Aug 2, 2020 | Sports & leisure |
Annabelle and I just got back from a trip to see my family.
Everyone has opinions on traveling and what’s safe/not safe in this great new world, but we weighed the pros and cons and the pros won. We’re supposed to go up for Christmas but who knows what will be happening in the winter (or next week) so we jumped on the chance to go now. The Lord and Travelocity shone upon us and we were able to get reasonably priced flights. I knew some people might not be comfortable visiting which I completely understood. It was warm enough that we could visit outside or at the beach if necessary.
Our tiny town airport only opens security 40 minutes before the flight leaves. Christopher called to see if we needed to be there earlier these days and the man who answered said, “Eh. They can come whenever they want.” We could almost see him shrugging his shoulders through the phone. That’s the type of professionalism they have at that airport. It was by far the most sanitary flight I’ve ever been on. The seats were sprayed down between flights and everything was very clean. The plane was boarded from back row to front which is a system I’ve been promoting for years. They handed out wipes as we boarded and gave out prepackaged snacks in ziplock bags. Annabelle’s favorite part of flying is the snack and beverage service so she was disappointed.
Back when the corona craziness started I immediately thought of our annual Aunt Camp and was sure we’d lose that on top of everything else. Each year Aunt Camp gets easier for the camp counselors (Erika and I). The girls are very self-sufficient and beyond food don’t require much from us. We might add new little campers in the next few years so we’re relaxing while we can. We’ve always done a few trips to children’s museums or the zoo but this year we kept to ourselves at playgrounds and on walks. Sesame loves spending time with the cousins on both side and I love every time she creates new memories with them.
I bought the official 2020 Aunt Camp matching dresses. Next year Erika and I will buy ourselves matching diamond bracelets.
Daniel wanted he and I to get a covid test in the middle of our visit. There were various reasons I didn’t think that was necessary but I obliged and off we went to the drive-through testing site. We arrived at 7:09 and sat in the car for FOUR HOURS before we did the test. The whole thing was very poorly organized. It was supposed to start at 8:00 but the testing didn’t start until nearly 10:30. Each time there was a tiny bit of movement, we got very excited and sat up straighter. Most of the time the cars ahead of us were only moving because the driver gave up and left. We went through all the stages of grief in that parking lot. Daniel has a very mathematical/engineering mind and kept up a steady commentary about every new development. “If we calculate the number of cars divided by the amount of time needed to complete each test we can determine the amount of time it will be until we test. Let me check twitter for updates. You know what they say in the studies about the Rt factor and protein found in red blood cells.” I knew nothing about the study but I do now. I could have contributed my personal study on why the Ulta in our town is only doing curbside pickup but he was busy listening to conference calls about hemophilia. All in all, I would not give the testing experience a good yelp review but the company was entertaining.
I’m so glad we were able to visit Grandma. I thought we might have to visit outside but since I had a negative test she was fine with us going into her house.
I adore being with her and every time we’re together we play rummy. My humility prevents me from saying who won the game this visit. Annabelle captured this heartwarming picture featuring my double chins.
Autumn and Joanna drove down for a visit on Saturday. They’re always so sweet to make time in their schedules for me whenever I go home. The plan was to have a breakfast picnic on the beach. The first couple of hours were a big failure. I had a terrible headache, we were hungry, we couldn’t find an open beach and a variety of other issues. The beaches were only allowing in 25-50% capacity and we went to four before we found an open one. Autumn never once let the bumps stop her from having a good attitude. She brings the good times party bus wherever she goes. Joanna was a lifeguard for several years so I selflessly let her take AB into the waves. It had nothing to do with the fact that I don’t like getting saltwater on my face.
Joanna and Autumn have barely aged a day since our favorite beach picture of 10 years ago. I cannot say the same for myself.
Mom had hip replacement surgery while we were up. We didn’t plan on being there for the surgery but it worked out timewise. Erika and I decorated her living room. Elizabeth and I delivered coffee and frozen lemonade and watched a video of hip replacement surgery on youtube. I tried to set up a race between Mom with her walker and Grandma with her cane but the contestants were not available. It would have been hysterical.
