The online home of Quinn & Reece Conroy

Part of the tradition here on Nantucket is family dinners. Each child of Grandma Williams organizes and cooks dinner for everyone else. The dinners are fantastic, and when you’re related closely to the child of Grandma Williams a lot of work.

Donna led the dinner charge Sunday night. It was a pasta feast that started with two huge antipasto plates.

There’s also plenty to drink and a guest bartender each night.

Our dinner was extra special because we provided a rainbow.

It was a double rainbow.

Dessert was cupcakes in honor of a special cousin. Travis turned three.

They were good cupcakes. Thanks Gretchen.

We’re all staying in three houses that share a big yard. The big yard is next to a big ocean. We have breakfast outside everyday.

You can’t beat it.

The days are unstructured. Lots of people take bike rides and others go to the beach. Some head into town. We did that for lunch a couple of days.

Before lunch there is walking around. This is only my second time on Nantucket. The history is amazing. I could spend a lot of time here exploring and learning about it. The boys like looking at the large number of boats.

Everytime Reece sees a boat he says, “Boat!” This being an island he says it a lot.

We’re taking a boat Thursday morning, so we’ll have some good boat talk then. We’re also able to see the rest of a perfect day on a pretty port.

We spent Monday night at Grandma Williams’ house. She hosted all the grandkids and their spouses for a nice dinner. She served 21 people at a sit-down dinner that was fantastic.

Jenny’s Uncle Tom and his family prepared tonight’s dinner. Quinn decided to help out his Aunt Maggie clean-up, so he collected silverware.

He surprises us sometimes with the things he wants to do. He ate dinner with Barry whom he referred to as the “guy with the glasses on his head.”

The dinner was followed by presentations which people submitted in advance. Cousin Kori played “It Had To Be You.”

It was Grandma and Grandpa Williams’ song and she did great.

Grandma Williams gathered the great-grandkids around to teach us how to divide irises.

I doubt they’ll remember any of it, but I think some of the grandkids will be planting irises this spring.

Until then we’ll enjoy the summer and the beach we’ll hit tomorrow.

TJC

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One of the big tasks for this trip was the family picture. It didn’t take long to pull it off.

Click on picture for big photo

We followed it up with a shot of Grandma Williams and her 12 great-grandsons. This was a little harder.

If you thought this would work out perfect you don’t know little kids.

TJC

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The boys have hit the beach all three days we’ve been on Nantucket. They’re having a great time.

The first day we went down to check it out since it was the first time Quinn and Reece have been in the Atlantic Ocean.

Reece liked walking through the sand.

We decided to get our feet wet and Quinn and his buddy Travis enjoyed running away from the waves.

They also liked finding stuff on the beach.

There are a lot of neat things for the boys to pick up. We’ve collected a lot of goodies.

On Sunday, we went to Grandma Williams church for Pate Capps baptism. It is a beautiful building that is almost 200 years old.

It has a lot of family history because Pate’s parents Natalie (Jenny’s cousin) and Barry were married there. Everyone in our family is the same age as everyone in their family, so it is nice to compare notes and stories.

We joined the Capps on the beach later that day and went all in. Quinn and Reece learned the beach is a very large sandbox.

The boys could have spent hours there digging, pouring water, demanding more and digging again.

They didn’t do much swimming because the beach in front of our house is really rough. We did get wet and walk in the water.

The waves are big and Reece would yell, “Here comes another one!” He did not get sick of yelling this. He also likes to point and say, “Ocean.” He is our guide if we get lost.

Even Jenny and her little buddy went in.

We’re going to hit a calmer beach soon, but this does the trick.

Here’s two shots of the boys Jenny took that capture their day well.

We finished up Sunday with a big dinner and lots of kids games outside with all the little cousins. They had so much fun playing Duck, Duck, Goose and Ghosts in the Graveyard in the dark. We had to have one person in charge of counting kids to make sure we didn’t lose anyone. A couple are very good hiders.

TJC

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I’m going to post as much as I can from the Williams Family Reunion here on Nantucket. This isn’t an easy place for anyone to get to, but the trip is worth it. We’re fortunate we had a pretty easy time compared to some other relatives.

