Designated Girl

A Boy and His Train

Bailey has discovered TRAINS. Of which we had none, because Trixie never embraced TRAINS with quite the same fervor (though she does like playing with them).

So today we went to IKEA and stocked up on TRAINS and after bath-time I was so thrilled to be watching my little boy absolutely rapt with joy, playing quietly and intently with his very own TRAINS.

Vacation, have to get away

We clearly needed a break from our grueling round of everyday summer pleasures here in Brooklyn.

So, a week ago Saturday, we packed everybody up, got on a plane and flew the short hop up to VT.(This is of course immensely simplifying the entire process. A short digression to praise JetBlue -- or, as Trixie thinks of it, SpongeBob Air -- once again for their superior awesomeness. TVs! In the seats!)

We stayed for a few days with our friends Paul and Julie and their delectable 2.5-year-old son Charlie, seen here with his newest accomplices:

The boys enjoyed some quality time kicking back with sippy cups, taking long walks (oh, OK, it was a ten-minute walk, I'm lazy) through the woods, and all of them generally enjoyed the hell out of each other.

Rachel and I had the pleasure of setting up and playing with Julie's new Wii, Rachel possibly more than I, since she roundly kicked our asses at Super Mario Party every time we played. That system is the bomb, I have to say. I am officially jealous of anyone who owns one. Must restrain self!

After a few days of the bucolic life we drove off to NH to stay again at the Lake Shore Farm family resort. We had last been there the summer before Bailey was born, so it was nice to see it had not changed a bit.

We had a ball, swimming at the private beach, canoeing on the lake (Jenness Pond), enjoying the communal meals and basically kicking back at a place that understands about families. Some people go every year, and we did see a few people we recognized from our stay two years ago, amusingly, they are also from Brooklyn. I hope we can get up there once a year as well.

We also got to spend plenty of time with Poppy, who came for a swim with us and indulged my Newick's craving.

One night we ate at their house and he showed Trixie how to pick fresh green beans and carrots from the garden, which I think may have blown her mind. One of the cats even came inside and didn't seem to mind Bailey's pointing and yelling "Cah! Cah!" at him.

Friday afternoon we returned to our friends in Vermont, from where we were flying out very early the next morning. It happened to be our 5th wedding anniversary, so after the kids were in bed and we were packed up, they threw us out and told us to go celebrate, dammit. So we went into town to the NE Culinary Institute's student-run lounge and restaurant to have two insanely indulgent desserts and some quiet time to ourselves. It was lovely. Five years! That went by quickly.

The next morning we woke up at 5am, threw the sleepy kids in the car 45 minutes later and high-tailed it back to Burlington. I forgot to mention that all this driving around was in the cherry-red Mazda 6 with Massachusetts plates that Hertz gave us. They could not have thought of a better way to insure we obeyed every speed limit and traffic regulation if they'd done a market-research study -- heck, I would have pulled me over on sight! It was amusing, at least.

We got back home and spent the weekend recovering, though predictably the kids were totally chipper while we were begging for naps. And so on through the over-booked end of August and into September...