traveling

I already mentioned my trip to Boston last week. And I feel that any major trip that I take alone with the boys is worthy of dwelling upon for any length of time. So here are some pics.

First of all, you have to know something about me, I obsess over maps and ways to get places. So we've been going to Maine in the summer for the past four years. And this whole time I've been tweaking the route to New England to be the most interesting and the most expeditious. Because there's this big thing called New York City between Philly and New England.

So just bear with my map nerdiness. My current route takes me through NJ on the Turnpike and then up the Garden State Parkway. I cross the Hudson on the Tappen Zee Bridge, and then shortly thereafter hop on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut. Parkways are nice, because there are no trucks and small service stations. The Merritt Parkway, especially, is quite scenic and a really pleasant drive. There's about 15 miles when I'm on 287 between the two parkways. On my way up, this two distance took two hours to cover. I have no idea why, because it was late morning (we left Philly just after 6 am). Thankfully, this was the only traffic snarl we hit.

The Tappan Zee Bridge is a cool bridge, though. I took this pic during one of the many times I was stopped on it.

It was so nice staying with my friend, Krista. It was kind of a stressful trip, so to have the comfort of an old friend, who basically felt like family, was such a blessing. We could totally relax at their place. And she was a total angel and watched my kids all day on Tuesday so I could visit BU, since there wasn't much else I could do.

Sadly, I didn't take many other pictures while up there. Either at BU or at the deaf school. I'm kicking myself now. Because we had an awesome meetup after our deaf school visit with some bloggy friends whom we could finally meet in real life. Li-Li goes to the same deaf school that we visited and is just a bit younger than Ellis. We have had a real meeting of the minds over our blogs with regards to having deaf kids with CIs and being bilingual and promoting ASL. And had a great time playing and chatting all afternoon. But did I take any pictures? No! GAH! Blame it on travel fatigue.

On Thursday we headed back home. What I love about traveling across the southern coast of CT is that you can pop off at a little beach quite easily from the interstate. We decided to visit the same beach where we had camped last summer. Except it was much colder and windier this time. What could be more fun than running in the wind and throwing rocks in the water?

On Valentine's Day I got a call from the chair of the department to which I applied at Boston University. I was enthusiastically accepted. (I'm glad I got the accept before the rejects. ha!)

Today is St. Patrick's Day. Today the chair of the department to which I applied got a call from me to say that I accepted their offer.

Between then and now was a crazy trip to Boston. Was that only last week? On Sunday night, Chris left for a conference in Chicago. On Monday morning, bright and early, I loaded up the boys for our roadtrip. We only hit one snarl (wherein it took 2 hours to go 15mi). We stayed with my childhood friend, Krista, and her family, conveniently comprised of boys about the same ages as my own. I visited the department at BU on Tues and was really impressed and excited. On Wed we visited a deaf school in the area that seems to be what we're really looking for for Ellis, a good bilingual education (ASL and spoken English) with good academic standards. On Thursday was the grueling trip home. Eleven hours, one stop, a lot of pouring rain--to go just over 300 miles. Gah! The one stop was at the beach that we camped at last summer in s. Connecticut (with a short Sbux stop immediately following). I love making a fun stop like that on a road trip--free of fast food to tempt the kids with its french fries and brightly colored toys and plenty of outdoor space to run around.

This week I was offered a funding package that is doable. It still leaves me a couple thousand short of tuition--when I was really hoping for tuition remission and at least a TAship or small stipend. But the university doesn't seem to have those kinds of resources. But I got more than they initially thought they could get me. And I really believe that this department is totally worth any small sacrifice. (For instance, everyone likes each other and is nice--how many academic departments could you say that about?)

Leaving Philly is agonizing. Our families are here. We have a great church that we love. Lots of good friends. I love being 15 mins from the children's museum or the zoo.

Speaking of the zoo...that's where we enjoyed this warm March day.

A couple of weeks ago, I left Marlowe with my mom and Ellis with daddy and went to a conference. It's been awhile since I've done that. I do enjoy them. This was the national meeting of my academic discipline meeting jointly with a sister discipline. I was going primarily to scout out grad programs, meet people, and make an impression on programs I really want to get into. I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do for the most part.

