The kids enjoyed their four weeks at the Rye Nature Center camp this summer.  They also enjoyed its proximity to this gelato place in Rye.

One night we caught some music in Constitution Park after dining al fresco.

Sarah’s birthday present to me was this fun vegetable puzzle!

Blaine was insistent that we try making a dessert called “banana boats” that he’d made at camp.  You slice the banana length-wise and put chocolate chips on it, then wrap it in foil and cook it over a fire (or in our case a grill).  Yum!

The kids did another fencing trial session at a place in White Plains.

It was not as impressive as the one in Port Chester (Tim Morehouse).  They decided they’d like to sign up for fencing camp for the week before we were going to Martha’s Vineyard.  Here they are post-camp with their medals.  It was a pretty cool camp, one day I was a bit early and got to see Sarah in her full outfit, with electronic scoring, winning a bout against a much larger kid.  The coach she was with had just competed in the Olympics!

We were planning a 75th birthday party for Mom-Mom on Saturday, July 24.  Then by chance the Wayne Mahoney cousins planned a surprise wedding anniversary party for their parents on July 22.  So we decided to go down early and make it to both!  We stayed at a hotel in Conshohocken for Thurs and Fri nights and while Andrew worked remotely from the hotel the kids and I spent Friday being tourists in Philadelphia!  First we reserved a tour at Independence Hall.

Blaine had lots of questions for the park ranger after the official part of the tour was over.

Then we went to lunch at the Independence Beer Garden.  We happened to be right by Uncle Tim’s office so he joined us for lunch.  Yum!

During lunch we had a visit from this baby praying mantis (seen below on Aunt Jane’s hand).

After lunch we walked a few blocks to Franklin Square for some Philadelphia-themed mini golf.  Sarah got the first hole in one of the day, which was followed by many other holes in one, hence all the pics.

Sarah was kind of tired of it, by the end.

The next day we got ready for the big party!  And the kids braved this stair slide!

Andrew made two delicious whole tenderloins and a horseradish sauce for sandwiches, caprese salad, and green beans with shallots and almonds.  And I made a yellow cake with chocolate icing, and variations on chocolate/vanilla cupcakes.

The kids enjoyed these bubble gloves, and playing in the yard.

Mom and her siblings gathered for a fabulous photo!

Happy Birthday, Mom!  We love you!

Looking back on July from mid-August, I can see how much we were really enjoying the summer.  It seemed like everything was opening up and getting safer.  We even dined indoors on this one occasion below!  Little did we know that delta was coming.

Another banana bread showdown — this time the previous winner (Eleanor Hennessey) took on the America’s Test Kitchen Kids Cookbook recipe.  The Hennessey recipe won again, 3 votes to 1!  Pictured below on the right.

Sarah got her first actual haircut since the pandemic started.

The kids did some trial classes at a Taekwondo place in Mamaroneck.

For my birthday this year we got some water in the basement!  The pump Andrew purchased three years prior helped out a lot, and we borrowed a wet vac from some friends to finish it off after the water stopped coming in.

Apart from the flooding, my birthday celebrations were wonderful!  On Friday we took an uber into the city for dinner at Sushi Seki, a place we used to frequent when we were young and lived in the city.  It was still delicious!

On my actual birthday I played tennis in the morning and then we spent the afternoon at the beach, where this magical moment occurred when we were all four reading.  My dream come true!

Later on we were joined by some friends to share a bottle of white wine and some pork pate and other snacks that Robin and Reeves had sent (thanks again!!).

Andrew made an ambitious meal for my birthday dinner — lamb chops, dal makhani (not pictured), arugula salad, and homemade roti (which was a first!).  It was all beautiful and delicious!

And there was cake, of course!

Our neighbors were away for a week and asked us to keep an eye on their cucumber plants and harvest anything that got too big.  Blaine enjoyed this new responsibility!

