Why I Am Glad Summer Is Over

This is really just a summer-in-review post since we have been fairly neglectful of Abby's blog in the last few months.   There has been lots going on... 

PHEW!  Summer Break is winding down for Anny and Abby.  Actually, they both go back to their regularly scheduled school days tomorrow and I have never been so happy to see someone go to work in my life.  As I have had to sit at my desk, day after day, they have been out doing wonderful things with each other. 

What kind of wonderful things?  This summer they spent chunks of time in Downtown Silver Spring - every Wednesday to be exact.  They have a wonderful children's program during the summer, which is perfectly located because if your child tires of the magician, workout routine or singer/songwriter, they can just go play in the massive play-on fountain area.


They also went on daytime dates with Anny's Aunt Jackie and Uncle Bill to the Museum of Natural History, complete with massive Mammoth and gigantor Whale.  I know this because Abby's eyes still get huge when she talks about that whale!  (no picture because it seems Anny does not carry either camera unless I am around.)

They have spent most Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Fairland Sports and Aquatics Complex in Laurel.  During the summer they offer "Open Gym" two mornings a week where for $5 you get free run of their entire gymnastics room - trampolines, toddler-equipment, foam pit - for an hour.  The other upside to this activity has been seeing some of Abby's friends there from week to week!  (no picture again, sorry.  It is a trend.  The only reason we have the fountain picture is that Nana was there!)

On Thursday of last week they took advantage of cruddy weather and a great deal to go see Horton Hears a Who at Arundel Mills with friends.  I still have yet to see that movie.  It sounds like it was a good time.

They have had a few playdates with some of Abby's friends, including special trips to the pool.  They have also had a lot of fun painting, coloring, going for walks around the lake and, well, whatever else came to mind!  There has been lots of Elmo and Signing Time going on in our house, too. 

All in all, Anny and Abby have had an excellent summer and are headed back to school this week.  I've never been happier.

Another Garden Bust

In our garden this year we planted green beans, onions, carrots, radishes, green peppers and one squash plant.  A second squash plant began to sprout around the 4th of July.  We also did a few rows of lettuce seeds from two years ago, so we did not expect them to grow. 

As a reward for our labor of planting, weeding, watering and feeding we got... two dozen green beans.

We had hoped there would be an "AND" after those words, but alas all that we got was green beans which have long since passed our plates.  They were good, but we just did not have luck with the rest of it.  I am blaming the weather, mostly, for our terrible farming season. 

May in DC was terribly rainy.  June was wet, but not very hot.  July was a little warmer and more sunny, but drier.  Ugh. 

On the other hand - I would like to sing the praises of growing green beans for a family garden!  Abby watched them all from sprout and now matter how much water they have gotten, they have grown and produced!  I'm not sure if we will get more this year, but there is a decent chance of it!  We grew some last year from seeds from day care!  

Maybe I should take this as a reality check: either get better soil or stop trying!  Definitely what I'm thinking is the case...

We are doing a lot better of a job at composting this year - we have put out two trash cans that we are putting scraps into and have done really well about it.  We take our trash out about once a week now between what we can compost and what our town/county will let us recycle.  (Could probably take it out less often, but we don't.)  We found an extremely helpful, an slightly bizarre, link from Planet Green.  Did you know you can compost pizza crusts?  What about latex condoms*?  Check out the whole list HERE!

Maybe next year we will have a wonderful garden, flowing and growing with fruits and vegetables to share with all.  In the mean time, I am looking forward to the Farmer's Market this weekend!

*Debate has been happening amongst my friends about whether or not the condoms are supposed to be unused, and I don't know the answer so don't ask!

ROAD TRIP - Volume 3!

We just returned last week from a wonderful trip halfway across the country and back over the course of a week! I am not going to bore with an insanely long post, so I am breaking it up over the next few days. We were gone from Tuesday to Tuesday, for reference. The posts will be along the lines of:
Volume 1 - Let's Get the Hard Stuff Over First
Volume 2 - Iowa Family Time
Volume 3 - St Louis

Today I'm writing about our time in St Louis with Paul and Sarahlynn and the girls.  I want to be completely honest about this - it's hard for us to visit their house, and it's not their fault.  Or ours.  Or anyone's really.  Every time we go out there we think more and more about relocating there, which makes it a little hard to come home.  Moving right along...

We arrived at their home just as Ellie and Ada were finishing up their lunch and getting ready for their naps.  After a two minute "huh" from Abby as she adjusted to standing after sitting for a few hours, Sarahlynn took all three girls to Ellie's room for a quick story before their naps.  Abby assumed, almost literally, the exact same position as the moments that we left St Louis at Christmas time: playing along the left side of Ellie's room, draped in beads!  Too cute.

We had a great time catching up with some of P&S's friends for dinner the day that we arrived.  I love pizza.  I love good people.  Get me good pizza and good people and I'm one of the happiest guys around.  (Their little boy is incredibly cute, too.  I was just glad that Abby did not crash him over on her way around the couches!)

