Year 3, Day 181: Return from the Vineyard

"When you find the place that your heart belongs, you'll never leave" - Written in Your Heart, Babie in the Princess and the Pauper

Today reminded med of Courtney telling me 'the germans are coming'. It was his way of saying 'hurry up, there's no time to dawdle." Emily and I made our ferry for 11:00am, which for most parents is eons of time, but as our kids have been getting up at 9 and we were supposed to be there at 10:00AM and it was in Vineyard Haven, not Oak Bluffs, we thought we'd be pressed for time. Additionally, when you're trying to get out of a rental house after a week, there a lot of nooks and crannies to un-inhabit. Forget just getting your stuff out; you have to leave the place better than you found it. Plus, feed and round up your kids. That's a lot to do in about an hour. We made it with seconds to spare.

Breakfast
Kashi (plus some Annie's Honey Bunnies and 2 Min-Wheats)
heritage flakes
strawberries
blueberries
banana
unsweetened soy milk
coffee

EN Rote to Ferry
A Few bites of Emily's Peanut Butter Bread
a bite of a chocolate croissant, a bite of a chocolate donut

Ride Home/Lunch
3 Sticks Beef Jerky
2 Roll Mops Roast Beef, Cheese & Mustard
2 Cheese Sticks
1 Bite of Zucchini Bread

Snackz
Almonds, Almonds, Almonds
1 Jazz Apple (Split with Ruby)

Dinner
Steak Tips
1 Ear of Corn
Salad with Feta

Dessert
1/2 CHocolate Peanut Butter Thing (purchased from Chocklit shop on Island)

One of the first times in recorded history of me and Emily, and our nascent family that we ever returned from a trip and felt kind of sorry about having to be home. The music ("High School Musical 2" and "Princess and the Pauper") the nearly perfect (though not hot weather); the company (my family and her family) and the fact that I kicked my laptop to the curb meant that we really, honestly had a relaxing vacation. And even though we still had a few days to ourselves before it all started again, we could all already tell, without saying anything, that we missed our second home on Martha's Vineyard. We still wanted to be there, where no one called us, no cars ever drove by (unless it was the Garbage Man trying to avoid picking up the garbage) and the calming ocean was everywhere. I guess there's always next year...

Year 3. Day 180, Vineyard, Day Seven

Ah the last night. I woke up again determined to walk the ~3 miles back and forth to Katama Market even though the morning was misting and the garbage man had run away from me coming out in the AM in my skivvies.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

All Sorts o Snacking:
Microwave Popcorn
1 Small bite of a cinnamon roll
various almonds and cashews
2 beef jerky sticks
a few bites of pesto pasta

Lunch: The Right Fork Diner
Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken
a bite of Ruby's Hamburger
5 French Fries with Ketchup

Dinner:
Flank Steak, Shrimp
Salad, Corn

Dessert
1 Reeses & Death by Chocolate Cone

Again, I tried to get back on track, but again the vacation and the intrusive through disorder of having to return to the mainland really got to me. I succumbed to another full ice cream cone, several ears of corn and who knows what else.

I did swim for about 30 minutes though.

Year 3, Day 179, Vineyard Day Six

After last night's SoBe debacle, I got up this morning and walked to the Katama market instead of driving. It's about 1.5 miles each way, so it was a good walk. It won't make up for yesterday (or today, for that matter) but I know that every little bit helps, physically and psychologically.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch:
Hamburger
Salad

Snacks
Popcorn at Oak Bluffs
Dried fruit
almonds, cashews
fruit nut chew
sahale sanck
few slices of zucchini bread
crumb cake

Dinner
Ribs, Brisket
Salad
Glass of wine

Today's plan was to have my Mom, her SO, and my brother and his family, who were vacationing in ever-so-near Cape Cod come over on the ferry and hang out with us. We initially thought we were going to take them out to Edgartown or Oak Bluffs and go shopping, but we decided at the last minute to just bring them to our house to hang out. Fortunately, we had told them to bring their swim suits! I had the good presence of mind to go shopping (again!) for stuff for the grill. Amazingly, really amazingly, the grill at this house was EXACTLY the same as the grill I purchased in 2003 when I bought my house but used only once. For some reason, this one is easy and I'm really getting the hang of the grill thing. We had a great time with everyone swimming, and snacking, and resting and having a good time. We had set up the golf game and David helped me set up the badminton net that my brother in law had left for us. He beat me, but it was good exercise.

