Summer in the City

I apologize for the hiccup in blog posting this week.  I know the grandmas were searching for a second weekly post the last couple of days.  The truth is, I did in fact write a midweek post but I've been holding off on publishing it because it's all about our new apartment...and although we've signed a lease I don't want to jinx it until we have keys in hand.  We still don't have copies of the lease with the landlord's signature on it, so just in case...you'll have to wait.

Although it feels like it, we haven't spent the entire last two weeks JUST apartment hunting.  The kids have been in Spanish language summer camp for the last week, just until noon.  A couple of the afternoons we were able to sneak away for mini-adventures.  We had a play date with Holden's friend Jake and explored the duck pond in Central Park.  We saw no ducks, however, but lots of Box turtles.

We also had Maeve over one afternoon to take full advantage of our last month of having a pool in our apartment building.  The kids swam for 4.5 straight hours.  They slept well that night.

And we even had a rainy day on Thursday so the kids and I did our best impression of real New Yorkers by loitering too long in a cafe.

Ella is reading a guide book of Israel she found on the shelf.

Kevin and I even got a date night in.  We went to see some music in the hip neighborhood of Brooklyn, Williamsburg.  A little punk, a little folk.  Fun night checking out a new area and hearing some talented musicians.

I got some good cooking in this week.  We continue to get our farm box on Wednesdays and continue to love figuring out what we can do with the ingredients.  It's like Iron Chef every week with secret ingredients.  This week I hit a homerun (in so far as both kids ate every bite).  I told Ella it was a Martha Stewart recipe, to which she replied, "I thought so."  Seven years old.

It is poached eggs (using our farm fresh eggs) in tomato sauce.  For my and Kevin's portions I also sauteed up the Swiss chard from the box and put it on the toast before putting the poached eggs and sauce (like an eggs Florentine).  Even the ribbonned basil on top is from the box.  Highly recommend for an easy weeknight meal.

And this week alone, Kevin has had dinner with a friend from San Mateo, Brian, who was in town for business and I got to enjoy a girls night out with my friend Leslie (also from San Mateo) who is in town for her husband's work.

I'm telling you, if you ever have to move away from home but are worried about getting homesick, move to New York.  You'll never be alone.

Hudson River Valley

We went camping!!

Our family loves to camp - especially the kids.  They love sleeping in a tent with us, being able to run amok and get dirty, catching bugs, eating outside.  They love it all.

Luckily we made friends with another family who not only loves to camp too, but also has two tents and a second air mattress.  While we didn't put our camping gear in deep storage, we did leave it all in the garage at Kevin's parents' house in California.  We just don't have the storage space here in New York for our gear but knew we might one day.  Or at least we might want to do some camping in California during the summers.  So while I was home last month I mailed our sleeping bags out to NYC in anticipation of our camping trip this weekend.

We drove up the Hudson River Valley on Friday afternoon - gorgeous - all the way to Fahnestock State Park.

We met up with our friends Mimi and Joel and their two adorable little boys Arlo (6) and Ansel (5).  Awesome names, right?

We set up camp,

we went to the beach,

we made sand castles,

we read,

we went fishing,

we visited the Nature Center,

we caught insects,

and ate and laughed and climbed and drank and slept like logs.


Then on Sunday we woke up to a bit of light rain.  So we quickly broke down camp and learned from the Park Ranger that there was a Buddhist Monastery just down the road that serves a delicious vegetarian lunch at noon.  So off we headed for the unexpected surprise of a tour of a monastery during Sunday morning mass.

Fair enough.

We said goodbye to our friends after lunch at the monastery and headed a little further north to Poughkeepsie, New York, the home of Kevin's alma mater, Vassar College.

As you can see, it is a stunning campus with buildings that date back to the mid-1800s.  It has rolling green hills and even its own golf course.  There were very few people around, being the middle of summer, so we took our time wandering the campus.  The photo of the kids above is standing in front of Kevin's first dormitory.  He even showed the kids where he took Spanish classes, much to their surprise since they don't think he can speak Spanish.

It was so nice to have a weekend out of the city and be able to take such a picturesque drive.  We are so lucky to be able to so easily pick up a car when we need it (Zipcar) and get out and about.  We even passed this on the way home:

Who knew?

Upper West Side Story

Well, we tried to have a lazy week but it never seems to turn out that way.

After recovering from our red-eye we hit the road in search of a new apartment.  I dragged the kids up and down the Upper West Side.  The first day we did it alone, hitting three apartments of greatly varying quality.  We found one we liked in a Brownstone on a sweet, tree-lined street and had Kevin check it out on his way home.  The kids liked that one because it had two TINY bedrooms (in addition to the master bedroom).  Ella thought it would be nice to have her own room.  Holden wasn't so sure.  Anyway, we did submit an application but were turned down because someone else was willing to move in right away (we're hoping for a mid-month lease start).  Sigh.

