Thursday, September 24, 2009

Eventful September

It feels like it has been a very eventful two weeks since my last post! Warning: this one is long.

The weekend of September 12-13 we stayed close to home and did chores. We managed to get out for a hike in the Middlesex Fells on Sunday. The Fells is a 2,500 acre "park" that is very close to our house. It was a favorite mountain biking destination for me when I lived in Boston in the 90s. Massachusetts has a lot of exposed bedrock from the last ice age, as well as very large boulders strewn about that were broken off of the bedrock and transported by the glaciers. For example, our neighbors have a van-sized boulder in their yard. The Fells is full of interesting rock features in second-growth forest.

We took a short hike to an observation point called Wright's Tower. From the top one has a very clear view of Boston and the "north shore" (where we live) as well as the near western suburbs like Arlington, Bedford and Newton. One thing we keep forgetting, however, is insect repellent. We got a little chewed up. Not really something to mess around with since both West Nile and EEE are known to infect mosquitoes here (a few human cases of West Nile; no human cases so far of EEE). Not to mention that all ticks here are assumed to carry Lyme Disease. We're learning to be more careful.

After the hike we visited Melrose's annual Main Street event: the Victorian Fair. It wasn't too exciting but it did have treats and Carol and I got our seasonal flu vaccinations in the middle of the street while the girls watched (we were trying to model for them, since Audrey completely freaks out about shots). There was also a big inflatable slide and a "spinny ride" for the girls. Charlotte was unexpectedly fearless both climbing the slide and sliding right down with no prompting. Audrey loved it and caught some big air.


The next day my parents arrived for a visit. The girls were sooo glad to see them! When I got home from work the first day Charlotte was glued to Grandma's lap facing her and just gazing at Grandma in between hugging her. She had already been doing that for a long time by the time I got home. Audrey was climbing on the sofa around Grandpa and every once in a while collapsing onto his chest and giving him a big hug. It was very sweet.

We've been having some trouble with Ruby, our Vanagon and we didn't think she was drivable. More about that later. But my parents had a bad rental car experience at the airport when they arrived, which they reported to the manager. They ended up with a minivan as compensation, which was not what they had reserved but that was wonderful to have so we could all go places in one vehicle.

I took Thursday and Friday off from work. While Audrey was at school on Thursday the rest of us drove up to Ipswich to visit Crane Beach, which Carol and I had heard a lot about. It's part of the former Crane Estate (of Crane plumbing fixtures founder). We didn't end up going to the beach ($7 just to park and look at it, and it wasn't a very warm day) but we did visit the estate itself, known as Castle Hill. A very grand house with interesting grounds. The women and Charlotte toured it while my dad and I went exploring in the car.

Right near Crane Beach my dad and I discovered Russell Orchards. Apple season is upon us and I had been planning to take the girls. So we filed that away - stay tuned.

We headed back to Melrose in time to welcome Audrey as she was released from school. She was very happy to see us all there when she emerged.

Thursday night we had a delicious dinner at Turner's, an excellent seafood restaurant (and seafood market) on Main St. in Melrose. Then, treat of treats, my parents took both girls back to their hotel with them and Carol and I had a date night. What did we do? We watched Mad Men on DVD. We're watching it from the beginning (currently starting Season 2).

Friday we arranged for Audrey to skip school and we all headed to Maine. I had a bunch of stuff planned to fill our day but we managed to do that with only a few of my planned stops. We first went to Kennebunkport, the summer home of the Bush's but also a scenic seaport village. We wandered the streets for a while and then had a seafood lunch. Of course we had to drive along the shore and see the Bush place. Yup, looks just like on the teevee.

From Kennebunkport we went up the coast a short distance to Fortune Rocks and Biddeford Pool and the long beach that is between them. My parents are interested in sharing a beach house for a week next summer and our neighbors had mentioned this area as being nice. They were right - it's a beautiful long beach. The sun came out while we were there and the girls had a blast running around in the sand.

From the beach we headed even further up the coast to Portland to visit one of the L.L. Bean outlets. We thought we might find some bargains there on winter outerwear. In fact, we did find winter jackets for both girls at great prices. Alas, nothing for Carol and me. By then everybody was getting a little tired so we got on the freeway and headed back home.

Friday night my parents took the girls to their hotel again! They're gluttons for punishment I guess. This time Carol and I had a real date. We went to a local Italian restaurant to celebrate Carol's birthday together. It was wonderful to wake up to a totally quiet house! Saturday morning I actually slept until 8:30. The life of luxury.

