Thinking about the end

June 30

We have entered the last month of our time here and we are really trying to take advantage of it. Chad pointed out a few weeks ago that we need to think of each day as the last day. If you think of something you'd like to do "sometime before we leave," then it's time to do it now. Last night we went ot family movie night at the library, which was a event we had missed a few times already. That was the last movie night before we leave. Yesterday afternoon we visited the Ithaca Children's Garden - three acres of outdoor freedom. There was a giant mud pit for International Mud Day, but I put restrictions of my three kids because I wasn't sure how I'd get them home in the car if they really soaked themselves to the skin in mud. That, and our laundry machine here is so terrible, I just didn't think it could handle truly dirty clothes.

June was an busy month of Ithaca activities. After returning from Vermont we had a few days of quiet. We managed to see the Triple Crown winning horse race at the local bar on the corner. In spite of all our traveling, we actually saw all three races live on TV this year. The Kentucky Derby we saw at a restaurant in Mystic, CT. The Preakness, we watched at Emily's house in Vermont and the Belmont we saw here in Ithaca.

Playing with toys at Hopshire Brewery

The bar where we watched the Triple Crown race

The kids also signed up for a cooking class at the Wegman's grocery store. I will definitely miss Wegman's when we leave. I will miss the childcare there for Isla, and the fancy and ordinary groceries all in one store, but most of all the magical shopping list app that tells me where all the groceries are in order in the store! I won't miss the crowds.

In the second week, there was an idyllic day with no rain and comfortable sun, when the carousel in the park was free. I think Isla might have ridden about 10 times. I know that I rode about six times and the kids went without me a few times.

A typical day in the Ithaca house

The cub scout pack had a family camp out the following weekend. Of course, it rained a lot. It rains a lot here. I know it's been raining in the midwest as well, but it rains often here. We slept in a bunkhouse that night. Benjamin was sad not to set up the tents, but Chad and I were very happy not to have to dry out the tents again, especially since we were going to be camping again in just a few days.

In order to get to the lake week in Minnesota, we drove acorss Canada and Michigan so that we could stop at Mackinac Island and camp at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula. We had a beautiful day at Mackinac and some ideal camping weather. Even though the mosquitoes were nearly unbearable, we were glorying in the dry morning packing of the tents! It didn't rain in the night, or even reach the dewpoint, so everything was pleasantly dry.

In Minnesota, the kids caught fish and paddles boast and we all had a great week of free play time. We realized how tightly we had been lively here in Ithaca and enjoyed a week of spreading out and roaming freely away from each other.

Watkin's Glen and Rochester; Montreal, New Hampshire, and Vermont

We had a nice week at home. Since school is out in Lincoln, and both boys have finished their math worksheets from the school, we are taking it a little easier on the homeschool front. We do a little writing, and little math review, and lots and of reading. Benjamin and Oliver have been playing Civilization and have been motivated to look up lots of cultural leaders and history. I took them to the library to use the encyclopedias and we were all surprised at how much easier it was than trying to find a quick summary online. If all you want is to know is "who was Montezuma?" the print encyclopedia is just the right length and you don't have to sort through all those websites. It's a disappointing revelation, since I think I've turned down more than one offer of encyclopedia sets that I could have stashed in the basement bookshelves. We also got on an origami kick this week, which really just devolved into folding paper airplanes and having a huge paper airplane battle outside.

On Saturday, Chad suggested we go to Watkin's Glen to hike the gorge trail there. I had no idea what to expect and it was really spectacular. Dozens of waterfalls through a narrow gorge flanked by a very tourist friendly trail meant that there were lots and lots of people there. It's a major tour bus stop between New York City and Niagara Falls, so it was like hiking in Disney World. We heard very little English all day, which perhaps gave the gorge an even more exotic feel.

On Sunday afternoon we drove up to Rochester, NY to visit Seneca Park Zoo with Chad's high school friend and her family.She and Chad hadn't seen each other in twenty years so they caught up on all their high school friends and lives since then. After a while they were engrossed in professor politics. Her husband and daughter were very fun and Isla had a great time hanging out with an older girl for the afternoon.

On Memorial Day, we attended a service in the veteran's park in Ithaca. Then the kids played on a brand new playground that is close to our house.

Chad and the boys marched in the Ithaca Festival Parade with the cub scouts. I don't think that Isla had any memory of watching a parade where they hand out candy, but she got the hang of putting out her hand and picking up candy off the street pretty quickly.

On Friday afternoon we drove up to Montreal.Chad had found a hotel just across from UQAM so we would be able to walk to Old Montreal the next day. Friday night we walked down Ste. Catherine and found a Portuguese restaurant. We had really yummy chicken and the best poutine I ever remember eating.

The next morning we drove to Fairmont Bagels for Montreal style bagels. From there we drove to the Biodome zoo. We spent lots of time exploring their rainforest, Laurentian forest and polar zones. After the Biodome we drove back over to Schwartz' deli for Montreal smoked meat. We just beat the giant lunch rush. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Pointe de Calliere, a museum of archeology and history of Montreal. For supper we ate crepes in Old Montreal's tourist zone.

Sunday morning started with Mass at Notre Dame Basilica. Luckily it was First Communion and Confirmation so there were fully printed programs and Chad and I could follow along with the French. I also got to sneak in a couple of photos during the service while all the other parents were snapping pictures of their children. From there we drove down to New Hampshire and Franconia Notch State Park. It was cool and rainy, but we had a really nice, lonely hike through the Flume at Franconia. We camped that night and it rained ALL night. We woke up damp and cold, but everyone was surprisingly not very whiny about it.

We drove to Mount Washington, talking about the mountain views that we couldn't see through the clouds and rain. We decided to still drive to the top and it was freezing at the top. After checking out the museum, but headed back down the mountain, stopping once to check out an alpine meadow. From there we drove to Poultney, Vermont to stay with some friends from our KBS days. I think we have finally seen everyone that we know within a five hour drive of Ithaca.