There were 60 people in front of us in the ticket line on the way home. I ended up having to throw away my full bottle of expensive curl cream so we could take our luggage through security instead of checking them. I did not want to do that but we would have missed the plane if we stayed in the ticket line. That move ranks as one of the top five travel mistakes of my life. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “You know what sounds like a fun time? Pulling 50lbs of luggage through the Atlanta airport while keeping track of a 6 year old who is struggling to pull her own small unicorn carry-on bag. The 6yo will accidentally leave her bag on an elevator and that’s how I’ll learn that the sensor to keep the door from closing does not work properly. I’ll add in a backpack, a water bottle, and an ice coffee I’ll make the mistake of buying before realizing it’s nearly impossible to carry said coffee while pulling one bag with each hand. I’ll then settle myself at gate A4 only to be told I’m supposed to be at gate D4 on the other side of the airport. There’s no way I can pull and carry and bribe while keeping the coffee from spilling so it has to be thrown out while 90% full. We’ll roll into gate D4 with literal minutes to spare. No one will offer to help as I carry the 50lbs to the very back of the plane, bumping into every single aisle seat along the way. No one will offer to help when I try to swing them into the overhead compartment either. All this while wearing a facemask that is restricting my breathing. All this will lead to sore muscles the next day.” Don’t do it. Ask me how I know.
Here’s hoping our visit at Christmas doesn’t get canceled. Looking at you, ‘Rona, to not get in the way of a good time.
Feb 26, 2020 | Friends & Fun, Sports & leisure |
Seven years ago my BFF of all time and forever got married and moved to Denver. I wanted to visit her for years but it never worked out. She came out to visit me a few times and we visited in MA in the summer but I never made it out west to her. I assumed it would cost several hundred dollars but low and behold, I found tickets for $97 round trip and we whipped together a last-minute visit. I’ve booked plane tickets dozens of times but I very seldom cross to a different timezone. That’s why I didn’t realize that arriving at midnight was the price I paid for such cheap flights. The website said we’d arrive at 9:40 which I thought was very reasonable. We ended up landing at 11:40 our time which meant we were both tired and very hungry.
We special ordered some snow from Amazon prime and they really pulled through. AB and I were THRILLED. I miss snow so much. I don’t love the bitter cold of winter but I love watching the snow fall and taking walks in the quiet.
I’ll be honest- the trip did NOT go as we planned. We had so many fun things planned but they were all derailed when sweet Kezia came down with the flu. Instead of hiking and ice skating, we were quarantined to the house for the first several days. With each day that passed, Kezi got sicker and Annabelle got more cabin fever. On Wednesday we really reached the peak of things going wrong. We ventured out to the library and coffee shop while Katie took Kezi to the doctor. While Katie was at the pharmacy, she got an SOS from a neighbor asking her to watch their son while they went to the er. I stayed back at her house with the girls. Kezi could barely reach her cup without help and kept crying for her mom. Annabelle had enough energy for seven children. She knocked over three drinks, did backflips, bounced on a ball, spilled beads, threw pipe cleaners around “like snow” and made a ruckus. We had a runaround with doctors offices trying to get Annabelle and I Tamiflu to take as a preventative. After speaking to multiple doctors and being told we could get a prescription, I went to the pharmacy to pick it up but it had not been called in. We ended up rationing Kezi’s prescription between the three of us like we were living in a war-torn country with no medicine instead of a first world country with laws about transferring prescriptions across state lines. The day would not end. Katie and I kept saying if only we could make it to bedtime we could sit on the couch and watch a show. Kezi must have caught wind our of relaxation plans because a few minutes into Wonder Woman, she suddenly got worse and Katie was on the phone with the doctor at 10:30pm. We tried so hard to Wonder Woman our way through the day. We made it by the skin of our teeth, but our hair didn’t look nearly as good as hers.
All that being said, I am 1000% glad we went out to visit. Kezi started to feel a little better on our second to last day so we took a trip to Ikea for bedroom decor. We went to the children’s museum and the girls had a blast. We were so happy they had some good play time before we left. Finn is a doll and he’s the first baby Annabelle really paid attention to and wanted to hold. Last time we saw him he had several baby chins and now he’s turning into a little boy.
There’s no one I can laugh with like I can with Katie. Even though almost nothing went as we planned, we had some great talks and laughed until we cried and couldn’t breathe which is my absolute favorite kind of laughing. This visit was the first time I had seen her husband since they got married and he had the great fortune of seeing us in rare form. He had a very similar look to Christopher’s the first time he experienced us together. It’s a cross between confusion and impressed that two grown women can laugh so loudly/long and communicate using so few words.
Katie is such a wonderful mother and I loved seeing her in her own home. We took a grand total of one picture of ourselves during the entire trip but it’s not great. I look like a beached seal and Katie’s hair looks like a founding father’s wig. We’ve been friends for almost 30 years so I’m allowed to make comments like that.
I hope it won’t be another seven years before we make it to Denver again, but it for sure won’t be during flu season.
Oct 9, 2019 | Motherhood, Sports & leisure |
I am not a a sporty person.
