Skipping Town

Much better day today. Livelier. The girls slept in then got involved with some Legos (of course yesterday I'd just moved Lucia's giant Lego bin to the attic because it hadn't been touched in months). After breakfast, we went to the zoo, which was nice. We saw a new penguin exhibit and visited our favorite animals: lions, giraffes, prairie dogs. They caught birds in the aviary and rode the carousel. I feel like this will be my last year of buying a zoo membership, though. It's a small zoo, and the girls are aging out of it. We need to go twice more to make this year's membership worthwhile; but that might be it. We shall see. I can see Lucia teetering on this heartbreaking precipice of suddenly being aware of things that are too young for her. We went home for lunch and L&G did some bike-riding practice. Lucia is totally riding now. She can even make the turn around the top of the driveway. Greta got the hang of starting off by herself today too, after mournin...

Blah. The longest day ever. Neither the girls nor I were inspired for any summer fun. They couldn't land on anything, I couldn't get them interested in anything. Good things: we read a lot of Pippi in the South Seas, some of it on the front porch; we practiced bike riding in the driveway, and Lucia is 100% off and running, even able to get started on her own; Lucia and I organized her room a little in preparation for this coming weekend's Ikea trip for a new desk, while Greta worked on a Lego set that's been in her closet for two years; we played Gonuts for Donuts; we went to the Jefferson playground. They didn't want to go to the zoo, library, or pool. There was some bickering, some dead spots in the day. Caramel Judy did a lot of dramatic sobbing about her arm, which has lost a few stitches at the shoulder and which I haven't yet gotten around to sewing up. Pot Belly, also in dire need of some sewing, moped around with his sunk-in face, losing bits of stuffing...

Sat., 7/28 Departure day from Bethany Beach. I got up early and got donuts from Sandy Pony, and then it was time to pack up. Packing up is always more crazy than it seems like it will be, and even though we'd done a lot of packing the night before, we still had a lot to do, and not everything fit in the car. We sent a few things to PA with Mom and Dad. We'd hoped to get out to the beach for an hour, but that just wasn't happening; so we took a quick walk just to say goodbye to the ocean, and then we were all on our way. The drive home was fine, not too trafficky. L&G watched a few episodes of Just Add Magic. We got hoagies at Wawa for lunch (L&G now hate all fast food, but they liked the hoagies). It was nice to be home, though the laundry pile was epic. L&G got out all the Cabbage Patches and then set up an art studio in Greta's room, which, as far as I could tell, involved lots of cutting up of printer paper. They're glad to be home. What a fanta...

Our last full day at Bethany Beach. It was a gorgeous morning. I went to beach yoga at seven, and then we took our time getting out to the beach. Molly had brought some mosaic coloring pages, and the kids colored for a while. We had breakfast. We got changed and packed. The weather was perfect for the beach, and the water--for the first time all week--was manageable for swimming. I finally felt comfortable swimming out past the breaking waves, bobbing in the water, being lifted by the surging waves. Right when I was coming into shore, I misjudged a wave, tried to dive through it, came up short, and got pummeled and spun violently. The water ripped out my ponytail holder. I wasn't hurt, just a little stunned. Lucia really got the hang of boogie boarding, wading bravely out into the waves; all the kids were more willing to go into the water now that the waves weren't insanely violent. Mom and Dad went back to the house to heat up leftover pizza and cut up fruit, and brought it ...

We had another very full, very fun day today. I went to beach yoga in the morning (this is the ideal time for a yoga class--right at 7am, before anyone else wakes up) and then we headed to the beach. It was a beautiful day, despite predictions of clouds and unpredictable rains. We didn't have much time, since we had our Sandbar Exploration boat trip at noon, but it was nice hour and a half or so. After lunch, Mom and Dad headed for a walk on the boardwalk and the rest of us drove to a nearby marina for our boating adventure. It was just the six of us on the boat (me, Andrew, Lucia, Greta, Molly, and Luca), plus the captain. He drove us out into the bay to a crab pot he'd set earlier in the week, and reeled it in. It was full of about ten crabs. He took a few out and explained various features, and then offered them to the kids to hold and then throw back. Lucia and Greta both held one. Then we continued across the bay to a large sandbar--not just a sandbar; it was more like...