One weekend we decided to drive out to Long Island to try out a different beach and ended up at Robert Moses beach – it was beautiful!

I was impressed at their beer and cocktail menu, available right on the beach.

Here’s Blaine trying out his new plastic trombone (aka p-bone) which is lighter and easier to handle than a standard trombone.  He’s supposed to be joining the band at school next year, hopefully the trombone gets some use!

I seem to be missing camp pictures!  After the first week of tennis camp for Sarah, both kids went to one week of half-day camp at the Clay Art Center in Port Chester.  The theme was to build your own zoo so the kids got to sculpt several animals and their habitats.  We had to buy some bookshelves for their rooms to display all their art.

The next week the kids did a half day camp at Macinspires, focused on the education edition of Minecraft.  This was probably the highlight of their summer, playing video games for half the day!  We also got to learn about something called “griefing” which is when kids antagonize each other within the game…

After that the kids spent four weeks at the Rye Nature Center Camp, which has been wonderful.  The counselors are experienced educators and the camp is small and has a different theme every week.  Apart from the mosquito bites and one fall in the pond (Blaine) the kids had a great time and learned a lot!

Then the kids have also dipped their toes into fencing, taekwondo, and Sarah is taking some piano lessons in addition to continuing with her swimming lessons and Blaine is doing his PT and OT.  It’s been a busy summer!

We started to see some clematis blooms in June along with the hydrangeas.

Manor Beach opened for Memorial Day weekend and we were happy to be back!  No concessions again this year, and for most of the summer guests were not allowed but that has since changed.

A hike at Cranberry Lake.

An early dinner with the kids at bartaco in Port Chester.

On June 19 we went down to Wynnewood again for a night to celebrate Aunt Molly’s birthday!

The party was fabulous and included the traditional pinata and face-smashing cake, as well as a regular cake and trumpet accompaniment by Uncle Peter.

Here’s a pic of Sarah’s 1st grade class on pajama day.  Her teacher is “looping” this year which means that she will move from 1st grade back up to 2nd grade and the entire class can opt to stay with her.  From what we hear the whole class is staying except for one friend whose family is moving back to England!  Sarah is in the back row, second from the left.

Blaine got together with two friends from his 3rd grade class for a final playdate since both families are moving away this summer!  One boy’s family is moving back to England and the other to France.

Here are the kids on the last day of school, not very willing to pose for a picture.  It was a strange school year!

Blaine with his classroom aide, Ms. Wilson.

And with his teacher, Ms. Ryan.

Here is Sarah with her teacher, Ms. Walsh.  This will be our third year with Ms. Walsh since she was Blaine’s 2nd grade teacher, then she moved down to 1st and now Sarah will have her again in 2nd grade!

Here’s Sarah with her friend who is moving back to England!  We are going to miss all our international friends who are leaving this year.

And now it’s the summer!  It’s been a summer of experimentation with a lot of different camps and activities.  Here’s Blaine at a pottery wheel class that he took with a friend.

The kids have also been trying out fencing!

One weekend Andrew assembled this model rocket with the kids.  We headed to the middle school to find a large open space to set it off, since Flint park had a lot of sports leagues still playing.  We thought this parking lot would be big enough, unfortunately the rocket went so high that it descended somewhere over the building in the background and we were unable to locate it.  A successful launch!  Less successful landing.

The first week of summer Sarah did a half day tennis camp at Hampshire with a friend.  Blaine did not have an organized activity apart from starting up his summer schedule of PT and OT, so we spent our mornings doing some walks at Manor Park and Sheldrake.

Once all the grownups were fully vaccinated, we drove down to PA for our first in person visit since last October!  It was so wonderful to see everyone in person after so long only on video.

The kids loved the basement play area setup, took the dogs for a walk, climbed inside the train table Uncle Tim built, and we all had a lovely dinner together.

On Sunday morning we went out to a playground and got to see my cousin John and his family, including his new baby twins!

