Mom-Mom invited us to spend a week with her at Uncle Tim’s house in Ventnor in June. Andrew had to work but the kids and I went down after they finished with school on June 25. The first day we got to hang out with Tim, Liz, Josie, Nate and Maeve! They had to leave on Sunday but Fran and Molly were there to spend the rest of the week with us.
On Saturday we went to the beach! It was a beautiful day. We left a bit early to get showered and head over to Ocean City for the rides!
It’s amazing how little has changed since we were kids. Most of the rides were the same, including this train monorail with creepy animatronic animal band.
And this raiders of the lost ark obstacle course.
The kids’ top pick was this bungee jumping thing, which was not around when we were little!
I also dragged everyone onto the ferris wheel with me!
Tim and Liz picked up some Mack and Manco’s (no wait — Manco and Manco? I can’t remember) to go and we took it back to the house and celebrated Molly’s birthday!
The next day we made some time for a round of stone school on the front steps and then headed back to the beach!
Since we were in Ventnor, after all, Sarah and Mom-Mom enjoyed a round of Monopoly! Apparently this was Mom-Mom’s favorite game when she was little, and Sarah has more patience than I did as a kid (I’m not sure we ever finished a game).
It was fun to spend so much time with Uncle Fran! We played many rounds of quoits, Sarah was getting the hang of it by the end. We also played some tennis and even snuck away one morning for some singles while the kids watched Iron Chef on Netflix.
We wanted to go out to dinner one night so we picked the Tennessee Ave Beer Hall in Atlantic City! It felt like a bit of an adventure to get there given how run down most of Atlantic City is, but the restaurant itself was wonderful — great beer, tasty lobster roll. They even had table shuffleboard and pinball inside.
After dinner we checked out the Atlantic City boardwalk! It was aimed at an older crowd than Ocean City, some of the rides were huge! So we got some deep fried oreos and played some carnival games and skeeball and then headed back to the house.
We had a wonderful time, it was a great start to the summer — thanks for having us, Mom!
Here are some pics from June! Blaine hosted his first (and thus far only) book club on June 18. The title they chose was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne so we went for an ocean theme complete with mini sub sandwiches, seaweed snacks, goldfish, swedish fish, and Andrew even sauteed some octopus, which the boys did not touch. The discussion was great! It broke down when they tried to pick a book for next time, which is why there has not been a second meeting.
We enjoyed the beach in June!
Sarah was invited to a lot of birthday parties at the end of the year. One of the parties was at a ropes course called Boundless Adventures, which sounded like fun so Blaine and I signed up to do the course while Sarah was at the party! It was our first time using a zip line.
Sarah also went to a party at Skyzone trampoline park, so Blaine and I tagged along again! It was the most empty I’ve ever seen it!
The Chatsworth carnival was back this year! The kids really enjoyed this velcro archery station.
One day we went for a hike at Cranberry Lake and saw this disgusting creature.
I was pretty excited that our two remaining rhodies bloomed this spring, I don’t think they had any flowers last year.
The beach opened again Memorial Day weekend and we were there for the first day!
We also took an outing to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge with the kids for the first time, then had pizza at Grimaldi’s and took the subway back to our car in Manhattan.
In other news from May, Sarah continued playing lacrosse as part of the local youth rec league. She also learned to ride a bike! No photos or videos at her request.
Just a few extra pics from the end of April! We didn’t arrive back to our house until the afternoon on Easter Sunday, but the kids were still eager for some sort of egg hunt so we pulled the eggs out of the basement, filled them, and hid them! Always a good time.
The following weekend (4/23) Sarah participated in a local chess tournament at the novice level! She did so well, we are so proud of her for participating and competing with kids who were in 4th and 5th grades!
I think I took this pic because the kids were proud that they’d done all (well most) of the work to make pancakes one morning.
Lastly, I took this one because I was feeling nostalgic after hearing the sad news that our friends will be moving at the end of the summer to Abu Dhabi! Blaine’s been friends with Sami since Kindergarten and he is really going to miss him next year. This little piece of paper has been on his door for years.
I was cleaning out my phone and found this pic from when they were in 1st grade, which is when I think they put the sign there. They were forming a company called the “B.S Corporation” and the sign reads “We are doing important work DO NOT OPEN DOOR” haha.
For Spring Break this year we planned a trip down south so that we could join Great Grandmommy for her 100th birthday celebration!
