Skipping Town

New Hampshire! It's our annual Fourth of July stay. We left Friday morning and had a traffic-y but uneventful drive. L&G watched Just Add Magic and listened to Bill Harley stories. When we arrived in NH, we stopped at the grocery store to stock up and then drove to the house. Andrew did a pass through the house before the rest of us went in (he found one dead mouse to dispose of) and then we unpacked. L&G began playing with the old books, their favorite thing to do, and we ate dinner outside (pesto with grilled chicken). Today was a perfect NH day. We went strawberry picking this morning. Though L&G were less enthusiastic about the picking than in previous years (mostly because it was already 90 degrees when we got there), they were way more enamored with the strawberries themselves. We all had huge bowls of berries with Cool Whip when we got home, and called it lunch. (I threw a few slices of salami on their plates too, because protein.) Next, we inflated our many ...

The cleaners came this morning (Lucia was still sleeping) so after breakfast we left the house for a while. We went to the mall so the girls could pick out their free book for the Barnes & Noble summer reading program, and they each picked out another book too (I can't deny them a book when they're so excited about finding something new to read). I had a return to make at the mall so we did that. Then we went to the post office. When we got home, the cleaners were still there, so we hung out upstairs while they cleaned downstairs. I began a new sewing project: a lined zippered pouch, courtesy of a YouTube tutorial. After lunch, each girl had a friend over to play. They had so much fun. We made slime and then they were off and running--playing with L&G's puffy slime from yesterday, putting on dress-up clothes, creating and rehearsing a play that they put on for me and one of the other moms at pickup time. It was a good playdate. (I folded laundry, paid bills, and w...

We spent the day at home. It was a summer day that just galloped peacefully along as we did everything and nothing. In summary: I went to CVS and Trader Joe's this morning before Andrew left for work. I drove all the way there, went through the CVS checkout to buy wart medicine (*shudder*), and realized my wallet was back home in the pool bag. Repeated the entire errand. I read more of Harry Potter 2 to the girls after they ate breakfast.  We went outside, where they attempted to balance on a training-wheel-less bike, and we set up our fairy gardens.  We had lunch.  I helped the girls make puffy slime.  They played with puffy slime for a long time.  We read the rest of Harry Potter 2. Carmel Judy (Lucia's favorite of my old Cabbage Patches) was so frightened she was crying. We went through some bins of toys to weed out some donations.  Somehow all the old My Little Pony stuff came out of the crawl space for Greta.  It appeared that Greta wa...

It hit me today how short summer is--it's almost July; and we're away for so many of the coming weeks. It goes by so quickly. So I tried to make the most of today. Both girls slept in--G till 8:30, L till 9:45. I made them chocolate croissants for breakfast, which they ate on the porch while I read more of Harry Potter 2. Next, we painted rocks and tiny canvases--an annual summer activity. We painted for a very long time. Then it was lunchtime, and time for the blondies I'd made earlier (from a box). Next, I proposed an outing to Toys R Us, which will be closing forever in two days. I had no idea if they'd have anything left, but I thought we should make a final visit. Obviously, this idea was received enthusiastically. Most of the store was completely empty and blocked off; there were only a couple aisles of remaining inventory, all at 70% off. We managed to find some good things, though: Charm U charms, Little Live Pets turtles, Hamsters in a House hamster set, an...

We had a lazy day at home today. Lucia slept till 9:30am. Breakfast took forever, as both kids ate at different times and requested multiple English muffins. We read Harry Potter 2 on the porch for a while. After lunch, Lucia had a doctor's appointment to freeze a planter's wart on her foot. File this under The Worst of Parenting. The process we have to follow for the next two weeks to deal with this wart is gruesome and archaic, involving not only a prescription but also duct tape. Shudder. Then we had to go to Target to fill the prescription, which they didn't have in stock, which means I have to drag the kids to Target again tomorrow. The girls spent the afternoon just playing outside, unwilling even to go to the pool. I spray-painted a few things I'd bought recently at yard sales (a fish sculpture, a plant stand). I made pizzas for dinner while the girls watched two episodes of Just Add Magic. We did a lot of reading together today too (more of the Harry Potter, P...

Weekend at Molly's! We took our first summer road trip to Bethesda this weekend to see Molly and Luca. We drove down Friday morning. L&G listened to Bill Harley stories and watched a few episodes of Just Add Magic, a new favorite. We got there in time for the kids to play in Luca's cupboard-hideout, which they loved. We ate at Molly's for dinner and then set the kids up for a slumber party in Luca's room, which didn't last too long (Luca moved into Molly's room, the girls stayed in their sleeping bags). Saturday morning, Andrew and Molly ran in the Devil's Run charity race in Alexandria. All three kids were immersed in looking for crystal-like rocks in the park where the race started. Then they rode their scooters all around. After the runners returned, we snacked and visited with cousins, and then headed to Molly's piano studio so Molly and Andrew could shower and we could get some lunch. Then we headed into DC, to the Natural History Museum. It...

First day of summer vacation! Greta slept till 8 and Lucia slept till 9. They just wanted to play in their rooms in the morning and set up all their Calico Critter stuff. I sewed a pillow cover. When they got hungry, we went downstairs for breakfast and read some books (Lyle Lyle Crocodile, Summertime in the Big Woods). Then we went to the library to sign up for the summer reading club. Last year--although we read a ton--they weren't all that into the reading club, which involves recording the hours you read and earning small prizes. This year, though, they're really excited about it, and were pretty determined to record a lot of reading and writing time today. Lucia's been writing a book of spells. Greta is going to keep filling out her writing journal from school. Lucia tore through the two Heidi Heckelbeck books she brought home from the library. Lately she's also been working her way through the Whatever After series. Greta found our Rainbow Fairies books in the att...

As I've done in years past, I'll attempt to blog daily to document how we spend our summer. We have just two months before another school year begins. These days will fly by, another summer of their childhood gone in a flash. I really really love having these summer blog posts to look back on. The past few days have been crazy busy. We went to the city for the weekend, just for fun, spending the night at the Conrad and eating at a couple of our favorite places (Wagamama for lunch, Joe's Ginger for soup dumplings). We went into a Keebler pop-up marketing event, where the girls could fill a bag with all kinds of Keebler cookies. Greta in particular was awestruck at getting these cookies "for no money!!" She talked about it for the rest of the weekend. We spent Father's Day at a Yankees game (Andrew's dream--finally getting the girls to a baseball game). We stayed for the whole game and the girls had fun. (I sat in mild terror over being hit in the face by ...