Boston Light Swim

The Boston Light Swim is the oldest open-water swim marathon in the US; it has been an annual event since 1907. Race participants begin the race in the water at Boston Light on Little Brewster Island and continue past George's Island and Rainsford Island, under the Long Island Bridge, around Thompson's Island, finishing 8 miles later at the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston.

On Saturday Davis braved Boston Harbor water (which was between 59 and 62 degrees and had seas between 1.6 and 2 feet) and became, as the race organizers termed the participants, "a small, extreme, crazy, group of swimmers." Davis did an incredible job - he finished the 8 mile swim in 3 hours and 42 minutes. Not only was this an amazing time and a very respectable finish, but Davis was also the only one of the finishers who ran (most people stumbled) across the finish line and then broke into the beer cooler. We think this means he is well prepared for the Channel swim next year.

Andrew, Davis' friend and coach took a ton of spectacular pictures of Davis swimming, I've narrowed it down to a few:

Davis swimming by the Light House:

Davis with Boston skyline:
My dad greeting Davis at the finish:
Davis, Oliver and me:
The night before the swim we had a dinner at the Boston Harbor Yacht Club. In order to participate in the swim the swimmer is required to have a pilot boat - and many swimmers, Davis included, don't meet the captain of their pilot boat until the dinner. Oliver, my mom, and I were outside playing during the start of the dinner - I looked up at one point and saw a large boat towing a very small inflatable, arrive at the dock. From the big boat emerged a middle-aged man and a kid on crutches. Ah yes, Davis' pilot boat and captain had arrived -- Emmitt, a fourteen year old kid with an 11 foot Zodiac, nine stitches and a pair of crutches was Davis' captain. While many people would have been scared off, Davis was psyched - not only did Emmitt remind Davis of himself, and his brother Tim, but, with some imagination, Emmitt was a peg-legged pirate captain!

Here is a picture of Davis, Andrew, Emmitt, Oliver and me:

Davis has already contacted his peg-legged captain and secured him for next year.

Car Pool

Unfortunately our Jetta, lovingly nicknamed "the Yetta," appears to be dead. It appears that it may have caught a VW disease that is going around the neighborhood - something similar to Dutch Elm - our neighbor just had to say good-bye to his VW last week. One other neighbor has a VW - when she gets home from work today we are going to warn her and maybe her Jetta will be spared (perhaps if she parks a few streets over for a few days?).

Yesterday morning Davis laid out all of our "necessities" before we jumped in the car to deliver Davis to work.


After bringing Davis to work, Oliver and I continued on to Gloucester where we visited Lucy, a friend I had not seen in years. Oliver and I had a wonderful time catching up with Lucy and playing at the beach.

Oliver was exhausted after the beach so we jumped in the car to head back home. The sleepy little boy became a loud little monster once we were back in the car. So we stopped in Beverly and had Davis take us to lunch. Apparently lunch with Davis and Sophie was just what Oliver needed. As soon as we got back in the car he was asleep.


When we got home from visiting Lucy (and lunch with Davis) I realized that I had inadvertently taken a copy of her novel which she had just had published. Although I felt horrible I was also very excited and somehow managed to read the entire book last night. The book, "Waiting for Rescue"(http://www.amazon.com/Waiting-Rescue-Novel-Lucy-Honig/dp/1582435278 ) is amazing and I would highly recommend it. Congratulations Lucy!

Davis was supposed to take the train this morning, but I am realizing the time as I am sitting here writing this and realizing that my boys are still sleeping upstairs and that the train is long gone. Looks like the car pool rides again.

Anyone selling a car?

Help

Oliver wants to help. When I take out the vacuum he grabs his a toy and pushes it around next to me. When I clean the table, he too needs a sponge so that he can clean the table as well. When I weed, he - well, he pulls up flowers. When I fold laundry, he - well, he unfolds laundry.

