Those who spend a lot of time with us know that arts and crafts are a big part of our daily repertoire. I recently took to cataloguing all of the girls’ masterpieces from this past year and wanted to share a few of Sophia’s that are my favorites.
Interpretation of a Wave
Sophia’s Flowers and Trees
Abstract?
Years ago, eight in fact, Evan’s best man spoke at our wedding. Among other things, he spoke about all the time and adventures they had shared over the years since meeting one another in kindergarten. Kindergarten, I must remind you, was a long, long time ago.
Many years have passed since grade school and while their lives have taken them to different geographical places, these lifelong friends make time for each other when it matters. This past weekend my in-laws hosted a most lovely reunion for Evan and his friend. He and his little boy, were visiting his parents who also joined.
Our Saturday morning play-date was special because this was the first time Evan and his friend both spent time together as fathers. And seeing them catching up, the kids toddling around, made me realize how fleeting life’s moments are.
Time is the most precious gift and that is exactly what these two people with full lives gave each other — a few hours to catch up. No matter how busy their lives have gotten, they have always made time for one another and, I am sure, so it will always be.
The girls tore into their lovely presents shortly after the toy dust settled following the play date. They have been in sticker and coloring book heaven ever since.
If you live anywhere in the between Washington D.C., and New York you are most likely well aware of the great heat wave that has been sweeping our neck of the woods for the better part of the week. The heat and worse yet the humidity helped simplify the list of activities we could partake in down to two: the pool or play indoors. Having tried the latter on Saturday, Evan and I piled the kids into our car and braved the 1.25 hour ride to my in-laws so that we could all jump into the pool and try to keep cool. The girls enjoyed their time at Grammie and Pop’s house and so did we. Sophia and Eliza played with toys that are new to them and Evan and I got to unwind in the country.
In other news, we’ve recently gotten into a few new (to us) books, crafts, and activities and thought we’d share our fun finds here.
It is suddenly the end of the first week of August. Fall will be here before we know it and I don’t feel like we’re really ready to bid adieu to summer. We started this weekend on Thursday by taking the girls to Spruce Street Harbor Park where they tried their hand at old time classics like Connect4.
There were also card games, which Sophia has really embraced, this weekend. We wait to play them when Eliza is napping or else have to contend with a naughty “helper“.
Eliza’s naps provide ample opportunities to carry out science experiments, too. Evan and Sophia conducted an experiment called “the dancing raisins” where they observed a reaction that occurs in combining baking soda and vinegar. In reality, baking soda and vinegar is an example of an acid-base reaction whereby the combining of the two produces carbon dioxide. To the four year old observer, however, the reaction is a bit of magic, but the raisins that were elevated by gas bubbles sure looked like they were dancing.
When we weren’t playing cards or carrying out acid-base reaction experiments, we spent time like most other families with young kids—on the playground swinging from the monkey bars with bubbles and chalk in our hands.
I took this picture at the Race Street Pier where we went on a particularly glorious summer walk after work. Eliza and Sophia are always on the move. I can’t quite figure out when they’ve gotten so big or how I can slow down time and savor them more. Therein lies the challenge: spending time with them and building your future relationship now. Relationships don’t happen over night and they cannot happen through a series of sparse moments. They happen through meaningful and frequent interactions, through finding common interests, and through conversations.
Sophia and I have the best conversations as of late. One memorable one comes to mind where she wanted the same of something just because Eliza had this amount. We talked about not measuring yourself or what you have against others’ but valuating your possessions in terms of what it is that would make you happy.
Having had our fill of Maine, we drove down to Boston to explore the city and its offerings. I’ve been to Boston many times though I mostly stayed to Cambridge where I was, at the time, collaborating with Draper Labs. It had been a while since I saw the city proper and explored its vibrant neighborhoods. Realizing that strolling the streets all day long may not be nearly as exciting for Sophia and Eliza as it is for Evan and I, we structured our day around one kid-centered activity followed by strolling and exploration.
The afternoon after our arrival we spent settling into our hotel which was located in Beacon Hill and then strolled to dinner from where we visited the Boston Fire Museum. The next day, we toured Harvard noting that the girls would be graduating class of 2032 and 2035. We noted that until we overheard that tuition at Harvard is something like $67,000/year. That is this year’s tuition for a single year.
We loved touring Harvard. The campus is beautiful filled with green spaces and architecturally inspiring buildings. I find that college campuses and the student body exude such a wonderful energy. Last year, Sophia visited Philadelphia’s Museum of Natural History and we thought that the one housed at Harvard would be a great educational experience and provide a bit of respite from the sun. We are glad we opted for the Harvard Museum of Natural History instead of the Aquarium because it was so well curated. The only thing that topped that day was a trip to the world’s only Curious George store where we picked out some coloring books and noted a great book.
We made our last day in Boston about the much-anticipated Children’s Museum and we weren’t disappointed. The girls loved all the exhibits and there was even things for Evan and me to get excited about such as the Japanese House . We rounded off our last day with an evening stroll of the liberty trail and a splash in one of the public fountains.