Then it was back to NY after a brief but satisfying visit!

One day in May we took a trip into Queens to Doughnut Plant, a walk along the Hudson, followed by another pizza lunch (this is becoming a theme).

On May 6 I got my second dose of the Moderna vaccine!  Hooray!

I felt pretty bad the following day but was feeling well enough by Mother’s Day to go for a walk at the Marshlands.

We continued the Mother’s Day celebration with tacos for lunch from Lala.

Sarah gave me this beautiful marigold, with a pot she’d decorated at school.

Blaine gave me a book of coupons for help around the house– one to empty the dishwasher, another to do the laundry (!), one to tidy the house (he suggested I wait until the house is really dirty) and the last to read to me.  So sweet!

We also received these beautiful tulips and a cheese tray and crackers from Gram and Grand-dad.  Such a nice treat!

Here are the kids helping me prep the asparagus for dinner.

Another weekend we drove up to Poughkeepsie to the Walkway Across the Hudson.  It’s 1.25 miles each way, so we walked one way and then had a pizza lunch before heading back.  Here’s Blaine with a statue of Sojourner Truth.

The library opened up for browsing again without an appointment, so the kids were excited to load up on physical books.

We’ve enjoyed more meals out on our patio, as well.

Andrew and Blaine went for their first professional haircuts since the pandemic hit last March!  I was flattered when the barber told me I hadn’t done such a bad job cutting their hair this past year.  🙂

The kids painted these flower pots Mom-Mom had sent them, and planted some flower seeds which they are now tending to.

Sarah and I have continued to get out to play tennis on the weekends to practice what she learns in her clinics.  She’s coming along, and seems to enjoy it so far!

Things started to feel more normal in April!  The kids were back in school, some more activities started up, and it was warm enough to get back to outdoor dining.

Here’s Sarah all ready for her first soccer clinic on Saturday mornings!

She also started tennis clinics at Hampshire Country Club (I found out this winter non-members can take lessons there) with a friend from school.  She’s been doing great and we’ve been going to the local courts on the weekend to play together!

A week after my first shot a mysterious rash appeared on my arm where I’d had the injection.  I would have been alarmed except some quick Internet research told me it was a common side effect they are calling “covid arm.”  The red spot slowly grew and covered most of my bicep until it finally went away after about a week!

We went on some more family hikes to enjoy the spring weather.  Here we are at the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, in a section along the Hudson where there used to be a big mansion called Rockwood Hall.  The kids liked this sign telling us to yield to centaurs.

Then we went to Arthur Ave Pizza in Pleasantville – yum!

One Sunday we were invited to go to a private movie showing at the AMC in Port Chester!  A family friend had rented out an entire theater and invited us to join them to see the Croods 2.  It was a huge theater for only 20 guests so we were very spaced out!  It was such a joy to be in a real movie theater, and brought back happy memories of going to the movies with my dad many Sundays growing up.  Blaine loved the movie, and loved the M&Ms.

We also started dining “Al Fresco” again now that the weather has been warming up.  Here we are out for one of our favorites, Lala Taqueria.

I’ve also been observing the progress of our clematis plants on the trellises on the side of our garage.  They’re growing pretty quickly!  The two pics below show one week’s progress, from 4/21 to 4/29.  Happy Spring, everyone!

April 8 was a big day!  The kids finally went back to school full-time!  They are fully masked except for outdoors lunch, they have plastic partitions between the desks, and lots of other precautions, but it’s a full day of school and we are so grateful.

Also on April 8 I drove out to Valhalla for a last minute appointment to get my first shot of the Moderna vaccine!  Hooray!

We celebrated Andrew’s birthday and Easter on the same day after we were back from Harbour Island!

Thanks to Gram and Grand-dad for sending the delicious chocolate bunnies for smashing (and eating)!

On April 5th we called into a very special Zoom birthday celebration for Great Grandmommy Dorothy, who was turning 99!

