Summer Vacation Part V: Blooming Grove

A meandering drive North, stopping at various fresh markets, (the Mennonite one on the side of the road and a cool ethnic market in Allentown stand out,) and we pulled into the oasis of Blooming Grove.

A quick unpacking and catching up with a.Judy, and we all headed down to the lake. 

Annaliese remembered where the life jackets were in the boat house, and moments later she was rowing away from the dock.

Pretty lady.  

u.Ted drove in that evening, (rumor has it he pushed up his arrival to take Caspian fishing,) and the boys headed out the next morning.  Caspian may have been waiting for this moment for almost a year.

They headed out into the picture-perfect Poconos morning, and I settled in on the dock with a good book and looked forward to a relaxing time of reading and looking out across the lake and feeling the joy radiating back from my happy little boy.

That didn't work out.  Ten minute later the boys were back, and Caspian had just reeled this rainbow trout in, with u.Ted manning the net to get it in the boat.  Caspian's fishing expectations are forever warped.

Annaliese took me for a row.

Then Caspian did.

We had a little quiet before more of the extended family arrived, and the kids had a good chunk of time to reconnect with a.Judy and u.Ted.

u.Ted took Annaliese fishing the next morning, and they came back with a bag of respectable brook trout.  Annaliese likes to fish, as long as there's nothing else going on.  

Eliza and Charlie arrived in the middle of the night, and Charlie and I headed out in a boat to see if we could land one of those monsters that seem to beg to be caught in these parts.  Several hours later we hadn't had a single bite, but we looked up and saw these ladies cruising towards us.  Conversation topics shifted, and we enjoyed a leisurely float around the lake.

The Nicaults arrived, and the kids suddenly had 5 new playmates.  Which they took full advantage of.

A portion of the crew.

A family picnic was held out by a stream.  With 20+ folks mingling around a buffet and cooking fire, (the food was amazing, home cured meats, bbq ribs, and smoked trout courtesy of u.Ted and the kids,) I looked up to see Caspian down by the stream with a borrowed fishing rod, practicing his fly fishing.  I confirmed with Ted that he had not taught Caspian how to cast a fly rod, and I had not done it, but this young boy whipping that line back and forth, at twice the speed you might expect, and landing his fly exactly where he wanted it.  Repeatedly.  Apparently he had watched u.Ted, and figured it out on his own.

When the sun went down the sparklers came out.

I'm not sure where the kids were, but I got to take a walk around the lake with my girl and my favorite sister in law.  Some of the conversation was shocking.

The kids had an afternoon of games.

These two pictures are here as proof that Celeste was robbed in the sack race.  As you can see in this first leg of the race, before the turn-around, Celeste had a commanding lead.

The little girls who was trailing made a premature turn and headed back for the final leg, stealing the blue ribbon.  I just thought this should be acknowledged somewhere.  

Phoebe wearing a first-generation BTC shirt.  Alexe pointed it out every time she saw it.

Ribbons were received.

Caspian was in the same age group as his sister, and beat her in the rankings only once.  He started to pout about this, until it was pointed out that he had earned a ribbon in every event, and many kids had not, so he should suck it up.  He took it in stride and ran off to the next thing.

These two are adorable together.

There was a big dinner, a dance party, Caspian and his cousin Aurelia were adorable inseparable and took fishing trips with u.Ted, and then took Caspian's rod out and independently caught three sunnies.  I think the records of these events were captured on Alexe's phone, so we'll have to hound her to update her blog.

We had a little more lake time with everyone, Caspian found a perfectly sized kayak and zipped around, and then we packed up the Volt and headed North again.

Last year when we left BG our flight was cancelled, we raced to Philadelphia, and ended up having to spend a night in a hotel there while u.c.Nick was stranded in Memphis waiting for us.

This year we got out on the interstate, and 10 miles later hit stand-still traffic.  Half an hour later I wiggled enough room to make a u-turn though the median, and we drove all the way back to our starting point before we could start an alternate route.  Which put our schedule a little behind, but we stopped for a surprisingly delicious dinner at a roadside diner, (this is a representation of all the glazed faces when we stopped to eat,) and made it to my parent's house in Vermont very late that night.  

