Skipping Town

L&G slept until 10am this morning. They were beyond exhausted, and they finally finally got caught up on sleep. It was pouring rain for most of the day, so we couldn't go to the creek as planned. Instead, we all worked on a puzzle for a while, and then drove into West Lebanon to run errands at Walmart, Price Chopper, and Dollar Tree. There was a bit of excitement on the way, because Andrew spotted a small turtle swimming in a puddle at the end of our driveway. We all got out and watched it swim around, and then Andrew picked it up and delivered it to the side of the pond, where it promptly crawled into the water. After shopping, we ate clam strips for a very late lunch at the Weathervane and then went home. It had finally stopped raining, so the girls changed into bathing suits and toted their rafts down to the pond, where they played for the next two hours. They were hovering for most of the time near the dock, calling each other by fake names, dragging large sticks and lo...

Thurs., 6/27 I had to wake up the kids at 8:30 this morning because the cleaners were there and had to clean the upstairs. I hustled them into clothes and out the door, first to the UPS store so I could send an Amazon return and then to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. We headed to the library next to get some books and redeem their latest round of reading hours for prizes. When we got home, we cleaned up the tinker space, getting it back to zero so they could start fresh potions when we return from NH. Cleaning it up was no joke--so many bowls of chalky, soapy mixes. Then the bowls to wash and the tables to hose down. But we did it. The Clarks arrived in the afternoon, with their cat. Greta was ecstatic. The kids all played for a short while and then we headed to the train. Beth and I had planned this adventure months ago, and it was finally the big day. We met Andrew in the city and had dinner all together at Rosa Mexicano, and then the girls split off to go see Swan Lake, and A...

We packed a lot into today. The morning was a downward spiral thanks to Greta's inability to conceptualize the idea of "making change." Andrew was trying to give the girls each $5, since they've each read two books so far from their Bonus Books, and he had a five and a ten. He gave the five to Greta, and gave the ten to Lucia, and Lucia gave him five back from her wallet. Greta FREAKED OUT, thinking Andrew had given Lucia $10 and her only $5. Etc. We finally just had to take all the money back, and we'll try again once we have two fives. Even by the end of the day Greta was still upset about this. She was just so MAD that Lucia had gotten a TEN and she'd only gotten a FIVE. Sigh. Andrew went off to work, and Greta spent an insanely long time just stewing in her room. Finally she got dressed and we all went to Target (believe me, I wouldn't have attempted this if she hadn't fully recovered), because we were out of bread and my kids are now apparently ...

Busy busy day. Each girl had a friend over in the morning, reminding me how much I generally dislike having children who aren't mine over to our house. There are easy playdates and not so easy playdates. It's better when only one kid has a friend over at a time, I think. Anyway. We got through that and then had a little downtime in the afternoon. L&G are really obsessed with making Rainbow Loom jewelry, so they did that for a while. Both did some reading. (The bonus book bins are a big hit.) We headed to the pool in the late afternoon, for Float Night--a favorite. The kids brought duck floats I'd gotten at Rural King last year. They had a blast. The pool is a solid sea of floats on Float Night, a nightmare for the lifeguards, but it's always fun. We had to leave early, though, because it was also the opening night of the Turnover Sale--my own favorite summer event. I'm going to miss almost all the sale dates this summer, but I'm so happy we got to go on op...

Summer. Greta slept till 8:45am this morning. Lucia got up earlier than that but didn't tell anyone, and just stayed in bed reading for what she claims was two hours. It's possible: she has a clock in her room. A nice slow start to the day. We hung out at home in the morning. L&G played outside in their tinker space / chalk lab, and I made banana bread. Then we went to the library so they could redeem their first round of hours for summer-reading-program prizes. We got out a bunch more books, too. We had lunch at home and then headed to the pool. This was the day's only hiccup: I had no idea the pool didn't open till two today. No email was sent from the town, nothing was posted inside the pool on Sunday when we were there. So we had an hour to kill, just reading on the grass outside. Not great. But L&G had a great time once the pool finally did open, and we didn't leave till almost 5pm. Then they played outside some more and we had leftovers for dinner. L...