We also had our own little backyard egg hunt, and admired all the buds and early blooms on our new plantings.

The next day a beautiful golden retriever showed up in our backyard!  It didn’t have tags so we posted on social media and then took it on a walk around the block with a makeshift leash, and found its owners.

We decided to go ahead with our spring break trip to Harbour Island in the Bahamas.  It was a lot of planning — covid tests before, during and after the trip, plus the last minute passport renewal.  But in the end everything came together and we made it there and back, covid-free!  We flew in and out of White Plains airport which is a lot smaller than the other NYC airports (though still surprisingly crowded!).  We all wore our fancy masks for the whole trip and we relied heavily on the Nintendo Switch and tablet to keep the kids entertained.

We had a long time to wait in Fort Lauderdale so we left the airport and went to an outdoor seafood restaurant on the water for a nice lunch.  It was fun to be eating at a restaurant again after so long since we never tried out an igloo this winter!

Sarah’s top two teeth are on their way back in!

Then it was back to the airport for our Silver Airways flight to Eleuthera.

Then a short cab ride, boat ride, and another cab ride and we arrived at our VRBO house on “Juicy Hill” in Harbour Island, helpfully marked on these trash cans.

The place was beautiful!  The kids headed straight up to the roof deck for some much anticipated lounge time!

There was even a nice view of the water from the upstairs living room.

The kids wanted to jump right into the pool on the back patio.  We ended up splitting most days between the pool and the beach!

The kids were creeped out by these black cricket-like bugs on the plants around the house.  There were a lot of them, but they seemed to be harmless.  The landscaper came and cut back a lot of the plants they were feeding on while we were there.

Here’s the path to the beach, with a “No Trimming” sign.

The beach was beautiful, as always!  It’s called the “Pink Sand Beach” and the sand does have a pinkish hue from all the conch shells.  And the island is so quiet we had plenty of space.  A short walk would get us down to Mrs. V’s beach bar for a Goombay Smash to go.

We went down to the Blue Bar for lunch one day and Andrew enjoyed his favorite “Five Rum Pina Colada,” which is no longer on the menu but which they made just for him.

We didn’t get a babysitter this year so we took the kids along for our three dinners out.  Here we are enjoying the sunset at Aquapazza.  Andrew and I got the grouper in tomato broth and a conch pasta special; both were delicious!

The subsequent moonrise was pretty spectacular from our roof deck.

Here are the kids another night when we went to Runaway Hill for dinner.  We had a wonderful appetizer which was tuna wrapped around crispy shallots.  For the main I had a seafood crepe and Andrew had the grouper curry, perhaps?  Grouper is always a good guess.

Our last dinner was at the Landing, and I had a yummy ginger lobster with risotto this year.  Blaine was not really into this photo but he was so cute in his little shirt.

All the food was excellent, including the meals we (mostly Andrew) cooked at the house!  One day for a change of pace we took the water taxi across to Eleuthera and rented a car to drive around.  We saw some rock formations like the one below, we think it was the “Queen’s Bathtub” but we’re not totally sure.

We had a picnic lunch on James Cistern beach and Blaine collected some shells and a natural sponge.

We stopped at this place called “Sapphire Blue Hole” which was a deep cave where (crazy) people must go cliff diving.  There was a long rope for coming back up.  I was nervous even letting the kids look over the edge.

Then we went and saw this place called “Preacher’s Cave” which was a cave where some shipwrecked people sheltered for awhile.

And then on to another beautiful, secluded beach.

Back on Harbour Island, here’s a pic from our golf cart going up Juicy Hill!  Our poor little rental cart was not in great shape and always clanked and struggled to get up this little hill.

We had beautiful weather all week, until our last day when we had some wind and rain.  So we took advantage of the puzzles we found in the house.

It was such a beautiful week, and so refreshing to be in a place that was far from home (and a place that is taking such good precautions against covid!).