Finally it rained, as the forecast had been predicting all week. Nothing torrential; but it was raining by the time we woke up in the morning, so we had a morning at home. No beach yoga, no beach. Andrew made pancakes for everyone. The kids played with new bouncy balls from Mom and Dad. We read Berenstain Bears books, worked on our giant puzzle. Late in the morning, the rain stopped, so we went for a walk on the beach, which of course turned into more than just walking. The kids dug in the sand and looked at a horseshoe crab--alive--that washed up on shore. Andrew took Lucia into the ocean to jump some waves, and they wound up getting clobbered by a giant wave--really knocked down and spun around. Lucia, who ordinarily doesn't balk at being hit by a wave, balked at this one, bringing an end to the wave jumping. It started to rain again around this time, so we went back to the house a lunch of leftovers. In the afternoon, we went to Candy Kitchen so the kids could spent the $5 e...

Yet another dire forecast that resulted in a beautiful day. I went to beach yoga this morning, and then we packed up and headed to Fenwick Island to spend the day at a water park called Thunder Lagoon. It was a fantastic excursion. The water park was just big enough to keep the kids (and us) busy for the duration of our four-hour ticket: two huge water slides (one where you ride on tubes), a smaller pool, and a lazy river. We got there when it opened, hoping to beat the crowds, but it never actually got very crowded. Andrew, Molly, and I went down the water slides many many times, and Mom and Dad even floated around the lazy river. We had lunch nearby at a hot dog place called Twilly's Willys, including some delicious fries smothered with crab dip. Then we made a stop at Seashell City, where the kids picked out a few shells. I bought a large purple and brown cowrie shell for myself (my favorite). Andrew bought himself a wise-looking wooden sea captain. Back home, we played some...

Another dire weather forecast that was completely and totally wrong. We had another beautiful beach day today. I went to beach yoga early in the morning. We were supposed to go out on a boat today for a "Sandbar Exploration" excursion, but it ended up being cancelled because of high winds. So we headed to the beach again and set up camp for the day. The waves were even more wild and powerful than yesterday, so there wasn't really a chance to swim, but everyone had fun regardless: walking on the beach, jumping waves (ankle deep only, maybe knee deep after the biggest waves), digging holes in the sand, etc. We ate lunch on the beach and headed back to the house around two. We didn't lose any kids today, thank goodness. (Greta made Andrew walk with her all the way down to Sand 1 because she wanted to see how far Lucia had walked.) We spent a relaxing hour or so at the house. The kids worked on a puzzle and watched something on the iPad. I read a book. Andrew went for a...

Orlando family beach vacation! We're in Bethany Beach, DE, for the second year, in the same beach house we rented last year. It's such a wonderful house, and wonderful beach--just the right speed for our family. Nothing too crazy or big, just a cute small boardwalk area and a beautiful beach. We all got here yesterday, Saturday, and drove here in a rainstorm. Pouring rain. It was a real trick to unload the cars in the torrents, but we (Andrew and Dad) did, and then later Molly and I went grocery shopping. The first day of a beach-house vacation is all about getting settled. But we did get out to the beach in the late afternoon, once the rain stopped, and though it was chilly, there were a lot of good shells to hunt for, and the kids dug in the sand. Today, despite the dire weather predictions, was a gorgeous, sunny day. [***cue ominous music***] I went to beach yoga early this morning, and then we all had breakfast and headed out to the beach as early around nine. The kids ...

A full day. L&G had their last art classes this morning and brought home lots of cool stuff they've made. We had lunch, read some Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Goes On Board), and then Mom and Dad arrived. Later, Andrew got back from CA. We all got the house ready for Lucia's Book One recital tonight. The recital went wonderfully. About 20 people came. Lucia was really nervous, but she performed very well. She's been looking forward to this recital for weeks, practicing her pieces several times a day, playing the entire book by heart whenever she sat down at the piano. She's really excited about moving on to Book Two, but I'll be sad when she stops playing these pieces. At least Greta will be playing them now, gearing up for her own Book One recital before long. I'd gotten a cake and some cookies for after the performance, and the kids all played downstairs in the playroom while the adults chatted upstairs. Between Lucia's First Communion and now this ...

