We arrived in Vancouver late in the evening on Canada Day. We saw fireworks from our airplane windows when we were taxiing on the runway, and my brother-in-law drove us to his house through neighborhoods decorated with Canadian flags. It was something like 2 a.m. EST when we arrived, so my sister pointed at our
Styling by the Pacific Ocean, pigtails by Mary, photo by Grammy, Tom’s sunscreen-face by himself, entire week of adventures (including three meals a day for 14 people) planned and executed by my sister and her generous family. A few years ago, Tom mentioned that we should take a big trip to celebrate our tenth anniversary.
I have so many things on my to-do* list. There are “summer organization” projects and fun activities to do with the kids. But all of it remains, untouched, on my to-do list, along with piles of mess on every surface of my house. *The to-do list, of course, is metaphorical. If you know me at
Anna is 18 months old and she is as independent in the pool as an 18-month old can be. She can jump in, she goes down the slide, and she kicks herself where ever she needs to go. When David was a baby, he was happiest in the water. It was so much fun to
This afternoon the kids jumped in the pool as soon as they got home from school, and I made frozen pizza and served it on a giant tray instead of taking the time to put it on individual plates. They ate, then jumped back into the water. Summer. They were playing so well together that
Anytime an entire week goes by without a new blog post you can assume one of two things: One or all of our kids has a fever, ear infection, an orthopedic injury, is throwing up, or all of the above. I’m fumbling through some sort of craft that requires skills that I’m teaching myself with
This Easter I decided to make a scavenger hunt for the kids’ Easter baskets. It was really fun, really easy (thanks to millions of pre-written scavenger hunts on Pinterest), and will likely become a tradition. David read the clues aloud and then he and Mary ran to find the next one. It took Thomas a
We started spring break at the passport office and ended it at the orthopedist’s office. No new injuries this time, we were there to get Anna’s cast taken off.(Or as Tom’s dad said, “They peeled Anna Banana!”) Thankfully, her fracture has completely healed and we’ve moved on to the “remember when Anna had a cast?”
If you’re looking for an extreme adventure to kickstart your spring break, might I suggest the passport office? Like most adventures, this one requires a lot of prep work, document-gathering, and planning. For weeks leading up to our trip to the passport office, Tom would tell me he needed to “do passport stuff,” and he’d
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. We took a mid-week trip to Franklin County. Playing hooky on Tuesday and Wednesday throws your whole week off because Tuesday feels like Saturday and Wednesday feels like Sunday. Then Thursday feels like Monday, so I got to be disappointed that I don’t