Summer Vacation Part IV: Serenity

With one chunk of family visiting behind us, and long stretch coming up, we hopped on airbnb and found a secluded little cabin in southern Pennsylvania right over the Maryland line. It was tucked into a little valley, with a brook curling around the back yard.

Annaliese was in a funk when we arrived.  But still wanted to play in the brook.

We had stopped at Trader Joe's before leaving DC, and possibly a few farm stands, they all blur together, but we had a cabin full of tasty food, a brook, books, and each other.  Heaven.

We took an evening hike down the brook.

It was the coldest water the kids had felt all summer.  

We built a dam, and raised the water level a good 18 inches.  Coupled with the depth we gained by moving all the rocks up and out for the dam, we had a decent little swimming hole.  Building this was hugely fun, the kids stuck with it for hours, and Alexe merrily read on the bank next to us.

Caspian was the first to go all the way in.

Followed very quickly by Annaliese.  

We took a hike down the valley and up one side, and managed to come down a trail that ended in someone's backyard.  We were trying to be sneaky, a concept which Caspian has some difficulty grasping.

They tried.

This young man was jonesing for a fish.  It didn't happen here, but he didn't have long to wait.

Refreshed and ready for the next chunk of family visiting, we hopped back in the Volt and headed to BG in Northern PA.

Summer Vacation Part III: DC Adventures

With the kids attending day camp, and Alexe ready to pack in some quality time with her mother, I hopped in the Volt and headed into DC to visit some friends.

After a visit to the Kennedy Center and lunch with a good friend at a cafe across the street, I caught up with John.  After dinner at Two Amy's, I took John home to his girls.

A couple days of fun puttering, good food, great used book stores, and a couple visits down memory lane.  This is Alexe and my first house together in Silver Spring.  It didn't feel so small when we lived here.  And there was a tree in the front yard.  Our rent was $1,650.

This is the block I first lived on in DC, on the East side of Rock Creek Park. It was where my car window was broken and my stereo was stolen, where several people were shot the summer I lived here, and where there was nothing but row houses and dusty church yards with corner liquor stores.  Apparently they ripped 80% of this down and built a Giant, a Target, and filled in the cracks with a few generic chain stores.  Progress.

John and I said our goodbyes, he went off to a Ferrari thing, and I headed to Georgetown for breakfast and wondering time while I waited for the crew to drive into the city.

In the heart of Georgetown, in the backyard of the oldest house in the area, (open to the public,) there's a bench under the trees that is the perfect spot to crack open a book and waste some time.

Eventually I headed over to the Mall to the Peru festival thrown by the Smithsonian Institute.  Alexe and company were caught in traffic, so I wandered around for a little while, watching the rope bridge construction...

Some dancing...

Before I parked myself on the top of a large rock on a street corner and watched the crowds for these two and their mother.  I just don't feel right when my family isn't with me.

We explored some of the DC infrastructure while Alexe and Eliza and Sharon stood int he mile long line for the food vendors.

Then, while the ladies were still in line, we went to watch the young folks dancing.  For most of this Caspian was on my shoulders, and Annaliese was in my arms taking pictures.  They're getting heavy.

a.Eliza playing with her niece.

The festival was a little short on activities for the kids.  Alexe went over to the graffiti art wall, and created a painting station for Caspian and some other kids.  

The girls headed Eliza's apartment, and Caspian and I grabbed an ice cream cone, and ducked into the Air and Space museum.

The things people have invented, and risked their lives in...

We had a fun time racing through the exhibits, and then Caspian tried a disappearing act in the crowds for the second time, and our visit came to an abrupt end.  

For our last evening in DC we all headed back to Two Amy's for the best pizza in America.

The next morning we packed up the Volt, and headed over to our favorite house in Chevy Chase where I lived for a couple years while waiting for Alexe to hurry up and graduate.  Maya had left us a way into the house so we could wander through and wax nostalgic while the kids played on the zip line in the front yard.

We packed up again, headed over to the Swiss Embassy to finalize the kids' passports, and then pointed the little Volt North.