Wed., 7/18 Girls had art class, I did a lot of packing for the upcoming beach vacation, and later in the afternoon we went to the library and the pool. We ate dinner there. L&G were having so much fun I felt terrible for telling them it was time to leave at 6:15. Thurs., 7/19 More packing. I'm also preparing for Lucia's Book One recital tomorrow. Lots of logistics. Tonight I had a sitter for the girls and a friend and I went into the city to see Dear Evan Hanson. Such a great show. And fun to be in the city spontaneously, on an ordinary night.

BEEPING WOKE ME UP AGAIN AT 5 A.M. I THINK ANDREW IS GASLIGHTING ME. At 5 a.m. I was on a chair in the hallway, pulling down every single detector off the ceiling (why do we have so many detectors?? what are they detecting??). And then at about 10 a.m. THERE WAS MORE BEEPING. So I pulled down the detector in the downstairs hallway. If there's more beeping tonight, I'm taking down every one. Every. Single. One. In. The. House. And I'm going to put them into a bag, and tie the top, and smash it all with a hammer, and put it out for the trash, and not replace them. This isn't a new problem. Unidentified, middle-of-the-night beeping is A Thing in our house. A few months ago it was several nights of this, until Andrew discovered a forgotten carbon monoxide detector plugged in behind my office door. There is nothing, nothing, more frustrating. A stormy stormy day meant no pool, but L&G were happy to have a day at home after their art classes. We had lunch and then mad...

Andrew left early this BEEP BEEP BEEP morning for yet another trip to California BEEP BEEP BEEP. Oh, sorry, those are just the annoying middle-of-the-night BEEPS that seem to happen any time Andrew is out of town, from the smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector, waking me out of a deep sleep to which I'm unable to return. Fortunately, it happened last night (3:45am and 6:30am) when Andrew was still here, and he was able to take down the carbon monoxide detector that was the culprit. The girls had art classes this morning (this is the second of two weeks of the session). I picked them up at noon and we went directly to the pool, where we ate lunch and then spent the afternoon. It was a blazingly hot day, and the girls had lots of fun swimming (as did I). Greta ran into a friend from kindergarten, and the friend and Greta and Lucia played for a long time. Usually it's Lucia who runs into friends, so it was fun for Greta to have the friend this time. The girls got a treat fr...

I went to yoga this morning for the first time in ages. It was hot and humid outside and even hotter (of course) in hot yoga and I sweated up a storm. Felt good to be back, though. We spent most of the day at home--the girls were involved with all kinds of different toys and drawing, I started organizing my sewing supplies, and we even got outside to do some bike-riding practice. There was a tiny step forward, both girls managing a bit of pedaling on their own with Andrew running along beside them. By "a bit" I'm talking like one second, but that's one second more than we had yesterday, so. Greta has boldly announced that she's going to learn before Lucia. The gauntlet has been thrown. We all got very very hot later in the day and even though we were approaching dinnertime we decided to go to the pool. Andrew hasn't been swimming even once yet this summer and L&G were so excited to have him there to do the Dad things--throw them up in the air, swim races...

The kids slept late on Saturday--Lucia didn't get up until 9:30am. Once everyone had breakfast, we went to the turnover sale (again). Didn't find too much except a gaudy light-up Christmas decoration, a couple of frames, and a few more fabric remnants. After lunch, I volunteered at the library book sale for a couple of hours, my first time as a Friend of the Library. It was pure organizational rapture. I parked myself in the children's/young adult book area and organized the heck out of it, separating chapter books from picture books, reorganizing the rolling racks, and neatening up all the boxes of books. I felt myself sink into a calm, zen-like state. My mind was at rest. The sale books have never been so organized. We spent part of the afternoon futilely trying to move the bike-riding forward with the girls. Andrew is trying to teach them according to a video he watched that requires first removing the bike pedals so the kids can learn how to coast and balance; but th...

Another fun day of art classes. At home we had lunch and read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for 45 minutes--they're really into it. I'd forgotten how wonderful it is. They played inside for a while, I sewed a dress for Lucia's Cabbage Patch Preemie, Joanna, and then the girls went outside. They went to get their Flash Riders out of the garage and complained to me that something smelled really terrible. (When Andrew got home tonight, he confirmed that something has likely died in the garage and he'll have to search for it tomorrow. Welcome home!) Around 4:30, the girls and I went to the pool for Float Night, which is held every other week or so. On this night you can bring any float you want to the pool. L&G have giant donuts. It's crazy, with the pool crowded with wild floats (giant unicorns, peacocks, flamingos, all kinds of giant foods), but really fun. (The lifeguards hate Float Night--there are about ten of them positioned all around the pool, and a fe...

