Getting the Cape House Ready for Another Summer

Hey, Everyone!  How are you all doing?  I have been busy with all sorts of life things lately.  Keeping it all together can be a chore, don't you think?  Thankfully, there's a little place on Cape Cod that my family and I use as a refuge in the summer.  Last weekend, my husband and I finally got it all shiny and clean for another year of fun!

As some of you may know, I grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts and even though I have moved all over New England much of my married life, Cape Cod is what I consider "home".  I am blessed to have a husband who understands this and years ago, with his encouragement, we purchased a small cottage in my childhood hometown of Yarmouth.  Since then, we have enjoyed many lovely summers vacationing down on the Cape while, at the same time, offering my now grown children a taste of the growing up experience I had as a child. This humble cottage has also given my heart a place to rest.  My wish is that all of you have a place of your own to rest your hearts.

 However, getting the cottage ready for the summer means a lot of cleaning and also some gardening.  I don't do much in the way of gardening because we are really only there on the weekends and it is hard to keep up with the watering and all that goes along with having a nice garden.  So...window boxes and container gardens are it for the Cape for me.

As we get into the groove of the summer we always hang an American flag on the cottage.  The flag seems to be the perfect decoration for the cottage since it has barn red paint trim.  Of course, we have the quintessential blue hydrangeas to go with the red, white and blue theme.

I am especially happy with my climbing hydrangeas ↓ this year.  They have been absolutely stunning!  I wasn't sure when I planted them years ago against the privacy fence if they would ever take off but, they finally did this year.  I am so excited! Aren't they beautiful?!

Our Cape Cod routine in the morning often includes a bike ride around our lovely neighborhood.  It's not usually a very long ride, mainly due to my low endurance (my husband would go much farther, given the chance) but it is enjoyable as-all-get-out anyway!  And, after taking the bike ride I don't feel as bad about sitting on the beach all day :).

The above and below photos were a challenge between my daughter and myself.  I had just established a business account on Instagram and we decided we would each take a photo and post it there to see who got the most "likes".

As I figured would happen, she won!  She is more artistic and, of course, younger than I am. Truth be told neither post received many likes.  I was just starting out on Instagram and had very few followers.  More truth to be told, I still have a long way to go on Instagram.  I am not great at social media as it turns out :/ but it was a fun challenge, nonetheless.

Back to our morning bike rides...I'd love to tell you about the beautiful scenery we see along the way. 

 Our cottage sits one street back from Bass River and our morning bike ride always takes us to the road that runs right along the river.   We love to go by this old windmill and look at the view as we go.

After our bike ride we usually pack a lunch and head to the beach which is about a mile away.  We could ride our bikes but, we usually have so much gear that we must take the car :).  {Sorry about the quality of the photo.  I think my husband quickly took this with his cellphone and sent it off to our kids. }  The beach is much more beautiful than this photo shows.  You will have to take my word for it :) 

When we get home from the beach we wash the sand off in our new updated outdoor shower.  We went all out last year with a double wide version~    

 It even has a dressing room area!  Very chic!  Haha!

And we "air dry" our towels with our very sophisticated clothes drying system!

Sorry to show sooo many photos of the shower but, we really haven't done a whole lot in the way of updating the cottage so, for me, it's a big deal!

We did do one update a few years ago when my daughter, Brittany, got married on the Cape, however.  We totally renovated the only bathroom in the house and I absolutely love it!  It was pretty sad before the renovation but, now it is bright and cheery.

And, I do have fun decorated the place with beachy decor.

Of course, the main reason to have a get-away place is to enjoy it... and to share it.  We love sharing time on Cape Cod with our children and grandchildren.  

At the end of a long day we often take a stroll around the docks in Hyannis Harbor.  We usually sleep pretty well when we call it a night too!

So even though it take a lot of cleaning to get the old cottage ready, it is certainly worth it. We have lots and lots of memories and lots and lots of experiences to remember from years past and now we have a whole new summer to look forward to.  I hope you do too!

Sharing at these Link Parties:

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