On 12/3 we got to revive our tradition of enjoying the delicious drinking chocolate from Cocoa and heading to the Light Up Larchmont event at Constitution Park. We’d missed it for a few years due to the pandemic, and last year the kids were recovering from their covid shots.

The next day Sarah got to try out her new (used) ice skates at her weekly lesson. Then we took some pictures for our holiday card, and went to Tony’s to get our Christmas tree!

On 12/8 Blaine and I went to the 5th Grade Square Dance, a Chatsworth tradition. They do this every year for the incoming Kindergartners and the outgoing 5th graders. Can’t believe Blaine is getting so old!

On 12/11 I took Sarah to her end of the season soccer banquet at Beach Point Club. It was a fancy event that hasn’t happened for a few years due to covid. Sarah was awarded the “Most Improved Player” Award for her team. Way to go, Sarah!

On 12/15 Chatsworth had the winter concert with performances from the band, orchestra, and the 5th grade chorus! Blaine is in the front row, second from the left.

We also got in the holiday spirit by assembling and decorating this gingerbread house that Gram had made for us. Sarah’s friend was really excited to help out since she’d never made one before! It looked great, Blaine was especially pleased with the lamppost that he installed.

The persimmons arrived early and sat on the counter waiting for Gram to arrive!

This year the plan was that we would host Gram and Grandad for the big day! Sadly in the end Grandad stayed home in Great Falls with covid, but at least we got to enjoy having Gram for a visit! She arrived on Wednesday and that afternoon we went for a walk in Manor Park.

On Thanksgiving we spent some more time outside at the Rye Nature Center.

For Thanksgiving dinner we had the traditional turkey, along with dressing, gravy, broccoli, sweet potato fries, and cranberry jelly from Meateria. Weeks prior Blaine had picked up a squash at the farmer’s market which we determined was a spaghetti squash, so we made that, as well.

After dinner we signed on to zoom so that Grandad could join us for dessert! Gram made her delicious persimmon pudding and the flambe was excellent this year! Gram also brought the chocolate turkey for smashing, and we made a pecan pie. Yum!

A wonderful and tasty Thanksgiving, thanks for coming to see us, Gram, and for all your cooking!

Things seemed to get back to normal in November and we managed to avoid getting sick again! Sarah’s soccer season came to a close and her team did really well! They lost the semifinals of the Pele Cup to Spain, who went on to win the trophy. They made it to the final match for the season championship but lost to Argentina in penalty kicks (very similar to how the World Cup came out this year).

Making brownies for her team!

Blaine went to a STEM night at Chatsworth and got to have fun with magnets.

Come to think of it, Sarah was signed up to attend this event as well but she had to stay home because she was sick! So I guess I was wrong when I said we were healthy in November.

Sarah made this clay animal kit she’d received for her birthday.

One day Blaine asked to go to the ropes course in Purchase again, Boundless Adventures. Unfortunately he really did not enjoy the zip lines this time!

In November we also went down to PA for the weekend to celebrate the marriage of Clare (my cousin) and Marcus! It was our first in-person post-covid wedding — we had so much fun! Here’s Molly toasting the couple at the rehearsal dinner.

Dad’s siblings — Uncle Jim, Aunt Jane, Uncle Peter and the FOB Uncle Hank.

I didn’t take any pics at the actual wedding, oops! Because I was enjoying myself too much. But here’s one of Fran and Maeve from earlier in the day.

Looking back on photos from the fall of 2022 I’m remembering there were brief windows in between dealing with various germs. The second half of September was covid. Then we had the kids’ birthdays! Then it seems like we caught a series of colds through October and were healthy again by Halloween!

I did take a moment to admire my favorite foliage across the street.

Here’s a pic the principal sent me from a day when Blaine was proud to show off he’d written more than he ever wrote before!

Sarah’s Wednesday tennis continued weather- and germ-permitting, and after one lesson her friend spotted this red-tailed hawk sitting on a fence by the restrooms! So cool.

Now into the Halloween pics! The kids got their costumes on for the annual Ragamuffin parade in Larchmont on 10/22. It was fun to walk through town and trick-or-treat at all the stores, which we hadn’t done for a few years thanks to covid.