Saturday, June 22 The glorious first true day of summer. The girls played outside all day, mostly in the tinker space, finding joy in shaving cream. They made a giant, giant, giant mess mixing their bowls of shaving cream, chalk dust, and dish soap, and then covering their hands and arms in clouds of shaving cream and running all around the yard. Andrew was taken aback by the mess but gamely helped me hose it all down. They got a little testy with each other later in the afternoon, and there was some controversy about a bag of marbles, so I took Lucia to Target with me. We bought new beach towels and by the time we got home all was right again. Saturday night was our annual Crab Feast, which we've been hosting every summer for the past few years. We set up tables on the patio, Andrew strung up festive new lights, and he and a neighbor picked up three dozen crabs from a place in Linden, NJ. Everyone brought a side dish and it was a festive evening as always. We always do it to...

SUMMER!!! This school year seemed to last a hundred years, but today was FINALLY the last day of school. Last day of first grade for Greta, last day of third grade for Lucia. It was a half day. Lucia went right to a friend's house for an end-of-year party, with a backyard inflatable waterslide contraption that looked amazing. When Greta came home she ate lunch and read for two hours, determined to catch up to Lucia for the library's summer reading program. We signed up on Tuesday and they're already obsessed with racking up hours. I gave them each an end-of-school gift of a rainbow of model magic colors--they've been asking for this for months--and a divided organizer tray of Rainbow Loom bands, plus a sun-shaped cookie from the Able Baker (a bakery in town). When Lucia got home, they played outside a bit (the rain has finally stopped) and then got into a giant argument about these two hobby horses they use as "crutches," but the argument was stupid and no...

We've adopted an imaginary labradoodle named Shumai. After looking at some pictures of labradoodles on Instagram over the weekend and musing about what it'd be like to actually have a labradoodle puppy in our house, Greta began talking to and interacting with a labradoodle puppy who somehow came to be named Shumai, Greta's favorite kind of dumpling. This dog does not exist, but over the past few days she's become part of Greta's life. Greta makes a blanket bed for Shumai in her room each night, but sometimes Shumai winds up sleeping next to her. When we sit on her bed, Greta admonishes us to be careful not to sit on Shumai. In the morning, she carries Shumai downstairs, and puts on her leash when it's time to go to the bus stop. She holds the leash and walks Shumai to the bus stop, stopping now and then so Shumai can pee on trees and fire hydrants. When Greta wanted to take her sweater off yesterday morning, she asked me to hold Shumai's leash while she di...

First New Hampshire weekend! We drove up Friday (the girls missed school) and opened the house and, for the first time, were met with NO dead mice and NO mouse droppings and NO wasps in the bedrooms. What?! It was like...a regular house that had been closed up a little too long. We'd driven up with Robert, who was returning to NH for the first visit in years (we're still trying to figure out how long it's been since he was there). Lucia and Greta made themselves instantly at home in the yard, running all around; I went to the grocery store while Andrew did a quick cleanup inside. And then we settled in. Friday was a beautiful day, so we hung out outside and just enjoyed the country quiet. Andrew lit the fire pit to smoke the flies away, and L&G discovered the magic of burning, smoking sticks, which they lit in the fire and then waved around like magic wands, casting made-up spells and pretending they were Hermione from Harry Potter. For a while they played in the elep...

Departure day. Our car arrived at 9am and took us to Heathrow. L&G had their American Girl dolls' passports and boarding passes (thanks to a travel set they got last year) and two United employees actually took the little passports, "scanned" them, and stamped them. The girls were thrilled. But the boarding passes are miniscule, and of course Lucia dropped hers on the escalator, and Dad nearly killed himself and several other people as he tried to retrieve it. He was successful, and Lucia declared that she had the best grandparents ever. We made a final stop at a Boots for some plane snacks, and the flight was uneventful. When we got back to NJ, Maplewood was in full spring mode. All the trees had flowered while we were away, and everything was newly green. We were feeling the jet lag by the time we got home around 4pm, but we persevered. Mom and I had to stuff the girls' Easter eggs after they went to bed, and then we all went to bed around 9pm. A few fin...