I also got to define my interests in deaf music a little bit more professionally. It is a field where there is a lot of interest and not much activity, so ripe for the picking. I'm excited about that, but realizing a bit more how I'm going to have to frame the discussion in the larger conversation.

The best part is seeing old friends from former institutions. I had great fellowship with my Covenant friends especially. To have shared faith, as well as vocational pursuits is very dear to me. I loved seeing my former professor and mentor, who usually "gets" me. And to share belly-laughs and memories.

Today we celebrate the great habit of those with more power triumphing over those with less power. Not to mix philosophy and history or anything... So why is it that we have Columbus Day? Did the powers that be miss having Fall Break or something?

Anyway, so no mail today. Or banks. Or school.

Nice for E to have a quieter day, because it's been a crazy weekend.

No soccer this weekend, due to tournaments, so we took the opportunity for the Great Upstairs Switcheroo. Something needed to be done about the Home Office aka Pigsty. The poor room that never really got moved into properly when we moved into this house a year ago. The room that had a table with my sewing stuff somewhere buried under all that crap. It was seriously scary. Hubby and I considered abandoning ship as one of the options. Closing the door and pretending it is a two-bedroom house. Or scooping it all out the window with a snowshovel.

But we took the upper road and tackled it head-on like responsible adults. After pondering the situation extensively, we decided to switch the boys' room and the home office. And to move the sewing into our large bedroom with wasted spaced. The middle bedroom is a bit longer and more narrow than the back one, and has a sliver of a window, so the boys are in a much nicer room for them now. Lots of natural light and a better floor plan. I'm excited to really settle them into it and decorate a little.

The front two bedrooms have an internal door, which makes for a fun sort of Suite for Adult Affairs. And after a couple of trips to IKEA for about 500gagillion KASSET boxes, I am well on my way to craft/sewing organizational zen. I'm really moving to another level here, and it's profoundly life-altering.

So that was Saturday. Sunday we went to church, driving down a very tidy street, since President Obama came to our neighborhood that evening. But we scooted out right after church to Lancaster, so now chance of seeing him. We went with pumpkin pies in hand to celebrate my Grandma's 80th bday. It was a beautiful, fall day. Albeit a very long day.

Today, I continued to master zen, and then took the kids to the park. Did a quick pop in to IKEA in the evening for my second installment of KASSET. And got up on Project Runway. And that's the news.

Last night I got home from a quick trip to Iowa. There to celebrate the life of Mrs. Jean Belz, a friend, former teacher, former dorm mother. Yet, those descriptions don't seem to really describe the impact she had on my life. I kept saying over and over again, so much of who I am is because of her. Her directions for the right way to clean the bathroom to how to greet a guest. To the use of proper subject/object agreement in an English sentence or the proper mood of a Latin sentence. Her encouragement to make ordinary things orderly and beautiful. And above all obedience to Christ, living the gospel in faith.

She was my parents' high school teacher, my high school teacher, and I lived with her my last two years of high school.

She scared me and encouraged me. Her Midwestern candor and gumption.

Every morning when we left for school, she said "Goodbye, girls, be good!" One day she followed this with "and don't talk to strangers!" (which is hilarious when you consider that our school was in the middle of nowhere in Iowa and there simply were no strangers and if there were, we should probably talk to them, because they were probably visitors.

One day I came in and she said to me, "Do you want to follow in your parents' footsteps?" yea, what am I going to say to that? Next thing I knew I was picking flowers for all the dinner tables for the evening meal for all the boarding students.

Once I came in and noticed she was making kolaches, and I was feeling chipper and said "Oh, are you making kolaches?" and she said "now you just shut your mouth!" Freaked me out! Later it turned out that she was making them as a surprise for one of her English classes since they were studying Willa Cather and some members of that English class were in the room at the time.

Oh, and here's one I even blogged about. A letter I received about seven years after I graduated from high school:
Dear Jeannette, Thanks for all your emails. I read them with interest...[blah, blah, newsy bits, etc.]...When I read your letter, I immediately thought I should correct all the uses of apostrophes. I was going to ask you first. Now as I re-read it, it doesn't seems so bad. As your old teacher, I felt responsible.... etc.