Saturday afternoon I took my parents to the cruise ship terminal where they boarded the Maasdam for a cruise up the Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia coasts and then up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Montreal. We haven't heard from them since, but they arrive in Montreal on Saturday. We hope they didn't overdo it taking care of the girls and spend the cruise exhausted and sick (both girls have colds this week)!

I had intentions of making a cake for Carol's birthday but it wasn't happening so Carol took matters into her own hands and bought a German chocolate cake (her favorite). Charlotte and Audrey and I sang Happy Birthday to her after dinner. Then we headed to our next door neighbors' back yard for outdoor movie night. This is the second year they have done it. About 40 people spread out in the yard in beach chairs and watched Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. It was a very festive scene and we all had a great time. We even remembered to wear bug repellent!

Audrey had a preschool classmate in Seattle named Sascha, and Carol had befriended Sascha's mother Deb. They also moved to Boston this summer but we hadn't gotten together yet. Sunday we planned to go apple picking back at Russell Orchards in Ipswich and we invited them to join us. Sascha and her sister Anya plus Deb and her boyfriend Don met us at the orchard Sunday morning.


The orchard had about 10 varieties of apples available to pick. Most are cultivated like grape vines - only about 6' tall and organized in lines that make picking very easy. For some reason the McIntoshes are not cultivated this way but are large traditional trees (although kept short and broad). We picked a peck of Macouns for pies and topped off our bag with a few Jonagolds for eating. The orchard web site says not to eat apples before you pay for them, but every single person there was munching on apples while picking.

The orchard also has a small playground and a bunch of farm animals for kids to look at and feed. The adults found a place on the grass and the kids played and explored for a long time. It was perfect weather and we all had a delightful time.

Hang in there... I'm almost at the end of my list of topics to cover. I warned you it had been an eventful two weeks!

On the previous Friday Carol got a call from the school district. A spot had opened for Audrey at Roosevelt School two blocks from our house. Carol and I instantly wanted to take it, but we let it sink in with Audrey over the weekend. We had to answer on Monday. At first Audrey was resistant, but a major selling point is that she'd get to walk to school with the neighbor kids she's in love with. By Monday she was positive about it. We said yes and the arranged for her to switch to the new school on Wednesday. I blocked out my calender at work that morning and the whole family walked Audrey to her new school. She was a little nervous waiting to go in, but her new teacher, Mrs. Hyatt, was wonderful and welcomed Audrey very warmly. Today was Audrey's second day but she's completely settled in already and happy. It will simplify Carol's life a lot not to have to drive Audrey to and from school every day. And Audrey will get to know more kids from our neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Charlotte is liking her preschool class. She goes Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On the calendar in her classroom there are pictures of school on those days and pictures of a house on the other days. So Charlotte likes to tell us that she has "school days" and "home days". She's enjoying her home days very much as well. Today she helped Carol make blueberry muffins.

We haven't been driving Ruby very much since we got here. The farthest we've taken her is to Ikea about 40 miles away. We haven't been able to squeeze in any camping, partly because everything is booked here way in advance and we could never find a campground.

A few weeks ago I moved Ruby to make room for the garage sale and when I moved her back the engine was making a loud knocking sound. I wasn't quite sure how that could have happened during two minutes of running. A few days later I had some time to try to diagnose it and noticed the exhaust looked a lot more opaque than usual. Putting my hand near the pipe it got wet. Steam in the exhaust - not good. We knew when we bought her that Ruby would need a new engine at some point, maybe relatively soon. She has 175,000 miles on the original engine and they usually don't even last that long so we had factored that into the total investment we were making.

I talked to our mechanic (I found a good one - both he and his brother drive Westy's) and he suggested I let him take a look before we do anything drastic like order a $5,000 rebuilt engine. We had it towed there this week and he checked it out. His conclusion: a loud valve lifter. Solution: thicker oil. Sure enough, she's quiet again. And he says the steam in the exhaust is normal condensation and goes away after warm up. Phew! Like I said we know we'll have to bite that bullet at some point but it's always nice to hear you don't have to spend a bunch of money. So now we have a van we can drive again! Cost: $70. And a little embarrassment that I overreacted. But in my defense, the knocking was pretty loud and sounded bad.

Good thing, because we have another grandparent visit coming up. Carol's parents will be here for the second half of October.

Congratulations, you made it to the end! Goodnight, all.

