Midland Park & Cape Cod

The first thing we did, maybe it was the second, after arriving at David Zuidema’s was rock climbing!!! It was SO much fun!!! It’s harder than it looks and requires muscles I don’t think I’ve used before…🤣

 

On Sunday, after meeting, we went to the Hamilton’s house for lunch, which was SO delicious. And then after Gospel Meeting we went out for Crepes, mmnnmmnmnmn!😍

By the way, Midland Park, New Jersey, has a long history in my Mom’s family. When Mom’s Grandpa was trying to travel from Venezuela to Northern Ireland (1941), his family was prevented travel across the Atlantic because of the war. So, he stayed with the Zuidema’s in Midland Park. They also stayed there on subsequent visits through the USA.

When my Grampa (Mom’s dad) was moving to Canada he flew to New York (New Jersey?) and took the train across to BC to meet my Grandma. While in New Jersey he stayed with the Zuidema’s. It was only fitting that we got to stay with a Zuidema also – although four generations of Zuidema’s later!!!

An older lady told us a story of my Grampa – apparently when he was a little boy and visiting New Jersey she asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he responded “a missionary on furlough”!! 😁

 

Monday was a relaxation day. I just remembered-I made a blog post that day, so that means I did something productive!🤣 Tuesday morning we left and drove 273 miles to Cape Cod. It was the first long drive in a while for a long time that I didn’t make a blog post, so I made good use of time and read a book – or two…? I can’t remember.😂

On Wednesday it rained all day so Dad and Mom worked and we all just relaxed, but on Thursday we traveled to the tip of Cape Cod. After a delicious Portuguese lunch, we headed for the Pilgrims Monument. It’s located in Cape Cod because the Mayflower first landed here and then made three different little trips to different places to try and find the right area to settle in-which was Plymouth. That was a fact I hadn’t heard before – I always just thought that they arrived in Plymouth, and that was that.😂

The view from the top of Pilgrims Monument. We parked our truck in the very bottom right hand corner(of this picture) and walked, uphill, to the monument where a ginormous parking lot full of empty parking spots was available… But it’s okay, we got our exercise in!😁

Yesterday my sisters went mini golfing. They say they had lots of fun and didn’t fight at all!!!😂 I read a book. So far in the last four days I’ve read six books…

After lunch we drove around Cape Cod looking at the view, and the houses. This beach had a very steep drop off so Cassia(pictured below) and Lanaya would run, jump, and land in the sand below.

Last night we played basketball and then went fishing in a pond just below our campsite. I was the only one who actually had any bites and I had reeled the fish in all the way up to the dock when it slipped off the hook and swam away. Incredibly frustrating!!!😡 But seeing as Cassia is the fisher woman in our family-it wasn’t too bad on my ego when on the first cast I caught a fish!😜

I got stuck carrying the camera when it wasn’t my turn with the rod but the gorgeous sunset definitely made taking photos easier!!!

The horizon isn’t straight…😏 But the canoes down on the shore are in the picture so it doesn’t really matter.😂

We had a great time with the Zuidema’s and with the Hamilton’s!!! And I can’t really say we had a blast at Cape Cod because we didn’t do much…😀 But it was cool to see where the Pilgrims first landed in America and add it to my fountain of knowledge!!!😜 Plus, it was pretty neat to see where my Mom’s family had stayed when they came over from Ireland – a long long time ago!😁