Summer 2017: Vermont photos

The gang of four on the steps of our Vermont mountain house

Everybody dressed up for Topsy Turvy Tuesday at camp

Visiting the Vermont Farm Museum on yet another perfectly gorgeous summer day

Our morning visit to the pigs at camp. Just before Amelie starts screaming as I carry her, kicking, away from camp for the day.

Leo and Amy snuggle on the deck with the amazing view.

Camp Mommy for the toddlers often consisted of swimming at the boat landing across the lake from the girls' camp

No filter. Is there a more beautiful place than my beloved camp?

that's the old hand powered Ferris wheel in the background.

One of the two times we saw double rainbows in our two weeks in Vermont

Discovering the magic that is Maple Creemees aka (real) maple syrup flavored soft serve.
(No, I didn't invent the spelling)

Dinnertime

Sunset

Practicing for the overnight

Laughing hysterically as we sing along to Sugar at the top of our lungs

Hiking the AT with the babies

Packed and ready for the overnight

Backpacking Mommies

Play time at stream by White Cottage snack bar

Summer 2017 Round Up

All in all, we had a wonderful summer. The best part of it was finding out that I had gotten my job back. I didn't realize how much stress I was carrying until this burden was suddenly gone.

As much fun as an adventure in Mexico would probably be, I'm a creature of habit and I love our life here. I would probably take the leap if not for the fact that I couldn't get this job (in my daughters' school) once I left it. Plus, after a summer off, I'm like my job again. Yay. It's fun and challenging and rewarding. And not crazy busy yet. My feelings may change back once I get swamped again. I'm searching for ways to control the pace a bit better. No real resolution yet, except for the bright idea of not trying to get as many things done for myself between patients. That might slow the pace a bit.

I'm exceedingly grateful to my job right now, in any case, for allowing me to have these magical summers off. This one was practically perfect. Here's an overview of our adventures:

• two weeks in Vermont (I skipped the final week of school, only 1.5 days with students in the building, to give me one of these weeks off). Calliope and her friend Eleanor went to my former summer camp, an incredible Quaker community. It was wonderful to see some old friends there on staff and as parents of current campers. We stayed after camp almost every day to go swimming in the magical lake there. Slightly less magical on weekends when the horrid Canadian Geese overtook the place. Yuck.
  
  They loved it and the toddlers loved seeing the pigs and ducks every day (but Amelie decidedly did NOT like being forced to leave with the Mommies each day). Calliope successfully stayed the whole night for the overnight at the end! I was very proud (and surprised, especially when Eleanor opted to come home at bedtime, that C stayed).
  
  We shared a beautiful house on a mountaintop and appreciated the view and especially the sunset each day. The noise of having the living room on the top floor (not ideal for my napping toddler) and the general mayhem of four children in one house for two weeks was challenging for us at times -- I have a really hard time with noise (so does C sometimes) and my children are usually not loud so it was a big change for me -- but we survived. Next time I think we should have some planned separations but overall it was great.
  
• two weeks back home again. I can't actually remember much of what we did. We saw some friends and went to playgrounds almost daily and visited the beach once. I love the beach and always wonder why I don't go more often but then I spend five hours cleaning sand out of everything we own and then I remember. It's always amazing to me that there are gorgeous beaches within 30 minutes of us in Brooklyn.
  
  I think I also spent a LOT of time cleaning up and organizing the apartment and running errands. It's really hard for me to do a lot beyond the day to day during the school year becuase I just get so tired and I'm so busy and there's so much to do just to keep up. So this was satisfying. And exhausting. I did a lot!
  
• Ten days in Mexico! We flew to Mexico City, spent a night there, and then rode with a driver to San Miguel de Allende along with Jackie, fellow SMC, and her two kids, ages 6 and almost 4. We stayed in the same gated community on the outskirts of town but had our own tiny apartments which worked out well. And the community had a lovely heated pool (with shallow area for toddlers) and hot tub so the children were in heaven.
  
  SMA was beautiful and the people were lovely. What a warm and child loving culture! It was hard to see much in a day with so many children but we did our best and had a lovely time. I'm fantasizing about going back next summer and putting the children into day camp there for a truly immersive experience. There's a circus camp that looks amazing.
  
• A week back home. It had been scheduled to be a week of cabin camping with our SMC friends Jen and Luna but I realized it was too much after the last minute Mexico trip. So we bailed on that and had a nice week at home to recover from our travels. Our friends were mostly away so we were on our own and that was nice (and rare for us) for us to bond as a family.
  
• Two weeks of Spanish immersion camp in Brooklyn. Both kids went (along with their besties Eleanor and Leo) and I shadowed a pediatrician for the first week. It was a rough transition for Amelie but by the second week she was waving cheerfully goodbye and having a great time. The second week I had to myself -- the first time since I gave birth six years ago! I had a doctor's appointment and got some things done but also spent some delicious time reading on the couch. What a treat! And it was neat to see the kids speaking a bit more Spanish.
  
• One final week off which was bookended with a weekend to the Hamptons to see the honorary grandparents on one end and my niece's bat mitzvah in Rhode Island at the other. The girls got spoiled and doted on and it was lovely. Amelie is completely in love with my brother and calls him Daddy. Well, she calls all men Daddy, mostly, but she wanted his constant love and attention. She also loved attention from all the relatives, and all the teenage girls, and the DJ at the bat mitzvah party... basically, she was the life of the party.
  
• Now just ten more months until I can do it again! Time to start fantastizing. 

What's New With My Girls

(Written in August but not published until September)

As mentioned in the last post, both girls are going to Spanish immersion camp in Brooklyn. We just finished the first week. I was shadowing a pediatrician all week so they were doing before-care as well.

Calliope did great but poor Amelie had a rough time with her first drop-off experience ever. She's normally a very outgoing, fearless little girl so I assume it was the lack of transition that made it so hard for her. Poor baby. Each morning she started crying earlier in the journey.

At least on Friday she finally ate some lunch. The rest of the week she refused to eat and barely napped. Poor peanut.

I wanted to remember a few funny things that she says before she outgrows them and I immediately forget them:

• sun screen is "ice cream"
• hot tub is "hot dog"
• when she wants to be picked up she says "hug?" (instead of the more typical "up")
• today she said "Mommy, help on it?" when she wanted me to "turn it on"

And in major Calliope developments... I had to drag her out of the apartment yesterday to go practice bike riding after a month break -- she never wanted to go when I suggested it. There were a lot of tears and some yelling on my part but she finally, finally, rode her bike across the parking lot of a nearby junior high school. I told her one more time and that was it, she could go home. She did it one more time. I cheered for her and told her it was time to go. She mournfully said she wanted to do it again. And again. And then she was riding circles around the parking lot.

Today when I reminded her we were going to practice again she readily agreed... and for the first time ever, actually managed to pedal a little bit on the sidewalk on the way there. She rode around the parking lot joyfully and the whole way home.  I see family bike rides (with Amelie in a baby seat) in our very near future, at last.

So proud of my girl and relieved that my yelling didn't seem to do any permanent damage.

Our embryo recipient, came to visit this weekend. She is 22 weeks pregnant today. She spent some time with Calliope, building a volcano and then making it erupt. Perfect activity for C. Not too far from me but didn't require me, either. I think they really bonded.

Leslie looks radiant. She's 46 but looks much younger. I'm so happy she's growing "Super Baby Cousin" and indirectly growing our family!