Kids' rooms

Way, way overdue.

Here's Terry edging Alex's room.

And the finished product ...

 

... seen here with what will be the bunk bed's top bunk but for now is set up for pre-furniture-arrival naps [edited to add: the room is now complete with its adorable wood and white furniture and sweet pink floral bedding, courtesy of an off-to-college cousin].

Zoltan's room got similar treatment

He also, however, has received most of the furniture that will fit in his room. Yes, that's TWO pieces. Hey, at least he has a closet - better than he had in Russia!

Back in civilization

One more wonderful week at the cabin. Should mention though, we had never before spent time there during actual summer. It was HOT and of course there's no a/c in a cabin. Thanks goodness for the beach club, where we spent a lot of time in the water to cool off. Thanks goodness too for decent sunblock because although Zoltan now looks like a total surfer dude with his sunstreaked hair and a bit of sunburn across the bridge of his nose, nobody got any real burn.

We got to snack on red and black raspberries and blackberries from the property! Of course, there were single digit numbers of each of them, but they exist and that's what matters. We also got a few photos of a really funky looking bug. We checked out the Lands at Hillside Farms and ate ice cream from the cows we petted. We got lunch at Grottos for their a/c one particularly miserable day and ate lots of frosty treats. The kids played and fought, laughed and cried, and begged me every day to watch shows. Alex tried and decided she liked couscous, and Zoltan continued his love affair with green veggies (yay!)

As much as I love exotic adventures and cultural excursions, there really is nothing like a week at the CABIN.

Wordless Wednesday

Because that couldn't be the end of the story

I approached tonight's dinner a bit hesitantly. I made sure everyone was awake and on the potty and all essentials were in my bag before turning the burner on low to melt the butter and begin the risotto. Sigh. A few minutes into the warming, the burner starts smoking. Of course I turn it off and call the hotel, which sends up an engineer. She and I seem to have a major miscommunication as she's all focused on the disconnected burner from yesterday's debacle and ignores the more recently smoking burner. At one point when she's testing things and something starts to smoke gently, Zoltan proactively puts his hands over his ears. Poor guy.

In the end, she cleans the burners and it's all fine but too late to make risotto as that takes an hour. So, tonight's adventure was the Afghan Kabob house where we tried to entice the kids to eat by repeating over and over that "it's just like shashlik."  Worked on Zoltan, the budding carnivore. Alex ate bread and rice.

Wordless Wednesday

An exciting day

Following the amazing list of recommendations of things to do with the kids while in NoVA, today we took advantage of the cloud cover and headed to Clemyjantri Park in McLean. It was everything everyone promised it would be and more, we will definitely be back.

As a testament of the morning, the kids took lovely 3 hour naps. After Alex woke, I decided to start on dinner, so I got the pan warming on setting 5-6 as I took out the chicken and other ingredients. When it seemed warm enough I poured some olive oil into the pan. It started smoking immediately, which was unusual, and then ...

the pan caught on fire.

Cue up Zoltan being awakened by the sound of the fire alarm and handling it much better than I would have predicted; my attempt to contain the fire by turning the pan over on the stove (which did contain it but I guess I peeked too soon as it flared back up when I lifted it to check); and the front desk reacting not quite as fast as I would have thought, although it certainly may have been no more than 1-2 minutes. Oh yeah and I had a horribly delayed out-in-the-heat headache.

So I guess we're going out to eat tonight.

* Edited to add: We did go out for dinner, and serendipitously wandered into the Nepalese Momo Restaurant in the strip mall across the street from the hotel. Today was its very first day of business! Their official opening is Friday and we may very well be be back it.

UAB delivery, sort of

A mere 7 weeks after packing out, we received our UAB. Oh, wait, no we didn't as 2 of 5 boxes were missing. I know some posts in remote parts of the world this is a normal turnaround. For where we're coming from, 2-3 weeks is the norm. When the deliveryman showed up at 11:30am we discovered the problem. He kept suggesting that maybe the 5 boxes were consolidated into 3. I kept saying this isn't 700lb. Yes, apparently I DO know what 700lb of stuff looks like. By 5pm the moving company insisted the missing boxes were in the warehouse but nobody had physically verified this yet.

More to come (hopefully, soon!!)...

