Cape Cod camping

 Scott's sister graduated from physician assistant school, so Grandma and Grandpa came out to celebrate. They went to her graduation in Philly, then she and they came to Cape Cod to go camping with us. Oliver got a proper introduction to hanging out on the beach. He loved crawling all over the sand and water, tasting the different colors and grains of sand, chasing hermit crabs, and watching his siblings run wild.

 Most of the beaches on Cape Cod are shallow especially at low tide. The kids loved building dams to keep the water from flowing out of the shallow pools.

 We camped for a whole week on Cape Cod, spending the mornings hiking or sightseeing and the afternoons lounging at the beach.

 Oliver reminded us of a sea turtle, leaving his crawling tracks in the sand as he headed straight for the water. He did a lot of mileage on those knees.

Phoebe and Bruce enjoyed building and digging in the sand, collecting mussels and crabs and starfish, and making new friends everywhere we went.

 The weather for camping was nearly perfect. It was in the high 70s and sunny or partly cloudy for most of the week. It rained just one day, so we went out to eat and toured a potato chip factory.

 My favorite hike was the Fort Hill Trail in Eastham. It starts at a ship captain's home that has a whale's jawbones out front. It then winds through a swamp, by some blackberry bushes...

 ...through a meadow of wildflowers, across a vista with views of the Atlantic and surrounding marshes, next to some fun wooden statues in a forest...

 ...and to a rock.

 Not just any rock! This rock is an ancient Indian rock used for sharpening tools and weapons. It has a bunch of gashes in it.

 One day we headed out for a whale watch and saw minke, fin, and humpback whales - all within sight of Provincetown. The humpback whales were by far the coolest. There was a mom and baby feeding together (pictured above, mouths cresting). Unfortunately, Scott's mom and sister got seasick; it probably doesn't help that Nancy is six months pregnant and still nauseated even on a good day. She's a trooper for agreeing to camp with us for a week.

 We finished our trip by picking blueberries at a pick-your-own farm near our campground.

Bruce picked a few berries, ate a zillion, and then grabbed the camera and took a few pictures. He took this one of Phoebe and Scott heading out with their picking cans...

...and this nice selfie. Of course.