Skipping Town

Bit #1 Greta dramatically rejected dinner this past weekend. Andrew made reubens and declared the girls, too, would eat reubens, ignoring the obvious outcome, which would be that they'd hate the rye bread, coleslaw, and thousand island dressing, not to mention the pastrami. Lucia, surprisingly, nibbled at her sandwich with only moderate complaints. Greta, however, vehemently HATED the sandwich, and she loudly listed all the things she hated about it, including the "rice bread" and "ham sauce." "I HATE THIS RICE BREAD. I HATE THE HAM SAUCE." We've never referred to thousand island dressing as ham sauce but will likely do so from now on. Bit #2 Is there anything worse than your kid getting off the bus and melting into a sobbing heap as soon as she sees you? Lucia got off the bus yesterday and dissolved into hysterical crying at the bus stop, struggling to explain that her two tiny beloved furry Hatchimal Colleggtibles, which she took to school ...

Tuesday 4/10 Tuesday morning Andrew went for a swim in the lap pool, and then I went to a poolside yoga class. The instructor was a weather-beaten, long-haired, crystal-wearing type who advised us, in what seemed like purposefully broken English, to do deliberate breathing at sunrise, on either side of noon, and at sunset, and as a result we’d be able to see new things, even new colors. I’m in. We ordered room-service breakfast, which was arriving just as I got back to the room. The waiter set up our big dining table as though we were in a restaurant. Then we headed to the pool for a long morning of swimming, popsicles, and lunch. We had pool chairs right next to the pool, which was great. L&G and I took a sun break at 10:30 to do some pottery painting, which was much more expensive than I’d anticipated but which we all loved. There were two big tables of unpainted pieces which had been prepared with black painted outlines, so it was like painting a 3D coloring book. ...

Saturday 4/7 We left NJ for Cancun early early Saturday morning. The airport was not fun (Greta lost the headband her American Girl doll was wearing; tears etc; I tried to go back out beyond security and was refused) and neither was the plane (Lucia threw up, as per usual, on the bumpy landing). But then we were there, and it was WARM, and that alone was amazing. Our driver greeted us outside the airport with chilled towels and waters before ushering us to the resort in a luxury vehicle of some kind. Note: This is not our usual type of vacation. Our usual type of vacation involves excavating mouse carcasses from hundred-year-old umbrella stands and the kids getting stung by wasps in their beds. Anyway, also amazing is our suite at the resort in Riviera Maya, which is basically two suites connected by a foyer, tons more space than we actually need, with three Murphy beds in our suite and one in the other, as well as couches and the actual beds. It’s about 1800 square feet....

Thursday 4/12 Another excellent day. The kids and Andrew slept in and I read on the balcony. We went to the breakfast buffet for the last time (sob). The pastries are so delicious I've been condoning a "pastry breakfast" for the girls, and for myself. Then off to the pool, another gorgeous sunny day with a light breeze but no crazy wind. We had perfect poolside chairs. We drank pina coladas, played Bingo, ate lunch, played in the pool, jumped in the ocean, searched for treasures washing up when the tide started changing. We stayed out all day, until 5pm. We had dinner at the Mexican restaurant again, our favorite of the resort's restaurants, and it did not disappoint. Andrew and I had margaritas, lobster, a cheese platter, ceviche, and pinto bean soup. Delicious, all of it. We ate so much. L&G were nearly comatose with exhaustion, but they insisted they still wanted to go swimming at night one last time, so we did. They love this nighttime dip. Turndown se...

Good Christ, I haven't written on this blog since NOVEMBER? That's terrible. To remedy this negligence, I've added BLOG to my newly redesigned bullet journal, in the "habit tracker" section, and if I don't color in those little squares every day, well, I'll feel shame and failure etc. For now, I suppose all I can do is begin again, with where we are today. Easter Fortunately for any of you who are still aware that this blog exists, I have a story. A story about slugs. A story about spending Easter in Pennsylvania, and hiding plastic eggs around the yard at 6:00am after a rainy night, and the kids running outside for the egg hunt around 7:00am, a mere hour later. They gathered up the eggs in their bags and brought them inside. Immediately, one of the kids saw a small black slug on the outside of an egg. We didn't think much of it, since the eggs had been sitting in wet grass. But then--another. And another. And then Molly saw the silhouettes of slug...