Sometimes she's a very good big sister

During a suspense-filled moment in the Land Before Time movie the kids were watching, Zoltan got a little nervous. So he asked Alex to hold him, and she did.

We slept in our own house!

... on an air mattress in the living room, for Terry and me, but the kids got to spend the night in their very own rooms with their very own furniture thanks to our elder siblings, who just happened to each have a set of furniture to hand down to us. If we blindfold people and bring them to the kids' rooms they will think the house was inhabitable, just sparsely decorated.

Another red-letter experience is we planted a few pretty flowers in the flower beds we so recently denuded. Zoltan was all excited in the store to pick out his own plant, but lost interest when it came time to put it into the ground. Alex, however, was a great helper and seemed to enjoy the experience.

The Kutztown Folk Festival

For all our time in PA, and for all of Terry's Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage (1/16 maybe?) we've done very little "Dutchy" stuff. This year, both in an effort to find entertainments for us and the kids and for me to see what it's all about, we decided to spend our 4th of July at the Kutztown Folk Festival.

I am thrilled to report the weather didn't top 90 until around lunchtime, so we got a lot seen/done in the morning before we started to overheat and suffocate.

First stop: funnel cake. As a Massachusetts native, I will go to my grave preferring fried dough, but funnel cake is part of the kids' heritage that they have not yet experienced so that was treat #1, accomplished within 15 minutes of walking through the gate.

We wandered around the booths selling stuff, and the booths explaining and showing stuff. Did you know there are absolutely no feral honey bees left anywhere in the world except for New Zealand and one other island nation? (I also want to note at this time Blogger's spell check does not seem to know about the really awesome country next to Australia). Here's the kids watching a potter making a bowl.

Later the the day the kids got to make beeswax candles ... well Alex made a candle, Zoltan flicked his hot-wax-dripping wick everywhere and got it confiscated so mommy got to make a candle. Oh, joy.

The kids' area was set up with several types of bouncy castles and a super cool "train" which must be seen rather than described. So here it is, with happy kids bouncing around. Terry's trying to convince his dad to make something like it for rides up at the cabin. Not likely to happen.

There's also the petting zoo. Zoltan had no interest in petting anything other than the bunny rabbits, while Alex visited everyone. She also had a great time feeding the goats.

We finished the day checking out the old time tractors. This one is pretty clearly the prototype for the star of a favorite book series, Tractor Mac, so the kids happily posed in front of it.

Hershey Park

The kids are still a bit young for amusement parks and quite frankly the prices nearly cause heart failure. But, when Terry's sis hands over 4 comped tickets to Hershey Park, only good until July 4, we started plotting a time to go. That was a day last week (Terry forgot to edit the photos off the little camera, so this post has been waiting). Yes, I know the temps were in the 90s.

The night before our trip we were out a bit late, so we got a later start than planned. We pulled into the parking lot around 11:30am and had a brief conversation on the strategy of the day. I made a comment about leaving around 7-8pm and Terry said "We won't still be here at 8pm".

We had planned to head straight for the water rides, but they are at the complete far end of the park so we decided to stop for a few rides for the kids along the way. First, though, we got them officially sized. Alex is the little Reeses Cup and Zoltan barely didn't make it, so until probably some time next week he's still a little Kiss.

 Then we needed to have lunch. I'll give Hershey credit, the kids' meals were: mac n cheese, applesauce, carrot sticks, and milk; and chicken strips (real chicken under there!), applesauce, carrot sticks, and juice. It's pretty much what we would have fed them at home.

In the end, by the time we got to the water rides they had all just closed about 45 seconds previously because of predicted thunderstorms. It was also around 3pm. I was fuming, both figuratively and literally. The "aggressive thrill" version of the log flume was inexplicably still running, and there is a "splash zone". We ran over there, grabbed spots by the gate, and got soaked. That was all it took for sweetness and light to return to my demeanor. We went back to check out other rides while waiting for the storm to come.

Alex is the thrill seeker we thought she would be, but doesn't like spinny rides. Zoltan went on this miniature train ride about 10 times, and also demanded to stay and watch it carry other passengers another 3-4 times. We were often split into 2 teams, with Terry taking Alex on rides that were too scary for Zoltan and he and I found other entertainments.