On 10/29 we enjoyed my favorite fall tradition, the corn maze! This year we went to Castle Hill Farm in Newtown CT. The maze was fun, and we got some pumpkins! Sadly no apple cider donuts, though. But there was a pumpkin trebuchet?

On 10/30 we carved the pumpkins!

Monday 10/31 was Halloween! The kids got to walk in the Chatsworth Halloween Parade — Blaine for the last time (since he’s graduating?!) and Sarah for the first time since Kindergarten.

That night we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with some friends!

Before we knew it it was birthday time again at 9 Wendt Avenue. I think in past years we’ve spread out the birthday celebrations to two weekends and it’s always felt endless. This year we crammed it all into one weekend and it was overwhelming! I’m not sure which approach is better.

It all started on Friday, October 7th, with Blaine’s birthday at school. The school was allowing birthday treats again so Blaine opted to bring in Dunkin Donuts for his class. He also go to take a “birthday walk” and deliver extras to specials teachers and others including the principal who sent me this cute pic. I can NOT believe that Blaine is into the double digits.

Blaine’s actual birthday was on Saturday this year, so he started the day with his favorite activity: video games. Then we baked a cake for his birthday party later that day. Cake #1 was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Plus m&ms for garnish. Yum!

Next up was lunch at Shake Shack before the big birthday party at 5th Dimension VR in White Plains. We had a little extra time and stopped to see this park where the Battle of White Plains had occurred during the Revolutionary War.

Then we headed into White Plains for the virtual reality party. None of us had ever done VR before so we all had a blast! The place was fantastic, really well run with great employees and an awesome facility. Very impressed with the staff and setup.

After about an hour of VR the group went into the party room for pizza and cake.

Back at home after the party Blaine opened his presents and then we must have had dinner of some sort, I can’t really remember! Is it possible Blaine asked for burgers? I guess it is since he never gets a burger at Shake Shack.

After dinner it was time for cake #2: a delicious chocolate chocolate ice cream cake from Bona Bona. Double Yum!

The next day was Sunday and thus time to move on to Sarah’s birthday. Her party was scheduled for that afternoon at the Rock Club in New Rochelle. So we started the day making cupcakes! Let’s see, this was cake #3: yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

Sarah really liked the small parties she had due to covid and wanted to keep this year’s party small, as well, so she only invited three close friends. She also invited one of Blaine’s friends who is the older brother of one of Sarah’s friends! It was nice because with the small group it meant lots of climbing time.

Then more pizza, and cupcakes, in the party room!

Then it was home for presents and downtime! I think we managed to have a regular healthy dinner that night, most likely with leftover cake of one sort or another!

The next day was Sarah’s actual birthday, and the kids were off from school for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Sarah wanted to spend most of the day putting together legos, of course, but she took a break to have lunch at Walter’s. And I’m pretty sure we also squeezed in a trip to Flint Park for some outside time! But then it was back to more legos. She put together both of these dragons before her birthday was over!

We also made yet another birthday cake! Cake #4 was the classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

For dinner Sarah requested her favorite, filet mignon, with kale chips and a baguette. It’s pretty rare that we have red meat anymore for various reasons, so this was a real treat!

The birthday extravaganza came to a close on Tuesday with Sarah’s birthday celebration at school with more Dunkin Donuts! Actually if I recall correctly she stayed home on Tuesday with a cold and then brought in donuts on Wednesday! It was a very special birthday weekend for both kids, I can’t believe they are getting so old!

This September felt… long. The kids started school again on 9/6, they have good teachers this year, all was well, we were getting back to normal. Blaine is in 5th grade now so it’s his last year at Chatsworth!! Sarah was still taking piano on Mondays, Blaine has PT on Tuesdays, Wednesdays Sarah started taking Spanish lessons (her idea!) and continued with tennis. Thursdays Blaine has OT and Sarah also signed up for chess club at school. And on Fridays we were doing playdates and Blaine was doing the book clubs at the library and Sarah had soccer practice, games on Saturday. She was on team Brazil this year! Blaine was also doing a Sunday morning sports program out in Purchase. So, lots going on!

Alas, all came to a halt on 9/16 when Blaine had a mild fever and tested positive for covid! First time in our house.