In the past week he has become very interested in the plants. He helps to water all the inside plants, and he has three favorite bushes outside that he is obsessively caring for. I've tried, in vain, to get him to water the other bushes, but he has no interest. These guys though - he seems to love. Not only does he water them, but when Pippa tries to dig a hole near them he runs up and yells "No!" and waves his arms back and forth. Believe it or not, she listens.

Catch a Wave

A little over a year ago Davis and I took Oliver to the beach for the first time. He was just a week old and the trip was a disaster. It was super hot and windy and the tent blew over on Oliver and me just as Davis went out to surf, and just as I started to nurse Oliver. A nice lady came and rescued Oliver and me from the tent, and made it clear that she thought I was crazy for bringing a newborn to the beach, and that Davis was horrible for abandoning Oliver on the beach. Here is a picture from that first excursion.
Thankfully we didn't get too hung up on the advice of the very nice lady. Over the past year Oliver has had many many wonderful beach days. And yesterday was another on the list -- it was also the first time this year we went to Jenness Beach (the scene of the tent incident). On our trip yesterday we had our surf board and Oliver's new Boogie board (a present from his cousin Taggart). While the waves were not surf material - but they were great for Boogie boarding. Oliver has been towing the Boogie board around the house since he got it, so he was very pleased the wave conditions were as they were.


The beach was also a great place for Oliver to test out some of his new words. One of the new words being "hot." Much to our amusement Oliver yelled "hot" at all the girls that walked by (although Davis and I both knew that he was just showing off his new word, we both found it pretty hysterical).

We really do need to remember to pull out our real video camera - our little point and shoot just can't capture the smiles and laughter that our video camera could. That being said, it is pretty clear that Davis and Oliver are having a wonderful time.



Thank you again Taggart for the Boogie board!

Peaks to Portland

Saturday was the "Peaks to Portland" race, Davis's first training race for his big swim across the Channel. The race was a 2.4 mile swim from Peaks Island to Portland, in 59 degree water. For his Channel swim Davis can only wear his "swim costume," goggles, and Vaseline (or something similar). Wanting the Peaks swim to be in the spirit of the Channel swim, Davis decided to forgo a wetsuit - out of 247 swimmers, he was one of only a handful of crazy people who donned a speed suit (as Davis likes to call it) rather than a wetsuit.

Davis had also planned to be one of the only few swimmers without a paddler. But, I stepped in and insisted that he have a paddler - thankfully my dad agreed to the the said paddler. Prior to the race, swimmers and paddlers met on the beach on Peaks Island. The race people checked over all the kayaks to make sure that all the necessary equipment was on the boat -- paddle, extra life jacket, water, whistle, flag... My dad, being the ever prepared mariner, also had with him a GPS, marine radio, and chart of Casco Bay (in case Davis decided to start the Channel swim from Maine?). The boat got an extra sticker for the level of preparedness.


Oliver and I were in Portland at the East End Beach waiting for the swimmers to arrive. Not knowing Portland that well, Oliver and I stumbled upon the beach after a 2 mile walk. I had thought the beach would be near a coffee place, or that there would be something in the area where I could find Oliver and I some breakfast. I was wrong, and a little five year old came up and pointed it out - "What is your baby eating?" "Split pea soup." "Why is he eating split pea soup for breakfast?" Figuring honesty was the best route - "Because I found it in the bottom of his bag." Oops. For the record, Oliver didn't seem to mind the split pea soup and loved running around the beach waiting for the swimmers and paddlers to arrive.

Davis- just after finishing. Davis finished the swim in 1 hour and 1 minute - he was 74th out of 247 swimmers.
The team.
Oliver, stopped for one second - trying to determine which kayak he should try and pillage next.

When we got home Oliver captured the flag.

A big thank you to Jedd - Jedd let us stay at his amazing apartment in Portland the night before the race - staying in Portland was wonderful. Not only did we get to eat yummy sushi the night before the race, but we also were able to sleep a bit later (no 4 AM wake up to make the ferry). Thank you Jedd!