The next day we broke down and let a broker show us around.  I say broke down because most apartments here are only available through a broker and brokers steal charge 15% of the annual rent (or about a month and half's rent) if you sign a lease through them.  That's thousands of dollars, people.  Amazingly, the first apartment we saw seemed pretty good - not perfect but great location and get this...a huge backyard!  OK, all concrete, but still, you could fit a table and chairs, BBQ, planters... After much drama which included competing brokers fighting over our commission, we're still not sure if we're going to be able to get the apartment.  Sigh.

I don't think I'm cut out for the cut-throat nature of apartment hunting in New York City.

On the brighter side, we had a few visitors this week from California.  New York really is the crossroads of the world.

On Tuesday night Kevin met our good buddy Nate (who was here for business) for cocktails on a roof top in Chelsea.  Luckily, I had caught up with Nate in San Francisco already this month so I stayed home with the kids and indulged my jet lag by going to bed at 8pm.

 And then on Wednesday night our friends Jay and Greta left their three boys with her brother (who they were visiting in NYC) and met up with us at our new favorite hang out, Jacob's Pickles.

It looks like we all just stepped out of a tanning salon.

It's hard to stay homesick for long when you have a steady stream of friends from home coming through the city.

Distance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

For the last six months I've felt guilty that we didn't feel homesick.  I marveled at how well we all adapted to our sudden change, especially the kids.  I was so surprised at how well the kids transitioned to their new school and never talked much about home or those we left behind.

Then we went back to California.

Seeing all of our friends and family, enjoying the beautiful weather (no humidity!!), hanging out in our old neighborhood...well, it finally set in for all three of us.  We now remember how much we left when we picked up and moved to New York.  And we all felt more and more sad as our two weeks in California went on.

But we still had an amazing trip.  I've filled you in on our first week of bouncing all around the Bay Area to see as many people as we could.  Our second week was a little more tame but just as much fun, up at my mom's house in Twain Harte in the Sierra Foothills.

On the way we made a detour to see my friend Samantha and her son Ethan who was a schoolmate of Ella's in San Mateo.  They have since also moved, up to Elk Grove.  It was so nice to see their new house and have lunch.

The kids on a bug safari

At my mom's the kids were able to finally, totally relax without a schedule.  And at Grandma's house anything goes: she doesn't make the kids clean up after themselves, she feeds them hot chocolate and cookies for breakfast before I wake up, and there are cartoons on constantly.  The kids were in heaven.

When we first arrived she had the kids help her make a dinosaur cake for Holden's birthday.  At one point one of the kids pulled the mixer out of the batter without turning it off and sprayed batter all over the kitchen.  Instead of yelling at the kids (as I would have done), Grandma screamed, "Dinosaur guts everywhere!!", to the howls of laughter from the kids.

I think they did a pretty darn good job.

We spent the next day at nearby Pinecrest Lake for an un-birthday party for Holden.  Mom's good friend Jay came with her grandchildren, Kennedy who is Ella's age, and twins Max and Izak who are almost as old as Holden.  We now have regular summer vacation play dates with them when we're up visiting.

We were also joined by my niece Robin and her family - husband Roger, daughters Starry, Autumn and Heather.

We were there for hours eating, swimming, playing and laughing.  It couldn't have been a better un-birthday party.

The next day we drove out to Murphys to have lunch with my aunt Gretchen and my cousin, her son Chance.  

Chance opened up a whole new world to Holden, teaching him how to play an electric guitar...

...and Xbox.  I don't think Holden ever wanted to leave.

Driving home from Murphys we went through the historic gold mining town of Columbia.  So of course we had to try our luck with the gold pans.

And no visit to Twain Harte is ever complete without a round of Miniature Golf at the same putt-putt course that I played on as a child.  They haven't changed a thing about it in 40 years.

While at Grandma's Holden lost his first tooth!  Finally.  It's been wiggly for weeks and weeks.  

And in true Holden fashion, he insisted the tooth stay downstairs for the night.  He didn't want any fairy rummaging around under his pillow while he slept.  I don't blame him.

We said a sad goodbye to Grandma and headed back down the hill to our old stomping grounds in San Mateo.  We spent the evening with our very good friends from the 'hood, Lori, Angus, Liza and Molly.

With a trapeze in the middle of the living room, it's no wonder it's one of their favorite places on the planet.

 We also got to visit with friends and neighbors Lindsay and Lincoln and meet their newest addition, Julia.

I even got in a beach walk at Half Moon Bay with my good Highlands friend Mary.  A regular for us with Rudy back in the day.  The two of us can talk for hours and never run out of things to say. 

A great, but homesick rendering, visit in the San Mateo Highlands.

We wrapped up our week with some good family time.  One more visit to The Ramp with Dad...

...and cocktails and Sunday Family Dinner Night with the Skaggs in Millbrae.

Although we were so sad to leave California, we were all so happy to see Kevin on Monday and unpack and settle in again.  

Jet lag

The kids are happy to have their toys and books back and haven't mentioned being homesick again since we got back to New York.  It's so inspiring to see how in-the-moment they are.  I wish I could be more like that.  I am still missing California and a little less thrilled to be back to my regular routine of grocery shopping and cleaning and laundry.  

I did in fact leave my heart in San Francisco.