It was a lovely Easter despite the jet lag. Greta woke up at 4:30am and didn't go back to sleep. Lucia woke up at 6am. I took them downstairs at that point, and they explored their Easter baskets. This year they got: two LOL dolls, an AG ramen set (from Walmart), a giant Squishmallow, three Micro Squeezimals, a brainteaser solitaire game, a flamingo pen, hairbands, and a small Squishmallow backpack clip. Their Easter eggs had chocolate eggs and Iwako eraser animals (or, as Greta calls them, "take-apart animals"). In a genius move, before we left for London I guided the girls to decide that having the Easter Bunny hide the eggs was too risky, after last year's slug debacle. "They" decided that this year, the Easter Bunny would leave the eggs for Mommy and Daddy to hide. This saved me in so many ways, mostly because I didn't have to get up in the dark of night to hide the eggs outside before the kids woke up. It was so much better this way. After they op...

Our last day in London, and the sunniest and most beautiful day yet. I can't believe I bought new raincoats for all of us in preparation for the trip--too bad I cut all the tags off already! Andrew got up early and went out to get pastries for breakfast. Yes, you read that correctly. Jet lag plus the jet lag he hadn't gotten over from his trip to LA right before we left for London resulted in Andrew being the first one up in the morning, every single morning of our trip. He got up, showered, and then went out to have a coffee and get some pastries. London Andrew. We chose a new part of the city to explore this morning, our last morning, and walked to Regent's Park. It was a beautiful walk through Fitzrovia, and we passed a house where Virginia Woolf lived for several years. The park--like all the parks here--was full of spectacular tulips and other flowers, manicured perfectly. We walked to Queen Mary's Rose Garden (the roses aren't blooming yet) and recreated a...

We had tickets booked for the Tower of London on Thursday. We tried to get there on the early side to avoid the worst of the crowds, but it was still packed even at 10 am. Nonetheless we joined a tour led by a Yeoman Warder and heard stories about the Tower's grisly past. We didn't see the Crown Jewels--the line was just too daunting, and we were ready for something to eat. It was yet another beautiful day--we didn't even bring our coats along--and we sat for a while on some steps looking out over the Tower, eating ice cream cones from a food truck. I saw a few people with bags of what looked like very enticing grilled chicken from a place called Assemheim's, so we headed over there to get some lunch, with the plan to sit outside. Andrew was not on board, preferring a pub lunch and sitting down at an actual table, but he went along. He and I got chicken from Assemheim's and everyone else got various things from Pret a Manger. We sat on a wall in a little green ar...

It was so warm and sunny today we didn't even need coats, and we spent most of the day outside. We took the Tube to Kensington today and first stopped for some sandwiches (and candy) at Tesco Express, then headed into Kensington Gardens. The kids played at the Princess Diana Playground for a little while, and then we walked further into the gardens, to a large lake in the middle. Crowds of swans, ducks, and pigeons were everywhere. We found a spot by the water, Kensington Palace at our backs, and had a picnic lunch. The girls fed bread to the swans and ducks. Greta sketched some waterfowl. Eventually we made our way to the palace and saw the beautiful Sunken Garden, dedicated to Princess Diana. We walked around the manicured grounds in front of the palace, and the girls talked to a character actress dressed up as a young Princess Victoria, not yet queen. It was a perfect day to walk through some of Kensington, and we stopped next at 28 Campden Grove, where James Joyce briefly l...

We started Tuesday with the museum right at the end of our block, the British Museum. It's enormous--maybe bigger than the Met, have to check--so we bought a map with a suggested top-ten list of things to see, and worked our way through that. It was a great way to see some galleries we probably wouldn't have gone into, plus some of the famous things. We saw the Rosetta Stone, sculptures and carvings from the Parthenon, and a figure from Easter Island. L&G were really into it, taking notes in their small notebooks of things they thought were cool. We made it through nine of the ten things, perusing other galleries along the way, which took about two hours. (Andrew was intent on finding the tenth sight, which was a bridge too far for all of us.) We were all starving at that point but made do with some snacks (candy) since we had reservations for afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason. We ended up having to walk because of more snafus with the buses, but it was a good excuse t...