I love baseball and the Olympics but football, soccer and basketball could be banned and I’d never once miss them. I always assumed that I’d have children who played sports and I wasn’t overly thrilled about it. It’s not that I don’t want to give my child the opportunity to excel in sports, it’s just that I don’t want to do all the driving and sitting through practices necessary for her to become proficient. I want the benefits and glory of an pro athlete child with the work of a 30-minute practice once a week. I have a feeling it doesn’t work like that but come back in 15 years and we’ll see if I succeeded. I wouldn’t mind being a baseball mom, but soccer mom? Thanks but no thanks. Don’t even come at me with your talk of me ever being a football mom.
But as life goes, that which I don’t want to be is what I have become- a soccer mom.
We missed the spring soccer signup but told AB she could do the fall season. She was thrilled and asked endlessly when soccer would start. I had to work the night of her first practice and I felt AWFUL about it. It seemed like a big moment in her life and I was missing it. Not to mention that it won’t make me look good when she’s giving an interview at the Olympics and mentions how her mom couldn’t make it to the first practice. I’m very concerned about how her potential sports career will affect my comfort and reputation.
The tides have turned in an unexpected direction. While I have no desire to watch adults play soccer, I have become a very enthusiastic sideline participant of kids soccer. I like to yell helpful advice from my blanket even though I know next to nothing about the sport. The Strikers are not an organized team and seldom have a clue what’s going on, but they try. Antonio is off in the corner practicing is leaping skills. Robert can’t decide if he is going to be a useful part of the team or a hindrance. Annabelle is too polite and doesn’t want to get the ball from the opposing team, but she has lots of time to practice before the summer Olympics of 2036.
Jul 16, 2019 | Friends & Fun, Sports & leisure |
Of the three members of the Single Ladies Club (SLC), I am the oldest, therefore the first to reach the big 3-0 milestone. The two youngsters in the group planned a weekend extravaganza to celebrate my birthday.
It took place on the second weekend we were visiting at home, so AB would have a weekend o’fun with Grammy while I galavanted around the country with the party animals. It was the day after Annabelle had gotten sick, and the same day she developed mysterious spots on her arms, so I hated leaving her. I didn’t want to leave a sick child with Mom. Our pediatrician had diagnosed it over the phone as something more serious than HFM, and I didn’t want Mom to be in the position of having to take her to the ER if needed. Mom kept saying it was fine so after many tears from Annabelle and much hesitation from myself, I decided it was ok to leave.
Autumn and Joanna wouldn’t give me any details beyond that I needed to be ready to leave around 10:30. I rushed to leave Aunt Camp and make it back to Mom’s house in time, but A&J didn’t show up until noon. Autumn’s life is always 2-3 hours behind the rest of us of it wasn’t much of a surprise. They offered to let me sit in the front but I’m terrible with navigation so Joanna was the copilot. I can get almost anywhere I need to in my home state without knowing street names. I barely know highway numbers. I know where to turn based on what houses and Dunkin Donuts I drive by. It’s not foolproof but for the most part, it works well. On this trip, I was kicking myself for not being better at directions. All I knew was we were traveling north/north-east. Mom and Aaron could have mapped out the whole route in their heads within 5 minutes.
Given that we were driving and would only be away for 2 nights, my main guesses about the location were Cape Cod, Maine or possibly New Jersey. I highly doubted NJ since none of us love it there, but I wasn’t ruling it out completely. I would have had a great time with any location. Autumn and Joanna are a hoot anywhere we go, so we could have gone to the parking lot of Pier 1 and had a great time. To my great joy, they took me to Old Orchard Beach, Maine. They didn’t know Maine is one of my very favorite places but they couldn’t have picked a better spot.
Our first order of business after dropping off the luggage at our Airbnb was to get lunch. Eating was the main activity of the weekend and we started off well. We got shrimp wraps and fries and took them down to eat on the beach. For some reason, we started talking about old age and death which turned into me saying they should have living wills and make sure their affairs in order. Is this what old age is like? You get together for the weekend and spend time discussing who in your life can make your medical decisions if you’re in a coma?
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| “Let sparty.” |
We spent the first evening eating our way through Portland. We started around 8 o’clock with dumplings and pork buns, then walked around town for over two miles, stopping to eat wherever we desired. At one place, we ordered a bread and cheese platter. The thin bread came with three small pieces of cheese with a dab of pepper jelly, little squares of jam and a swirl of organical sourced honey. It was all superb but tiny. Any of us could have eaten the entire plate as half an appetizer. We were still hungry after that, so we found a more substantial third course that we topped off with dessert from a chocolate restaurant.