I loved coming in and seeing her read. She always read her Bible and the Wall Street Journal every day. And if she went away and came back, she read every single WSJ in order when she came back in order to get caught up. That was my favorite place to find her, in her chair reading. If she were in the kitchen, I might get a job. If she were in bed already (at night), she might be cranky (because I was probably out too late). But if she were reading in her chair, she might just leave me alone (ha!) or sit and just chat with me. And I liked that.

She was 91 when she died. I was surprised at how deeply I felt when I heard the news. I am so glad I made the effort to go to Iowa from Philadelphia, and for the many people who helped me get there, rides from the airport, shared meals, the use of sheets and a blanket, a corner in an empty dorm.

I loved seeing my dear friends again. Jane and Esther are her granddaughters and my good friends since we were in 9th (them) and 10th (me) grade. I lived with Jane at her grandma's, and Esther and I were in the same class and major in college. It's been so long since I've seen them. It was so wonderful to hug and to laugh again.

The funeral was preceded with an hour of singing and reading. Then the service, then we walked over the graveside, words were said, more singing, and then she was buried. Grandsons grabbing a shovel, others just throwing in a clod. How often does anyone get to bury their own dead anymore?
I loved the singing.

And then Iowa. Beautiful, wonderful, huge, expansive Iowa!!
Undulating fields, the wind that clears your heads, the azure sky against the shimmering sound of drying cornfields. Iowa is part of what makes it all special.

*photo credit to Adam Belz for the one of Mrs. Belz at the top.

This post is not only for the historical record, but to finally put something for Moriah's Fun Mom Friday, because I really went over and beyond Fun Mom last week. I took the kids on a road trip to the north of Vermont to visit our friends. That is approximately 430 miles with almost half of those on state/backroads. With red lights and traveling with kids, it took 10 hours going up and 12 coming down. The stats.

The kids really did great. We went straight up north through the eastern part of New York. The Adirondacks were stunning. I had never been to this part of the country before. We got off the main highway and zoomed around lakes, and came to the top of a mountain, and the valley stretched out with Lake Champlain shimmering at the bottom and the blue silhouettes of the Green Mountains of Vermont stretching out layer upon layer.

Then we got to ride a ferry across Lake Champlain. Little boys + cars + boats = WIN!

It was a beautiful drive, but really nice to get to our friends' house out in the country. They were so far north, we were nearly to Canada. We each have two boys approximately the same ages, so they set about playing pretty quickly. The 5 year olds jumped their hearts out on the trampoline. I think every toy was brought out. And did I mention that my friends have a hot tub? Yea, I think the O fam are keepers.

We were there for two days.
The first day we went for maple syrup ice cream and then a hike in the mountains, passing ski trails along the way. The walk was fairly short. We followed the stream down through the rocks, over the falls. The boys were pretty happy with plenty of water and rocks to play in.

Then the next day, the boys patiently suffered through the mom's shopping and browsing before heading off for a dip in Lake Champlain. Just as clear and beautiful as ever.

Unfortunately, we had to go home the next day. Gallon of maple syrup in hand we bade farewell, and wound our way back to the interstate, ferry trip included.

It was such a beautiful Saturday, though. I saw summer slipping away and thought that we really needed to take advantage of it for just a little bit more. We stopped by the infamous Lake George for one last dip in the mountains before heading back down to civilization. We took a long stretch down the interstate, aided with the handy-dandy DVD player. A quick stop at Princeton for coffee and frozen yogurt on the lawn of the university seemed in order.

And then we were home. It was a fun trip. It was nice to just spend some time focusing on my boys and hang out with friends. Thanks so much to them for a great tim!

I awoke yesterday feeling grumpy. It was a beautiful, late summer day. It needed to be enjoyed by children. But I was having trouble finding enthusiasm for doing anything that required getting out of bed. My friend and I had talked about going to the shore, but I just couldn't pull the gumption to head to New Jersey on a Friday. I went to the gym and then we decided to try out this (free!) lake north of Allentown. I had been there once before on a hair-brained bid to get out of the house with a 3yo and a 6week old. Not one of my finer moments. This was my first time returning.

It was perfect. The water was absolutely clear, and a refreshing temperature (not too hot, too cold), and shallow enough for the younger kids to enjoy playing. The man-made beach provided plenty of sand for digging. And the backdrop of the mountains gave a relaxing vista. They cleverly set up the boating area beyond the swimming area, so that the swimmers could enjoy the "faux" waves from the wake of the boats.

