No Bathtub

We have no bathtub at the lake. Generally this doesn't matter when we're here for a weekend, but I'm up here for a whole month this summer so I really needed to find a solution. My kids don't love showers, and our shower stalls here are rather small and dark so I can't get in there with them and it just doesn't work very well.

So, back to the good old kitchen sink. I knew this would work for Clara,

but was less sure about Lee. But it worked pretty well!

Popsicles by the Lake

Dad

This picture really captures a typical Dad expression.

Eric

This picture really captures a typical Eric expression.

Cape Cod

We went down to visit Cindy and her two kids in Orleans again this year. Despite some rainy weather, we had a great time, and got in a visit to Skaket Beach and Nauset Beach.

The waves at Nauset provided lots of enjoyment.

Cousin Fest I (2009)

As I'm affectionately calling it, Cousin Fest I (2009) occurred over July 4th again this year. The occasion was my father's brother's side of the family's second annual visit over the long weekend. We had Uncle Allen and Aunt Dot, as well as their second son Bruce and his family. Bruce's sons are my girls' second counsins (yes, I finally looked it up). Their third son Sammy (the towhead blond), at three years old, has several inches and 15 pounds on Lee Catherine, as you can see in the picture below. They grow them big down in DC!

With their three boys, Deb's four boys, and Liam, my girls were certainly outnumbered. They were playing swordfight with sticks by the end of the weekend. Seriously. My girls have never played swordfighting before.

Lee and Charlie really hit it off.

The two Dots (my father and his brother both married Dorothys):

The boat behind which I learned to ski was called Two Dots.

Here's my cousin Bruce, who is just a few months older than I am. Look how gray he is (although he's got nothing on Bridges)! Wow, we're all getting older I guess.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

It's the new campfire-chic. S'more in hand.

New Playground Structure

Well, the old one is gone, and here's the new one.

Whipple Hill - It's Not Just About Frogs

More pictures from our recent outings to Whipple Hill, which involved picking wild blueberries (enough to make delicious scones)

and a nice little hike.

Aw, aren't they cute holding hands like that? Actually, this is Lee's way of both staying in front at all times and keeping Clara (who has recently become dissatisfied with always being second), and therefore me, from complaining.

Picking Berries

I have to post again about picking berries. It's an important part of our summer. We went to Parlee Farms last week, and it was great. Here they are on the way to pick. Can you tell it's 8 am and they're barely awake?

It turns out blueberries, unlike people, LOVE lots of rain in early summer while the berries are growing. Look at this plant.

Here are the girls with our take.

And I have to post a picture of this goat. Just because.

Speaking of the goats, Clara fed all the animals. She thought it was hilarious. Lee was content to either throw the food through the fence, or drop it down the tubes so they could pick it off the ground. She's still pretty nervous around animals. Different kids, different personalities.

That reminds me - recently I was asking Lee if she wanted to ride a horse because some friends of hers were going to be doing some riding. "NO!" she said rather emphatically. Clara, however, piped up from the back of the car "I want to ride a horse, Mommy!"

Cousin Fest II (2009)

The occasion this time was Lee & Melissa's family's annual visit from California. All five siblings & all nine grandchildren together for three days.

Catching Frogs

Lee has discovered frogs. We first found some at the farm a few weeks ago. There were about six of them hanging out in this puddle on the dirt road (where do they go once the puddle is gone, I wonder?). Lee was thrilled to be able to capture them.

The next day I took them on a fruitless search around Granny Pond, but then I remembered the pond in the Whipple Hill Conservation Area that was teeming with frogs last year. So we hiked up there, and it was heaven. Lots of frogs and tadpoles and in-betweens too. They were pretty tiny (that is Lee's hand).

If you look closely at this picture you can see the tail curled up around its body.

This was the biggest frog Lee caught.

She was so proud of herself.

This is July?

Did I mention how cold it's been this summer? We haven't had quite as much rain as we did last summer, but we've had far less sunshine. We all feel like we're living in Seattle, only it's not even spring, it's summer!

Yesterday was July 9th, and I think we hit a high of 68. The sun actually came out later in the afternoon, though, which was great. Last night I slept in my winter pyjamas and a blanket on the bed. This morning Lee said "Mommy, can we turn on the heating vent?"

Butterflies 2009

This is a Multiple-Use Ladder

Hoot, Hoot

Here are some mini-cupcakes Lee and I made for a potluck dinner celebrating the end of preschool for Lee. I like doing this kind of stuff, and think they're pretty cute.

But there's always this nagging voice inside me saying "I need to get a job."

The Monster Rhodie

Many people have commented that our big rhododendron is a bit of a monster, and someone even recommended removing it, much to Bridges' horror. We love it, though, and this pictures shows it as its best.

"It's just like a painting," my Mom said when she visited this spring. Life imitating art, I suppose.

Out of My Element #1

The first of the three activities this past month was taking on responsibility for the fundraising for the new play structure at the nursery school. Our goal was $3K, and we came up just $10 shy, which was wonderful. We did a silent auction, which went really well, but it all came down to the final day of school so I had no idea how we'd do beforehand.