Year 3, Day 178, Vineyard, Day 5

Could be the worst SoBe diet day in three years. Yet, that has kind of a majestic poetry to it, too. After all, where would you want to go hog wild if not on vacation, and where would you expect your worst day to come in a seven day vacation, but right about in the middle? The only thing that can be offered up is that I went for a three mile bike ride this morning, and did my 40 situps also. Though I think I'll need a few days in the gym to recoup from this one.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Snackz
3 Handfuls of Go Lean Crunch!
1 Bite of Balthazar Bread with Super Chunky Peanut Butter
1 Bag Microwave Popcorn
Cashews

Lunch
Meat of a Lobster Roll
Greek Salad
10 French Fries with ketchup

Dinner
Steak Tips
Cabbage Salad

Dessert
1 Ice cream cone (Reese & Death by Chocolate)

Emily's sister and her family went home today, which was kind of sad because it meant we were going to be alone on the island, which really meant we were going to have get more into the routine and less 'let it all hang out.' We were able to take it easy because where we were situated, Ruby was able to walk over to her Aunt's place, which was pretty swinging when you wanted to take a nap or something. We bravely soldiered on, and had lunch at a GREAT place called the Right Fork diner which is everything you want in a diner. I could have done with a little air conditioning and a few less flies, but otherwise perfect. I did however eat a lot of french fries which made me feel bad.

THEN Emily wanted to take the girls for ice cream (which had been the habit all week) so we all drove the six miles to Oak Bluffs and went to Richardson's where they did indeed have some of the yummiest ice cream I have ever had. I begged the Ukrainian dipper boy not to 'overscoop me' but he insisted saying "you can eat it, you can eat it." How could I explain to him that my ability to eat it was not in question? I paid for the four cones and we all sat in the slightly cool ocean air, licking away in silence. Ruby and Magnolia both helped me finish my enormous cone as we watched tourists and locals mix it up.

We're on vacation.

Year 3, Day 177: Vineyard, Day Four

Again, I get up and go the Katama Market. I ostensibly do it for to get the newspapers, which include the New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Vineyard Gazette. There is a Cape Cod newspaper that I've purchased a few times. The smell is so great and the vibe is so swell I can't help loving that store. I got more cinnamon rolls. I am a bad man.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch:
Cold Hamburger, Some Omelet, Salad, Cheese

Snack
Sahale Snack (See picture), Tamari Almonds, Some Coffee Cake, Chocolate Chip Cookies, popcorn

Dinner
Chicken, Cheese, Salad a lobster claw a glass of wine

Well, there's more chance to eat on vacation then there is it at home. Especially hard when you bring a lot of snacks. Then you're snacking all the time. I've kept on my sit-ups program and I did do a little a bit of swimming today. When Ruby got up up, her eye looked like Rocky Balboa after the fight. We took her to the ye olde tyme pharmacist who agreed that Benadryl was the way to go. I had my first MV lobster. It was good. We saw the sunset at Aquina. It was up-island and far away, we came back at a ridiculous hour and had a dinner party at our house. Yesterday I vowed to stop reading my work email I have been drinking not a lot but often. Emily has been eating ice cream. We're all on vacation. I'm starting to relax. Wheee!

Year 3, Day 176: Vineyard Day Three

The house has two floors and it's kind of a strange setup since the stairway divides the house in a way that we couldn't get used to. We often walked around it several times trying to find it. It might sound silly, but I suspect if a house-psychologist examined the house they might conclude that it violates the CIPU (Clear if previously understood) principle--they put the stairs in the wrong place. This was a bad night of sleep, we tried to let Ruby sleep on a different floor from us. She wasn't ready. In the middle of the night we had to carry a mattress of a flight of windy stairs. I couldn't get too upset, since we expected it.

