Wednesday, April 26, 2017

A New Season Begins...

2017 Opening of the Cottage

Ferry Ride
It has become a family tradition to open the cottage during April school vacation week.  Our three grandchildren (Ryan, Gabby and Grace) join us for the week as we open the cottage and enjoy the quiet campground before the hectic summer season.  This year was no different.

We journeyed over on the ferry on Monday, April 17.  As soon as we pulled up in front of our cottage, unpacking our full car began.  We carried over food, drink, linens, suitcases and more.  Gabby and Grace went to work putting the bedrooms together.  Wendy cleaned the kitchen and fridge and unpacked the food.  Barry and Ryan did the heavy lifting, unpacking the car, moving the rockers onto the porch and shifting items into our storage unit.  In no time, the cottage was up and running for business.

Hike
Our week was spent splitting days between work around the cottage and fun.  We cleaned the yard, washed the bathrooms, and vacuumed the house and car.  On the one nice day, we went for a walk in the woods.  We had hoped to hike a specific trail that had an Indian burial ground but never found that trail.  So we hiked a trail that was poorly marked causing us to get "lost".  The trail in West Tisbury had beautiful stone walls running through it, a pond and stream.

Elizabeth joined us on her birthday, April 19 and we went to dinner at the Ale House to celebrate.  Because the weather was cold and rainy, our fun activities turned inside.  The kids enjoyed playing board games, working on a jigsaw puzzle, rides on the carousel, games at Ryan Family Amusement and eating ice cream from Ben and Bill's.  Despite not being very good bowlers, we especially enjoyed bowling at the new bowling alley.

The family tradition is alive and well and lifelong memories created.