Sarah tested positive the next day! Oh well, we had a good run. Blaine had a bit of a cough but Sarah only briefly had a temperature and that was it, so they did their 5 days at home and then 5 more days of masking. Sarah made it back to school by 9/23 for her class field trip to the library, which I chaperoned (fully masked).

Sadly, on 9/24 Andrew tested positive, a full week after Sarah got her positive test. So that started the timer over again for me but somehow I never tested positive! September feels like a lost month, I didn’t take many more pictures. But here are a few outdoor pictures I took! Notably we found this cool bug that looks like a leaf. And we also spotted and squished a spotted lanternfly, then reported it to whatever government body is tracking them. Yuck!

We managed to all recover (or stay healthy) in time for a block party we organized to get to know some new neighbors in early October. It was a rainy icky night but the rain stopped long enough for the event to go on, and all had a good time!

Uncle Fran came to visit over Labor Day weekend this year and we went to the US Open! It was our first time going so we didn’t plan it all that well and spent WAY too much time in traffic waiting to park. Next time, uber! Or some other option which does not involve parking. But we finally made it… and then waited in a long line for security!

That part didn’t take very long actually, then we went straight to our nosebleed seats in Arthur Ashe! We got to the see Iga Swiatek beat American Sloane Stephens in an early round. Swiatek went on to win the whole thing! She is amazing.

Blaine was nervous about being up so high and needed Uncle Fran to act as his seatbelt.

Our tickets also included grounds passes so we watched a women’s doubles match with Ajla Tomljanović (who went on to beat Serena Williams), a men’s doubles match, and we checked out the Chase lounge and snagged some free hats.

The next day we took Uncle Fran to the beach for the Labor Day weekend “clambake” which is not really a clambake but at least this year they were serving actual clams! I think it was Uncle Fran’s first clam ever.

We also got to play some tennis ourselves, and Fran brought his awesome beach paddles which we played with on our patio! So much fun, thanks for visiting, Fran!

This year for our August vacation we decided to go to Maine. We started the trip with four nights outside Portland, at a vrbo near Old Orchard Beach. The first night we went straight to the local beach (Pine Point Beach), which was stunning, and then had dinner at our house.

The next day we also spent at our local beach and then for our first dinner out we went to a nearby restaurant on the water called the Bait Shed and I had my first lobster roll of the trip. I’d say overall the lobster rolls in Maine are much superior to MA because of the freshness of the lobsters! This first one was probably the weakest of the trip because otherwise it was pretty basic, the roll wasn’t buttered or toasted, but still a great way to start off in Maine!

The next day was a bit foggy so we drove into Portland, stopping en route to see Crescent Beach State Park. I was impressed at this LL Bean sponsored shed with beach equipment for anyone to borrow!

From there we drove over to check out Portland Head Light and tried to get a foggy view of Cushing Island, where Andrew had spent many summer vacations as a child.

We had lunch at Luke’s Lobster in Portland, which turned out to be my favorite roll of the trip. Mmmm…

After lunch we went to the Portland Children’s Museum, which had the usual air and water play exhibits but the highlight for the kids was this vertical climbing wall, which seemed to me like an ant farm for children. They loved it!

We stopped for a beer at the Bissell Brothers Brewing Company, and then tried to have dinner at a place called Eventide in Portland, but despite our early arrival the wait time was something like 2 hours so we gave up! It was raining at that point so we drove to a pizza restaurant and had a nice dinner there.

The next day we went back to the beach in the morning and for the afternoon we drove into Old Orchard Beach. Andrew and Sarah opted to play mini golf while Blaine and I wanted to check out the rides at Palace Playland. We did the ferris wheel, several rounds of bumper cars, and Blaine even decided to try the big roller coaster, the Sea Viper! We had dinner at a restaurant right next to the Sea Viper (another lobster roll — not bad) and played some arcade games before heading back.

On 8/24 we left Portland and drove even farther north to our second stop, four nights in Bar Harbor. We stayed at another VRBO which was part of a larger hotel with its own rocky beach.

The main draw of Bar Harbor is its proximity to Acadia National Park, which did not disappoint. We hadn’t anticipated the kids would have much appetite for hiking given their resistance to our short local weekend hikes, but they really surprised us! Blaine was motivated by a geocaching scavenger hunt organized by the national park service which took us on a number of challenging hikes!