Breakfast Kashi
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Snack
A few bites of cookie, coffee cake and cinnamon roll

Lunch:
Breast of Chicken, Salad, 1 ear grilled corn

Snacks
Popcorn, Salea Snacks

Dinner:
Hamburger, Salad

Post dinner
A few bites of lobster out of a lobster roll, some tuna, a bite of cracker
2 glasses wine, 2 squares chocolate

Every morning, I do the same thing. I get up, put my shoes on and make my way to the Katama Market, which is the greatest place in the whole world. Now you could argue that anyone who goes to Martha's Vineyard and loves a store not some kind of nature is a philistine, plain and simple, and that would be me. I got a cinnamon roll for Ruby since I am a junk food mule but they smelled so good and she DID love them. I continue to cook on the grill. Later in the day, we took a trip to Menemsha and Dutcher Dock to watch the sunset with Emily's sister and family. It was beautiful but we were foiled in our dinner plans because we wanted to eat at "Bite", reportedly the 'best clam shack in the world' or at least on the Island. However, they have a very hostile paradigm: they close at sundown. Actually, Emily and I had fed ourselves and the girls before we left because two years ago on the trip back Ruby was so hungry she nearly passed out and I think we were eating five year old life savers from the bottom of a car seat.

With "Bite" closed, we disappointedly walked back to the actual dock and bought a few things to eat. Ruby ate the local lobster shop out of crackers and we bought some tuna salad which she devoured.

Year 3, Day 175: Vineyard, Day Two

Of course, I bought a lot of Quebec strawberries, Michigan blueberries and regular old South American bananas so I could continue to have the same exact breakfast every day while I was on the vineyard. In addition to Whole Foods and Russo's, we went to Costco prior to arriving and I got some 'healthy snacks.' They of course, like the Dale & Thomas Popcorn are somewhat high in fat but I continue to delude myself and eat them, and the calories just keep coming. We have rented a house with a pool, which is good for the kids (they love the pool) and good for us(we don't have to go anywhere) but it also PREVENTS us from going anywhere which would be good, because then it would be away from all the food!

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

2nd breakfast
1 slice of balthazar bread with super chunky peanut butter

Snackzapolaooz
1 stick beef jerky
cashews & almonds
some fruit & nut chew
a few bites of popcorn at Mini Golf

lunch:
hamburger (I made it on the grill)
salad

dinner
tilapia, salmon and chicken
string beans
salad
1 glass of red wine

peach crisp

We discovered that the basket of peaches I got from Russo's was full of unripe peaches, so I did what anyone would do: I made a peach crisp. I am incorrigible. I immediately brought it over to my sister-in-laws rented house where all of her family looked at me as if I had created a monstrously deformed DNA experiment. I left it there, and my brother-in-law apparently fell in love with it to the point where his wife had to forcibly remove it from the house, and then Emily had to hide it our house.

Year 3, Day 174: Vineyard, Day One

Got up at 6:30am after a fitful night. I knew we had to bail out of our house by 8:30am to make it to the ferry and I was afraid that the Saturday AM Bourne Bridge would give us the fidgets. Luckily, it was not a problem and we arrived at 9:55, earlier than expected but not early enough to get the earlier ferry, which as luck would have it, was the nice 'big ferry.' The seas were rough and the waves high, so I was not hopeful about a smooth trip when I saw OUR 11:00am ferry, something out of the movie "Used Cars" but only tug-boat sized. We got on excitedly, but Emily turned green rather quickly and had to repair to the car (on the ferry)

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Pre-ferry Snack
4 pieces of beef jerky

Post arrival, pre lunch
Cashews, Almonds

Lunch:
Romaine, Cabbage, Red Cabbage, Feta, Balsamic, Tuna

Fruit & Nut Crunch

Dinner
Hamburger
2 Ears of Corn
More Lettuce with Balsamic
A Few Asparagus
1 square of 65% Dark chocolate
glass of wine

Emily got us this house, which was amazingly on the same road as the house her sister her family stay at. It was a very large house, whose space is laid out somewhat poorly, but it HAD A POOL. Now the truth is, you could really rent a house anywhere with a pool, and that would be a great vacation for kids. But being on MV made it good for the adults too, since it was quiet and peaceful and allowed us to get away from the weeks of construction that we had already endured, and that we were likely to endure upon our return to Needham. We had hundreds of dollars of groceries that I made a mental note to force my family to eat so we would not have to drag them back off the island. We went on a bike trip today which I counted as a victory for my calorie count.

