Family Fun

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Garden Update, May 2017: The Don’t Be Like Me Edition

Well, it’s time for a garden update and I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that the garden seems to be doing reasonably well – or at least, some of it does.  We’ve had a lot of rain recently and it’s making a big difference.

The bad news: to the extent the garden is thriving, it doesn’t seem to be to my credit, and if I decide to get involved with the care of a plant I seem to kill it.  Steve says that if I go against every single one of my natural instincts, I might still have a garden by the end of the season.  How’s that for a vote of confidence?

Flashback:

When I last left you, we’d gotten plants into three pots (which we moved from New York, much to Steve’s chagrin – they are heavy – because I love their colors).  Peanut and I planted lettuces in the big pot, beans in the medium pot and rosemary in the small pot.  We’d jumped the gun just a bit on buying our plants and hit the garden centers before many edibles were ready, with the result being that I had to buy something to avoid a preschooler meltdown.

Fast-forward a few weeks later.  Things were doing reasonably well, and the garden centers had more tomatoes and herbs, so I decided it was time to roll up my sleeves and really dig in.  (#gardenpun).  I visited Lowes and picked up a couple more pots, which I am hoping are big enough for tomatoes.  (Some quick internet research indicated that tomato plants need a fairly large pot for their root systems.)

And that’s when I made my first mess.  I decided to move some plants into pots that were more appropriately sized for them – planting things in the wrong-sized pots was a planning fail to begin with, but see above – I just had to go with it and buy the plants too early, to avoid a preschooler tantrum, and things ended up in poorly sized plants as a result.  Yeah, I suppose I could have put more thought into it in the first place and then I wouldn’t have had these problems.  Well – whatever.

It started out okay.  I moved the rosemary into the medium-sized pot and added some newly acquired parsley and thyme, and planted mint in the small pot (so it could be alone).  But in order to do so, I had to move the beans, and that’s where things started to fall apart.  I tried to untangle the bean plant from the trellis (which was too small) and I ended up killing the poor thing – look how sad it is after I replanted it in the barrel and tried transferring it to the Ultimate Tomato Cage.  Whoops.

Other failures of this iteration of the garden – the lettuce bolted, and someone ate all of the leaves off my purple Thai basil and tormented the poor thing until it gave up the ghost.  I was blaming squirrels (read on) but Steve mentioned he’s also seen some black birds lurking around my pots.  Sounds like I might need a scarecrow.

On to Act III of this little play.  I made yet another trip to the garden center after the weather had warmed up a bit, and picked up more tomatoes and herbs.  I grabbed some more mint to add to my mint pot (now I have a mix of chocolate mint and julep mint in there – yum) and another basil plant to plop in my tomato pots.  The herbs are looking decently well.  We’ve had a ton of rain recently and they’re loving it.

Also looking well – my original tomatoes!  The plants have shot up and I’ve even spotted a few yellow blossoms.  For awhile, the leaves were looking a little brown and sad, but all the recent rain has really helped.  And the beans that Peanut brought home from school, which Steve planted and then I moved.  Why am I so trigger-happy when it comes to moving plants around?  No wonder I have a black thumb.  I need to learn to leave well enough alone.  Thankfully, the beans seem to be happy enough in their new pot, which they’re sharing with some more tomatoes I picked up from the garden center last weekend.  I wanted lettuce, but the garden center was pretty much out, and the few plants they had left looked sort of sad to me.  So I decided – this is going to be a tomato and herb garden this year.  Farmers’ market lettuce for everyone!

A few more tomato plants – I spy lots more yellow blossoms and a few little green fruits!  I totally cheated and bought a couple of plants that already had fruits.  Hey, I’m trying to set myself up for success here.  I bought Rapunzel, Fantastico, and Green Zebra tomatoes in addition to the cherry variety I was already growing.  It’s going to be all tomatoes, all the time this year. 

Bringing me to my second “don’t be like me” tip.  So, remember how I said I thought I was having a squirrel problem?  We do have a lot of squirrels in our neighborhood, and they’re hardcore, bold urban squirrels with no respect for people’s property.  So I googled “how to repel squirrels from garden” and came up with a few tips, including – cayenne pepper.  Apparently, they don’t like the smell.  (Of course, the same website also said they don’t like the smell of mint, and something was digging up my mint plants.  In thinking about it – maybe Steve is right, and the problem is crows, not squirrels.)  Anyway, I decided to give cayenne a try, and on Tuesday morning before I left for a business trip, I traipsed out my back door in my slippers with a jar of cayenne in hand, which I proceeded to sprinkle all over the soil.  It definitely looked intimidating.  Then I thought to myself, “This cayenne is pretty old.  I wonder if it’s potent enough to repel the squirrels.”  I leaned down, took a whiff, and… HOLY $(@*$&%(#(#& IT IS POTENT ENOUGH TO REPEL SQUIRRELS OH GOD #@@)%*@#&$.

Gardening pro tip!  Snorting cayenne pepper hurts like a mofo!  Don’t do it!

And if you don’t know, now you know.

Last thing – while I’m telling you about all this other garden equipment I’ve been acquiring – plants, pots, cayenne pepper… there was one item that has proven to be absolutely necessary.  If I didn’t want that happy little dude to dig up my plants, fling soil around the patio and dump handfuls of gravel over my most delicate herbs – all of which was happening – some sort of distraction was needed.  Enter the sandbox!  I’d been meaning to get one for awhile but was hung up on finding the best safe sand.  I finally found an acceptable option (Sandtastik, for my mom friends who might be in the market) and as for the box itself – well, clearly I had to go for the Fisher Price turtle.  Can’t beat a classic, amirite?  Both kids love it, and more importantly, so far, the sandbox seems to be fulfilling its purpose of distracting Nugget and keeping him out of the garden.  Of course, now every surface in the house and on the patio is covered with a layer of sand.  You can’t win them all.

Gardening friends: have you planted yet?  How’s it going?  Have you also snorted cayenne pepper in an effort to repel squirrels?

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Trail Tots: On Growing Up Outdoors

When I think back on the fondest memories I have of my childhood, the vast majority of them took place outdoors.  I could almost convince myself that I lived outdoors as a kid.  Like any active, sporty family, we had our favorite fresh-air pursuits.  While we did our share of hiking, I wouldn’t say that we spent an inordinate amount of time on the trails.  Summer and warm fall days found us, instead, on the water – sailing, canoeing and kayaking, mostly, with occasional motorboat jaunts, and my dad was never far from another spin on his windsurfer.  In the winter, we skied.  Downhill, mainly, but also cross-country just to mix it up.  Hiking was lower on the list, although I think we all enjoyed it.

Now that we’re grown-ups (well…) my brother Dan and I have both become avid hikers – even more than we were.  He’s trekking the Colorado wilderness with his wife, while I’m traversing heritage Virginia rail trails with my family, but we’re both out there, and I am sure that the legacy my parents gave us – the love of nature and the outdoors, the satisfaction of pushing boundaries, and the thrill of adventuring in the wide world – has a lot to do with that.

Just as my brother has his adventure buddy – my dear sister-in-law Danielle – I have mine in Steve.  Some of our earliest dates involved exploring the footpaths and waterfalls around the Cornell campus.  On our third date, we drove out to Buttermilk Falls State Park, where we hiked to the namesake falls and I claimed an enormous pink boulder for France.  It was a fun date, and also an important one, because I don’t know what I would have done if it had turned out that he didn’t like to go outside and play.  As our relationship developed, so did our hiking haunts.  I showed him around my beloved North Campus – taught him to play shoe golf (best game ever) at the Cornell plantations, introduced him to the best bridge-jumping spot (he didn’t jump) and slid with him down miniature waterfalls just upstream.  Of course, you know how the story ends.  We got married, took our hiking farther afield (to England and Scotland!) and eventually, found ourselves with two little trail tots.

I hiked during both pregnancies.  With Peanut, at least until ish got real at the end, I was on the trails most weekends (and inevitably fell asleep in the car on the way home).  I pushed even harder while pregnant with Nugget – sometimes unwittingly.  The picture above?  Snapped by a summit steward atop Cascade Mountain, our first Adirondack high peak, two days into my second pregnancy (and totally oblivious to the stowaway).

^Another family-of-four picture, this one snapped at Letchworth State Park – photo credit to my dear friend Zan.  Nine weeks pregnant and feeling sorry that Nugget had such a boring view while the rest of us enjoyed gorges and waterfalls.

When I think about the childhood I want to give my kids, I think about a childhood like mine – one lived outdoors as much as (maybe more than) in.  I think about fostering a deep respect for the planet, a commitment to protect and preserve our wild spaces and the creatures who share the earth with us.  I think about their sense of wonder, their marveling at the miracle of nature.

And the way I am fostering that appreciation is to give them the gift of a childhood on the trails and on the water.

In a very real sense, Peanut and Nugget are growing up in the woods.  They’ve been living on hiking trails since they were both tiny babies – starting in the Bjorn (Peanut) and the Ergo (Nugget) and eventually graduating to a Deuter KidComfort III and an Osprey Poco Plus, respectively.  Peanut spent her babyhood at Great Falls and Rock Creek Park; Nugget spent his at Knox Farm.  I want both of them to grow up with those same memories – of playing and exploring with their parents – that I did.

I’ll be the first to admit that my wanting to raise my kids outdoors is at least partially selfish.  I love the outdoors, and I dearly miss some of the active pursuits I used to enjoy before the kids came along.  I have been an avid kayaker since I was fifteen, and have had few opportunities to get out and paddle in recent years.  (The four hours I spent cruising around Lake George with my friend Seth last summer just served as a reminder of how much I miss paddling.)  And every winter I mourn all the skiing I’m not doing.  So, yeah, I hope they love this stuff because I love it and I miss it and I cherish the hope of one day paddling Blackwater or Smith Mountain Lake, sailing the Chesapeake, exploring the Blue Ridge, and sliding down the West Virginia ski slopes with them.  And more, and bigger – I want them to know my home mountain range as well as I do.  I want them by my side when I finally explore the national parks of the West.  I want to put my arm around Peanut as we watch the sun rise from a Hawaiian volcano, to high-five Nugget after a day of paddling kayaks and spotting marine life in the Pacific Northwest, to see the wonder on both of their faces during an African safari.  If I have it my way – and Steve has it his way – they’ll grow up as true adventure kids.

They’re little now, and we’re keeping our expectations down.  A short, flat trail sounds about right for our current stage of life.  Bonus points for spotting birdies.  (Relax, Nugget, Great Blue Herons don’t eat little boys.)  Next summer, we might be down to just Nugget in a backpack, while Peanut runs alongside us with her own little pack.  Before I know it, they’ll be paddling and sailing and skiing with us.

I’m doing my best to enjoy each moment as it comes.  To cherish the memories we make now, and not to get too hung up on the stuff that we used to do, that’s beyond our capabilities at the moment.  I’m taking grown-up adventures as they come, and not sweating it if the biggest adventure on a weekend hike is a diaper changed trailside.  Because I know that it’s just a few tomorrows until they can keep up with me and be true adventure buddies – if I haven’t ruined the whole experience by placing too many expectations on them too soon.  And I also know that the memories they are making on these trails – even now, at four and two – are setting them up for a lifetime of adventure in the great big world, and I hope that someday they look back on our family hikes as a cherished gift, and a gift that they’ll pass on to their own children.

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Holland in Haymarket: Picking Tulips at Burnside Farms

Going to pick-your-own farms is one of my favorite family activities – fresh air, the chance to play farmer, and a basket of goodies at the end; what’s not to love?  Over the past few years Steve and I have taken the kids on excursions to pick apples, blueberries, and strawberries at various places and times.  But for some reason, pick-your-own flowers were never on my radar until recently.  That changed when I read Novadventuring‘s guide to all things summer in northern Virginia, and the list of pick-your-own flower farms caught my attention as a perfect outing for a certain flower-obsessed little girl.

A little follow-up research clued me in to Burnside Farms and their annual “Holland in Haymarket” event – millions of tulip bulbs planted together in a riot of color.  How could we miss out on that?

Can we start picking now, Mom?

The boys joined us for a few minutes, but then wandered off to do man things like slide down the super slide and jump in the bounce house.

Peanut, meanwhile, was all business.  She actually struggled a bit with picking the tulips because you are supposed to pick them a certain way – close to the ground – which was hard for her to remember.  But I think she still had a good time.

 

This was definitely a popular destination.  The farm is open for walk-up tulip picking during the week, but since we went on a weekend – Easter Sunday, actually – I had to purchase tickets in advance.  One of these years, maybe, I’ll take a day off work and bring the kids out mid-week when we can have the place all to ourselves.  But this worked for now!

What a fabulous event – a perfect day to pick beautiful flowers with my little tulip.  We’ll definitely be back for the Summer of Sunflowers at Burnside, and we’ll be checking out the lavender fields at other area farms this spring.  Now that I have realized that pick-your-own flower farms are a thing that exists (and how did that never occur to me?) I can’t get enough!

 

 

After we’d filled our basket, we headed to the processing and checkout area and discovered one more surprise waiting for us there —

BABY CHICKS AND DUCKS.

They were the sweetest, darlingest, preciousest, cutest balls of fluff.  Joey-and-Chandler jokes were made.

Goodbye for now, Burnside Farms!  Thanks for the sunshine and the beautiful bouquet.  We’ll see you in July for the sunflowers!

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Garden Notes: The Early Bird Catches the Rosemary

It’s only April, and already the garden has been a bit of a comedy of errors – but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Peanut and I were both chomping at the bit to start our garden this year.  We planted a garden two springs ago, as a fun way to get in some one-on-one mother/daughter time with a new baby in the house.  It was fun, and we got a decent amount of food out of it – quite a few salads and lots of herbs, although the tomatoes struggled and then were all eaten by backyard pests once they’d finally sprouted.  Last spring, we were living in temporary housing while we planned our move back home, and planting a garden – even a container garden – just wasn’t in the cards.  Peanut didn’t say much about it, but I know she was disappointed.  So this year, she was doubly excited when I asked her if she wanted to garden with Mommy again.

As soon as the calendar turned to March, she started begging to get plants for the garden.  I wasn’t sure when would be the right time, so I did a little research and concluded that by mid-March, if the weather was looking good, we should be fine to get plants into pots.  Clearly, I was wrong, because we visited multiple nurseries in search of tomatoes, basil, etc. – and everyone looked at me as if I’d sprouted another head when I asked where the edible plants were.  We finally found a few things – some sugar snap peas, cold weather lettuce, and rosemary – at Holly, Woods & Vines down by our old house.  I snapped them up because if we left another greenhouse empty handed, Peanut was going to lose her mind.  We’ll supplement in a little bit, when the warmer weather plants are out.  (Please ignore the pink-haired mermaid photobomb above.)

We got home and got ready to plant.  Steve had nicely prepared the pots earlier in the week, setting them out in the sunniest spot on our back patio and filling them with mulch and then topsoil.  My little gardener and her mermaid were ready to get their hands dirty!

Since the plants we came home with weren’t the plants I was intending to come home with, I did some fast thinking about what should go where.  First thing into the soil was rosemary – the only herb available so early in the season – in the smallest pot.

(Don’t mind the big red splotch on Peanut’s fleece.  That’s her school jacket and it has the school crest embroidered on it.  It was hard to see in pictures but still, I don’t plan to announce to the entire internet where my kid can be found during the day.  Since my photo-editing skills are basically limited to zoom, crop and Instagram, it’s totally obvious that I scribbled over it in red “paint” – but whatever, it does the trick, right?)

Rosemary planted, it was time for the lettuce to go into the big pot.  It’s already pretty much doubled in size since we planted – we’ve had so much rain!  Can’t wait to start eating some backyard salads again.

Last pot – sugar snap peas.  I had no plans to plant peas, but like I said, we had to get something or Peanut would have lost it.  Now that we have them, I’m enjoying watching them curl their little tendrils up the tomato cage, and I hope that we get to enjoy some fresh peas all season long!

And – that’s it for now!  We gave everything a quick “welcome home” water with our new orange watering can and have just been having fun watching things grow and change ever since.  We might need to add a planter once we’re ready for tomatoes, but all in good time.

Anyone else get a ridiculously early start on planting this year?

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Spring at Mount Vernon

Spring is widely regarded as the most spectacular season of the year in D.C.  I haven’t been able to really enjoy it in the past, because I always got hideous allergies – it’s no fun to spend a month with runny eyes, itchy throat, and a completely blocked nose.  For whatever reason – knock wood, and I’m almost afraid to write this for fear I might jinx it – allergies seem to have passed me by this year.  I think it may be because I spent three years out of the area, and it takes awhile for pollen to become familiar enough to my immune system to make it freak out.  I’ve also had another baby, and pregnancy does all kinds of weird things; I’ve got to say, if one of the side effects of Nugget was that he cured me of my allergies, even for a little while, well, I already love the little guy but – that’s awesome.

All that’s to say, since I haven’t been spending my days sneezing and popping Claritin – yet – I’ve finally gotten to go out and do All The Spring Things, and D.C. has totally earned its reputation for being a spring wonderland.  The weekend before last, we took advantage of a crisp but cloudless morning to drive down to Mount Vernon and check out all the glories of spring on the estate.

Rows and rows of tulips, daffodils, and more flowers in the upper garden – flowering trees all over the grounds – and baby animals in almost every enclosure!  Does it get better than that?

We started out with a walk around the upper garden and then down past the Mansion to go check out the animals – always the kids’ favorite part.  We actually went into the Mansion this time, because we found a slot between tour groups and it wasn’t too crowded.  Peanut loved it, as expected, and Nugget was a menace, also as expected.  I think in the future we’ll just send Peanut inside with one parent, and keep Nugget out with the other.  Fortunately, no property damage was done, and he didn’t even get yelled at for banging on doors like he did at the Lee-Fendall House.  So… a win?

Headed down to the animals and right away spotted lambs!  WAY too cute.  I apologize in advance for my terrible photos.  The sun was just too blinding.  I assure you, they were much cuter in person.

My lambkins were enthralled by the sweet little woolly babies

Next we continued down the hill toward the Heritage Farm, and on our way, we discovered – piglets!

Again, pictures do no justice to the cuteness of the real thing.  These little ones were only five days old!  And already scampering and playing in their little lean-to.  Poor Mom looked exhausted.

Made it down to the river!

It was such a gorgeous day.  I could have stayed outside all day long.  Sunshine, birdsong, flowers, and baby animals – what’s not to love?

A little too sunny for some people.  Look at these spoiled kids, being towed backwards so the sun doesn’t get in their faces.  It’s the life, right?

Eventually we had our fill of the (grown-up) sheep down at the Heritage Farm and headed back up the hill, stopping about halfway up to let the kids out of the stroller – they’d had enough riding.

Yes, they’re almost the same height.  And Nugget weighs as much as Peanut does now.  It’s frightening.

Found a little grove of Virginia dogwoods!  (It’s a tree and a flower. #andrewshepardismypresident.)  I pointed them out to Steve, who had been wondering about how to identify them just the week before.

Mount Vernon is really the perfect family outing for us.  There are flowers for Peanut (and me!), animals and plenty of lawn for both kids, and a delightful walk for all.  I’m so glad we’re living close to the estate again (although I miss being just a ten-minute bike ride away!).

Where do you like to go to soak up spring?

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12 Months of Trails: Bluebell Loop Trail, Bull Run Regional Park (April 2017)

Confession: I’m a total sucker for Facebook clickbait about fun things to do in northern Virginia.  I follow a bunch of NoVA tourism accounts and I can reliably be counted on to click every link that begins with a sentence like “7 THINGS EVERY VIRGINIAN MUST DO AT LEAST ONCE” or “TOP 10 BEST VIRGINIA TOWNS FOR SUMMER ADVENTURE.”  You get the picture.  Well, I guess it’s not clickbait if it actually leads to an amazing hike, right?  Because when the headline “VIRGINIA’S SECRET GARDEN TRAIL” popped up at me over the winter, obviously I clicked on it – and discovered a hidden gem.

Tucked away in Centreville, Virginia is Bull Run Regional Park.  And tucked away in Bull Run Regional Park is the Bluebell Loop Trail, which most of the year is just a nice pleasant meander through the woods, but which becomes a riot of color and glory for a couple of weeks in early to mid-April, when the bluebells are blooming.  Which they are.  Right now.  So – here’s your PSA: if you are local to D.C., drop everything and go do this hike right now.  I’ll wait.

I did extensive research to determine which weekend would be the best for viewing the bluebells at their most glorious, and determined that last weekend seemed like the choice.  A quick call over to the park confirmed the decision – a ranger informed me that the bluebells were blooming by Wednesday and would be at peak over the weekend.  Thanks – we’ll see you then!

Peanut wanted to walk, and she actually did most of the trail on foot – good girl!  And even better, she was very well-behaved and did not pick a single flower, which I know was just killing her.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  The trail picks up with a little jaunt over a boardwalk – no bluebells in sight just yet.  We were pretty sure that we were going the right way, though, thanks to the excellent signage.  We enjoyed listening to frogsong in the wetlands, and Nugget pointed out several logs that he was convinced were alligators.

And then – all of a sudden, out of nowhere – bluebells!

They were literally everywhere you looked.  The entire forest floor was carpeted in bluebells, bluebells as far as the eye could see.  We all stopped in our tracks and just gaped.

I assure you, these pictures do absolutely no justice to the pure, unadulterated glory of this trail.  I’ve never seen anything like it – even the hill by my parents’ camp, which is carpeted in periwinkles in the summer, couldn’t compete.  I’m convinced there is a corner of Heaven that looks just. like. this.

Peanut was in her element.  She absolutely loves flowers.  She pranced down the trail shouting “FLOWER PETALS, this is beautiful!” while Nugget repeated “FLOWER PETALS!” from the backpack like a little echo.

I was very proud that she didn’t pick a single one, though.  We practice “leave no trace” on our hikes – leave nothing but footprints; take nothing but photographs – and I knew that was going to be a challenge this time.  Peanut has a case of sticky fingers when it comes to flowers.  It’s sweet, because she wants to pick them for me, but we can’t encourage it.  After she came home with a big bouquet of stolen daffodils from the school garden (but really, who let her in there unsupervised?) we had to talk to her about making sure she asks permission before picking a bouquet for Mommy, as much as Mommy loves flowers too.

But she was a good girl, and she had an absolute ball.

So did someone else.  Little dude was pretty good about not clamoring to be let out of the backpack – I think it helped that we kept up a pretty good clip, and that there was so much to see – lots of birds, dogs, and of course all the flowers.

I couldn’t stop snapping pictures.  I knew that my photos were a very poor shadow of what was actually all around me, but I couldn’t help myself.

Seriously – what a gorgeous hike.  As we walked along, eyes popping out of our heads at the beauty all around us, I told Steve that I thought this was the best hike we’ve done all year.  He replied, “It’s one of the best hikes we’ve done ever.”  I agreed – some hikes, you just know when your boots hit the trail, are hikes for the ages. Hall Ranch  in Lyons; Bear Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park; the Adirondack high peaks; pretty much every Great Falls hike ever – and the Bluebell Trail.

We made it back to the car drunk on spring beauty.  Some of us were so overcome that we had to eat our zippers.  (Not naming names, but…)

Bull Run, thank you for a perfect morning.  We’ll be back before long, because this is certainly a park to experience in all seasons.  But next spring – and every spring, as long as we live here – will find us on the Bluebell Loop Trail, because glory like this must be savored and savored again.

What’s your quintessential spring hike?

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12 Months of Trails: The National Arboretum (March 2017)

A March hike that is really more of a walk is apparently a tradition with this project.  When we did it last in 2015, Nugget had just joined us on the outside and our “hike” was pushing a stroller around paved roads.  This time, we just struck out on finding anything more challenging than mulch – but we had fun and we moved our legs in nature, so I’m saying it counts!

Our main purpose in picking the National Arboretum was to hit up Saturday’s native plants sale.  I had the idea that I might be able to pick something up for my garden.  What I learned was – and all you master gardeners, don’t laugh at me – native plants does not mean edible plants.  Other than a blueberry bush (that I wanted, but Steve reasonably pointed out would probably outgrow our patio space) there was nothing.  Oh, well.

They were still pretty!

After the plant sale, we hit the National Herb Garden for some inspiration, and then made our way around the rose garden as well.  Nothing in bloom, really, other than a few early season flowers (the blizzard two weeks ago really messed up our spring).

Peanut insisted on being let down to smell everything in the perfume garden.  This point is pretty much when Nugget started clamoring to be released from the backpack, too.

After a slight detour to check out the daffodils and a flowering tree, we headed for the original Capitol columns.  Hands down the coolest sight in the Arboretum.

Bad back-lighting alert!

All the world’s a stage for Peanut, but certain places and spaces give more scope for her full range of dramatic expression.  Dramatic dancing and belting out pop songs commenced.

I attempted some artistic photography and failed miserably.

And all the while, the little dude was whining and complaining in my ear, kicking me and pulling my hair.  He thought it a spectacular injustice that his sister was running around treating the columns as her own personal Broadway stage, while he was still trapped in a backpack.

So this had to happen.  I didn’t mind, really – he weighs almost as much as Peanut, so I was starting to think it a bit unfair that Steve was getting in a nice easy walk with an empty backpack while I was hauling about thirty pounds.

Plus – they were ADORABLE.  I did have to pick Nugget up when a Meetup group for greyhounds and their parents came down the path.  Peanut had a ball greeting all the dogs (some of whom were taller than she is!) and charming the folks while Nugget was whimpering in my arms.  (He loves the idea of dogs but takes awhile to warm up to the reality, especially when it’s greyhound-sized.)

All in all – a lovely walk in the sunshine!  Not exactly the most challenging hike we’ve ever done, but there’s something to be said for a nice easy day on a paved trail, enjoying blossoming trees and blue skies.

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The Spring List 2017

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and happy spring to all!  It’s definitely in the air.  I always have mixed feelings about spring – as Kelly from Sorta Awesome says, it’s my fourth favorite season.  I adore the exuberant bursting into bloom, and the return of warmer weather, and the promise of summer just ahead.  I could, however, do without the allergies and the mud.  But we take the good with the bad and the bad with the good, so in that spirit, here’s my list of spring things to do:

  • Take the kids to see the cherry blossoms in bloom by the Potomac.
  • Plant a container garden with Peanut.  (I want to grow tomatoes, herbs and salad greens.  She wants to grow roses.  We’ll probably grow both.)
  • Get our back patio set up and start grilling and eating outdoors regularly.
  • Re-read Anne of Green Gables (my beautiful new Folio Society edition!).
  • Take at least one adults-only hike – either the Billy Goat Trail in Maryland, or possibly an Adirondack hike?
  • Spring cleaning!  Get the house in order and feeling fresh.
  • Do another Whole 30 (I’ve already started this).
  • Go rock-climbing.
  • Finally unpack and organize my books.
  • Take a weekend getaway somewhere – Chincoteague, maybe?  Or Annapolis?  Or Little Washington again?

What’s on your spring agenda?

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The Winter List 2017: Final Tally

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Happy spring!  I can’t believe this winter is over – it was a short and mild one.  We only had one dusting of snow here in northern Virginia – the couple of times that we actually saw snow, we had to travel to New York for it.  There was that crazy weekend when the temperatures almost hit eighty degrees, and the flowering trees had started to burst into bloom by mid-February.  (Note to self: buy Claritin early and often this year.)  I’ll feel guilty about climate change if they’re all like this, but after three really miserable, frigid winters in Buffalo, this nice mild one felt amazing.  (My sister-in-law’s boyfriend told me recently that they had a mild winter in Buffalo, too, this year.  I have no doubt that if we had stayed there, the winter would have been just as ridiculously horrible as the past three years have been, so clearly the mild weather was because we moved.  You’re welcome, Buffalo!)  Anyway, before we move on to spring, I have to close out the season by going through my winter to-do list and checking off the few items we actually completed.

  • Get in a winter hike or two when the weather is mild enough for the kiddos in their backpacks.  Done!  As part of our twelve months’ hiking project, we made it to Great Falls in January, and to Lake Accotink in February.
  • Whittle down my library stack.  Hahahahahahahaha.  No.  I did not do this.
  • Drink lots of tea!  Done!  I always do.  This year I’ve discovered that several of my co-workers are also tea people, and we have been sharing amongst our desk stashes and chatting about favorite producers – such fun.
  • Finish unpacking the bedroom and dining room, and once there are no boxes left in the living spaces, start tackling the basement.  I did get the dining room unpacked, but the bedroom is still tragic.  Every weekend I say that I’m going to tackle the bedroom, and every weekend I end up at the computer, working, instead.  But I’ve set a firm deadline.  We have a houseguest coming in a couple of months, and this is someone who is going to expect a tour of every inch of the house.  So the bedroom has to be whipped into shape before then.
  • Spend some time in Barchester – both Trollope’s and Thirkell’s versions.  Calling this partially done, because I did read Thirkell’s Pomfret Towers last month.  When the library stack is more manageable, Barchester Towers is calling my name.
  • Run the Pacers First Down 5K and Combine (preferably trained).  I wasn’t trained, but I did run it on Superbowl Sunday – and my mom ran, too!  That was a lot of fun – although it would have been more fun if I had been better prepared.  This is a lesson I keep learning the hard way.  When’s it going to stick?
  • Finish my 2016 family yearbook and order it when there’s a 50% off sale, then get started on other family yearbooks.  Done!  I completed the 2016 yearbook and then spent a few weeks making a family yearbook covering the years 2005-07 (our first two years of marriage).  I was able to order both at 50% off – woohoo!  I love having these yearbooks to flip through; my stack of Shutterfly books is really growing, but they’re so worth the time and expense in making them, and the space they take up.  They’re absolutely priceless to me.
  • Plan and book summer 2017 travel.  Haven’t quite accomplished this yet.  We have decided on our destinations and picked dates, but we haven’t booked tickets or lodging, nor have we planned out the smaller components of the trip (booking excursions for one trip; purchasing our equipment (!!!) for another).  We have a couple of family vacation-planning meetings on the agenda for the next few weeks, and I’m hoping that we will get everything booked soon.
  • Light candles often.  Not often enough.
  • Take the kids to Wegmans Wonderplace at the American History Museum.  Didn’t do this.  I was saving it for a nasty, cold weekend day – and we haven’t had many of those.  Weekends have seen us hitting the trails or the zoo, or going out of town, instead.  Perhaps this spring if we have a rainy Saturday to kill, we can make this happen.

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Well, looking over that list, I didn’t get much done.  Other than the hikes and the one race I had on the calendar, most of that list is sadly lacking in strikethroughs.  That’s mostly a testament to how busy this winter was.  In February, I could barely keep my head above water at work, and we had houseguests and spent a weekend traveling out of town.  March is another busy one.  I had Nugget’s birthday party to plan and throw (last weekend), and coming up I have a meeting with Peanut’s school about next year, a few big projects coming down the pipeline at work, the bedroom to unpack, and all the regular business of life.  Every season is a “busy season” right now… but I’m treading water and somehow getting though (I think, most days).  On Friday, I’ll have my spring list – I don’t expect to actually accomplish any more of it than I did with the winter list, but hey, hope springs eternal.

Did you make a winter to-do list?  How’d you do?

 

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Look Who’s Two!

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Dear little puppy, tomorrow you will be TWO years old!  I can hardly believe it.  Wasn’t it just yesterday that you were placed into my arms for the first time?

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But it really has been two years and you’re getting to be such a big boy.  You are into absolutely everything and you like to do most things for yourself.  You want to feed yourself, climb up into chairs on your own, get books off your shelf for me to read (and sometimes for you to “read”) and do anything you can think of to bug your sister.  But you still come running to Mom for a few things – mostly to “fix” your trucks and trains (read: turn on sirens, reattach train cars, open doors, and act as general toy mechanic) and for hugs and snuggles when you bump or bruise – which is far more often than your sister, because you’re on the go constantly.

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Your love of fire trucks is still going strong.  Most days when I come to get you out of your crib, you tell me you dreamed of fire trucks.  (Other common dreams are of your beloved nanny “Telly,” and of “Mommy driving baby excavator” – the baby excavator in question being a piece of road work equipment that has been parked outside of our house for the past few weeks.  The other day we saw a man operating it and you almost hyperventilated, you were so excited.)  You can identify different sirens, and if we hear an emergency vehicle coming down the road, you know instantly whether it’s a fire truck or an ambulance.  You also love ambulances, and construction vehicles, especially excavators and – to a lesser extent – bulldozers.

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So you really love living in Alexandria, because there are vehicles everywhere.  We are regular visitors to the fire station nearest our house, and to another one that is about a fifteen minute walk away – and you can tell the difference between the stations and their trucks.  If Engine 205 comes down the road, you tell us it’s 205 – and the same for 201.  Both trucks have become your friends, and you’ve gotten several personal tours of the fire station, because Telly (whose real name is Kelly, but you can’t quite make the C/K/G sounds yet) knows what you love, too.  One of your favorite things to do is to walk down by the water and see 201’s fire boat.  You’re insanely sharp-eyed and if you shout out a vehicle, you’re never wrong.  Many, many times we’ve heard you call “Mini Cooper,” and sure enough, you saw one coming from two blocks away.  We’ve learned not to doubt you.  If you tell us a vehicle is somewhere in the vicinity, it always is.

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You love to play outside and would live outdoors if I let you.  Over the summer, we discovered that the beach is your happy place and we couldn’t keep you out of the water, little Pisces.  You love hiking, too, and will happily point out doggies and kiss my head from your perch in the child carrier backpack.  You’re going to have such a fun summer exploring the lakes and beaches near us this year.  But really, as long as you’re outdoors, you’re happy, and we’re regular visitors to our parks, playgrounds and sandboxes to give you that fresh air fix that you need.

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You’re crazy smart. You can count to 10 (!) and sing the entire alphabet and an alarming number of “Hamiltunes.” You are also incredibly well-spoken, and everyone who hears you is amazed at how clearly you talk and how large your vocabulary is.  We certainly try to talk and read to you as much as we can, and I’m sure you’re getting a lot of your funny expressions from your sister.  The other day, you told us a long story about construction vehicles in which every sentence was prefaced with, “When I was a little baby, I saw…”  It made us laugh because you still are such a baby – but I know you don’t think you are!  Other funny things you say include…

  • “I’m a sweet boy.”  You learned this from your nanny, who is as wild about you as you are about her, and who sometimes feeds your ego as a result.
  • “Wanna listen Hamiltunes!”  You mostly mean “My Shot” by this, but we try to explain that “Hamiltunes” means any song from Hamilton so maybe you could throw your sister a bone and let her listen to “Wait For It” every so often?
  • “I like your hair!”  Or shirt, or shoes, or pants.  You’re definitely not stingy with compliments.  Once, on a visit from your grandparents, you greeted them at their car with “Hi, Grandad!  I like your shoes!”
  • “You love me?”  Sometimes you like to get reassurances that Mommy and Daddy, your sister, and your nanny love you.  We all do.
  • “Uppy Mommy HUG!”  Your way of asking to be picked up is irresistible, and I suspect you know this.
  • “SHARE, Em’ly, SHARE!”  I don’t know where you learned this, but “SHARE” evidently means “Hands off my stuff.”
  • “I love you, Mommy!  I love you SO much!”  The feeling is mutual, little guy.

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Sometimes we do have to come indoors, and when we do your favorite hobby is jumping in your crib and singing “My Shot” from Hamilton, although the only line you know is “Frow my shot! Shot!”  When you’re not rocking out in your crib, you love to be read to – Richard Scarry is your absolute favorite (you carry a copy of Cars and Trucks and Things That Go all around the house, which is hilarious because that book is almost as big as you are).  But you also love any book from the Good Night Our World series (Good Night Beach and Good Night Washington D.C. are your favorites – no surprise there), and like your sister you’re a fan of Margaret Wise Brown and Dr. Seuss.  Another favorite: Usborne’s Look Inside an Airport – you like to look at the pictures and tell me which of the little people at the airport is Nana; that one time we picked her up from a flight made a huge impression on you.

You also enjoy watching TV over your sister’s shoulder (we’ve pretty much given up trying to keep you away from screens) and you regularly shout out your show requests.  Like your sister, you enjoy Curious George, Doc McStuffins and Sofia the First.  You also just started watching the movie Finding Dory and you’re pretty obsessed.  Other than reading, watching TV and jumping on the furniture, your favorite indoor thing to do is to make “toffee” (coffee) with Daddy every morning.  You like to take deep whiffs of the ground coffee and to choose the filter (which you call the “filter basket”).  Many mornings, you start clamoring “Daddy may toffee!  Daddy may toffee!” as soon as you come into the kitchen.  Future barista?

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Hey, there’s your sister!  You think she’s pretty great.  (You’re right – she is.)  You’re constantly trailing after her or squeezing into chairs next to her.  She loves you, too, and she’s immensely proud to introduce you to her friends and classmates.  Of course, sometimes you drive her nuts.  Whether you’re stealing food off her plate, messing up her dollhouse, or grabbing her pink stroller and careening down the hall to set up a spectacular crash – you can definitely be a little brother.  But no one can stay mad at your adorable little face.

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At the end of the day, while you’re crazy about your sis, you’re very much a mama’s boy.  When I walk through the door after a long day at work, nothing lifts my spirits like hearing your loving little voice shout adorably, “THERE she is!”  You leap into my arms and cover my face with sloppy kisses and barely leave my side all evening, every evening – and I love every second of it.  The feeling is mutual, by the way – I am wildly, madly, ecstatically in love with you too.

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You’re turning into such a big boy.  I love watching your little adventures every day – seeing you zoom down slides and dig in sandboxes, carry Elmo in the crook of your arm, crash your trucks, splash in the tub and charm the entire world.  But when we turn out the light and start singing your bedtime song (you usually request “I Love the Mountains,” which surprises no one), you still like to cozy up and lay with your head on my arm as if you were a newborn.  No matter what you say, you’re still a baby and you’ll always be my baby.

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Happy, happy, happy birthday, little fella.  Here’s to a year of more adventures, more doggies, more splashes and more trucks.