Evan and I were a little hesitant to embark on this vacation/trip/getaway but we are so glad that we did. We had a wonderful time, saw, learned, and enjoyed fun experiences. More than that, we bonded, spent time as a family and we can’t wait to do it again.
Here are a few dining recommendations:
I grew up in a family that traveled extensively and am incredibly fortunate to have lived and visited many exciting and captivating places in the world. Evan and I share this passion together and spent months over our 15 years together traveling.
We feel that the time has come for us to introduce our wanderlust to the girls. With that, we have kicked things off with an easy first jaunt up to New England.
It is our hope that through these trips we can introduce our kids to the big wide world, its diversity, and impact how Eliza and Sophia view themselves as citizens of planet Earth.
The details of the trip are pretty simple — 2 days in Maine, 3 days in Boston. While we are content on the beach, especially with a book in hand, we wanted to mix things up to make sure Sophia and Eliza felt occupied. Our flight out was on Thursday afternoon ensuring that we beat the mad weekend rush to all the beaches in Maine and got a head start on lobster rolls fresh air. Kennebunkport served as our home base in Maine. We visited the Portland Headlight Lighthouse and Portland on one day and made the next day a beach day.
I found an astoundingly small number of recommendations for restaurants and things to do when planning the details of the trip. What I did find and what we discovered ourselves, I am sharing so that others can hopefully benefit.
Accommodations:
Dining:
Philadelphia is glorious at night time. The street lights twinkle, the skyline is lit up in the most glorious way, and the summertime air feels magical. I knew all of this, of course, but somehow, seem to have forgotten while mired in the minutiae of every day family life. For the first time since becoming parents, Evan and I had our house all to ourselves; The girls went to my parents house for a sleepover and we enjoyed a rare night out.
The sun had set, the street lights shining bright, and while walking down Race street right past Franklin Square we noticed that there was an outdoor screening of an old movie. Everything about that moment was quintessentially Philly, utterly charming, and more than ever before, it felt like home.
Meanwhile my parents played hosts not to just Sophia and Eliza but to my nephew Alex. There was gardening, water games, the playground, books, crafts, a little bit of baking, and chocolate custards at a local establishment. The sleepover, which I had a few trepidations about, was a stellar success and the girls are excited about the next time they’ll have a chance to stay over again.
After a quick jaunt to visit with Evan’s family, we spent the remainder of Sunday enjoying each other’s company and being mad scientists. Sophia has shown a keen interest in science and so she and I worked through a few chemistry and physics experiments. We learned that oil and water are afraid of each other and that heat makes air molecules dance so much they fill balloons with air without any other assistance.
And before the sleepover and the science experiments, there was dance class… and I simply cannot resist this posting this picture.
The best adventures are the ones that aren’t necessarily planned. We took our little wild ones to see some big and really wild animals at the Philadelphia Zoo. It must be noted that we’re members of the zoo and admission and parking are free for us for the duration of the membership (1 year). The zoo is also a 10 minute ride from our house and yet, somehow, we have managed to omit the zoo from our weekend lineup for all of spring. However this happened, it was remedied on an overcast and fairly cool, albeit, humid summer’s morning.
Not one to overstimulate my children and try to see and do everything, we took it easy and visited only the exhibits the girls wanted to see. We saw the polar bear, the penguins, the reptiles, and the big cats. These were the girls’ choices and I am pleased they led the way. The zoo posts all sorts of factoids about its inhabitants. For example, did you know that orangoutangs make new nests for themselves every day? Not only that, but they also make pillows, mattresses and even blankets from leaves and straw daily. Now that’s cleanliness and room service I can get behind!
Just as the crowds started to get significant, we headed home to peace, quiet, and air conditioning. That evening, we grilled middle eastern chicken kabobs. The kids were invited to Baba and Deda’s house for the better part of the day on Sunday and they’re not ones to turn down an invitation from their grandparents. I hear there was gardening and splashing in the back yard as well as books, games, and activities. All in all a much needed lovely weekend.
This past weekend was supposed to be amazing. I had grand plans for the three days at home catching up on rest and relaxation. Except that just as Sophia was getting over a stomach bug, Eliza came down with it and Sophia somehow, somewhere picked up the common cold.
In the end, we did enjoy some of the weekend despite all the time spent nursing the girls to health.
My sister hosted a beautiful dinner to celebrate the Fourth of July and we baked a Danish dream cake to accompany our singing her a very Happy Birthday. I took the girls to a woodworking gallery where we ogled chairs which cost $10,000.
Evan and I cooked; we made ice cream, lamb chops, burgers, chicken cutlets, kugel, and a peach and blueberry crumble, too.
And although we would have done just fine, we appreciated all the help my parents lent us this weekend. My Dad came in on Sunday to spend a bit of 1×1 time with Sophia and then, the girls both spent the better part of the day at their house on Monday.
More than the hands-on help or the blintzes and chicken soup, what we got was just what we needed—support. When you’re up in the middle of the night with a baby who is so warm that you’re sweating holding her and are not sure if you should head to the ER, it’s nice to know that you’re not alone.
All the reasons we moved back to Philadelphia and our decisions to uproot our life in Maryland are justified each time we see our family.