Year 3, Day 173: Biggest Russo's Take Ever

I took the day off to get ready for our trip to the vineyard. Aside from working out (5 miles in 45 minutes, 100 ab crunches) Emily and decided to do a power shop at Russo's. (Amazingly, I did not get a salad from there, due to the timing).

Our take $138.00-- we got everything we could think of that was a plant, fruit or nut (including two batches of Quebec strawberries). I was heartened also to see local blueberries, especially since the day before they had only California Strawberries (with no labels but marked 'fresh') and blueberries from Michigan (are they known for their excellent blueberries?) Amazingly, there is (but only if you believe the state of Michigan). Amazingly, they own the URL blueberries.com. From their site:

There's nothing more basic than blueberries. A staple of our early ancestors, they're as much a part of our heritage as country quilts and wood-burning stoves. In addition to their visual appeal, intense blue color and sweet delectable flavor, blueberries are a healthy and convenient food. Luscious, sweet blueberries have a nutrition profile fit for the new millennium. They're low in fat, sodium free and a good source of both fiber and vitamin C. In fact, a one cup serving of fresh blueberries will give you five grams of fiber - more than most fruits and vegetables - and 15% of your daily vitamin C at a cost of only 80 calories.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch
Salad with Grilled Chicken
Cabbage Feta
Balsamic

Postwork Out, Post Lunch Snack
3 Tablespoons Peanut Butter (Super Chunky)

Snack
3-way split of Microwave Popcorn with Magnolia and Ruby

Dinner
Salmon with Garlic Butter
Raw Cauliflower

Tonight was about the dreaded 'eating what's in the fridge.' If there's a phrase known to send shivers up the spine of any married man (aside from "My mother's coming to stay- for a while") it's that. This involved eating some fish standing up because we were trying to get kids ready for bed, stuff packed for seven days away and you know the song.

Year 3, Day 172: Tennis Loss

Last day of work for eleven days! I can hardly wait. Today Emily and I played tennis. My shoulder and neck have been aching form working on computer plus sleeping wrong. I lost 5-7, and 3-6. Afterwards, We went to Isabella's wearing sweat clothes and we craned our sore necks so we could stare, tounges-a-wagging at someone who was demonstrating their new iPhone. On our way out we asked to touch it. The woman who owned it obliged. We were super-amazed by its coolness, and tried to remain unfazed, but we honestly, we acted quite goofy, like we'd never seen a fancy gadget before.

Breakfast
Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch: Russo's ($5.26)
Romaine, red pepper, feta
chicken, broccoli, mushrooms
balsamic vinegar, pepperocini

Snack
3 slices ham
2 sticks jerky
4 oz Buffalo Blue Cheese Popcorn

Dinner: Isabella's
Mixed Green Salad
Salmon with String Beans and Pea Vines
Crab-Avacado Salad

Getting ready for vineyard. In a fit of pique, I ordered a tremendous vat of buffalo-wing and blue cheese popcorn from Dale & Thomas. It cost like $50.00 and it's amazingly high in fat. I might as well have chocolate for breakfast lunch and dinner. Well, I saw it on 'unwrapped' on the Food Network and I thought it was health food. So much for believing everything you see on TV.

Year 3, Day 171: No Walk But Yes to Russo's

A 1:00pm meeting meant no walk, but I did go to Russo's. Had to drive there. Fretting about the constant deployment of white plastic, oil-based bags and so have garnered some 'honey' bags from Whole Foods. However, I keep forgetting to bring them, so it is doubly-useless.

Breakfast
Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee


Snack
3 Slices of Ham
2 Sticks Beef Jerky
1 Apple
4 oz. Dale and Thomas Hot Wing Popcorn

Lunch: Russo's ($5.17)
Romaine, red pepper, feta
chicken, broccoli, mushrooms
balsamic vinegar, pepperocini


Dinner:
More Salad, with Bread & Circus TUna

Dessert
Peanut Butter with Chocolate Chips

Started thinking about all I have to and Martha's Vineyard and my father's surgery and my step brother's wedding, it drove me right over the edge to the chips. Then the popcorn arrived.