We auctioned off one of these chairs per class.

It was a team effort (Elizabeth got the chairs, Sabrina had them painted yellow, Nicole did the design, and Nicole and I implemented it). It was actually a fair amount of work over several weeks, but it was really fun. I enjoy doing these crafty projects, and I learn so much from Nicole. In the end, they looked great and brought in almost $1K.

Out of My Element #2

The second thing I did that really stretched my comfort zone was singing in the recital for my voice studio. Saying “my voice studio” so casually like that makes it sound as if I've belonged there a long time, but I just started lessons there in January and have had a total of eight lessons.

Yet here I was, singing an opening and closing number with the entire studio,

and then two small ensembles (“Hard Times” and “Money Money”),

and the singing a solo in Italian (“Piango Gemo”).

There were about 75 people in the audience, so this wasn’t just your average recital in someone’s living room. I was n-e-r-v-o-u-s.

But, it was, in the end, really really fun.

Little Surprises

Sometimes I walk into a room and find a little surprise that makes me laugh. Here are a few recent ones.

Watermelon!

Out of My Element

The last month has been pretty stressful, and I attribute it partially to diving into a number of things where I’ve been very out of my element.

The most recent of these involved removing the playground structure at the preschool in order to save some money on the installation of a new one.

I won’t go into the whole long story, but it caused me quite a bit of anxiety (although it all worked out well in the end).

Here are some photos (yes, that is Dave operating his backhoe).

Only three hours later, and ahh, all gone.

Little Monkey

Mass Gymnastics Center has asked Lee to join an invitation-only developmental team next year. They stressed to me that while it’s pretty low-key (1 ¼ hours twice per week with no competitions for two years), it's also very selective and it’s their track for becoming a competitive gymnast.

This seemed like one of those big decisions. I know we’ve already made lots of decisions that will affect Lee in one way or another, but this one seemed harder for some reason. On the one hand, she’s too young, it’s too much time, it’s too serious, etc….On the other, she really seems to love it, it’s not all that much time, we should give her the opportunity….

In the end we signed her up. I see her on the playground or on the monkey bars in the basement and I wonder how we could not let her at least try it. And honestly, she can always stop.

Teeter

I decided to try yet something new to help my back. My back really went out about a month or so ago, and although my back itself is better, I'm having a fair amount of nerve strangeness down my legs (luckily, not pain, but lots of muscle twitching, tingling, and weakness). Inversion therapy works by allowing your spine to expand, thus relieving the pressure on your nerves. I'm trying it twice per day. It's very strange at first (and pretty uncomfortable with all that blood rushing to your head), but you get used to it.

An Anachronism

If you look closely that's a tricerotops in the passenger section.

The kangaroo in the cockpit, now that's actually a possibility I suppose.

Brooklyn 2009

We made a trek down to Brooklyn last weekend, which was an awful lot of fun but involved many more hours in the car than expected. Friday afternoon traffic, storms, and an accident (not involving us thankfully) all contributed to a very long ride down and a long ride back. But the girls were absolutely wonderful in the car, which gave me confidence that we can get through the 10 1/2 hour drive to West Virginia in October. We listened to all 6 CD's of Pinky Pye, which was a very cute story that, as Bridges so aptly put it, could have been told in 1 CD. But I think it was great for Lee because the repetition and the slow pace allowed her to understand the story despite the high level of language and vocabulary used.

There were a few other highlights of the drive. First, Lee saw her very first rainbow. She talks about rainbows quite often, and I've been telling her that she will see one some day. Sometime after we finally got beyond Hartford, she cried "Look, Mommy, a rainbow! My very first rainbow!" It was beautiful - big and arcing up into the sky from the horizon. I think it was extra special that it was she and not one of us who first saw it. So that was pretty cool, and I figure one example of how there's always an upside to a rainy day, even when we've had an entire month of them like this past June.

The second highlight was discovering Rein's Deli in Vernon, CT. It was so good Bridges had a Reuben on the way down and the way back. I preferred the Rachael (coleslaw instead of kraut). Yummy.

We got lucky with the weather Saturday, and started the morning off with breakfast at a wonderful place in Park Slope called Dizzy's.

There was even a little ride-on animal there, which seems to be a requirement of any trip to Brooklyn. Here are Lee and Clara this year

and Lee and Aunt Lee back in Oct '07 on a different animal.

Then we took the subway into Manhattan, We thought we could make quite a long day of it, although we ended up pushing it with Clara, as you can see in the photo from the subway ride home.

I should probably explain Bridges' face. We decided to splurge on face painting at the Central Park Zoo.

We had a great time in Central Park, especially climbing on the rocks

and eating popsicles.

We actually started our excursion in Bryant Park, which I just loved. Here is Bryant, overlooking his park.

The kids loved the carousel, Lee riding a bunny (huh?) and Clara a cat (ok).

The hydrangeas were beautiful all over the city. Here is a spectacular oak leaf variety in Bryant Park.

On Sunday we went to Prospect Park, playing for a while at the playground and picnicking near the boathouse. Here is Aunt Lee with her boyfriend Kaap-Joo.