We started our trip with a night in Great Falls visiting Gram and Grand-dad! Sarah was excited to show Gram what she has been learning in her piano lessons.
We spent some time outside on the playground and then had a delicious dinner, followed by Gram’s famous persimmon pudding! So much tastier than my attempts on the last two Thanksgivings. 🙂
The next day we were headed to Charlottesville for the big birthday party, but en route we visited Luray Caverns, one of Andrew’s favorite attractions when he was a kid. The caves were beautiful!
After the caves Blaine insisted that he wanted to go on the ropes course, so I went along with him! No pictures, but he did great! I guess he does not have a fear of heights.
We stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch on our drive to Charlottesville, then when we arrived we checked into our hotel and got dressed up for the big celebration.
The party was at the Mill Room restaurant at the Boar’s Head resort near Great Grand-mommy’s nursing home. We had a private room with plenty of space and quiet to celebrate with Great Grand-mommy (of course) as well as Gram and Grand-dad, and Great Aunt Jody and Uncle Dennis. There were beautiful flowers, delicious food, and it was followed by a delicious cake to mark the occasion! We were so happy to be there with Great Grand-mommy to celebrate such a rare and wonderful event.
I tried to take a group picture but the kids were getting wiggly and this was the best I could manage! Oh well.
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel with Gram and Grand-dad, and then we took a walk around the pedestrian mall in downtown Charlottesville and to a nearby park.
We stopped for lunch at Citizen Burger on the mall.
Then we went to visit with great Grand-mommy in the afternoon at her apartment in the Blake. She has a beautiful spacious balcony overlooking the inner courtyard which already had lots of spring blooms.
That night we went for dinner on the mall at Bizou.
The next morning we had breakfast at a place called the Nook, and then started our drive to the Outer Banks.
We stopped around lunchtime at a market that received high marks for its fried chicken! We were encouraged when we saw the volume of people going through ordering just that. We took our lunch to a nearby playground to eat and move around a bit.
We’d rented a VRBO in Nags Head, NC. After arriving that night we unpacked and relaxed and Andrew cooked some burgers and we dined on the porch.
The next day we drove down to the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge for a short hike. We saw lots of turtles!
I like this pic because it illustrates the perfect constant wind which drew the Wright brothers to this exact area for their work.
After the wildlife refuge we went to the beach nearby, which was empty and beautiful. But the wind posed a slight challenge, as it persistently blew a spray of sand over us as we lay on the beach. 🙂 By the time we decided to leave we were all completely covered in a fine layer of sand.
That night we went out to dinner at the Blue Moon Beach Grill, our best meal on this leg of our trip. The restaurant was packed so we were told the wait would be 45 minutes, but they had a little arcade with pinball and foosball and the kids were thrilled! The food was top notch.
The next day we had breakfast on our porch and then headed to another beach nearby called Jennette’s Pier, I believe.
The wind was just as strong and steady as the day before! But this time we were not the only ones braving the constant spray of sand, there were other beachgoers doing the same thing. The water was freezing, so no one was swimming! We all just sat with our backs to the wind and tried to keep the sand out of our eyes. 🙂 I imagine this can’t be the standard for the whole summer or else it wouldn’t be such a desirable beach destination.
Eventually we gave up on the beach and went to check out the pier.
There were lots of people fishing and we got to see a few people catch skates and throw them back.
The pier also had some little aquarium fish tanks inside.
After that we went mini-golfing!
I took a picture of this display to show Grand-dad, who’d told us this story about pirates using horses to lure boats into crashing into the shore.
The highlight of the trip for the kids was that Duck Donuts was founded in the Outer Banks (in Duck, to be precise). We didn’t make it to the actual original location, but this location near our VRBO was just fine, and the donuts were warm and delicious!
After mini-golf we went to the Wright Brothers Memorial, which was the highlight of the trip for me. It was a tiny little museum dedicated to the first flight and explained their engineering process over the course of many years to successful flight. It was very well done — highly recommended.
Outside you could see the field where they had conducted the first flights with markers showing how far the first, second, third, and fourth runs had gone.
The next day we went to another interesting historical site, the lost colony of Roanoke Island. This was where a group of 100+ colonists established a colony, earlier even than Jamestown (which we’d visited on a previous trip). However, the colony was not to last and disappeared completely without a trace. The exhibit included a film and exhibits with various theories but no one knows for sure.
