Skipping Town

Puppy day!!!!! I'll say this here: I think we've gotten the sweetest little pup in the world. She's sleeping on the couch next to Andrew right now. She hasn't had even one accident all day. She's played and napped and charmed the neighbors. She's perfect. But I digress. We were all so excited this morning when we headed to Hillsborough Township. We got there right at 11 and went into the office. First we got to take a look at our baby--off in a side room, in a small play area with her pink-collar chocolate sister. The breeder took her out and let Lucia and Greta take her outside to a fenced-in play area, while Andrew and I did all the paperwork. She was cuter than we even remembered. (Her pink-collared sister does have a home. I asked. I was worried.) After all the paperwork and payment was complete, we got to bring her home. Her: Farrah. It's a decadently beautiful and sophisticated name for our small cute pup. It suits her. Farrah sat on my lap i...

It's finally happened: I missed a few days of summer blogging. My excuse is simple: this entire week has been a blur of checking email five hundred times a day. We have been on pins and needles ever since sending in our puppy choices on Sunday, waiting for an email from the breeder telling us which puppy will be ours. It's all we can think about. I don't even remember too much about what we did the past few days. No clue. I just kept refreshing my email, hoping for that message. FINALLY, this morning, right before Andrew left for work, the email came. I'll save the announcement for tomorrow, puppy pickup day--but I'll say that we are all VERY VERY VERY EXCITED. Beyond excited. Now that we know which one is ours, it feels wrong that she's not here with us. It's time for her to come home. We're waiting for her. She doesn't know it yet, but she has a wonderful home and family waiting for her. She is already so loved and we don't even have her yet....

Monday, 8/26 The world was our oyster today. Nothing planned or scheduled. The weather was gorgeous. Fall-like and sunny. We just lazed around in the morning, the kids playing with various things, me dealing with the usual cauldron of intrigue with the Soisson House. It was so beautiful outside, though, that I felt like we should go somewhere. I'm not one to take the kids on a million outings--we're always happy just staying home--but today I suggested a walk and a playground at the reservoir. They said yes, but that they wanted to keep playing for a while (they were doing something outside, with scooters and a fake campfire and a bucket), and when I said that was fine, we could go whenever, Greta said, "That warms my heart." We did eventually make it to West Orange and had a nice long walk around the reservoir, spotting turtles. Then we went to the Pirate Playground. They had lots of fun, mostly swinging together while singing songs from Descendents 3. I made b...

Saturday, 8/24 LITTER VISIT DAY!!! Finally, it was here. We've been waiting forever to meet these pups. Our appointment was at 10:30am, so after a quick breakfast we headed out to Hillsborough Township, NJ, into the rural hinterlands. A labradoodle greeted us when we got out of the car and led us to the office area, and then we were taken to a little fenced-in play area. And then--the worker brought in a laundry bin full of puppies. Nine of them. Six apricot and three chocolate, all tiny. The puppies immediately began seething around us, and we sat down so they could crawl into our laps and we could hold them and play with them. THEY WERE SO CUTE. There wasn't nearly enough time to nuzzle every one as much as we wanted, because we had a job to do: make sure we took a picture of me holding each one up, so we could both see the color of its collar and tell whether it was a boy or a girl. (We had to have a clear picture of them all so we could talk about them later and make our ...

Rounding out our adventure week with Lucia's day in the city! Another great day. We all went into the city on the train this morning. Greta and Andrew went to his office, and Lucia and I headed up to Times Square. It was raining a little, but we found a Starbucks and had a little breakfast while we waited until our ticket time at Gulliver's Gate. Then it was time for our Gulliver's Gate exploration. It was so much fun. Gulliver's Gate describes itself as "the largest interactive miniature world on earth," and it's exactly that--a miniature world. Or parts of the world, to be more specific: tiny-scale replicas of cities in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the U.S. We each were given a key that, when inserted into glowing keyholes throughout the exhibit, set parts of the dioramas in motion. It was really fun. Lots of little details to discover. We'd been expecting only a miniature New York City, and were surprised to find all the international dioramas...