A while back I had hatched an idea while at Ikea - they have a three-picture-frame that I have always wanted to put in our house, but never found a place/need for.  (Ask Anny - I'm anti-hanging for the most part, but only at our house.)  Since this is the third summer that Abby, Ellie and Ada have seen each other, and we have had professional pictures done the last two summers, we should get the frame and do another photo shoot, and our window really left only Thursday morning.  It was hard to get all three girls, each with very different attention spans, facing the same way and smiling at the same time.  While the very last shot was the best, I am putting this one up because it totally captures Abby lately - laid back and letting others do the hard work:

On Thursday evening we took a trip out to a local wildlife refuge (I wish I knew the name) where they do not allow guns, pets or running.  I've been to places that do not allow the first two, but I have never been to a park that did not allow running.  It is a beautiful facility - paved paths through the woods and hills were perfect, though a bit slippery from the downpour just prior to our arrival.  I am pretty sure that each of us, parents and children slipped, though Sarahlynn came out the worst by tweaking her knee.  I did manage to nail a perfect picture of a leaf, but something in the background messed up my shot:

(So embarrassed that I screwed this shot up so badly!)

So on Friday we left from St Louis to Iowa, but came back to St Louis on Sunday for a few more hours to be able to spend with Ellie and Sarahlynn, as they did not make the trip because of an important obligation at home.  We arrived to a wonderfully light dinner (after eating in Iowa, it was just right!) and chatted the night away once the girls were asleep.

Our plan for Monday was very fluid - our only real travel goal was to make it to Columbus, OH, on our first day of travel, because it is pretty much half way and would make our second day easier.  In the morning we decided to tag along to chit chat while Ellie had swim lessons, and then spend a few minutes in the pool afterwards.  It ended up that we played in the pool for almost an hour!  We I had a blast playing with all three of our girls, as well as having water dumped on me by other people's children. 

After a lunch of Imo's Pizza (is there anything better?!?) we finished loading up the car and hit the road.

In retrospect of the whole trip, the drive from DC suburbs to St Louis suburbs is a long one, but a fairly easy to do trip.  We will be pretty quick to make this trip again in the future, no matter which direction we might be headed. 

ROAD TRIP! - Volume 2

We just returned from a wonderful trip halfway across the country and back over the course of a week!  I am not going to bore with an insanely long post, so I am breaking it up over the next few days.  We were gone from Tuesday to Tuesday, for reference.  The posts will be along the lines of:
Volume 1 - Let's Get the Hard Stuff Over First
Volume 2 - Iowa Family Time
Volume 3 - St Louis

Today I'm writing about our time in Iowa.  A little history is that Anny's mother was born and raised in Iowa.  We've gone back a couple of times since we've been married.  Twice for weddings, once purely for a reunion and twice more for memorial services.  Our trip last week was planned as reunion, but also turned into a time of remembrance with a memorial service on Saturday.

The family is large and great fun to be around.  I began to write out a list of who was there, but it's incredibly long.  Let me just say that the family extends across our country, and into Australia.  A lot of the family lives in Iowa, though, and sees each other fairly often.  We get to see them on occasion.  There are cousins, spouses, aunts and uncles, and a whole gaggle of children from the ages of nine months to ten years, including two sets of twins.

The thing that hit me, right off of the bat, is that Abby melded into the group of strangers-to-her incredibly quickly.  Within moments of arriving she had already laid claim to the swings, and begun to learn names.  The last time that Abby had seen anyone in the group (aside from Jim and Carol, my In Laws) was two years ago, when she was six weeks old.  We did do some preliminary work with Abby a few weeks ago - we began talking about the family members, and showing her pictures of the children in an effort to get her comfortable.  The reality is that pictures are simply pictures - they did not show personality, voice or mannerisms - but I can assure you that it helped!

On Saturday we spent a good deal of the day focused on the past.  Anny's grandmother passed away this spring, and since the family was coming together this summer, it was decided that the memorial service would wait until we were all together. Anny's "Aunt" Robyn and her husband John even traveled from Australia!  The service was at the church that Carol grew up in, which was not near the family "homestead" so part of the day was spent traveling.  We made sure to find a Starbucks on the way!  We arrived early enough for the ladies of the church to serve lunch to the family. 

The service was very nice, though very short.  I learned a lot about the life of Grandma Greenfield, but only between trying to keep Abby quiet.  At one point, the only reason Abby was talking was to huff and say "NO QUIET!"  This typically happened during quiet times, of course.  Paul had come prepared, but Abby tired quickly of every toy and book presented to her.  Oh well.  It appears that nobody minded. 

Following the service, we were once again treated to goodies by the ladies of the church.  It's part of their makeup to be completely hospitable.  If I'm not mistaken, it was the same ladies who provided goodies for us two years ago when we gathered to remember Anny's grandfather. 

Following the service we all gathered back at The Timber (the property owned by Anny's Aunt and Uncle with two houses on it.) for dinner and some visiting with each other.  The children did absolutely anything they wanted, from swinging to bubbles, and the adults had a great time just spending time together.  It was a perfect evening to be outside and with good people and good conversation.  Following dinner the Aunts drove around the Timber to spread grandma's ashes.  It really seemed to bring closure for everyone in a very productive way.  It was much more neat than weird, to be honest.  (My grandmother and her mother are still waiting to be spread...)

While our time was short in Iowa, it was really great to be with the larger family.  I have this fantasy that the next time we get everyone together I want everyone to bring their wedding albums.  I want us to have an intentional way to talk about the good things that have happened for everyone, and I realized on the way home (the looong way home) that I have never actually heard how Jim and Carol met, much less anything about the way that others met, or the special days that they were married.  I'm a dork, but I think it would be fun...

(A whole lot more happened in Iowa, but I don't want this post to take days to read!  The next post will be on our time in St Louis, which was just as short but even more awesome!  Honestly, folks, the whole trip was incredible!)