Friday, September 11, 2009

On Aging

The other day we were in the car and were talking about something that happens when you get older. We can't remember what the actual topic was. Charlotte piped in:

"I don't want any of us to get older!"

Audrey responded, "But Mommy's already really old!"

School!


Audrey and Charlotte just finished their first full week of school!

Audrey loves Kindergarten at Herbert Hoover Elementary School. She's starting the year with a substitute, Mrs. LeCount, and assistant teacher Mrs. Wood. The regular teacher, Mrs. Pietropaulo, is on bed rest awaiting the birth of her first child. She should be back around Thanksgiving.

Of course that doesn't matter at all to Audrey. What matters to her is playing with new friends. Her favorite is a boy named Aiden because he also is obsessed with Star Wars. Every day I ask Audrey what her favorite part of Kindergarten was that day. Her response has been consistent every day: "Recess!"

Charlotte is in a "three's" class Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 9-12 at the Franklin Early Childhood Education Center, part of the Melrose Public Schools. She loves her teacher Mrs. Cataldo and her assistant Sean. Charlotte's favorite part of school so far is art.

It was a short Labor Day week, but Carol enjoyed her first two mornings off. She's looking forward to some time that she can do with what she wants.

We had a very social Labor Day weekend. On Saturday we held a garage sale. We ran out of energy in Seattle so we just had the movers pack everything and we sorted out garage sale stuff as we unpacked. We had plenty of traffic. We didn't make a lot of money, but we got rid of a lot of stuff which was the goal. As we always do, the girls picked out toys to sell and after the garage sale we took them to Toys R Us to pick out new toys with their money. Audrey of course chose Star Wars Lego. Charlotte chose a Lego puppy and dog house, plus a purple "My Little Pony". Carol and I have put the wings back on Audrey's spaceship at least 300 times, I think.

On Sunday we saw some friends of mine from when I lived in Boston in the 90s: Connie and her husband Mark, and Marielle and David and their two sons Alex (10?) and Nicholas (7?). We all met at the Stone Zoo about a mile from our house (the smaller of two Boston zoos) to see a live bird performance called "Lord of the Wings". It was a great 30-minute program that featured about 8 large birds: an eagle, a hawk, a macaw, a parrot, a vulture, a very large owl and a few I've forgotten. The birds flew literally inches above the audience's heads. It was impressive.

After that we all came back to our house and had a casual spaghetti dinner. The kids played very well together while the adults ate, drank and talked. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening.

Then on Monday we went to the home of Isabelle and Christophe. Carol met them through mutual friends in Seattle because they were also transferring to Boston this summer. Carol had hooked up with Isabelle and their two kids Antoine (6) and Fannie (same age as Charlotte) a few weeks ago to go to the beach. They invited us over for brunch, which was delicious. Again, the kids played very well together while the adults swapped observations on the quirks of Boston drivers and culture.

My school started again a few weeks ago. That decision back in May to take summer semester off was a very good one! I only have one class this semester and it is the last in my program: in December I'll earn my Masters Degree in Engineering, Bioinformatics specialty, from the University of Illinois. The class this semester is Engineering Law. It only takes a couple of hours a week (so far) so much easier than last school year.

My work is hectic and a little stressful but also very rewarding. I'm very busy when I'm at work but I work normal hours and don't bring the stress home with me. I vent it all on Boston drivers during my bike commute home! In October I'll deliver the biggest and most important of the projects I manage. It'll be on time and contain more features than required even though it was fast track, started with no team and unclear requirements, and featured a 3,000-mile move of the team in mid-project. I'm feeling rather proud of myself in case you can't tell.

On Monday my parents will arrive and stay the week before embarking on a cruise to Canada. We're really looking forward to their visit and to the girls getting to see them. Then in October Carol's parents will visit during the autumn leaf season. So the girls will get to see all of their grandparents. Wonderful! Carol and I might even sneak in a couple of date nights. We've also purchased our tickets to visit all of the grandparents in their Tucson and Palm Desert winter homes in February. It will be wonderful to escape in the middle of the Boston winter.

In between the grandparents' visits I think I'll try to accomplish the light kitchen remodel we're planning. We're going to change the door to the deck from a double door (only one side opens) to a single door to gain more space for cabinets; then we're going to replace the cabinets while swapping the locations of the range and refrigerator to make the kitchen work better. I'll do most of the work myself but we have names of two highly recommended carpenters if I need help.

I think that's about it for now. Time to go relax with my wife.