The Adirondacks

John has a great group of friends from his days at Bates. Dave and Kaja Reynolds are one of those couples that met in college, got married, and have lived happily ever after. They live with their two daughters (Sage, 10 and Emma, 15) in Colorado Springs, CO. They come East most summers and spend time in the Adirondacks. In years past, they've stopped through Vermont, but this year they invited us to join them on one of the Saranac Lakes.

They rent a house amongst a bunch of old classic Adirondack style camps-- rustic, log construction, birch bark interior buildings built in the early 1900's.


Emma and Sage are the kind of girls you can only hope Cally will become. They have an amazing ability to chat with adults, play with a 1 1/2 year old, and get along with each other.

It was so nice to spend some time in the lakes region of the Adirondacks. Mostly, it was a real pleasure to hang out with a lovely family, relax by the lake, canoe, read, and eat good food.

Summer Heat

This summer, Cally's Grandma and Bumpa decided to do something different. They rented a camp on Lake Champlain for two weeks instead of heading out to Cape Cod. Folks were ready to try a lake and John and I promised to have an abundance of babysitters and reservations at good restaurants for everyone to enjoy.

The location really was amazing:

Beautiful views of the Adirondacks, refreshing lake temperatures, plenty of space for all, and for the first week lovely breezes.

John, Cally and I decided to move over to the lake for the entire two weeks. While it was lovely to be in a place that felt so far away, but still only be 45 minutes from home, his proved to be a logistical nightmare. We weren't on the ball about packing because we knew we could come home if we forgot something, so we kept making lists of more stuff to bring the next time one of us swung by the house. That said, because I only had to work one day while we were there, I felt very far away and in a very different world from the foothills of Jericho where we live.

During the first week we took Grandma and Bumpa up for a field trip to Montreal. Aside from being held up at the Canadian border for 1/2 hour on the way up because we forgot any sort of identification for Cally, we had a lovely afternoon. We ate a delicious lunch of crepes and strolled along the river:




The weather the first week was chilly. I read a book for the first time since X-mas vacation and we all did a lot of relaxing. Some days didn't get above 65 degrees- as you can see from the fleece and jeans attire that Grandma and Cally are wearing below:


Things changed on the weekend of July 3rd........... We managed to catch the Bristol parade on Saturday morning before it got too hot. Cally saw lots of tractors and horses:

And, she even got to catch her first pony ride. She hasn't been able to stop talking about cookie the pony since....


Though it got warm that day, the evening cooled down and I think I recall wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants while watching Burlington's fireworks from our friends Jeff and Jules' boat:

By Tuesday, which was Cally's cousin Will's first birthday, things started to get unbearable. The wind stopped, the camp absorbed heat, the lake developed algae blooms, and the fans around the house just couldn't seem to get the temperature below 90 degrees.

Fortunately, for Will and good planning by his parents, we had a late morning birthday party. So, things didn't get too hot until later.......


Cally was pretty happy to be having her second cupcake ever:


By Wednesday, we were running out of cheerfulness and places that were tolerable to sleep at the camp. We managed to get some reprieve by going out to air conditioned places for dinner, but our poor babysitters deserved hazardous duty pay for staying in the house during he worst part of the day.

In the end, Bumpa decided to pull the plug on the Forced Family Outing (FFO). Everyone had put up a pretty good front, but no one was really having that much fun anymore. And so, we all decided to pack up early and head in different directions. Uncle James, Aunt Paula, Kesley and Jameson headed back to Duxbury, MA where they had central air conditioning and ocean breezes. John headed into the Adirondacks for what one of his students called a "bikram backpacking" trip, and the rest of us went to Stowe for a night at Uncle James and Aunt Paula's place where at least the bedrooms had a.c.

You win some and you lose some. As Bumpa said, "this was like getting rain on a ski vacation". I think it was way worse than that........ maybe that's because I can deal with cold and I can deal with rain, but I moved to Vermont to NOT have to deal with days and days of heat. In any case, it was a real treat to get Cally and her cousins on the Meyer side together for the first time since Will was born. We were lucky to be able to do that.

Alas, it poured last night and the temperatures have been hanging out in the 70's today. It's still muggy and buggy, but I'll take this over the heat any day. Actually, I'll take below zero temperatures for a month before another heat wave like this again!

Summer!

It's official! Summer has started for Cally's mom. I finally have time to post some photos, do some organizing, relax, and hang out with Cally for days on end. Here is a little recap of the past few weeks. John has been busy honing his carpentry skills, first by building a couple of raised beds and then constructing a sandbox for Cally. As you can see, Cally is all about being a helper:




The real carpentry skills are coming in handy for a massive project we have finally embarked upon. It's slow going, but here's a picture of the progress that we've made so far:


Today, Cally woke up from her nap to a rainy day. She decided to snuggle down with Lobby for some hugs and kisses. Fortunately, Lobster seems to love Cally as much as she loves her.



Here's to many more relaxing afternoons, warm baked goods, and fun adventures!

FFO's

When I was growing up, every once in a while, my parents made us decline playdates, skip sports practices, or avoid homework assignments for F.F.O.'s (Forced Family Outings). Participation was mandatory and there were definitely times that I was pretty unexcited to hang out with my family. This weekend, I put off grading labs, John avoided finishing a qualifying paper, and we let the lawn remain unmowed so that we could go on the first of many F.F.O.s with Cally. We packed up our camping gear and set out for the solitude of the mountains.