Another full day. L&G had art classes in the morning, and piano lessons after lunch. We went to the pool for a while, though the day was milder than it has been. I let the girls get ice cream bars from the snack bar, and then we went home for dinner. A neighbor had her Suzuki Book One recital tonight, so we went to that. After the kids went to bed, I became immersed in my new hobby, sewing. All I want to do is make things. I made two lined tote bags. A nice day that galloped right along.

L&G continue to love their art classes, especially the polymer clay class. They emerge each day spilling over with news of what they'd worked on, and what they were able to bring home. They learned about King Tut in their Egypt class. I'd invited their friends (and their moms) to come home with us after classes today for lunch and playing. I picked up a pizza and we all ate outside on the patio. These friends like coming over because they know I'll make slime with them, with the slime kits I made the kids for Christmas, so we gathered on the front porch and each made a bowl of puffy slime. Then they ran off and weren't heard from again for a couple of hours--they were all playing in the basement, dressing up and rehearsing a play, which they then performed for the moms. A really fun afternoon all around. Later, L&G and I cleaned up (a lot) to prepare for housekeeping tomorrow. Then dinner and piano practice and bedtime. It was a busy day. Oh, and there...

Today was one of those days when we couldn't hit our stride. I blame Andrew. L&G had fun at their art classes this morning. When they came home, they were a bit off, anticipating Andrew's imminent departure for CA. Lucia wanted to play Mancala; Greta wanted Lucia to play with Cabbage Patches; and they couldn't figure out how to get in sync. Then Andrew left, and Lucia was distraught--feeling his departure more acutely since we spent the past ten days 100% together. So that took a little while to get past. We read a little bit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together and then got ready for the pool. They cheered up when I suggested they each pack their own pool bag, even going so far as to prepare and pack their own snacks. They had lots of fun at the pool. We stayed at the pool until close to 5pm, then came home. Things went awry again at home. Lucia started practicing piano, but Greta wanted to practice. Then it was Greta's turn to practice, but she didn...

We left NH on Sunday. Boo, hiss. We were all sad and irritable. The drive home was long and irritating. Today, Monday, L&G started their two weeks of art classes. They're doing three classes, from 9-12 each day: Egyptian Art, Mosaics, and Polymer Clay. They both have friends in the classes. They came home today super excited about what they'd made, talking about the projects they'll be working on. It should be a fun experience for them. I remember vividly the many different summer classes I took over the years--watercolor, photography, drawing, karate, tennis, swimming. I'm protective of their time at home but feel pretty confident these classes are worthwhile. After I picked them up, we hung out at home for a little while. L&G played with all the Cabbage Patches they have, which involves all of mine and several of Molly's. Then we went to the library so they could redeem their reading hours for prizes and pick out new books, and then headed to the pool....

Our last full day in NH. Booooo. Everyone slept in nicely and Greta and I read books in bed until Lucia woke up. We hung around the house in the morning and then set off to hike to the top of Mt. Ascutney, something we've done many times before and love. It was a perfect day for a hike--sunny and not very hot. The woods were cool enough for a light sweater and jeans. We hiked to the top, had a snack, climbed to the top of the fire tower, and then hiked back down. We had ice cream afterward at our favorite ice cream place, a final visit of the trip. Ice cream was basically our lunch, so when we got home L&G and I began a project we'd talked about at length during the hike: photographing Caramel Judy and Wee Wee in different outdoor tableaux, with the idea that we'll make a photo book about their vacation, with captions for all the pictures. So we took them into the woods and put them in all kinds of different places. Pot Belly, Roary, and Homer also had turns. A bit ...

We took it easy today and had a day at home. Andrew went for a long run even before the kids got up, and then made pancakes. The girls and I read some books, played Chinese checkers, and the girls played with Shopkins. There was some occasional Frisbee throwing with Andrew, and we started some bike-riding activities. Andrew took the pedals off the bike we have here and tried to get L&G to scoot along and balance. Marginal success. We ran a couple of errands in town. L&G ran around outside with Carmel Judy and Wee Wee. Those two have been the focus for the past couple of days, becoming even more central to their playing than usual. Today, Carmel Judy and Wee Wee were having a playdate, and played with Shopkins. There was a lot of imaginative work going on there. I managed to squeeze in my annual canning this morning and made nine jars of strawberry jam. I bought a canner last year, which helps a lot. Thanks to the jam, by the time we leave NH, we'll successfully have use...