We were up at 4:30am last night because Greta was woken up by a cricket in her room. We tried our best to find it but couldn't, even though its chirp was insanely loud. We must have startled it enough with our noise and lights, though, because it was quiet after that and we all went back to sleep. The cleaners came this morning so the girls and I ran a bunch of errands. We went to DSW and Nordstrom Rack and both girls got sneakers for school. We went to Target and the post office. We came home and had lunch, and the girls were all over the map--playing, arguing, playing, arguing. It was driving me nuts. I was too tired to even intervene too much, but I did loudly announce I GUESS FROM ALL THIS ARGUING YOU MUST BE REALLY EXCITED FOR SCHOOL TO START, and of course Lucia was like, "I AM really excited about school." Whatever. I definitely had moments today when I felt ready for school to start. I have so much to do, just so much, and I will be glad to have some hours in ...

Greta's city day! Months ago, the girls and I decided we'd plan two city days this summer--one with just Greta and me, and one with just Lucia and me. The end of summer crept up on us so fast, but we made it happen. The girls decided Greta would go first. This morning, all four of us rode in on the train together. Lucia had a backpack full of activities (books, coloring, yarn for finger knitting) so she could spend the day in Andrew's office while he worked. At Penn Station, we split up--Andrew and Lucia onto the subway to get to Google, Greta and I out of the station to walk a few blocks to the F train. Our first destination was the Lower East Side, where we had a pastry at the Clinton St. Baking Co. and then went to Greta's choice of activity: Koneko, a Japanese cat cafe. This was an awesome cat cafe. There were two floors of cat areas, and an outdoor "catio" where most of the cats congregated. The price of admission bought us an hour of petting and play...

Sunday, 8/18 (NH) A long leisurely day in NH. It was chilly and foggy in the morning, a good morning for sleeping in (which the kids did). Then they got out the old play kitchen from the garage and played with that for a long long time. They collected crab apples from the tree at the bottom of the yard, along with a variety of berries, and cooked up lots of meals and drinks. They were completely absorbed. This is my favorite kind of playing, and the one I feel is most at risk this year, when I know both girls are going to encounter a lot of other kids who are old beyond their years and who have cast off toys and playing in favor. Ugh. I could go on and on about this and work myself into a froth, but I won't. For now. Anyhoo. At lunchtime, our cousins Peter and Sandy drove up from MA for lunch and a visit with us and Robert and Andy. We usually see them once a year and always have a fun time. Sandy brought me a new deck of tarot cards, the Rust Belt Arcana, which aligns traditio...

We had a new activity in NH today: the Cornish Fair. Andrew went when he was a kid, but I'd never been. We all went together and started off in the animal area, where we pet cows and sheep. Greta was definitely in her happy place with the sheep. If we lived in a rural area I could see her being a 4H kid, raising and caring for sheep. They were pretty cute. Then we watched a demonstration of a trained police dog, obeying the commands of his handler. We are inspired to make sure our own puppy is highly trained. The Dutch Shepherd was trained to "apprehend" a narcotics suspect, which he demonstrated by attacking a guy wearing a full-body padded suit. I definitely wouldn't want to cross that dog. Of course is outside the realm of what our doodle will be asked to do, but still. Lucia was practically fainting from hunger after that, so we paused for hot dogs. I wanted a bloomin' onion for my lunch, so we got in line there next. While we waited, the girls did this co...

Thursday, 8/16 A little bit of a setback for my editing today because camp was cancelled. L&G were full of activities, actually making a list of all the activities they wanted to do, including: finger knitting, friendship bracelets, perler beads, reading Calvin and Hobbes / Foxtrot, and much more. They mixed stuff in the tinkerspace and played with dolls. We went to the pool for a bit in the afternoon but they weren't really into it--a sure sign that summer's winding down. I had a sitter come at bedtime because Andrew as at a baseball game and I was invited to a book swap party down the street--everyone brought books they no longer wanted and took home some new books. Lots of fun. Friday, 8/17 Camp in the morning--the last day. They had such a great time. Finger knitting is definitely the biggest hit. We had a quick lunch when they got home, and then packed up for New Hampshire. When Andrew got home from work, we started out. It was a long drive. Lucia felt carsick ...

Fiber Arts Camp in the morning. More finger knitting. More reading of Fox Trot and Calvin and Hobbes. The girls both went to their friend J's house for a playdate and did some perler beads. I remembered that I actually had bought some at a yard sale years ago and put them in the attic, so I brought them out when they got home and they did that for a long time. They also played in the basement with Cabbage Patches. There is just too much to to. There is not enough summer left. Even though their camp has been amazing and they've absolutely loved it, I'm glad there are only two days left because I want them to have the final two weeks of summer as wide-open days. This was a nice little crafty interlude--and it definitely sparked some new crafting here--but now it's time for days at home to finish off the summer.