We stayed for four hours, still finding difficulty in prying ourselves away, though the shadows were long. It turned out to be the perfect day.

My blog has had some problems this summer, which are now resolved--making it much easier to post. So a little back-blogging is in order. Namely, our big family vacation that we take every year to Maine.

Usually we go in August. This is our fourth year going, but this year we went at the beginning of July.

On Friday morning of July Fourth weekend, we loaded up the car, bikes on the roof, camping stuff stuffed in with duffels, and fairly effortlessly coasted our way north. There was a cool breeze that morning (which is a little uncharacteristic of this hot summer), which seemed fitting to send us off to New England.

We had a great trip and made excellent time, until about the last 50 mi, which took approximately 3 hours--even with using my phone's GPS to navigate us down some side roads. But, hey, at least we got to wave "hi" to Robert Frost's farm. I love New England.

Weeks before our travels, I obsess over campgrounds at which to stay. Pouring over state park websites to find just the right park and just the right site. And I don't know why I have such a fascination of being by water. I often try to find a place by the ocean, but I was getting really annoyed by the Massachusetts State Parks, so I looked to New Hampshire, which turned out to be perfect.

We arrived at our lakeside campground in the early evening to find the water delightfully accessible and most suited for splashing in, clear and not too cold and just for us. It was a perfect way to soothe the traffic angst of the past three hours. Marlowe surprised us by being a total fish.

Everything about that campsite was perfect. The wood was perfect for campfire burning. The rocks were perfect for sitting. There was good distance between campsites with plenty of trees, so it felt more private. We roasted hotdogs and broccoli and marshmallows.

This was our first time camping this summer, and I have to say, that camping with a 2yo is much improved from camping with a 1yo. From the moment we arrived it was clear that Marlowe thought camping was the best thing ev-ar and embraced everything we did with tons of enthusiasm. We already knew Ellis thinks camping is the best ever. He enjoyed being a big boy and riding his training-wheel-less bike around and around the loop.

Packing food for camping on a road trip can be a little tricky--especially when you don't have any kind of camp stove. So I was kind of proud of what I came up with. Hot dogs, veggies, chips, and marshmallows for supper. And I got a little hot pot for heating water. It's actually not too hard to find an outlet at a state park campground. Usually there's one in the bathroom. So I heated up a pot of water for instant oatmeal and the new Starbucks Via instant coffee, which is decent and great for traveling.

We left our site in the morning, making our way towards the interstate via a Target stop for some forgotten items and lunch supplies. We looked forward to stopping at our favorite park in Portland, ME for lunch. When we arrived M had just fallen asleep, and the water in the splash pond was so uncomfortably cold that it wasn't fun. And we had just missed the farmer's market. We ate our lunch, had some play time on the playground and then went on our way, arriving at our friends' house in Bangor in time for dinner.

We had a great Sunday with them and then jumped into our week of Maine activities. On Monday we went over to Acadia National Park, where we had a picnic and climbed a mountain. Six kids and three adults hiked up Mt. Champlain. I love a good view, and between the shrubby pines and low-lying bushes--including many wild blueberries eagerly harvested by the young hikers--there was nothing to obstruct a most fantastic view of the mountains and ocean. I was so proud of Ellis. It wasn't an easy hike, and downhill was very steep, zig-zagging trail. It was his second mountain summit climb, with last year's great Maine hike being his first.

While Philly was having triple digit temps when we were gone, Maine was having unseasonably warm temperatures, as well. It almost got to 90! We enjoyed a nice cool-off at our favorite swimming hole, Craig Pond, more like a small lake. It's fed by a spring, so the water is crystal clear, and abounds with frogs to be caught.

We chilled with our friends, the Curlyheads, and did some errands on Wednesday.

On Thursday we said goodbye to our dear friend in Bangor and headed down to Portland, where we were going to visit some friends of mine from college. I actually hadn't seen them since college. But we keep in touch a little over blogs/FB, and it was a good excuse to see Portland, too. We had an absolute blast with them. And with four boys and a girl, there were plenty of playmates. It was great to meet their sweet, sweet kids, who basically set about trying to learn everything there was to know about ASL from the minute we stepped in the door.