Both girls slept until almost 9:30am today, recovering from their late night of fireworks. Faced with another scorching day, we decided to take another day trip, this time to Lake Winnipesake, continuing our exploration of fun NH activities. When we got to Meredith, NH, we first had lunch at a cute lakeside restaurant called Town Docks. Andrew and I had delicious lobster rolls. A short drive took us to Leavitt Park, which has a sandy beach, picnic tables, bathrooms, and a roped-off swimming area. It was a perfect afternoon. The lake is beautiful--clear, with a sandy bottom, and waist-deep at the deepest part of the swimming area. We all swam for a while, and when L&G got wrapped up in swimming around with their goggles, hunting for rocks, Andrew and I sat at a picnic table and read. The girls also played a lot with the rafts and pool noodles we'd brought. We stayed for several hours and had to drag them out of the water when it was time to leave. What a great place. We'...

Happy Fourth! L&G are wild about this holiday, and we love it too. Over the past few years we've established a whole little ritual that marks the day. We've been coming to NH for the Fourth for our entire married life--we could only think of one year when we couldn't be here, when we'd just moved to CA and were staying in a Hilton in downtown Sacramento, frantically trying to find a short-term rental during a holiday for a new job Andrew wasn't sure he'd be keeping. Good times. Today was genuinely good, from beginning to end. After breakfast we headed into Plainfield for the Fourth of July parade, a favorite of L&G. We got there a little early and browsed around a tag sale, where I found a brand-new pair of royal blue Birkenstocks in Lucia's size for $5. Greta chose a book. I spotted a wooden cobbler's bench that I knew I'd wind up going back for. We found a somewhat shady spot to watch the parade. L&G got lots of candy thrown to them...

We were adventurous today and tried something new: rafting down the Connecticut River. We came up with this idea as a way to deal with yet another day of this insane heat wave. This morning we drove into Windsor, VT, to the river outfitter, where we rented our raft and got life jackets. We were driven to the starting point about five miles up the river, and we pushed our raft into the water. We were off. It was a lot harder work than we'd expected. I, at least, had envisioned a leisurely float. And it was a leisurely float at some points, where the current carried our raft along. At other times, the water was perfectly calm, and we had to heave our raft along with our oars. This was pretty hard, especially in the blazing sun. The girls kind of helped, sometimes, and sometimes they were complete dead weight when they decided to slide off the sides of the raft into the river to float along, holding onto a rope that went along the outer edge of the raft. Having them in the river lik...

Still hot, but not quite as brutal as yesterday. The morning was more or less unformed, with lots of reading Pippi Longstocking and playing games (pick-up sticks, Chinese checkers, tic-tac-toe, Chutes and Ladders, and checkers). We eventually went to the pond, which was fun and refreshing. Greta galloped around the pond on her pool noodle, which was her horse. Lucia floated all around pensively, lost in her own world. Both used the rope, scream-laughing, as a tightrope. L&G are really adventurous about just swimming around without being in their rafts--they're old enough now to ask me why I, too, don't get out of my raft. I don't want to make them think anything's gross about the pond, so I sidestep the question--I want them to love swimming in the pond as long as they possibly can, because undoubtedly the day will come when they no longer want algae tangling around their legs, or muck covering their feet up to their ankles, or fish nibbling at them. Shiver. Float...

Yesterday's idyll didn't last into today. The main thing was the heat: about 99. Obviously, we don't have any AC at all here. The house was okay in the morning, and we played some games, practiced piano, and read books. But the heat blasted us when we attempted a nature walk before lunch. It went south very quickly, when a gnat got into Greta's eye and she exacerbated the discomfort by rubbing her eye with sunscreeny hands. The walk became a forced march that we abandoned quickly (to Lucia's disappointment--she loves the nature hikes; we'll make sure she gets another chance tomorrow). We melted back home, melted through lunch (more strawberries with Cool Whip miraculously helped Greta's eye), and finally melted up to William's pool, where we finally cooled off for a while. L&G had a great time swimming, esp. since the pool is full of fun pool floats like a flamingo and a unicorn. We went out for ice cream later in the afternoon. Back at home, I r...