Summer Vacation Part II: Monticello

With the kids at day camp, Alexe and I took a short drive down to the house of Thomas Jefferson. 

A private organization has been working diligently to preserve the house and grounds, slowly buying back the original 5,000 acres that Jefferson inherited, and with a sizable donation from the same chap that is funding the expansion of the Kennedy Center, they've built a sprawling visitors center with a museum and gift shop at the base of the mountain.

The house was interesting, a highly renovated (and re-renovated) passion project by a wealthy and eccentric politician.

The grounds were amazing.  These gardens are located in a massive terracing project that Jefferson directed.  It took a crew of several slaves three years to carve into this side of the mountain and create a terrace that resulted in a micro-climate with a longer growing season than the surrounding area.

It is beautiful, and we were there when everything was green and lush.

My girl.  In her element.  

There were fun aspects of the house: the servant areas and storage all being below ground and interconnected, similar to the most European large houses.  Most aspects of the house that were lauded as brilliant originalities of Jefferson were things he had seen in Europe while an ambassador, and built in the United States for the first time by someone with the time and resources to have them done.  

My favorite was the water collection system and underground cistern.  The wings of the terrace that cover the underground slave facilities and connect to the two offices set apart from the house have tin roofing under the wood decking, and a gutter system that feeds all the runoff to a large holding tank under the back yard.

I love her priorities.  

This fish pond, a larder for fish caught elsewhere and held until they were to be eaten, was a fun and simple thing that we are building at home for Caspian.  

If my impressions from our visit don't sound as enthralled with the brilliance of Jefferson as one might expect, this is one of the contributing reasons.  This cabin is a recreation of the finest slave quarters that Jefferson had built for his favorite family our of the 200+ slaves he had working for him. 

As a politician, ambassador, and writer, Jefferson was an amazing mind, positioned at the best time and place for the United States of America.  In other aspects he was the recipient of his own and his wife's large inheritances; and after a lifetime of puttering on his farms, houses, and retreats, everything/everyone he had owned had to be sold to cover his debts.

That being said, I had a wonderful time wandering around with Alexe, and picking up fun ideas to take home.

Summer Vacation Part I

In mid-June Annaliese and Caspian hopped on a plane to Virginia with their grandmother, and Alexe and I tucked in for a week at home without kids. 

The expectations of relaxation/carousing were dashed on the rocks of a to do list a mile long.  It turns out the preparation for leaving town for three weeks is extensive.  We have a wonderful support network here, and yet we spent every second of child free time scrambling to prevent catastrophe while we were traipsing up the East Coast.

With Sarah the Jersey no longer needing to be milked twice a day, and Alexe's amazing protege house sitting, hotel sitting, and filling in for Alexe at the store, we hopped into our little Volt and headed East to see our babies, who we had been pining for since they left.   

As with all travel that includes Alexe, this leg of the journey included many stops along the way. Also part of travel with Alexe, we had a series of misadventures.

A purse was left behind in a cute pizza spot somewhere in Alabama on the first night. 

Sunglasses were left behind in a brunch place in Tennessee. (The kind waitress chased us down the street to return them.) 

We took a detour to find a farmer's market that was not open, but Alexe found this little bakery/deli instead and had an unbelievably long conversation with the owner about cake.

Eventually we made to to Nonni's house in Virginia, and our Babies!  They looked tanned and healthy and much taller.

They showed us all the places around the farm they had discovered, their forts, the cherry trees, and Caspian in particular stuck to me like glue and insisted on racing me everywhere.

It took a while for them to wind down.  Us too.  We really like our kids, for the obvious reasons, and because they are kind/charming/funny/interesting little people.  There was a fashion show to try on new clothes/swimsuits/pjs, and once the pjs were on we tucked them into our bed where they, eventually, turned into snuffling, snoring angels.

The next day was spent wandering around the farm and county, getting ice cream cones, shopping at the neighborhood stores, picking cherries and making pies, and lounging.  Caspian in particular had an issue with us lounging.

Fishing was attempted.  

Annaliese decided to jump in the pond rather than fish.