The most challenging was the one to the top of the Beehive. We took the easier route to the top called the Bowl Trail, but it was still the most difficult hike we’ve done with the kids, lots of scrambling over rocks and climbing some very steep boulders to reach the summit at the end.

We ate our packed lunch at Thunder Hole and then went into Bar Harbor for some ice cream! Blaine was set on going to MDI (Mt Desert Island) Ice Cream and Sarah wanted to go to another place Aunt Jody recommended, called Ben & Bill’s, so we split up! Ben & Bill’s was delicious, very creamy, huge number of flavors with lots of mix-ins. Blaine insisted MDI Ice Cream was better and that we’d have to return another day to compare.

After ice cream we’d scheduled a tour with Lulu Lobster Boat Rides! It was one of the highlights of the trip, the driver was fantastic (Andrew noted his previous job had been as an instructor for the Coast Guard) and the ride was smooth and easy despite some choppy water. The guide, Galen, was a former school teacher and was smart and funny, keeping both kids and adults entertained for the two hour ride. We also learned a lot about lobsters! We all got to put rubber bands over their claws and Andrew got to wear one on his head.

We stayed in town for dinner that night and ended up at a place called Merchant & Frye, which was fine, nothing too memorable.

The next day our plan was to arrive early to spend the day at Sand Beach in Acadia. We were not there for very long, however, when it started to rain on us! We tried hiding under the beach umbrella for awhile and had our lunch early, before giving up and heading back to the car.

We decided to pick up some geocaching checkpoints and embarked on a hike that we thought would be brief but which turned into an hour-plus endeavor! It seemed a bit treacherous to Sarah so we head back to the car, but Blaine and Andrew stuck with it to the end.

After the wet hike we stopped in to Jordan Pond House for the traditional tea and popovers, which were delicious! Andrew and I also had a cup of the lobster bisque which hit the spot.

I believe this was the night we went to dinner near our VRBO at a place called Jack Russell’s Steakhouse and Brewery, which was surprisingly well executed and with excellent service!

Saturday, 8/27, was our last day in Bar Harbor and we had reservations to go to the top of Cadillac Mountain in the morning. But first we went on another geocaching hike to see Bubble Rock, a glacial erratic that had traveled more than 30 miles via glacier and was deposited atop the mountain.

Then we headed up Cadillac Mountain (by car) but found that it was much too foggy to see anything, sadly! Plus it was cold.

So we gave up and drove over to the other side of Mt Desert Island and checked out the Ship Harbor Trail, which was much more manageable and had beautiful scenery.

We stopped for a snack in Southwest Harbor at the Little Notch Bakery (I had a tasty raspberry pie empanada thing). Then our last stop of the trip was the National Park Visitor Center to get a passport for stamping, including completion of the geocaching task.

That night we had dinner in Bar Harbor again, this time at the West Street Cafe. Delicious lobster roll! Last one of the trip? Perhaps.

We decided to complete our ice cream showdown and headed over to MDI Ice Cream so Sarah and I could compare. Sarah decided she liked Ben and Bill’s better! But I was impressed with the high quality of MDI and think I’d give it the edge, though the flavors are very nontraditional (I had the salted caramel and “The Dude” which was a white russian flavored ice cream inspired by the Big Lebowski).

There was a village piano in the Green outside MDIIC so we enjoyed some music before heading back to our rental house.

I took this picture the next morning to show the view from our rental. I also happened to capture the rally car convention going on at the hotel rooms below. The group was up the previous night checking out each others’ cars and revving their engines to impress one another. It finally got to the point that I was looking up Bar Harbor noise rules when they promptly stopped at 10pm.

Andrew got up early that morning and managed to book another reservation to drive to the top of Cadillac! It was a beautiful clear morning and we were able to see in all directions!

Then we started our drive back south, stopping for lunch at the Allagash Brewery outside Portland. I was just kidding about that being the last lobster roll!

We made it all the way to Boston, where we planned to stay for two nights to break up the return trip. We checked into our room at the Intercontinental and then walked over to a place called Joe’s for dinner on the water.