Last weekend, we went to NH for the final time before closing the house for the winter. We've never gone up this late in the year before--our November trip is usually a week earlier--but the kids had Thursday and Friday off school, the perfect time for a long weekend. We drove up Wednesday night. It was unabashedly cold--in the twenties--and we arrived at night to a shivering-cold house. The heat cranked on, though, and we warmed up quickly. Thursday Thursday, frost covered the ground when we woke up, but the girls and I took a cold walk into the fields late in the morning, while Andrew did some work calls. A whole stand of trees had fallen during a massive windstorm a few weeks ago--it was shocking to see, at least ten tall, skinny trees yanked up by the roots, piled and twisted on the ground. The girls were entranced, eager to explore, and game to consider that some of the more tangled branches may have been "woven" by mysterious creatures, such as Bigfoot. Lucia di...

This is a test

We really went all out on the birthdays this year, and the celebration continued over the weekend. Saturday morning, Andrew, Lucia, Greta, Mom, Dad, and I all drove into the city to continue celebrating the girls' birthdays. Saturday was one of those perfect New York days when all the stars are aligned and everything just goes beautifully. Perfect weather, everyone had fun, the things we did were super fun. All a big success. First stop on Saturday: the Lego store, of course, where Lucia and Greta both selected new Friends sets. Next we went to lunch at Wagamama, where we all had ramen--we all loved the restaurant and our food. The girls ran around across the street at the playground at Madison Square Park for a while after that, with their lambs and bunnies. Then we strolled down to Union Square, making a couple of stops on the way at Dylan's Candy Store, and an AMAZING store called Flying Tiger, where we were all overwhelmed with cute Danish bargains. L&G ate some cand...

Dear Grets, Happy happy birthday Little Miss! You've been awaiting this birthday intensely, fast on the heels of Lucia's birthday two weeks ago. You were excited mainly about the arrival of your beloved bunny, the one you've been yearning for since August. For the past couple of weeks you've been talking to your bunny each night, and she (I) has told you she's been journeying tirelessly to get to you. Finally, on your birthday morning, there she was at your place at the kitchen table, the first present you unwrapped and pretty much the only one you've played with since. Lucia got a bunny, too. (And we surprised you with a lamb from the same line of toys--just as cute, and now just as beloved.) Gra and Pop-Pop came for your birthday this year, which was super exciting. They came on Thursday, and Gra got to sit in on your piano lesson. They were there on your birthday morning--balloons, pancakes, and two presents before school. I went in to see you for lunch, ...

Dear Lucia, You're eight! And so excited about it. You've been waiting for your birthday for weeks and weeks, bidding goodbye to seven before it had even run its full twelve-month course. Finally, today arrived, and we did the usual birthday hoopla. A balloon waited in your room this morning, with more balloons around the table downstairs. You had waffles for breakfast and opened three presents. This year was a little different because you wanted to have a birthday party, so we gathered with a crowd of little girls at Screamin' Parties for a bounce-house party. You had a blast, of course. Then we came home and you opened all your presents from your friends and from us. You and Greta unwound with a Barbie movie, and then we had dinner (takeout Chinese food--your choice) and cake, with a few Num Noms on top. You wanted to have a "relaxing bath" for your final birthday thing, and you did, with a bath fizz a friend got you. And...eight. I remember turning eight ve...

The kids had Thursday and Friday off from school last week for Rosh Hashana, so we of course headed to NH. We arrived late Thursday night. Greta was deeply asleep when we brought her inside, but Lucia woke up and walked up to her room herself. We said goodnight, and then Andrew went to unload the car and I started unpacking things in the kitchen. Suddenly I heard Lucia, sobbing at the top of the stairs, screaming for me. I ran up--she'd gotten stung by something. We have a lot of wasps in the windows, and Andrew always does a check before we put the girls into their beds, but there was one he didn't see, and it stung Lucia on the shoulderblade as she lay in bed. I held some ice on it while Andrew went back upstairs to do some wasp killing (turns out it was a bee, not a wasp). He turned the light on in the room as he swatted around, taking the curtains down and unmaking Lucia's bed, and Greta slept through the whole thing. He did find a couple of bees to kill. Lucia calmed...