Skipping Town

The past couple of weeks have been a blur of final preparations for graduate orientation, my office's biggest undertaking of the year. It is no easy feat organizing three days of events (35+) for almost a thousand grad students when the office consists of two people. This is my fourth orientation, and it has always been exhausting, but this year we added more events and it nearly did us in. I'm still recovering. And now I have to return forty black linens that I panic-ordered from Amazon when it looked like the catering team had dropped the ball on my massive linen order. Hassle upon hassle. But it's over. Unlike last weekend, when I had to work every day on preparations, I had a nice relaxing weekend. Some pool time, some nice meals, actually seeing Andrew and the kids.  On Saturday, Mom and Dad came in and we went to our favorite book sale of the year. It's a fill-a-bag for $15 sale, and we always find amazing things. We all filled a bag (or two). Then we went to a fe...

Our return from Cape May and re-entry into our crazy life did not go smoothly last week. Our return, from July 27 through July 31, was so busy and chaotic I didn't think we would get to the other side of it.  Monday: Greta had crew from 6-8am, requiring one of us to drive her to Verona at 5:30am and then sit in the Oakmont Bakery until pickup. One of us, meanwhile, drove Lucia to work. Then both of us went to work. Greta did geometry. One of us picked up Lucia. Andrew took Greta to math tutoring from 6-7pm. I had to lead a webinar for 400 grad students from 7:30-8:30pm. Tuesday: Same. Crew, Lucia work, our work, geometry, then piano lessons from 6-7pm and then XC for Lucia until nearly 9pm. Did we eat dinner? That question will be answered later. Wednesday: Crew, Lucia work, our work, geometry. Andrew had to wait at home for the gas company to come for a required gas meter update, which we'd put off so long we were notified that our gas was going to be turned off. Lucia had vir...

Greta and I got up very early Saturday morning and made a quick visit to Sunset Beach before the packing up began. The tide was in, so we didn't have much luck sifting for Cape May diamonds, but we did find a handful of polished pebbles, almost as good.  Then it was time to pack up the house and car, and get on the road, sadly. Our 11th annual Beach Week, our 8th in Cape May, has come to an end.  We were very happy to get home to the pets. We missed them. Today, Sunday, was a settling-back-in day. Groceries, farmer's market, menu planning, laundry. Greta hung out with friends for most of the day to celebrate a birthday. Lucia did some SAT studying and put up acrylic shelving in her room to showcase her expansive collection of Unicornos. I chatted with Beth at the pool for an hour.  And now we're facing a week of just mind-numbing busyness. The schedule we're juggling is just unsustainable--figuring out who's driving who where, and who's picking them up and when,...

It was our last day in Cape May. I got up early for a bike ride to Cove Beach, and then walked on the beach for a bit before biking back home. I spent time on the porch punch-needling and drinking coffee until finally gearing up for the beach. It was another beautiful day, and we stayed on the beach until 3:30. Lots of swimming and Spike Ball and reading. Greta had a long morning of geometry but took a break at lunchtime so she could have some beach time.  We'd planned on going out for dinner but changed our minds and just ordered some food from Mermaids Restaurant and Quincy's so we could fit more into our evening. After we ate, we went to the beach and got a couple of friendly strangers to take our family photo.  We had to return the golf cart tonight, so we made our way into town in a variety of vehicles, a logistical puzzle worthy of a McKinsey interview: Jeremy drove the golf cart with all three kids and one bike balanced on the back; I drove the Volvo with Molly, Mom, an...

My favorite day of our beach week is always Tuesday, when the whole week still stretches ahead. Thursday is the end, really. I am not ready for our time in Cape May to be over. We made the absolute most of the day. I didn't go bike riding in the morning, instead choosing to sit on the porch with Molly to punch-needle at 6:30am. Molly and Mom have achieved near-mastery; I'm making my way, improving my technique. (No one else is interested in this BeachKraft, to their detriment.) We'd decided to spend today at Cove Beach. Around 9:30am, Jeremy drove me, Andrew, and Molly down to the beach with all of our canopies and chairs to get set up. He and Molly then ran home, while I "stayed with the stuff" (ie, got settled with my book) and Andrew went for a run. Everyone else joined via golf cart around 11, even Greta, who was able to finish her geometry and rode her bike down. It was a beautiful beach day. Cove Beach is my favorite. I finally took a nice swim and managed t...

Wednesday morning found me taking Lucia to urgent care because of a possible case of strep. She tested negative, but the little white spots on the back of her throat flummoxed the PA who was treating her, so we'll be following up with her doctor back home. She has no fever and feels fine aside from a somewhat sore throat, so who knows. We had one other errand this morning: picking up the golf cart we've rented for the rest of the week. Another new way to get around Cape May this year.  It was a beautiful day, so we spent lots of time at the beach, though the waves were very very high and rough. Everyone is still obessed with Spike Ball, which was a focus for the day. Andrew went back to the house at luchtime to make sandwiches for everyone and brought them back to the beach. At some point in the morning Greta worked on geometry, and she was able to come out to the beach with everyone else.  Lucia left the beach a little early so she could ride her bike around the neighborhood,...