After a spectacular brunch the next morning, Autumn wanted to visit a cryptozoology museum. She studied each and every plaque as if her life depended on it. She believed every single word. Joanna and I breezed through the exhibits in no time and rolled our eyes the entire time. It was so fake. There was even a sign that said, “Upwards of eighty percent of the data is misidentifications coming from known species. For example, a sample of sasquatch hair that turns out to be from a buffalo rug.” If Jojo and I hadn’t been skeptical before that sealed the deal. There was a display of sasquatch and yeti themed games, one of which was Yeti in My Spaghetti, a game we have. How ironic that the yeti from our spaghetti game has not been seen for many a month, much like the yeti that is supposedly wandering the earth.
We wanted to visit a cheese factory but ran out of time, so we went to a chocolate store and saw the worlds largest (and probably only) moose made out of chocolate. For supper, we went to a gourmet pizza place and we’re still talking about how delicious it was. I CANNOT emphasis how good the pizza was. We ended the evening with gelato by the pier and a movie night.
We didn’t stop talking for nearly 48 hours. We’ve been friends for 26 years and come from very similar backgrounds. We’re VERY different in some ways now, but we all accept the differences of the others and it doesn’t hinder our relationship in any way. We can talk about what we think and believe and not once get offended or feel insignificant because the others might have different opinions.
We’ve come a long way from the days I wouldn’t hang out with them at church because I thought they were too young to associate myself with.
Jul 10, 2019 | It's all relative, Sports & leisure |
I have very few marketable skills, but one is the ability to draw out blogging about events for an entire month. I need to wrap up our visit north so I can get onto other events like mice invading our pantry and other such news from the homefront.
* We gave Mom a surprise 60th birthday party. She knew we were having a get-together but didn’t know the real reason why. We sent her off with Annabelle and Ivy while we got ready for the “cookout.” AB knew about the party and hoping she wouldn’t spill the beans was putting a lot on her little shoulders, but she did relatively well. When she mentioned the party to Grammy, she immediately tried to backtrack and take the words back. “I told Grammy when we get to Uncle Daniel’s for the party, but I meant when we got there FOR THE COOKOUT. We’re having a cookout not a party.”
* Dad took me to see Josh Groban for my birthday. In case you missed it, I said JOSH GROBAN. I spent many years hoping he’d propose to me which sadly (and obviously) he did not, but I hold no ill will towards him. I will continue to adore him all my days. I spent weeks leading up to the concert giving what I believe were beautiful renditions of his songs to Annabelle who was not appropriately thrilled. Come to find out, she had Josh Groban and Jimmy Carter confused. She didn’t understand why I was singing along to a music video with Jimmy Carter.
The geriatric crowd and I enjoyed Josh very much. When Dad and I went to see Josh ten years ago, 80% of the audience was under the age of thirty. This time, I saw less than forty people my age. I was surrounded by grandparents. The others my age may have moved on, but I remain loyal and true.
* We went strawberry picking with various cousins and relations. I babysat Zack and Molly for years and years, but now they’re both taller than me and Zack was talking about how he has three years left before college. I need them to shut down that growing up stuff. I love them both, but now that Molly is older we’ve gone from little cousin/big cousin to friends and it makes me so happy. She’s so funny and I love how her personality is still as big as ever. Annabelle has gotten quite a few hand-me-downs from Molly and this orange and pink dress is her absolute favorite. She’s been wearing it for 3 summers now and says it’s her “traveling dress.” I wish I had a picture of Molly wearing it at this same age since it was her favorite as well.
* I took Annabelle to a walk-in clinic. All week long she had been developing weird marks on her face. Naturally, they were barely an issue before we left home when I could have taken her to our doctor, but they took a turn for the worse as soon as we left the state. I’ll keep the description of them to myself, but Sunday I decided we needed to see a medical professional because I had diagnosed her with boils. The Russian nurse said it was impetigo and prescribed an ointment to use for a vague 7-14 days. I’m sure she also wanted to prescribe shoes for Elizabeth, who unexpectedly showed up to “entertain” us as we waited and immediately took off her shoes in the very germy, very public exam room.
* We had our 4th annual Aunt Camp. I was very popular this trip north so Aunt Camp could only be two nights instead of our preferred three or four, but I made it a priority. It’s very important to me that Annabelle spend time with her cousins whenever possible and I want to see Erika as much as I can. Annabelle got a headache, fever and threw up on the first day which damped the mood but we partied on. Daniel watched the girls while Erika and I went to our favorite gift shop. We visit every year and encourage any purchase the other wants to make. When earrings are only $7-12, it makes financial sense to buy 3 pairs.