The storm came and the rain probably would have felt good but the kids were on a ride under a roof and we were watching them, also under a roof. The water park did indeed eventually open, and we hung out in the tidal pool until we needed to get moving if we were ever going to get home.

Alex's highlight was the most roller-coaster-y ride we found to put her on. Zoltan's fave was the monorail. My favorite: there was no fighting and very little whining even though the kids were already overtired, missed their naps, waited in lines and walked through the entire park a couple of times in 90 degree heat.

The car is a "Hot Wheels" Corvette

Around 7:20pm we decided what the heck, let's do the Chocolate Experience and learned how chocolate is made. The mini Hershey bar at the end had nothing to do with this decision :-)  We then discussed whether either child had ever eaten a Hershey Kiss and we decided to get them a larger-than-life Kiss each as their departing treat. I am thrilled to report they now do several sizes of Kisses and not just the one the size of a  baby's head my dad's students used to routinely present him with.

We left the park at almost exactly 8:00pm.

First Ever Shashlik at Harveys Lake

Turns out the kids are total waterbugs and love the beach club. So I guess all that money all those years we never went are totally worth it ;-)

In addition to, you know, beach, the beach club has other useful features: a clubhouse you can rent out for parties, bathrooms, picnic tables and permanent grills and a playground. The grills gave us an idea - pull out the portable shashlik grill we'd gotten in Russia and cook our lunch waterside. It was the inaugural lakeside shashlik but I hope/think it won't be the last.

Hard at work

Working off the lunch

Wordless Wednesday

We love the cabin

I may have said something like this once or twice before. We finally got enough time at the cabin without having to do lots of work that it was relatively relaxed and we got to do the things we love best - wander through our woods ("take a walk up the hill") and get to the beach club at every warm and rain-free enough moment.

The field

Did I mention we have black raspberries? Only enough for each family member to eat about 7-8 berries, but with time and patience and some cuttings, we may eventually make enough for jam.

The kids are waterbugs, now we just need to get them lessons so I am comfortable they know how to swim. Apparently, swim lessons are not the universal means of learning to swim, as evidenced by Terry's very confused expression when I told him I was upset we couldn't get the kids lessons this summer with our here-there-everywhere schedule.

Drying off, ready for lunch and blowing bubbles.

Child Labor

Our first night at the cabin, we had a lot of food prep to accomplish. So the kids pitched in, Alex stemmed grapes and Zoltan shucked peas. Well, he did shuck them but few landed in the bowl for cooking. Alex did a much better job.

Mugging for the camera

 "Taste testing"

Major Milestone Cabin Version

We bought NEW furniture for the cabin, home of cast-offs and thrift-store finds. OK it was only deck furniture because the half-rotted wooden table the place came with is now quite a bit more than half rotted, but it's still a major deal.

Behold. There's no umbrella because we are so thickly shaded with trees that sunlight rarely penetrates the deck.

Wordless Wednesday

A brief photographic recap

As our resident image perfectionist and I were separated for 27 days, all photos taken by me during that time couldn't be posted until he'd had a chance to take a swipe at them. So, here's a bit of what was missed (and bear with me, I recognize this is normally too many photos for one blog post):

Alex trying to sleep on the plane under a 2-blanket-cave

 Alex holding her favorite dog Ruby.









Memorial Day, including all-family silly string battle and cousin photo bomb

 

Our new house: Alex playing in the mulch pile that used to be an enormous tree; and roses.




Reading with Uncle Howie (with "cousin" Anjali listening too); and reading with Bubby

Philadelphia, Part II

The next morning we woke and quickly headed out. First stop, Liberty Bell. There's a new exhibit in front of the building, all about the original President's House and the slaves who lived there. It's really well done and we did have to tear Alex away from the videos of reenactments of the slaves' stories. Zoltan practically raced through the building asking where the bell was and was thoroughly unimpressed when he finally saw it, but he did allow a photo op. Alex declined to participate.

 Snack time in the park was followed by a trip to the renovated-since-we-lived-here Franklin Square.

 It houses what is probably the only fountain you can't dip your feet into. The kids as usual loved the carousel ride.

 Then we hit the playground. I got a lovely nostalgic feeling for Russia when I saw the playground equipment all taped up but not fixed.