Another great day. The girls had Fiber Arts Camp this morning and did some really fun things, including more finger knitting. Then they went to a friend's house for lunch and a Cabbage Patch playdate. After I picked them up, we went to Michael's to get some thicker yarn for finger knitting. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the basement--doing puzzles, playing with my old Pillsbury Doughboy figurines, and playing with American Girls. They also read Fox  Trot and Calvin and Hobbes whenever they had a spare second. There just wasn't enough time in the day to do everything. And I feel like this is how it's going to be up to the very moment school starts. There's just not enough summer.

We're back on track. A great summer day. The girls had sewing camp in the morning, and they had such a great time today they didn't want to leave. They learned how to finger-knit, which was a huge hit. After camp, my friend and her daughter (who's in camp too) invited us to swim at the country club and have lunch, which was lots of fun. The country club pool allows pool noodles and rafts, and the girls had a blast playing with their friend.  All three girls brought Cabbage Patches to the pool. As soon as L&G got home, they began finger-knitting. They were also deep into a stack of Fox Trot and Calvin & Hobbes collections I'd found at a thrift store. Lucia was finger-knitting and reading at the same time, desperate to do both, unable to choose. They didn't change position for two and a half hours, knitting and reading. "This is so relaxing!!!" Lucia exclaimed. "I want to read and finger-knit all day!!!!" I have created mini-me's. I...

Much better day today. We didn't have any plans at all, so both girls slept in and then played with a variety of things for most of the morning. Good Luck Minis, American Girls, Mailegs, Chistmas Tsum Tsums from an Advent calendar two years ago, all in a big mix in the upstairs hallway. The game was punctuated by long, loud spells of them singing songs from The Greatest Showman (Lucia told me later the AG doll Tenney was performing). They did some large floor puzzles in the basement. They were their old selves. WTF happened the two days prior? They went with Andrew to Whole Foods in the afternoon. They played outside, drawing stuff on the driveway and riding their bikes and scooters. I took them to Dollar Tree to get new supplies for the tinkerspace. Andrew made gazpacho, grilled chicken legs, and chili-lime Mexican street corn for dinner. All delicious. Other activities: Lucia worked on a friendship bracelet, Greta read a Fox Trot comic strip collection. In other words, they w...

Another long day with the monster children. The morning was okay, both girls taking turns sewing various things, and while they crafted I did some cleaning out of my office closet, since the sewing machine is in my office. The downward turn came after, when we pulled up a YouTube video to learn the "cups" thing from the Anna Kendrick song in Pitch Perfect. I'm not sure what set Greta off, but she went to her room and drew a few pictures of a mean mommy, showing them to me triumphantly. I have no idea what I did. Anyway, Lucia got really good at cups. By lunchtime, everyone was antsy, since Andrew was supposed to be back around 1:30pm. The time came and went. Finally I got the girls to ride scooters to the Jefferson playground, just to get out of the house and onto neutral territory. Even there, they were off, bickering and out of rhythm. When Andrew texted to say he was in an Uber heading home from the airport, we went back. We were all happy to see him. He brought me...

Well, I'm a little fried. It was a good week overall, but by tonight the exhaustion of solo-parenting since Sunday caught up with me.  The girls had camp this morning. Lucia stayed for lunch and extra sewing time with a friend, then went with her to swim at the country club. Greta and I had lunch with friends and then her friend came over to play.  Then it was Float Night at the pool. The girls had gotten giant floats--a parrot and a flamingo--but the logistics of trying to inflate and transport these giant, giant floats finally beat me down. The car-powered air compressor would have taken an hour to inflate them, the floats wouldn't actually fit in the car so I'd have to finish the inflating in the pool parking lot, I'd have to deflate them to fit them in the car to go home (which takes a ridiculous amount of time), etc. I just--couldn't do it. It was beyond what I was capable of doing today at 5pm. So they brought smaller floats. It was fine, it's alway...

These days are going too fast. I can't even think about the end of summer. We need more time. Fiber Arts Camp this morning. Greta made an adorable woven bag from hand-dyed fabric scraps. I took the girls to the pool right after I picked them up, to stay out of the cleaners' way, though we had to make a quick stop at home so the girls could get their friendship bracelet clipboards. We had lunch at the pool and worked on bracelets while we waited for our food. Then the girls swam for another two and a half hours. They played in their rooms and then in the basement when we got home. We had dinner (turkey meatloaf and corn casserole--I actually cooked tonight). Then Greta finished the final steps of her Fairy Fudge recipe, cutting out the pieces with small cookie cutters and decorating them with candies. Lucia helped with the decorating. They were both really into it. We finished off the day with two episodes of Liv & Maddie. They love this show so much.