Whew, were we tired in the morning. By "we" I mean Greta, who made her tiredness known by having a stubborn fit in the morning and refusing to take a shower, get dressed, etc. I was ready to put her out on the street, so Andrew took over while the rest of us went out for a walk around the block. Lucia spotted a notebook with a British flag on the cover at a souvenir shop, and we promised we'd go back for it. By the time we got back to the apartment building, Greta was dressed and smiling and back on track for the day. And it was a busy day. We once again had breakfast at home, then set out for St. Paul's Cathedral. Audio guides were included with the ticket, and we all loved learning about different parts of the church. The mosaics are especially impressive. We didn't go into any of the galleries (the Whispering Gallery was closed for a gruesome reason you can Google if you want to; and I was too freaked out to go into any other galleries because of it), but the...

London! We're in London. The "we" this time is bigger: Andrew, me, Lucia, Greta, AND Mom and Dad. We left Saturday morning, and arrived in London late that evening. By the time we got to our apartment in Bloomsbury, it was almost 10pm. Andrew and I ran out to find a grocery store and brought back sandwiches for dinner. Everyone went to sleep. It's a great apartment, by the way--a hotel-like apartment from a company Sonder. Way better than a hotel, though, with a full kitchen, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a huge living room. Perfect for all six of us, and super modern. Plus a perfect location, right down the block from the British Museum. Andrew always finds the best places for us to stay. We started our first London day with sub-par pastries we'd picked up at the grocery store, but it was for the best, since of course it was hard for the kids to get up. Sunday was a big sight-seeing day, and we started with the London Eye. Mom hadn't planned on going o...

Are these kids ever in school? Winter is crazy. Just when it seems the new year gets underway, there are snow days and then a run of three half days for teacher conferences. Yesterday both girls had a friend over after the half day. I'd made cake pops, which the four girls then dipped in chocolate and decorated with sprinkles. Lots and lots of sprinkles. Today, they each had another friend over. I'd made a cake (from a box) and they each decorated a slice with frosting and sprinkles. Again, lots and lots of sprinkles. All I've done for the past two days is clean up the kitchen. I'm not a person who uses a phrase like "wine o'clock" but wow, was I waiting for that wine tonight. Tomorrow is another half-day, but Andrew and I have our conferences with the teachers and Mom and Dad will be here, so here's hoping for a sprinkle-free day. In other news, Greta gave her presentation today on Jane Goodall. All the kids in her class had to give a presentation...

In November, we had a freak, unforecasted snowstorm here in New Jersey that left our kids stranded at school--or, worse, on their school buses--for several hours. It was a mess. Children were without food, water, or bathrooms on the buses, and no one was able to locate the buses, and parents were setting out on foot to try to find their kids. The roads were so terrible that it was taking parents two or more hours to drive to our school--normally a seven-minute drive. Lucia goes to a school she can walk to, so she came home without a problem. Greta, however, was stuck at her school until 7:30pm. This was actually the best of a bad situation, since she was with her teacher, and there were food, water, and bathrooms, and the heroic teachers kept 100+ kids occupied with snacks, games, and movies until every one of them was taken home. Two neighbor dads drove 2+ hours to pick up all the kids at our bus stop. To put it mildly, it was awful. Our school district was--obviously--scared silly ...

Our last day in Paris. Boo, hiss. I went out and got pastries this morning, and then Andrew went for a run. After we all got showered and dressed, we took the Metro to the Champs Elysees so we could see L'Arc du Triomphe and walk around on the Champs. I bought myself a souvenir, a classic Longchamp shoulder bag. Then we walked to the Boulevard Haussmann and just strolled for a long time, taking it all in. When we got tired, we hopped on a bus until we got to Printemps and Galleries Lafayette. Both stores have their windows decorated for Christmas already, so we looked at all the decorations before walking on, to lunch. We ate lunch at Le Boullion Chartier, one of my favorite spots, and though I haven't been there in over ten years, it did not disappoint. We ordered with abandon and drank an entire bottle of wine. To finish off the meal, L&G each ate a gigantic profiterole while Andrew and I had three kinds of cheese. It's such a bustling restaurant, with as many ord...