We considered the mini-golf through important Philly buildings, and instead opted to treat the kids to ice cream before lunch.

As we headed back to the playground, it started to rain. As we headed to the metro, it started to pour. We stopped in at the hotel to grab our rain gear and off to Lee How Fook for lunch. That DID hit the spot and we even found another menu item the kids would eat - score!

Last stop was getting some Dunkin Donut hot beverages at Suburban Station to warm us all up and being serenaded by a couple of violin-playing kids (OK, teens). Remembering this story about violinist Joshua Bell I made sure we acknowledged the performers and gave a tip. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the concert - hey, we did live in St Petersburg for 4 years!

Philadelphia, part I

Alex had a follow up appointment at CHOP, which I had deliberately scheduled for midafternoon, not knowing where we'd be coming from 6 weeks ago. I had figured the whole family would go and we'd spend some time in Philly, a place so meaningful to Terry and me but where Zoltan has never been - other than as a fetus, which doesn't count.

We ended up deciding to cash in some Marriott points and stay overnight to soak in more of the city, and got a fabulous room overlooking City Hall. I have to put in some props for Marriott, this is the 2nd time we've stayed in one recently and they have great customer service.

We also decided to increase the stress-free quotient of the trip and ditch the car at the nearest regional rail station and take the train into town. Bonus that the kids love trains and we ended up in a nearly empty first car where the kids could watch the man (engineer?) drive the train.

After dropping the bags at the hotel we hit Reading Terminal Market, where Terry satisfied his craving for DiNic's sandwiches and I got me some Sang Kee duck. A quick stop for fresh produce at the Iovine Brothers market for our fruit bat children, and we were set. Mmmm, Philly food, how we have missed you!

Alex and I had to head to CHOP for her follow up visit and the boys went down for naps. I have been meaning to snap some photos of the hospital, it really does look like what you'd expect a world class children's hospital to look like (i.e., very child friendly).

These interesting bell sculptures are right on the walk from the metro to the hospital and something else I've been meaning to photograph.

Before we got back to the hotel room the boys ran out for a bit to the LOVE statue and fountain (Zoltan's exuberant "I want to go to the fontanka!" was often heard these 36 or so hours).

The only less-than-perfect event of the day was when we ventured for Indian food that was metro-able (Malik's, alas, is not, but we have not forgotten you!). The place we intended to patronize turned out to be closed, so we went around the corner to another place we knew existed. All the vegetarian dishes were delicious, but the butter chicken was inedible, the tandoori chicken nothing special, and the goat curry tender but not very flavorful. When what you're really craving is butter chicken, a meal like this doesn't really ease the craving.

A pink room and a blue room

While the kids hang out at Camp Pop-pop and Nana, Terry and I are having our own boot camp - make the house liveable.

Our first day went much better than expected - we got to MD hours earlier than we thought/feared, so were able to go ahead and start on two of our main priorities: the front flower bed (pulling the dirt and mulch away from the foundation so termites don't come back, as well as to make room for what we want to plant; and paint the kids' rooms.

We got Alex's room trimmed out before realizing Zoltan's was a higher priority, and got the front flower bed torn apart pretty well, aka it looks awful. We tried to transplant some lilies and a little bush, plus hacked away all the big bushes. We'll have to wait and see if any of the transplants survived. We tried not to overdo it because we have days more work to do but I won't lie - I was sore the next day. At least it was sore, not useless.

Next day was the Pepco inspection of our electrician's work. Pepco, apparently, gives a range of time and refuses to narrow it. So we had to be at the house at 8:30am and we had to get to Lowes beforehand. 6:30am was our wakeup, 7am at Lowes, and we pulled up to the house at 8:29am. Pepco didn't come til after 11am, of course, but we were busy. A bit of time in the front yard, then off to paint bedrooms.

They both need more work, we'll see in the light (bought a lamp!) just how much.

Here's my issue: I really like how the blue turned out in Zoltan's room. I am not 100% sure about the pink in Alex's. In both cases, however, the paint in the room looks NOTHING like the paint on the chip or in the can. Curiously, The paint spattered on my body looks exactly like the paint on the chip and in the can. How does this happen?

Wordless Wednesday

UAB have not arrived but I am able to borrow someone's machine right now.  Expect sporadic postings for the near future.