I loved all the backgrounds and all the characters in today's strip. I'm glad to see that the Thornapples were able to take a vacation after all. And to Cape Cod for that matter. I enjoy Brutus' ice cream shirt from a popular ice cream parlor and I love the lighthouse in the background (see full strip).
What I don't like is the way Mother Gargle is speaking in the sixth panel. "Allow me to answer the child, Brutus" is not the way people speak. Does the Sansom family speak like that? If so then why is Chip wasting his time as a comic strip artist when he could be in some field where you act stuck up all the time.
Brutus looks really mad that Mother Gargle wants to answer, too. Why is he so mad? I mean, I know he probably wanted to answer his son but he looks like he's plotting revenge. He's now trying to figure out how to get Mother Gargle in the ocean and get her swept out to sea. With any luck, she'll run into Hurricane Bill.