We flew from Milwaukee to Boston on a big plane we’ve taken before. Once we landed it was off to find the little planes. Jenny has flown Cape Air before, but it was new for Quinn, Reece and I. We’ve been talking to them about it for awhile and getting them ready for a small plane. We may have done too good a job.

Quinn was excited about taking stairs down to the plane which we did. Then it was time to walk to the small plane.

As we rounded the fuel truck they came into view. Tiny, ten-seat Cessnas.

We got on and had to split up. Quinn was in the back.

Seals fly free.

Reece and Jenny were in the next row.

Then there was me, some seventy-somethings with enormous engagement rings, and the pilot.

As I mentioned we think we did too good a job explaining the small plane because Quinn was asleep not long after we took off.

Reece did his best to see the entire Cape from the air, the ocean and 35 minutes after we took off, Nantucket.

We passed a-lot of private jets when we landed and we parked next to a large JetBlue jet, but it was the little plan Quinn got to take a picture with.

Papa and Gretchen picked us up and now having fun playing and laughing.

TJC

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We’re enjoying Nantucket very much. Quinn and Reece like seeing all of their cousins, older cousins and aunts and uncles. Quinn ran into his Great-Aunt Susie this morning.

Aunt Susie says she was in the bathroom when Quinn walked in and promptly got on the toilet. She says he then did his “stinky business.” When he was done he looked up at her and asked, “Do you have two names?” She replied, “Yes, my name is Aunt Susie.” He then replied, “Aunt Susie, can you wipe my bum?” She did and flushed their encounter. Aunt Susie figures he must think people with two names have poop-wiping authority.

This is good because Quinn was on the hook for peeing on the floor and pooping on the toilet and not flushing. A blonde-haired cousin is now charged and awaiting trial.

TJC

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We left Madison at 5:00 this morning to make our way through a torrential rainstorm to Milwaukee.

The airport there was closed yesterday due to flooding from the rain, but today was fine.

We’re in Boston now waiting to get on a small plane to fly to Nantucket for Jenny’s family reunion.

We’re excited for the tiny plane and the cousins and grandparents that await us.

TJC

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From time to time Quinn likes to tell us what his favorite things are. Lately I am his favorite. Favorite what is a good question. I think it is daddy which is accurate.

When we drive in the car he likes to tell me his favorite song. The first one was Piano Man, by Billy Joel. We have it saved on the radio and he listens to it when we drive. His new favorite is Lady Gaga’s Alejandro.

He likes the word Alejandro and had a tough time saying it at first. Now he can say it well. We listen to it daily and now I can’t get it out of my head.

TJC

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We saw a lot of big things this weekend. The first was the temperatures which were brutal. I prefer the hot to the cold, so I’ll stop there. Quinn and Reece prefer trucks and tractors and we saw lots of them Saturday.

The occasion was Jenny’s work picnic. Her company is Epic Systems and the picnic is the Epicnic. They are building a lot, so they had the big trucks and tractors on display.

Quinn was all over the big rigs, but Reece was scared.

Jenny and Quinn had all the fun.

After an hour and a meal Reece came around and started playing. He was nervous around the animals in the petting zoo, but loved the bubbles.

He was also a little hesitant around the fake cow you could milk. I think because he thought it was real.

On Sunday we saw big things without leaving the house. The field next to us was harvested and Quinn and Reece watched a big tractor.

Farm equipment amazes me because it is enormous and I can’t figure out how it works. The boys don’t care.

We delayed a much-needed nap to watch it and Quinn watched the combine from his bed.

The other big thing today is my parent’s 35th anniversary. It is also the birthday of Culver’s. We called my parents, but visited Culver’s. Please don’t take this as an indicator of our love.

TJC

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Jenny’s work doesn’t have a dress code, so every day is casual day. Reece may have taken casual dress too far while working on his “pooter.”

Not to be outdone Quinn played the maracas like Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Jenny’s interpretation of the dress code is both a top and bottom.

TJC

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