Skipping Town

Tomorrow, the school year begins. There's the night-before-the-first-day-of-school feeling in the air. We have tried to make the most of summer; so many things remain undone. Friday night, Greta went to a sleepover that began with a trip to Sandbox VR in the Strip and dinner at Shake Shack. Andrew went to a baseball game. Lucia and I went shopping at Target then picked up food from How Lee and watched Gilmore Girls. Yesterday Lucia had XC practice and then a birthday party; I picked up Greta from the sleepover; I went to a tennis clinic. Later in the day Lucia worked on Algebra (her packet is due the first day of school) while Andrew, Greta, and I went to the pool. Andrew and a friend played pickleball; Greta and a friend swam; Beth and I floated in the pool and chatted. Then Andrew and the girls and I went to a BBQ at the home of some WT friends. It was a full and fun day.  Today we went to the farmer's market and the grocery store, with the kids, who wanted to pick out some s...

 The kids start school on Monday. I can't believe this summer is almost over. More catching up: We went to a Pirates game with Andrew a couple of weeks ago. We stayed longer than usual (usually when we go with him we leave after the pierogi race) but not till the end, which he was horrified by because it ended up being a really close game. We tried! Andrew and the girls went to Baltimore overnight last weekend to see an Orioles game with family friends. I stayed home with the pets. Graduate Orientation was last week, the culmination of months of planning and preparation. It was exhausting but all went well. Now back to regular working life. We've all been running. Andrew, Lucia, and Greta all ran a 5K last Friday (Lucia was with her team and Andrew and Greta registered as well) and all did great. Lucia came in 2nd in her age group, and Andrew and Greta got medals for their age groups as well. Now that Orientation is over, I'm back to running as well, though it's been ha...

I'm egregiously behind with my summer blogging. I can't catch up for every single day, but here are some highlights: Last weekend was one of my favorite book sales. Mom and Dad drove in and we all went, coming away with about six bags of books. We went out to a few yard sales afterward, then out to lunch at Ritter's diner. Then we came home and show-and-telled all the books we bought. This week was absolutely crazy since it was Graduate Orientation, which meant extremely long work days that started very early and went late.  Nutmeg's birthday was Monday--she's five. We celebrated on Wednesday with some new treats. Greta wanted to make her a bunny cake she'd found online, beginning this project at 10pm, filling our blender with rabbit pellets and hay and a banana. Hay was all over the kitchen counter. Andrew nearly lost his mind while I laughed and laughed. The end result wasn't too cake-like, but Nutmeg loved it nonetheless.  This week and last have been alm...

Last beach day, and it was a good one. Another perfect day of weather. Greta and I went on a bike ride on the boardwalk in the morning, and then all of us spent the day on the beach. Lots of swimming etc. For dinner we got lobster rolls from Quincy's--delicious. We went back to the beach for sunset and had someone take a family picture. Luca found another baby shark and threw it back into the water. Two baby sharks in one vacation--a little unsettling, IMHO. Then it was back to the house for final rounds of Telestrations, and packing, and finally finishing the puzzle. The days seemed long at the start, but somehow the week has come to an end.

Today was a perfect beach day. No wind, sunny, warm. I went on a run in the morning--my first time actually hitting three miles. That's the conclusion of my C25K program, and though I have definitely improved, I am not yet ready to run a 5K. But it was (gasp) satisfying to hit this achievement. We spent the whole afternoon on the beach. Lots of swimming, skim boarding, and wave jumping. Greta is still breaking out in a heat rash after being in the sun, which is mysterious. But otherwise it was an excellent day.  We had leftovers for dinner and then went into town for ice cream. The adults scandalized the kids by opting NOT for the usual Kohr's. Molly, Mom, and Dad got hard scoops from Uncle Charley's. Andrew and I chose gourmet ice cream sandwiches from Peace Pie. We had someone take a family picture of us as we sat on a bench on the Washington Mall. I bought a wave ring at Across the Way, and Greta bought a Cape May hat with a shark on it.  We played games back at the hous...

Another double-length beach day. Greta and I went on a three-mile bike ride this morning on the boardwalk. We headed to the beach around 10:30, and the kids once again used their skim boards. These are incredibly dangerous and, indeed, Lucia had a bad fall today and really bruised her hip. But the kids do enjoy using them. We were a little beached out today: Lucia went back to the house early because of her painful bruise and then got stung three times by bees at the end of the walkway; Greta, for her part, has broken out in a heat rash all over her body. She is claiming she's a vampire and is allergic to the sun. Andrew, Greta, and I rode our bikes out to Sunset Beach later in the afternoon and met the others there. It was too high tide to do much sifting for Cape May diamonds, sadly. On the way home we stopped at CVS for various ointments for bee stings and skin irritations. Molly and Jeremy went out tonight to procure tacos for dinner from El Pueblo Taqueria, which were deliciou...