Plymouth Vacation pics

We conquered Plymouth! We took a few days off last week to get a nice change of scenery and ended up doing almost everything there is to do in Plymouth, MA. We had great weather- cool and overcast the first two days and then sunny and warm the last day- perfect for the beach. The first day we checked out the Plymouth Harbor, which had beautiful views of the water and tons of boats protected by a long breakwater and also Water Street, which was filled with ice cream shops (we enjoyed Ziggy's homemade ice cream- twice!), a hotel, the required t-shirt stores, restaurants, and the like. Towards the end of the street on the Harbor is a replica of the Mayflower, which we went on. It was really interesting; there was an interactive exihibit on shore about the Pilgrims' diet at sea (lots of sodium; no vitamins), their navigational tools, and some of the mechanics of the boat. I eat that stuff up, so I was in heaven. We ate dinner overlooking the harbor and then took a sunset cruise on a paddle boat called the Pilgrim Belle to finish up the day. While on the boat, we called my parents and told them they weren't the only people in the family going on cruises and Michaela thought that was pretty funny. The next day we visited Plimoth Plantation and saw a recreated 1627 Wamponaug homesite and a Pilgrim village. The Wamponaug homesite had actual Wamponaug people in native dress cooking, gardening, etc. and you could ask them questions about their culture and history. On a sign approaching the village, it cautioned visitors to be culturally sensitive: "Do not say 'How!' to them nor do any war whooping at them." It makes you wonder how many hormone driven teenagers have visited there on field trips and driven those poor people crazy. (On a side note, as we were leaving, we passed an employee parking lot and I said to Dan, "I wonder what kind of cars the local Wamponaugs drive to work?" and he answered, "Probably Jeep Cherokees.")
We went into Hyannis on the Cape- a 45 minute drive- in the afternoon and evening and went on the Hyannis Harbor cruise (a Libutti vacation tradition... I think we have paid for about half of that boat), ate outside on the Harbor at Baxter's Fish and Chips, and went miniature golfing, which was a blast with the girls. Michaela played a hole ahead of us because we are obviously too slow and then would yell back her score to us as she whizzed to the next hole. ("I got a four!") Jenna had an interesting technique of dragging the club rather than swinging and eventually just carried the ball in her pocket (her "pock") and would walk over to the hole and drop it in. She's very practical that way.
On the last day we squeezed in a quick visit to the beach in Plymouth and ate lunch at the Cabby Shack, where there were multiple outdoor decks overlooking the Harbor. It was beautiful and delicious. Then we embarked on the highlight of the trip- the Pirate Excursion aboard the Lobster Tales boat. For $16 apiece (even Jenna!) we joined other families with kids, mostly boys Michaela's age quivering with excitement, and pretended we were a pirate ship looking for treasure. We sailed out to the Harbor, following our Treasure Map aboard the ship, where we found a very cute, highly decorated boat (see picture above)that had stolen our treasure and we had to shoot the pirate aboard that ship with our water cannons until we could haul the treasure ashore. We celebrated with Buccaneer brew (or root beer as we land lubbers call it), and then played the Hokey Pokey and the Limbo on the way back to the dock. The captain also pulled up a lobster trap which was filled with different crabs and lobsters that the kids were able to touch and pass around. All the kids wore paper pirate hats or skull caps (available for $5) and got their faces painted. The whole thing was such a blast... a brilliant idea and a memorable part of our trip.
As we were pulling into the dock, the captain on our boat announced that fishermen had caught a huge tuna and were hauling into a truck on the other side of the dock and encouraged us to check it out, which we did. It was a 586 pound tuna and completely unbelievable in size and girth. It was about 7 feet long and twice as big around as a large-boned man. I took pictures of it in the truck, where it can be sold to Japanese merchants on the Harbor, trucked on ice to Logan Airport and flown out on the next flight to Tokyo. We learned about this in town from one of the merchants... the fishermen used to get about $25 grand for tuna that size but now they can earn about $5000-$6000. No wonder the fisherman's wife was so excited on the dock!
We were exhausted from our trip but it was so good to get away and have some really nice family time together. The girls were very well-behaved and seemed to enjoy most of the things we did, especially being on the boats, and we had a glimpse of how fun and easy family vacations can be in the future.
So for now it is back to reality... we are preparing for school, buying supplies, shoes, boots, clothing, and getting back into routines and starting ealier bed times. Michaela's first day back is Sept. 6th and we are all emotionally ready for her to return. Soccer starts next Friday, choir will start again for her in a few weeks, and we are looking forward to that stuff as well. I am going to sign Jenna and I up for a few little classes- storytime at the library and a music class in town- so we can do some fun things together while Sissy is in school. We are ready for fall!