This year we had Jacob, so we headed down to Westerly early Friday. We figured that if we were going to pack the kitchen sink, we should make it as long a weekend as possible. It worked out great because we arrived before everyone. That gave Jake a chance to unwind and get used to everything on his own. Ken unloaded the car and I brought Jake around the house. There are a ton of toys there for Frank's nieces and nephews, so it took about 5 seconds for Jacob to feel comfortable. It wasn't long before my father came back from the store which made Jake pretty happy. We had been practicing saying "Bampa" all morning, so he was all set.

We changed Jake into his bathing suit and headed out to the water. He, of course, loved it. There was a fleet of dump trucks, so he grabbed one along with a pail and shovel and got to work. He dug and scooped and filled his bucket. He really loves the water. The weather was a little "iffy", but he didn't seem to mind the chill. A little after noon, Amy, Esta, Kerry, and Stephanie came back from their errands. Steph was pretty excited to play with Jake, and Jake wasn't opposed to the doting that Steph gave him either. By mid afternoon Kenny and his family arrived. It was chilly for everyone except Jake. He stayed in the water until we pulled him out to put a sweatshirt on him. As we were sitting down for dinner, Frank and Steve arrived. So, all that were coming were there. Since the weather wasn't that great, we stayed in for the first night.

The next day Ken, Kenny, Donna, and I headed off to Boston for Nick's graduation. We left Jacob in the hands of everyone else. From what I understand it was the "Jacob Show". They just let him loose in the water and watched him. He also went on a couple wagon rides with Stephanie and her friend. The weather was a lot nicer, so everyone spent time in the water that day. The also did a lot of crabbing. Jake didn't like the crabs, though. He waved "bye bye" to them as soon as they were brought over to him. We didn't get back until dinner, and I could tell Jake had settled in completely with everyone. Schaller was also one of Jake's new best friends. He followed Schaller everywhere giving him hugs. Saturday night, it was funny because the two of them were running around like crazy. I felt kind of bad when I had to put him to bed. He went right down, though. I'm sure he was exhausted from all the playing despite his 3 hour nap.

Sunday was also a nice day. We got up, had a big breakfast, and headed back to the water. Normally Saturday night is pizza night. I guess they took pity on us since we were up in Boston, and waited to do it when we got back. Ken and I took the risk of missing it and headed out on the kayaks to the beach while Jake was napping. We figured a bit of time away was worth the loss of pizza. The waves at the beach were awesome. We had heard stories from Saturday of how the kids got knocked around when they were there, so we weren't too surprised. Ken got up from one wave and pulled handfuls of rocks from his pockets. It was a fun time. We headed back and as luck would have it Jake was still asleep and they were just sitting down for pizza. We had time to make our pizza and finish eating before we heard the first peeps from Jacob. It worked out perfectly. We got him up fed him and went back to the trucks.

As always, everyone had a great time that weekend.

Steph kept Jacob busy in the water	while Esta kept Jacob busy with Teddy Grahams
Kenny and Aaron clamming near the dock		Jake liked playing with the mussels bucket that was used for crab bate.
Hanging out on the dock		Jake loved riding in the kayak
The life jacket was a little big, but Ken took Jake out.		Kicking back and relaxing
Jake loved playing in sand and water	Schaller getting ready to go crabbing	Steph brought her hermit crabs for the weekend and took one out for a spin.
Jake and Bampa	No summer day is complete without a little watermelon, right Jake?	Kenny and Aaron relaxing at night

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