Cally isn't old enough to put up much of a fight. In fact, I don't think she really knew where she was going or what she was going to do. She does know about backpacks and loves to ride in one, but I'm not sure how keen she was on being stuck in one for several hours while being shwacked in the face with wet branches. Whatever is the case, Cally took to the backpacking like a fish to water. She talked/babbled for the entire hike up, ate well , and slept like a rock in the crowded two-person tent.




We almost canceled our FFO at the last minute because of a forecast for rain. Alas, we decided to go anyway. It did rain on us and it did make for a soggy dinner, but if it hadn't rained, we wouldn't have had a sunset like this:

The next morning we had a "Homer Simpson" breakfast of donuts and coffee before heading down the trail.


Cally even took a little snooze:


Even though I moaned and groaned about having to go on FFO's as a kid, I look back on them so fondly now. Hopefully, Cally will feel the same way.

Friends & Family

Summer is in the air! Cally donned her suit for some pond swimming at the Harris/Plimpton Homestead. I don't know what she loved more, the pond, the bike, or the other kids:

It's also that time of year when things get really busy around here: John was wrapping up the academic year and getting everything in order for his logistics team to start working on the orientation trips he runs in August. I'm just trying to figure out how I can get all the last assignments graded while also trying to motivate 1/4 of my freshmen to pass Environmental Earth Science this semester-- which means spending a lot of extra hours at school for mandatory after school "help" sessions. The weather has been amazing and so that is always a distraction. And finally, Cally is keeping us on our toes-- running around, talking up a storm (she was recently overheard saying "excuse me, Nate" when trying to get by her daycare buddy and slide down the slide).

Even with all that we have going on, we did manage to get away two weekends ago for a very special weekend in Connecticut. Grandma Meyer had a birthday and Nana Abbott wanted to throw a sort of "Meet and Greet" for Cally and their extended family. So, we headed down to Darien on a Thursday night and enjoyed some spectacular weather, fun adventures, and familiar faces.

Cally just loves my parents dog, Maggie. She can't get enough of those soft ears and follows her around trying to give hugs whenever she can.

And Grandma spent some time swinging and jumping on the trampoline with Cally.

And she even got to hang out and hear Grandpa read a story to her:

We journeyed up to Farmington on Sunday for brunch with the extended Abbott clan. Cally and I were introduced to a few new faces and reacquainted with some old ones:


I think there were over 20 members of the extended Abbott family who gathered at Peg and Art's house. I don't know what was more impressive, the amazing food that they prepared or the gathering of all those folks together in one place at the same time.

My New Favorite Holiday

It's official, I have found my favorite day of the year! Even though it snowed all day and never got above the the 30's today, I still loved it.

It started with Cally sleeping until almost 7:30am and John jumping up to do the morning routine (changing diaper, dressing, and feeding her) while I slept in. I awoke to the two of them greeting me in the bedroom-- New York Times and a steaming cup of coffee in tow. After reading the paper for an hour, I came downstairs to this:

Eggs benedict, home fries, and a garnish of grapes.

After a raucaus dance party at the Ganzenmuller's the night before, Cally was ready to take a morning nap (which she hardly ever takes anymore) and went down for two hours! So, after eating a delicious breakfast, John and I jumped back in bed to read a few more sections of the paper. It's rare that we ever stay in bed past 7am, so this was a real treat!

By mid-afternoon, after Cally put in some time at the new table that we got on Craigslist, recently we decided to get outside and do something active-- if not for us, for Zephy.

After all, I sort of feel like a mom to Zephy and Lobster, too:

So, we dressed for a run only to decide it was too windy and cold for that. In the end, we decided to go for a hike. We'd put Cally's winter jacket and boots away, so I had to dig them out for the weather. Fortunately, Cally loves going "outside" no matter what the weather.

Half way through our hike, disaster struck! Zephy came running up to us with dozens of quills in her face and paw. Having only heard about this happening to friend's dogs, I immediately prepared myself for the worst-- an ER visit to the 24-hour vet where they charge you $100 just to walk through the door or getting bit by the dog. That happened to a good friend's dog who has been quilled 4 to 5 times and after the most recent encounter, her husband decided to take the quills out himself, only to land 9 stitches on his arm from the dog attacking him. So, it was with much hesitation that I even touched Zephy, a she can be a pretty anxious dog. However, she was amazing. She sat quietly as I pulled each and every quill out of her mouth, lips, and paw. I didn't get a picture of her face, but when I recently googled "porcupine" to show Cally a picture, this image came up:

That's when I realized it was an even more special Mother's day than I thought it was. Not only did I get a rare morning to be totally lazy and was treated to delicious food, but we averted what could have been a very expensive and time consuming disaster.

And this is why I love this day. It's the day that I'm reminded that I'm a mom-- the best role I've ever been given in life. I've had a lot of roles to play..... sister, daughter, friend, teacher, team player, coach, partner and wife. I've always taken those roles seriously and done my best to be all that I can be, but I've never felt the satisfaction that I feel about being a mom. Both "catching" John and then having Cally truly have brought a light to my life that I had never known before. Both have made me feel like I'm really good at something for the first time in my life. It's an incredible feeling and I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to be a part of this lovely family and take on the role of mothering this little spirit: