12. Departing from Duckhaven

Yes – this is the final stop on our American odyssey – 4 final days with Grammie and Grandpa in Delaware.

I realize, looking over my blogs, I have said lots of things I love about the US, but nothing that I miss about France.  So, here is my list of things I miss: bread, butter, cheese, my own personal baker and my waterbed. (I can’t wait to get a good night’s sleep again) PLUS, truly deserving of it’s own sentence, I truly miss traffic circles (also known as round-abouts).  These things beat traffic lights any day.  Frankly, the roads in Europe beat our own, hands down.  They are smoother, cleaner and have much less traffic – and people (perhaps because they are required by law to take 30-40 hours of driving training before they can get a license) drive much much safer in France than they do in the US. OK, I also miss the way there are chateaus on every hill and  how the roads are not clogged with lots and lots of strip malls and how each town is filled with ancient, red roofed buildings.  I miss hearing my kids babble in another language and encountering strange new facets of culture that I’ve never seen before, each week.  Frankly, I’m dreading August, no school, no camp and no friends – but, before I know it, all that stuff will start up again, another summer will fly by and I’ll be back here for good – missing these things with no way to go back to them.

So, here we are with the parents again.  Left, you can see my father in his natural habitat.  This, of course, is sitting in ‘his’ chair while reading ‘his’ paper.   Every day he reads the New York Times, the Washington Post and 2 local papers.  All my life I remember my dad reading papers, his car being simply filled with papers and the not so musical lilting of his voice as he so frequently yelled: “Where’s my paper!?” (substitute ‘book’ or ‘magazine’ for paper as appropriate)  I remember, as a kid, aiding my mom in the constant battle to keep ahead of the piles of newsprint.  There was an unfortunate period in the evolution of recycling when we had to tie up all the papers with twine in small, grabbable stacks, and separate slick paper from regular newsprint…. I have no idea how many hours I wrapped up papers, but I’m sure it pales in comparison to the efforts of my mother, who still fights the battle to this day.  Of course, I inherited my most prized possession, my own love of the printed word, most likely due to all the reading my father did.  I know that, no matter how bad things seem, I can always rely on books.  Thanks, Dad!

Of course, we did all the fun things Duckhaven has to offer, such as playing in the clubhouse, reading with Grammie and Grandpa, building with Lego’s, canoeing and sea-biking on the pond and lots and lots of snuggling.  See pictures below!

 

On Monday (or was it Tuesday??) we had our super fun day out.  We went down to the beach and swam around in the Pacific.  Despite the overcast, slightly rainy day,it was incredibly, massively crowded, the kind of crowd where your blanket is only a foot away from the blankets around you – but that’s part of what makes the beach so great.  Lakes can be too full, but the ocean is a vast and endless playground, and the sand just never runs out!  Zander has always loved the ocean and spent at least half an hour just crouching at the edge of the sand and letting the waves crash over him, laughing madly.  (I think he may have a slight masochistic streak).  Callie was nervous at first but then warmed up and had an amazingly fun time riding the waves with me and Daddie.  Griffin mostly hung on the beach with Grammie, who wasn’t going to get wet, but, in typical Grammie fashion, ended up encouraging Griffin to the edge of the water and then having to grab him when a big wave came and almost knocked him down! Our hero!

   

  We showered off and headed for the movies.  We went to see Up, which was fun and excellent, but, as per most of Pixar’s latest movies, partially went over my kids’ heads.  I mean, Zander didn’t even know that the wife was dead!  OK, maybe that’s a good thing, but still….  We ended the night with a Chinese buffet.  It was super delicious!  Thanks Mom and Dad for such a fun day.

The next day we did ‘special time’ for all the kids with Grammie and Grandpa and even I got to go out to lunch with my own mom!  I miss her so much.  We spent lots of time packing up our belongings and ended up buying 2 more new suitcases.   I don’t know how we are going to make it home with all this stuff! All the kids have been particularly well-behaved throughout this adventure, I’ve even gotten several compliments on their behavior, particularly Zander’s.  He has really matured in the past year and we are so proud of him.  I think I realized I hadn’t gotten a good shot of him with Grammie so I wanted one – but it was tough – you can see how he was feeling about leaving his best bud.  He perked up a bit for a shot but everyone was a bit out of sorts on this last day together.  Here are a couple of videos to send you off – one of Grammie and Griffin playing tinker toys and one of Grammie and Callie, talking about wrinkles. 

And that’s the sunset to our adventure this time…. This photo was taken off their dock. Our next blog will finally be back in the land of blundering misadventure.  What can I say about my family but that I love you to infinity and more – and you are what I miss the most when I am gone….  maybe a visit this year??? (OK, I know it’s not going to happen, but I would be wrong not to express my desire anyway!)

 

11. Philadelphia – the final chapter

So we head, again, back to the land we adore, the city of brotherly (and sisterly) love…..

PHILADELPHIA!

It’s Andre’s first chance to be in our home town and he will spend his first day here watching over the health and safety of 7 children.

That’s right, I’m taking off again!  Every year for about 4 or 5 years my good friend Heather and I have had a Mom’s Day Out.  Of course, we planned on doing it for this trip and I’d been looking forward to it for months (or possibly ever since the last time was over).  We had an amazing day together.  We left around 10am and started out with pedicures (the 3rd time I’ve ever had one, thanks) and then headed over to Village Thrift. I am a dedicated thrifter and one of the things I miss the most about Philadelphia is all the amazing deals I can get.  We ate lunch and then started thrifting. (Yes, in my world, ‘thrift’ is a verb)  We actually ended up spending 5 hours in the store.  That’s right, 5 wonderful hours, wandering through the aisles, trying on clothes, chatting, gossiping… oh, and that would be with no children at our knees and no sense that we had to rush to get back to…. well, anything!  It was heaven!  Plus, I only spent about $20.00! Mindful of the space constraints, I ended up with only a groundhog beanie baby (I was born on groundhog day, plus they are Andre’s favorite animal), a pair of jeans and 2 tops, a book, four water guns and the game Twister (I know, you are thinking, Twister?? But, hey, according to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twister_(game) this game is nothing less than ‘sex in a box’.  Also, It was 85 cents, and brand new – I couldn’t resist!)

We had dinner and then went to a movie too (soooooo decadent) – we saw My Sister’s Keeper, which, as a parent, was terrifying (what if my kid gets cancer?) and depressing (I must have cried about 10 times) but a very good film nonetheless. I didn’t get home until after 10pm and all the kids were already asleep – what bliss!  It’s days like that that keep me going. Can’t wait until next year.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, Andre’ and the kids spent the morning together doing essential chores like  ordering Zander’s birthday cake at Acme and purchasing Moose Tracks ice cream.  In the afternoon into the early evening they  went over to Heather’s house where Heather’s mom and Andre’ kept 7 kids occupied all afternoon – even though it was pouring rain all day long and NO outside play was possible!  Andre’ says he used the divide and conquer strategy to help them all get along, and it worked pretty well.  Zander had a great time building with Jackson’s Kinex and playing with Colin as well.  Take a look at the car he built in the video below.  Around 5 or so, Jeremy came home from work and helped out as well to get dinner together.  Then my crew headed over to Shana’s for bedtime.  Whew!

  

The next day we hung out with Shana, Greg, Ayla, Baz and Isa in the morning.  I love the video above of Griffin dancing with Ayla and Isa – obviously they prescribe to the ‘twirl around’ school of dance, whereas my son is more of a breakdancer type – Isa starts to get into his groove by the end though.  Then we headed over to almost the last item on our ‘have to do when we visit home’ list – Chuck E. Cheese – where, as the commercials claim, a kid can be a kid:  http://www.chuckecheese.com/ (and a parent can relax in air conditioning)  While there we met up  with Callie’s dear friend and most faithful pen pal, Cloe, and her mom Hana, plus her younger brother, Sam.  It was great to eat overpriced, greasy pizza and watch the kids have fun on lots of little games together.  Cloe took Callie home with her for a fun-filled afternoon of hanging out together while the rest of us hit a local thrift store for new hats and a few pieces of luggage to replace some stuff that was literally breaking to pieces after our sustained travels. On the way home from this I stopped off to say hello at The Big Backyard. This is the cooperative pre-school I have known and loved for about the past four years and I would say a MAJOR part of my existence for the 3 before I came to France.  In fact, I was the president for the 2007-2008 school year.  It was fun to see old familiar faces, especially Judith, the director, but it was also a bit strange for me. I guess, on a lot of levels, I thought of BBY as my home, and, returning, I realize I just plain don’t belong there any longer.  Oh strange inquietude…

In the early afternoon we headed over to one of only 3 circus schools in the entire country – the Philadelphia School for Circus Arts http://www.phillycircus.com/.  Located only a few minutes away from our home in Philly – it is a wonderful place to promote circus.  Also, it just happens to be owned by my amazing friend, Shana, (the one, left, way up in the silks) who we are staying with the next few days.  Go Shana!  We got to hang out there and spent a long time playing around in the school, mostly with the silks.  Griffin loved it, as you can see, but Zander was the most fascinated – I think circus class may be in his future when we come back home.  Of course, the silks are perfect for peek-a-boo as you can see with Isa, below left. The Kennedy Clan is just another amazing set of people to be around.  They have 3 little ones, just like us, and adore traveling. Shana and Greg were both trained in European circus schools.  Greg, Shana’s spouse, is a world famous juggler – see his website at http://www.innovativejuggler.com/ (and take the time to watch a video – you won’t regret it).  He was accepted as a major act in the next version of Cirque du Soleil – giant happy dance!  This means that, around the time we are returning to ‘normal’ US life, my good friends will be leaving to be a traveling circus family for 3-5 years. You thought we were adventurous? I’ve got nothing on these folks! We will miss them but can’t wait to hear all about their adventures abroad. We hung out that evening with the Kennedy’s while Daddie went to meet up with his AgilePhilly compatriots. Due to some miscommunications, he ended up spending about an hour and a half waiting outside a restaurant and eventually coming home only to find out his friends were at a table inside – how disappointing for all involved!  I felt especially sad, since I have been having so many wonderful opportunities to hang out with my friends this vacation. Poor Andre’ only had a solo trapeze act….

The next morning Andre’ and Shana ran in the local 5K called Run for the Hill of It along the Wissahickon.  I took a yoga class at my old gym, FitLife, and the kids hung with a babysitter.  We then had lunch at Pete’s  Pizza – cheesesteaks and Italian stromboli (both on our ‘must eat this while at home’ list) and then headed back to Gowen Circle for our final chance to hang with friends.  This was our way of reconnecting one last time with anyone that we didn’t get a chance to see up until that point, and to reconnect with many we had seen as well.  It started at 2:30 but we had no guests at all arrive for the first hour or so.   This was a major bummer to Zander, as you can see, since this was also sort of supposed to be his birthday party. We had told him it wouldn’t really be like a normal party – but he was hoping anyway!  Then the first person who showed up was my great old  college fencing teammate (they just keep on popping up, don’t they?), Jill!  I was so happy to see her – she has been fencing again and has lost tons of weight and just in general seems happy and great.  I was also glad to finally meet the kids of her significant other, Josh.  Soon afterwards, everyone started showing up.  I was especially happy to see Eric, one of Zander’s good friends from the Big Backyard and then, also, at Jenks.  I think he literally grew a foot since last summer!  Also there were: Heather’s family, Shana’s family, Catherine’s family, Cloe’s family, Phoebe’s family, Rodi’s family, Sienna’s mom Sara, and Julie’s family (I think I got everyone – there were lots of folks!)   I tried to get them to play a French game with us but it was hard getting everyone organized – I was lucky to even get them to be sort of still long enough for this photo, but here they are, on the hill next to our house.  Left to right we have: Pheobe, Alexa, Kara (standing), Callie, Noemie, Cloe, Eric, Jackson, Colin, Zander, Isa, Ayla, Baz, Peter, Joanna, Rachel and Griffin!  (Missing but at the party were Tyler, Eleanor, and Miriam)

Then we cleaned up and and headed over to the Trolley Car Diner for one last dinner – 3 or 4 families came with us and we walked.  It is funny how much the walk itself was valuable.  I really miss our little block!  So many of our neighbors had beautiful flowers and plants and it was great fun just to observe the kids holding hands, talking and bonding as they walked along the lane.  And, of course, then there was ‘the wall’.  This wall saved my life 2 summers ago when we had no car and I was walking everywhere.  The only way we made it up that final hill was the promise of a walk along the wall that runs at the edge of the New Covenant Campus.  Here are some shots of the kids walking along it.

               

     My only regret over this gathering was that I truly didn’t have enough time to chat with all the friends who came. I wish I could have spent hours and hours with you all.  Until next year, friends!

10. The House of Friends

After New Jersey we drove down to Maryland where my old college fencing teammate and long time best of friends, Deb, lives with her family.  In fact, my children refer to her, not as Deb, but as FriendDeb.  Her husband, Dave, is of course, FriendDave and they just recently had a baby that we call AlliPat (or FriendAlli).  She is absolutely amazingly adorable.  I knew this beforehand since I follow her website but of course we were so excited to finally meet her in person.  Deb took time off work just to be with us (sniff) and it was great to come to her house and see how cozy it has become. We felt especially welcomed to find so many pictures of us throughout the years hung up on their walls.

We went to a local lake the first day.  I have very fond memories of swimming around Lake Riconda with my old friend Julie Holmes as a kid.  There were so many fish, they used to nibble on our toes!  Of course, also, there was Shepherd’s Lake in Ringwood State Park, where my sisters were lifeguards and I worked in the summer as well.  Of course, I can’t remember the name of this lake, but it was fun to give the kids a chance to do some lake swimming – in the past we’ve only done either pools, rivers or oceans.   Except for Lake Powell, of course, which is just a whole ‘nother world entirely!

  

We had fun in the water.  AlliPat is already taking swimming lessons with Mom and loves the water. She and Callie had a great time playing together.  Then, of course, it was play in the sand time.  I can tell Dave is destined for greatness in the oh so important beach parenting arena by the way he was building sand shapes, including a stadium, a dog and, my personal favorite, a model of Stonehenge.  He did this in varying scales.  AlliPat – you are in for some fun beach times in the future, for sure. Meanwhile, Zander and Daddie did a castle together and Daddie also buried Griffin and Callie in the sand.  It’s all part of the onerous duty of being a father, folks.  I got to just go for a nice swim and sit around and admire my old friend doing the mom thing.  It is always great to talk with Deb and wonderful to see how happy her little arrival has made all three of them. (Even the pets, Shaggy, Cokey and Ned seem to be taking well to the new arrival!)

   

We headed home for dinner and the next day Andre’ took Zander, Callie and Griffin off to Washington DC for a short visit.  They had a great time together visiting the Air and Space Museum.   I was grateful, after 23 straight days with almost no rest, to have a day of peace, especially one with the Tross family.  I joined them on their dog walk, went out for a great lunch (ribs – yum) followed by ice cream (Ben and Jerry’s mint chocolate chunk – double yum) with just Deb.  I am so proud of her for being willing to leave AlliPat. I know this sounds awful – but I think having dates, going out, doing things without your baby sometimes is the key to parental sanity.  At least, it sure is for me.  I was having such a good time being my natural self, I didn’t even take one picture!   But Andre’ did a few in DC, for your viewing pleasure.

          

I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter books.  In fact, I read all of them out loud with Andre.  I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to get into these books – I do have one friend that is already reading them to her 4 and 6 year old, but I think I’m going to wait until Griffin is at least 6…    So, I love Harry -  but, at $9 or more per ticket, I’m too cheap for the movies!  So, I’d only seen the first two.  Deb and Dave have quite the enviable Hollywood collection. (I’ll admit here I have a very lazy fantasy, in which I come back one year, when THEY are on vacation, and my kids are somewhere else too and just sit with Andre’, watching movies and eating bon bons for like, a week).  In the afternoon, whilst Andre’ was still gone, I did watch the third Harry Potter, and Deb and Dave kindly let me borrow 4 and 5 so I would be ready to see 6 – now in theatres.   Of course, I didn’t watch them until we got back to France.  I was too busy (just like the rest of my visit with Deb and Dave) to do much but talk when I was still in the US.  I did find out that the movie here is only in French (no subtitles) so I think I will be waiting for the DVD for this one too.  I’m sure Deb and Dave will purchase it and then I can visit, see AlliPat grown a bunch bigger, and watch!

I would be totally remiss not to mention a few more things.  One is the pool table, Zander and Callie made their first attempts at pool while we were there (utterly cheating, of course) – and AlliPat found it absolutely hysterical.  I love that age, when they see something new and it just makes them laugh.  And, no matter what it is, no matter how foolish it makes you look, you do it, over and over, just to hear that giggle.  The second thing is the doggies.  We had a great time playing with our canine friends, Shaggy and Cokey.  Callie especially fell in love with Shaggy – who is a bit of a jumper so often scares kids.  Deb was glad he had a friend.   Last but not least, was Grandma Lou, FriendDave’s mom, who was there fr a visit as well.  It is always so nice to have a grandma around. Her and Griffin especially became good friends, as you can see by the giant hug.   I just  can’t believe things change so much and so fast.  Look at that cute little person in the bathtub – she like, came out, of FriendDeb!  Look at my kids – they are like, HUGE!  Life is so amazing, isn’t it?  Thanks guys – we love you!!!