Aunt Camp has really become a hands-off event. Besides judging the occasional chalk-water tea content and handing out constant snacks, we didn’t have to do much. We gave them water and plastic dishes to play with and they were happy campers.
We never get a picture of Erika and I, but you can count on us to get a million pictures of the girls. It’s in my aunt contract to supply matching clothes every year.
We encourage sharing at Aunt Camp, but sharing isn’t caring when it’s your child shares hand, foot and mouth with her sweet cousin. That’s not the type of souvenir we like to have from camp. The spots started shortly after the headache and random vomiting, so I had to call our doctor on a Saturday for which I apologized profusely. I haven’t had to call him since the quarter swallowing incident of 2018, but I still felt like a needy parent. He said it sounded like a complication of impetigo and recommended I go to urgent care if she got another fever. That brought us to urgent care visit #2 where she was diagnosed with HFM. Our go-round with HFM was so much easier than I expected but poor Ivy was hit hard. Here’s hoping next Aunt Camp has less germs and more days to play.
Jun 25, 2019 | Friends & Fun, Sports & leisure |
As has become our late spring/early summer tradition, AB and I traveled to Massachusetts for our twice-yearly visit.
The trip here was filled with quite a bit of metaphorical turbulence.
We’ve flown so often we have a pretty good system down. I know I need to have extra patience and be 300% on. Not only do I need to keep her occupied for hours, I need to keep her safe. It’s a lot of work but we usually make it with little to no issues (unless someone throws up in which case BIG issues). We didn’t get delayed or have air sickness, but every other little thing that could go wrong went wrong. I went to bed at 10 the night before we left but didn’t fall asleep until 2:30. I got up at 4am. For those doing math at home, that’s one and a half hours of sleep. It was barely a nap. Annabelle had gotten up at 4:30am and by the time we were about to board the second plane, she had been wide awake for nearly five hours, eaten two breakfasts, played with all the toys we brought, rubbed her hands on the toilet seat, smelled her strawberry-scented jelly shoes 15 times an hour and flopped down on the carpet in the boarding area. I barely had the energy to correct her. She talked nonstop the entire time she wasn’t sleeping. I was not in the mood to talk which presented an issue.
We got on the plane and were settled in when two ladies said we were in their seats. I didn’t realize we had seats 34C and 35C instead of seats in the same row. We moved, then the ladies moved, then their friend in row 33 moved. It was musical chairs in the crowded plane aisle. We’re all going to the same place and getting there at the same time so why does it matter if the seats are wrong? Honestly, I would have been happy to hand Annabelle off to someone in row 34 while I relaxed in row 35.
We seldom travel with a car seat but I did this time since I was renting a car. I didn’t factor having to carry the car seat as well as our two bags and carry on, so I looked like a pack mule. A kind TSA agent took pity on me and asked if I needed help. I said we were trying to get to Enterprise and he looked at our mound of possessions, looked at AB and her flipped over unicorn suitcase and told us where to find a shuttle that would take us to car rental. I almost kissed the feet of the man driving the shuttle. I would have been 35 years old if we had to walk there. There were several issues with getting the rental car but I finally got on the road. I put the address in the gps and somehow ended up with directions to Greece.
It was worth all the angst and frustration because look who we were reunited with the next day after two years apart- my very best friend Katie.
She gained a child and I gained several pounds in our two years apart, but we’re just as close as ever. We picked up right where we left off and stayed up late at night eating ice cream. We had so much to catch up on. We had a rocky start with the girls because Annabelle started crying the minute we arrived to pick them up, but she recovered and they had a great time.
It’s so much fun to see them together. It was especially fun since they got to play at the same lakehouse Katie and I played at 23+ years ago. They were sleeping in separate bedrooms but had the classic sleepover conversation of “if I wake up first I’ll wake you up, but if you wake up first then wake me up.” Last time we visited, AB was in diapers. This time we set out breakfast on the table at night and told them to have at it and serve themselves breakfast in the morning. It was a new dawn of parenting.
The first full day we visited the beach in the rain. We said we’d visit for just a few minutes didn’t bother bringing the kids a change of clothes. What a rookie mom mistake. Of course they went in the water, rolled in the sand and got wet! We let them get as wet and dirty as they wanted. We live so far apart and never get to see them, so this was a fun memory to make. We wrapped everyone up in towels and listened to the new Aladdin soundtrack on the way back to the house.
God bless Massachusetts and God bless a Dunkin Donuts that makes good ice coffee.
