A visit to Aunt Bess

This weekend we went to visit Becky's sister Beth, now known as Bess, or Aunt Bess. Ally made a breakthrough with names this weekend and started calling herself Ally and she identified Beth as Bess. It was really adorable and exciting for us!

It was an action packed weekend filled with drama; we almost missed our ferry boat, we were there with only minutes to spare and I literally jogged to the boat from the car, I was having flashbacks to my teenage years, Aunt Martha, but we made it. Dreams were fulfilled; Becky got to drive a bright yellow jeep that we rented to explore the island in. Lots of laughs, and fun with family. Thanks for being a great host Beth.

Is a caption really necessary?



Aunt Bess got out her balance ball and Ally was so thrilled. She thought it was so much fun to play with the big ball, but it was too big for her to pick up so she would roll it around the room.

Saturday morning we drove to Sankaty Lighthouse. In 2007 the lighthouse was moved away from the shoreline to avoid the beach erosion. The circular path of stones is where it used to be. They still have the lighthouse fenced off so you can only see it from a distance.




Walking away from the lighthouse.

Walking along the beach road.

Then we went to the beach. We saw 2 seals swimming in the ocean about 10 yards out. It was so cool to see them in the wild so close. They were too quick to get a picture of, though Becky did run down the beach aways to try and get a shot.

As usual Ally was not a huge fan of the water. In this picture she is hiding behind my back trying to hide from the ocean. She learned the word ocean on this trip. The whole car ride back to Beth's place she kept pointing to the water and saying "ocean" it was too cute. Tonight in the bath she was reading her bath book about things in the ocean and it was really neat to see her "get it".

After the beach it was nap time. The next set of pictures are from the Nantucket Farm Fair.

There was a pumpkin contest. The winner was 575 pounds!

They had tractors to sit on. Since Ally would not sit by herself Beth was good sport to sit with her.

Another first - they had bouncy machines and Becky went in it with Ally! Ally loved it with her mama but was pretty scared of it and refused to go on by herself. I can't say that I blame her. Becky said bouncing holding a 21 pound weight was a good work out and lots of fun!

I was so excited to see they had pony rides. But Ally would have nothing to do with it. I put her on the horse and she started frantically saying Bye bye bye bye and grabbing for me so I picked her up and she pet the horse instead of riding on it.

After the fair we went to a local brewery (Cisco Brewers) where they make Whales Tail Pale Ale and a few other kinds. Actually they place makes wine, vodka and brews beer. It was my idea to go and I don;t even drink alcohol. It is a BYOF (bring your own food) establishment so we stopped on the way for chips dip and pretzels. Above are the sisters toasting a fun day!

I love Ally's expression in the photo above, but it really is embarrassing - she is holding a piece of glass she picked up and the background is a huge stack of beer kegs! Once I realized she had glass I replaced it with a stone (she is at that age where you can't just take it from her or reason it must be replaced). Beth and Becky did a beer tasting that took a while so Ally and I played around the kegs and trucks and back-hoe for quite a while. I had so much fun just playing with Ally.

I feel like she grew up so much in 36 hours - she discovered pockets!

This morning we spent time in the Discovery Center at the Whaling Museum where Beth works. Ally enjoyed rocking in the boat. She would demand help to get in and then would rock and chant "rocking" as she did it.

They even have dress up stuff in the children's area and Ally of course loved the hats!

It was a long trip home on the packed ferry boat and then we hit traffic. Ally was not very pleasant in the car ride, but she finally slept for an hour and then was her usual happy self for the rest of the evening. It really was a fun time.