Solid summer day, despite an afternoon of thunderstorms. The girls had Fiber Arts Camp this morning and got to tye-dye various things. They came home with stained legs, hands, and arms, so I know they were hard at work. They are having a great time with these classes. Three hours of fabric crafting--I want to do this camp myself. After a quick stop at Trader Joe's, we had lunch at home and then I taught them how to make friendship bracelets. I hadn't made one in years and years, and I had to watch a YouTube video last night to remember how to do it. It came right back. The girls picked it up very quickly and their four-color striped bracelets are looking beautiful. Lucia finished one and is on her second. I made one too, for an ankle bracelet. I gave them each a clipboard to hold their bracelet while they do the knotting. For some reason this was amazing to them. "You have CLIPBOARDS??" they both said. I have no idea what experience they have with clipboards, have...

Okay, I'm a little bit behind, but I WILL CATCH UP NOW. Saturday, 8/3 Beach departure day. Packed up all our stuff and were out of the house by ten. Andrew, the girls, and I lingered in town for a bit, eating crepes, but decided to head home instead of going to the lighthouse as we'd planned. It felt strange still being there when everyone else had left. But it's so close to us we know we'll be back for a weekend visit in the off-season. There's so much there to explore. Greta was very distraught to be separated from Gra and Pop-Pop, and from the beach. She declared that she's going to live in Cape May someday. We watched Descendants 3 in the evening, the new and final film in the trilogy. These movies are so over the top that I can't help but love them as much as the kids do. Sunday, 8/4 A getting-back-to-zero day. Grocery shopping, laundry. The kids played outside and inside. Just before dinner, Andrew left for a business trip to London. Lucia...

Our last beach day, and it was a great one. We did our usual routine to get our stuff to Cove Beach in the morning, and we spent the entire day there until 5pm. For lunch we bought sandwiches at the Cove Restaurant and ate under our canopy. The kids played paddle ball, played with their surfer people, boogie boarded, read Berenstain Bears books, and looked for shells. Greta's main focus today was shells, and she collected an enormous bag of them to bring home. We all went on a long shell and pebble hunt at the end of the afternoon, when the tide was very low. Andrew and I beat our paddle ball record of the week today and got 72. We rode bikes home, and then Molly and Jeremy rode with the three kids around the neighborhood while the rest of us pulled all the leftovers out of the fridge and heated everything up. We had a ton of food left, but this dinner used up all or most of everything. Then we walked for ice cream one last time at Kohr Brothers, and Molly bought the kids some ...

Another lovely beach day. I got up early to bike ride. Andrew drove the car down to the beach and went for a run. The kids, Molly, and I biked there and started setting up. Jeremy and Andrew set up the canopy. Mom and Dad walked down to meet us. Logistics complete, we settled in for the day. There was a rainstorm last night so the water was colder than it has been. But by later in the afternoon it had warmed up a little, and it was very very calm for swimming. Greta dug a spa, Molly and Luca dug a big hole, Lucia and Greta painted shells, Gra read some Berenstain Bears to the kids under the canopy. Molly and I played dramatic, yoga-based paddle ball (we did not excel). Andrew and I tried to beat our record of 63, but we only got into the fifties. Dad got into the water for the first time. The kids all boogie boarded. We left the beach at 4pm. Andrew and Jeremy drove back, and Molly and the kids and I took our treacherous, sandy bike ride home. (I say 'treacherous' because t...

A great beach day. We have the logistics down now. I got up at 6:30am, but instead of setting off on my regular morning bike ride, I rode to our parked car, attached the bike to the bike rack, drove to an ideal parking spot close to Cove Beach, and then set out on my bike ride from there. We never even unloaded the beach stuff from the car last night, so we were all set. Around 9am, Andrew walked to the car, unloaded the canopy and chairs, set them up, and then went on his run. Then Molly, the kids, and I biked to the beach to meet him around 10am. Mom and Dad walked. Seamless. The beach weather was perfect, the water was beautiful, the tide was low. We all swam. The kids were very focused on sand today: Greta worked for a long time on her "spa," a large hole she dug near the waterline that filled pleasingly with water; Luca and Lucia worked on a very deep hole farther back. We had lunch from our cooler. The kids snacked a lot. Andrew and I played paddle ball and got up t...