They took us to see the Portland headlight after dinner.

After sundaes and bidding the kids goodnight, the adults stayed up until nearly 2am talking, shivering in the cool Maine night air.

After a little beach time in the morning, we got on the road again, heading towards our campground in Connecticut. We got there at sunset, though, so even though the little beach area on Long Island Sound was perfect, we couldn't really play there long. And the wood we bought was damp and wouldn't light, and then it started to drizzle. And the kids were tired and crazy. So it was a little lack-lustre.

we got an early start Saturday morning and were shocked as we sailed along I-95 with no traffic through southern Connecticut and NYC. We got home mid afternoon.

It was an absolutely wonderful time, and we were totally not ready to come home yet, and keep scheming of ways to never have to leave Maine again. Thanks, also, dear friends, for your wonderful fellowship and hosting us!

No, no funky seersucker pants this year. But I have been making some fun stuff for our vacation. (We leave tomorrow!! yay!)

For Marlowe:

When Ellis was 2, I got two blank Tshirts at Target, always meaning to freezer paper stencil them. Never got around to it, and he wore those shirts blank all summer. Always felt bad about it.
Well, now Marlowe is 2, and I got him two blank Ts at Target, bc he needed a couple extra shirts. And this time I got around to it!

I did an applique squirrel on one, and a freezer paper stencil of wind turbines on the other. I love the funky birds of the Jay MacCarroll print Germania. I'm using it in every thing, so sorry for the deja vu. :) I'm a little bummed my stencil got a little smudged. I ended up with several layers of paint.

Also for M. I was doing a lamination project for E (see below), so I wanted to do something for M to feel included. I laminated a bunch of pics that I got printed out at Staples, and stuck magnetic tape to the back of them. With a magnetic dry erase board, he is set. (He will NOT be getting a marker!)

For Ellis:

This is project I'm most excited about.

E loves writing words! He's constantly asking us how to spell things. He can't read yet (he just turned 5!), but he's doing a lot great preliteracy things. I made these sheets for him in the Mac Pages program. Pictures of things relevant to vacation, with the words, and a space for him to write the word. I printed them at Staples and got them to laminate them. He can write on them with dry erase marker now! They turned out awesome! I'm so excited about it!! I think he'll love these.

More bloggy catchup.

A month ago I took my Do it With Kids policy to a whole new level by taking my boys down to Lookout Mountain for my sister's college graduation. It's about 700 mi. At the last minute, my mom did the drive down with me, which was really helpful. We did it all in one day. What took me 12 hours in college took about 17hrs with kids. But it was a great trip. I plotted the whole trip in terms of Chik-fil-a and its great indoor playground. I actually found a fun castle playground just off the interstate in Virginia, with a Starbucks nearby. That was fortuitous! And I bought a portable DVD player. Result, kids with nary a squabble about being shoved in the car over the course of 17 hours.

We stayed with our old friends, the "other" Joneses, of Jonesville fame. Their youngest two are the same ages as my two, almost literally. Just weeks apart, the both of them. It was way fun meeting Jonesgirl for the first time, too. Really the Jones's house was like Graduation Resort Paradise, an oasis in the midst of a crazy weekend. So, thanks, friends.

Since my sister's college is my alma mater, as well, going down to the Chattanooga area is a familiar, happy thing. I run into old friends at every turn. Literally, turn. Driving up and down the mountain remembering each curve.

The first day I drove down into Georgia a bit to meetup with my old friend, Joanna. We were in freshman music theory together and have been friends ever since. I FINALLY got to meet her twins!

I had lunch with an old professor, walked around a campus that looked totally different with all the new construction, but still felt the same. The students looked the same, too. Just younger than I remember. I still feel like I just graduated from college like last year or something...but it's been nine years, which admittedly isn't a huge amount of time, but it's a lot longer than yesterday.

And my sister done got graduated. Congratulations, Luisa!!

I did the drive home by myself. I spent the night with another college friend just north of Chattanooga. So I head start the next morning. I did the drive home in two, spending the night half way in Roanoke, with Chris's grandma. It was a long trip by myself, two long days of driving. But, again, my kids were awesome!