We went to lunch at the Lost Colony Brewery! Then we went to the nearby Aquarium on Roanoke Island which had a nice exhibit on sea turtles including an area where they were caring for rescued sea turtles to return to the wild.
We had a great time during our trip to the Outer Banks! Lots to see, despite the less than ideal beach conditions. Favorite parts were the Wright Brothers memorial and Duck Donuts. Sarah also really liked this hammock at the VRBO.
On Saturday we started our long drive back north to NY, but we’d planned to stop about halfway to spend the night in Chincoteague. On the way we listened to the audiobook of Misty of Chincoteague, which I had never read. We also drove across this really long bridge!
In Chincoteague we’d reserved a boat trip to see the island of Assateague where the wild ponies live. We also saw a lighthouse and lots of birds.
We stayed at a Hampton Inn which had won awards for being the best Hampton Inn in the country! The staff was incredible and attentive.
We had dinner next door at Don’s Seafood and got some yummy oysters from the local oyster farm we’d seen from our boat tour.
Then we capped off our trip with some delicious ice cream at Island Creamery.
The next day was Easter Sunday and we drove home to Larchmont. It was a wonderful spring break, especially memorable for including a 100th birthday celebration!
Sarah started playing lacrosse this Spring! Lacrosse is really big around here so they have this large rec league divided by grades. The 2nd and 3rd grade girls field 8 teams and they meet every Friday for a big group practice followed by games on Saturday mornings. Sarah’s team is called the Pumas; here they are on the first day of practice.
Signs of Spring: our Magnolia tree blossomed.
On April 3 we celebrated Andrew’s birthday! He wanted it to be totally stress-free so we ordered a cake from Seth Greenberg’s Just Desserts. It was simple but amazingly delicious! Such a treat. Blaine snuck in and blew out the candles so we needed a re-do! We had the cake for afternoon snack, followed by presents, and then dinner out at Shoyu Sushi in Scarsdale.
April 5 was Great Grandmommy Dorothy’s 100th Birthday! We were pretty excited to go down to VA to celebrate with her the next weekend. The other reason for celebration that day was that the long awaited 15th book in the Wings of Fire series was released! Blaine was so happy.
Sarah’s lacrosse team, the Pumas, after their first game! Sarah’s 3rd from the left.
I didn’t take a lot of pictures in March but here goes! The most noteworthy events were some special grandparent visits!!
One weekend Gram and Grand-dad came and stayed the night. We had a nice dinner and the next day Andrew took the group out for a hike, I believe. Our car only seats 5 so when we have two guests that means either Andrew or I will skip the outing! Here’s a pic from dinner on March 5.
Then a few weekends later we had another visit from Mom-Mom and Aunt Molly! I have some more pics since I was along for the outings that we made to the Bruce Museum in CT, followed by lunch at Bar Taco. And we finally took Aunt Molly to Bona Bona ice cream!
Sarah took this picture, and deliberately included her finger in the frame so that she would be in the picture, too. haha.
Not much else to report from March! We went out to dinner one night and actually ate indoors! Whoa! We went to Fuji Mountain Japanese steakhouse.
Also Sarah got very into math and kept asking for more math problems to do when she was bored, so Uncle Fran kindly sent her a workbook. This was a brief phase so I took a picture as proof that it happened.
We went to Anguilla for the winter break this year. The check-in lines at the airport were unbelievable, we were glad that we’d decided to carry on and could go straight to security. Once we made it through the gates felt extremely empty!
We flew to Sint Maarten and took a cab to the very small ferry terminal where we waited for our boat to Anguilla.
When we arrived, Blaine’s question to the first person he saw was, “How do you pronounce the name of this country” and the response was, “Here, we say Anguilla” (an-gwilla rhymes with gorilla).
The whole getting-to-Anguilla part was complicated, between requirements for Anguilla and Sint Maarten. We needed PCR tests 5 days in advance, another antigen test for the kids (since they weren’t boosted) within 48 hours, and then another round of antigen tests when we arrived. They gave us wrist bands to indicate that we were not yet approved and we took a car to our VRBO villa. We got the call an hour or two later that we were all negative and could cut the wristbands off!
We stayed at Villa Oceana off Crocus Bay and it was amazing — beautiful panoramic views of the bay from our patio and pool.
The next day we went to Madeariman, a restaurant on Shoal Bay Beach. We planned to have lunch there so we were able to use their chairs and borrow some toys. It was a beautiful white sand beach.
