weeks after we initially moved in. The third bedroom was still empty and hadn't been rented to Max and Rachel just yet. Our room was still a little bare and hadn't quite acquired the layer of soil that comes with my gardening/landscaping love. Having emptied the room out in the same season we moved into it, it's hard not to remember that day that Odin was born. I won't be leaving that house without crying, I'm pretty sure. As sad as I am about leaving, I'm already having a brilliant time in our new place and I'm realizing more and more each day how beautiful my life is. I'm so very lucky!

brewery

We've made another trip to the brewery. It's still pretty cold but the brewery has a nice heated tent set up. I can't wait for summer when we can make a trip to the nearby beach (we're on an island, there's always a "nearby beach") for the day and then to finish the evening, stop by the brewery for live music and a busy audience. Odin loved the live music and the dances with his Auntie Rachel and his mama, rhythmically swaying his arm.