The next day our plan was to do some sightseeing so we walked over to check out the major sites on the Freedom Trail. But first we stopped for donuts.

Next stop, the Old South Meeting House! Notable as one of the meeting points in planning the Boston Tea Party, among other things. They had wonderful information and a scavenger hunt for the kids to complete.

Then on to the Old State House! It was outside the State House that the Boston Massacre occurred.

Again there were lots of great exhibits, many geared toward kids. Not so dry as the sites run by the national parks! I kept hearing a name I did not recognize, James Otis, credited with the slogan, “taxation without representation is tyranny.” I wondered why I’d never heard of him since it sounded like he was an important part of the revolutionary activities in Boston… turns out that he suffered from mental illness exacerbated by a blow to the head and he became erratic, on one occasion breaking all the windows at the Old State House, and he burned all his papers. Then he died when he was struck by a bolt of lightning! Fascinating.

Anyway! Then it was on to Faneuil Hall.

We had lunch at Shake Shack at the kids’ request. Then Andrew went back to the hotel to catch up on some work and the kids and I went to check out the Boston Tea Party site and reenactment. It was an expensive tourist trap but we actually really enjoyed it, there were actors in costume that had us all yelling “huzzah” and “fie!” and the kids got to toss tea overboard. It also had high production value with some very cool moving paintings and videos to tell the story of the Boston Tea Party and the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

That night we had our last dinner out at Legal Seafoods and the next morning we drove back to Larchmont.

Andrew went to London for a work trip in early August so Mom and Molly came up to visit! Saturday morning we went to Skyzone, a nearby trampoline park. Sarah had made her first visit to an orthodontist this summer, who suggested she stands a much better chance at avoiding early braces if she could give up sucking her thumb. He proposed a plan and suggested if she could do it that we plan a way to celebrate, and she chose a visit to Skyzone. She was able to follow the plan and gave up her thumb successfully! So proud of her. So off we went to Skyzone for her celebration! Aunt Molly was amazing on the trampolines!

The kids also enjoyed the arcade…

The most memorable part of the trip was that there was an obstacle course (not pictured) that Aunt Molly had a very difficult time climbing out of, so I had to go down and help her get back up! It was a daring rescue that will be told and retold through the years, I am sure.

That afternoon we went to the beach and had dinner there! Unfortunately there were some yellow jackets buzzing around while we ate, which greatly disturbed Aunt Molly and the kids. That was the second brush with death from the visit!

It was a fun visit, we’re so glad we got to spend some time with Mom-Mom and Aunt Molly! Apologies for all the dangerous situations we put you in!

Andrew was gone over a weekend and Blaine insisted that we should keep up the tradition of “special breakfast” so he volunteered to make the waffles! He and Sarah did it entirely by themselves, no exaggeration.

The other main event from August was saying goodbye to the Merchants! We made sure to spend a lot of quality time with Sami and his family — multiple goodbye playdates and parties and drinks nights… 🙁

All the photos from July 2022! We celebrated July 4 at the beach with friends, no pictures. The kids started camp, not a lot of pics of that, either! They did one week at the Clay Art Center again, followed by 4 weeks at the Rye Nature Center, then one week of rock climbing for Sarah only and then one week at the Makeinspires stem camp.

Here’s a pic from 7/9 when we went to the Greenburgh Nature Center to see their monarch butterflies.

My birthday was July 10, and we celebrated at home with ribs and cake!

Andrew and I celebrated again on the 13th with a fancy sushi dinner in the city at SHION 69 Leonard Street. Delicious! I took pics of the uni course and this hairy crab dish.

The kids loved their weeks at the Rye Nature Center again this year! Here’s a pic of Sarah with all the friendship bracelets she made.

Here’s a pic from our local Indian restaurant, Coriander, which is Sarah’s current fave for eating out. She likes the butter chicken and naan. Blaine has been asking to try their chocolate cake for awhile now and we finally let him… he was unimpressed.

On 7/23 we went into the city for a visit to the AMNH. We wanted to see the new gems and minerals exhibit (which featured the Okavongo blue diamond) as well as the shark exhibit!

At the end of the July we went back to the Greenburgh Nature Center for another visit with the monarchs so that Blaine could take his friend Sami.