A Heck of a Week +, and Rhode Island

It's been a week +. Which involved swim school promotions (Finley was every bit as happy for Ford as he was for himself),

bike riding practice (my least favorite thing ever, howdidmyparentsdothis),

the discovery of both the blow dryer and the fabulous Green Spring Gardens,

apple picking and the reluctant ushering in of fall at my Mom's favorite orchard

(Homestead is the place that Seth first met my parents, who accepted him into the family immediately because he could reach the tallest apples),

and a lovely afternoon downtown paying our respects to RBG.

During which time F+F acted like this

and Ford cried because no one had ever had to march for his right to vote at the Women's Equality National Monument. Eyeroll. 

OK, so it's been more than a week since I sent an update. I just discovered photos of this ridiculous and amazing Dad "Homeschool" Day at Dave and Buster's,

this epic capture of the evening we happened upon a spontaneous street concert in downtown Falls Church,

and this photo, which is likely to be admitted into evidence one day, of F+F climbing on the Navy Memorial. Ford thought it would make an excellent Jaws boat. (Beat Navy!)

Also, Davy Crockett was played in the Potomac. 

Despite some truly awful days trying to juggle real-time work and these two, homeschooling with the hooligans is awesome.

Still when I got Friday off and Seth had class, we hit the road. And woke up in Connecticut in our new, Target-purchased-on-a-whim, tent.

We discovered Niantic (which has an acceptable shark boat at the children's museum), chased seagulls,

worked our way up the beach (including ice cream stops),

and eventually found ourselves at Rebecca's Narragansett beach house, the home of kid "cousins" and craft cocktails and a block's amble to the beach with both in tow.

It was worth every second of the drive to relax while the kids did this,

the girls let Ford introduce bloodthirsty sharks into Barbie games,

and Finley braved the cold water fully clothed.

On the way home, we made sure to stop at the fabulously named Ford’s Lobster in Noank. F+F both preferred the crab cakes.

I tried, Mamma Gran.

Our Rhode Island road trip was chicken soup for the soul. Of all the good ones, my favorite photo is this one of Finley- doing her typical model pose- and Ford (if you squint) gunning down Jaws in the left background.