Blaine read his kindle and Sarah made a drip castle!
We had a surprisingly yummy lunch at the beachside restaurant, Madeariman. I had some sort of grilled fish and Andrew had a grouper curry, I believe. Then we went back to lounging for the afternoon, and at some point moved back to our villa for more lounging at the pool. This was our usual pattern for the vacation — pick a beach for the day, have lunch there, end up back at the villa’s pool, shower, dinner.
That night we had our first meal out at the Straw Hat restaurant. I recall this was one of my favorite meals, I think I had a seared tuna with quinoa fried rice and everything was really good.
The next day we decided to check out Maundays Bay, which is dominated by a beautiful resort called Cap Juluca. This time we took some chairs from our villa, packed a lunch and set up all by ourselves down at the end of the beach. It was a beautiful beach with picturesque views of the mountains on Sint Maarten.
The surf here was kind of rough! Sarah was knocked under by a big wave which whisked away her goggles. And while looking for them I managed to get knocked over by another wave! We gave up on the goggles and found a new pair in the grocery store.
Then back to the villa for more pool time, showers, and reading. Andrew cooked some dinner that night, burgers I think.
Day 3 we went to Sandy Ground which is more of a local hangout and night life spot. We got to see a very small container ship unloading, and the water was nice and calm for the kids. We had lunch at Roy’s Bayside Grill and used their chairs for the day.
That night we got a babysitter and the grown-ups went out for dinner at a restaurant called Veya, where I had some delicious local crayfish.
Day 4 we headed to Blanchards Beach Shack at Meads Bay. Another delicious meal — the food in Anguilla was really top notch (or else our standards have gone down due to this pandemic). Fish tacos, rum punch, perfect.
Here are some more pics I took at our villa — this was probably the nicest place we’ve ever stayed, Andrew says it was a “pandemic special” since everything was priced lower for awhile when no one was traveling! He booked it a year in advance, back when we thought this might all be over by now.
The weather was mostly perfect, warm without being hot. We got a few brief rainstorms but they never lasted very long — this one left us a beautiful rainbow.
Day 5 we went to Crocus Bay, the beach nearest to our villa. It was a tiny beautiful beach tucked into a cove with just one restaurant on it, called Da’Vida. Our babysitter recommended it because they rent paddle boats, like the one in the picture below. The kids loved it, the boat even had a little slide for going into the water though I was the only one to try it.
That night Andrew and I went out for our second dinner at Marella, a restaurant at the Aurora Anguilla resort, formerly known as the Cuisinart Resort. It was good, but didn’t quite live up to our expectations given the chef had formerly run the Modern in NYC.
Friday was our last day and we headed back to Shoal Bay, this time to Gwen’s Reggae Bar & Grill. The BBQ was Sarah-approved!
For our last dinner we went out for a family dinner at Mango’s, almost down to the end of the island on Barnes Bay.
We LOVED Anguilla — the beaches, the food. Hopefully we’ll be back someday!
Oh, and Sarah lost a tooth! The tooth fairy always seems to visit us on vacations.
Ugh WordPress has changed their interface and now I’m struggling to figure out how to post these pics, that’s why this site has not been updated much in 2022.
Anyway, here goes!
In February it was Sarah’s turn to keep the giant soccer trophies that Team USA earned in the Fall season — one for the best season record and the other for winning the Pele Cup Tournament!
The first Saturday in February is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, which we celebrated for the second year in a row. Thanks, Mystery Doug.
Also in February we celebrated the biggest arts and crafts holiday of them all — Valentine’s Day! This year Blaine made valentines for his class all by himself! Sarah and I worked on a splatter art project in the basement.
For Valentine’s Day we celebrated at home with some chocolate lava cakes courtesy of NY Times Cooking.
Sarah also started ice skating lessons in February. She enjoys them so much that she has wanted to continue through the remaining sessions and will be taking lessons through mid-June!
One day in Feb we went on a nature walk at the Edith Read sanctuary in Rye. It was a beautiful area right next to Playland with a rocky beach, trails, and a large bamboo grove that you can walk through. It was a windy day and the sound of the wind in the bamboo was very creepy.
After our walk we went for lunch at Sunrise Pizza in Rye.
One last pic from Feb — we had a small snowstorm and the kids built their own snowman without any assistance from me! Might have been a first.
