Warm Springs, Boston, Vermont, Floyd

The last week in June Rowan stayed with Grandma & Grandpa, Nate worked and lived the bachelor life in Arlington, and Lucy & I went to Warm Springs, VA with Sapna & Oskar (her very cute rottweiler). We had a great time. Very relaxed with plenty of time hammocking, warm springing, jigsaw puzzling, firefly watching, and rag rug making. Seriously, the fireflies were spectacular--wish we could have gotten a good photo, but our cameras were not up to the task. Other Warm Springs photos here.

That weekend Nate took the train down to Richmond and we went to my parents' river house to celebrate July 4 with the Dale clan (my parents, my aunt & her family, and my uncle Don). We had fun at the little beach playing in the sand and splashing in the river, visiting the yacht club and Poppy's boat, and playing with Carlos & Milagros.

Then in July the whole family boarded an Amtrak train and headed up to Boston, where we stayed with Larry & Katie Shack one night and then drove up to Barnard, VT, with Justin Reich for the weekend. Highlights included canoeing to the general store across the lake, hiking to the state park, Rowan & Justin playing in the water, Nate's first time sailing, learning Power Grid.

We were back home for two days before we headed down to Floyd, VA, for the annual solstice gathering (a little late this year). It was a very different experience from last year (when there were no kids). This year Nick & Johanna had 8mo Oscar, we brought Rowan & Lucy, and Alex & Anouk were there with their two kids (~3 years and 7 months). Friday night Aaron & Allison arrived to increase our adult to kid ratio. We slept in tents by the pond, but most of our time was spent in the pond (Rowan & Luke especially enjoyed jumping off the floating dock) and on the beautiful big porch at the house. Friday Johanna & Anouk successfully cared for all five kids while the rest of us went into town for tennis--and even got to nap themselves for a bit. Hooray! Friday night we went into town (again) for the weekly Floyd Jamboree--several small impromptu bluegrass gatherings along the main street.

Rowan was loving being swung by her arms until she got hurt...didn't want to move her arm the rest of the night. Ice cream helped a little, but was a temporary fix. Back at the house her arm was still hurting and when she couldn't sleep we started thinking about who would take her to the hospital. We thought it might be the same thing that happened to her arm a couple months ago in Richmond. Eventually Nick got the idea to ask our old friend google what to do and found this--a couple minutes of studying the video, and then Nick did the maneuver on Rowan, and presto! Arm fixed. She still didn't want to use it immediately, but when Dinner (the chicken puppet) wanted a hug she obliged.

It's nice to be back home for a bit, but we're looking forward to our big California trip in a couple of weeks too. Yay for summer vacations!

Photos from Boston, Vermont, and Floyd are here.

born to run

Video of playdate with the Kaplowitzes. May have to take this down at some point if I start to run of of storage space on Picasa, so enjoy it now while you can!

Summer vacations

Earlier this month we took an impromptu weekend visit to Ocean City, MD. The drive was longer than expected, but both kids did great in the car and we had a fantastic weekend. The hotel had an indoor pool and an outdoor pool, was right on the beach, and had an ice skating rink. We splashed int he surf, dug a big hole in the sand, swam in the pools, and enjoyed special drinks at the outdoor hotel bar (conveniently located about ten yards from our ground-floor balcony). Luckily it shut down around 10pm the first night and really early the second (around 8?).

We have lots of other vacation plans for the summer too: next week Rowan spends some time with Grandma & Grandpa while Lucy & I go to Warm Springs, VA, with Sapna & Oscar (and Nate works), then Nate joins me and the kids for the July 4 weekend at the river with my parents; also in July we have trips to Floyd, VA, and Vermont with friends; in August we have a big trip to California to visit Monkey friends and probably another small trip to the river with my family. Trying to get lots of vacation time in before I (hopefully) start work again in the fall.

Right, so I'm hopefully going to find a job starting in September or so...would love to find something part-time, but not holding my breath. Rowan starts preschool in September. AND my mom and grandmother are going to move in with us (!) to help take care of Lucy and Rowan. Exciting!

photos from May and June

flying squirrels and easter eggs

new photos here and here. enjoy!

New link for Lucy photos (and I added a few more). Click here!

at long last...a few photos of Lucy are here!

It snowed!

And here are some photos to prove it.

Those are all before the last 9 or so inches we got last Tuesday-Wednesday.