Journey to Connecticut

This weekend marked the last of our lacrosse roadtrips, and the last of five straight weeks on the road.  We did four lacrosse trips with one family weekend in the middle...but not a whole lot of memories to show for it!  So, the hope was to make this last one a big one.  Last year we tried to do something fun on each trip--the lantern festival in Syracuse, the fun activity place with Jacob's teammates in Massachusetts, and a whole bunch of stuff on the trip to Philadelphia.  I had to miss the Jersey trip, though they did do a team pizza party, and if I did go I would have pushed hard for the Jersey Shore!  But this year, nothing was working out.  It was just Jacob and me for the Syracuse trip, and we were pretty beat on Saturday night so the gluten-free bakery and dinner out were all we could muster.  Philly was still during school, so we couldn't really extend that trip at all, and our game schedule pretty much dashed any hopes of other activities, so IKEA had to suffice.  In Saratoga we were all just too darn hot to do much of anything, though the evening team gathering at the hotel was nice.  But as far as family activities, we were sorely lacking.  I was determined to have this trip make up for it.

Originally we wanted to leave Thursday, but Jacob had practice that night, and given the challenges we've had this year, Craig really wanted him to go.  He also had a therapy appointment that day, so I finally gave up trying to make that happen and settled on Friday.  Of course, practice ended up rained out anyway, but I guess it was good to have a day to pack and take care of a few things after Wednesday's hellish hoop assembly.  My goal was to get out the door by 9am, which meant an early-ish morning for me, but I calculated that we should be able to hit up both Howe Caverns and a baseball game in Hartford.  I tried to leave a good amount of buffer since I know we stop a lot, but it became apparent as we drove that it would be tighter than we thought.  We left about 15 minutes late, but I wanted to stop for caffeine and in general it just seemed to take forever to get going.  Then, when we made a stop near Utica, we ran into our lacrosse/school/church friends on their way to another tournament, so the chat with them took a bit longer than planned, which was fun but tightened things further.  I think we arrived around 1pm at our first destination: Howe Caverns!

I went to Howe Caverns on my 8th grade class trip.  It was our second stop after the Baseball Hall of Fame in nearby Cooperstown, and I remember it being pretty cool.  Craig had never been there, and while I wasn't sure the kids would love it, they were intrigued enough and I figured it could be one of those family bucket list things you just do to say you did it.  So we did.  Of course, when we walked in there was a huge line for the cave tour, at which point I realized the baseball game would most likely not happen that night.  We had to buy tickets and then had about a half hour wait--not bad, but more than anticipated.  We did run into Jacob's teammate, his sister, and their grandparents (who were subbing in for the weekend since their parents had to attend a wedding).  Small world yet again! 

Finally it was our turn to go into the cave.  It's always 52 degrees down there, and I knew that I did fine in shorts and a jacket as a kid, so that's what we did.  In the end it was pretty chilly and we were really ready for warmth by the end.  I think that sort of killed it for Jacob more than anyone, but he was still a good sport...thank goodness!  The tour was cool.  There was a lot of dramatic lighting throughout that highlights cool areas of the cave.  I think it was mostly white lighting when I was there years ago, but I assume the advances in LED lighting have changed things!

The view coming off the elevator

Stairs up to the bridal altar and Winding Way

Lots of mineral deposits

The Chinese Pagoda

You're not supposed to touch any of the mineral deposits because it prevents them from growing further, but there were a couple that were done and could be touched.

I have pretty much the same picture from 26 years ago!  The one on the left is called the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

One of the more memorable parts of my tour in 8th grade was the story about a mouse that escaped from someone on the tour, and it was kicked down into the water, which was cold, and the mouse was so cold that it froze to the ceiling.  They still tell that story.  The kids believed it!

Sort of gross to think of that as a mouse!

This is the one they take souvenir pics in front of.  In our rush we forgot to even look at ours!

This is the Pool of Peace, so called because the water is so still it acts like a mirror.  Hard to see where it starts and finishes, but look closely at the circle near the center of the picture.  The top half is real and the bottom is a reflection.

This is called the pipe organ, and a formation across from it ends up amplifying sound to "play" the organ.

Wow!

At the end of the walking tour is the boat ride.  We ended up at the front of the boat on the way out, which was cool.

Starting view!

This was a hole in the rock with dramatic lighting at the far end of the boat ride, before we turned around and floated back.

Ready to start going back!

After the boat ride we had to retrace most of our steps to exit, which was fine since everything looks different coming from a different direction. 

Near the end was the Winding Way, which I remember loving because it was a super narrow tunnel.  I have a picture of a friend and I in it, and I was eager to experience it again!  So, funny story.  As we entered the tunnel I was looking for a good spot to take a picture.  The first picture I took was the one on the left, side by side with the one from my first visit:

If you study the rocks, you'll see they're at the exact same spot!  What are the odds?!

In the end, we were all relieved to be done and get back up to pleasant temperatures, but I think as a whole we all enjoyed it.  It was neat to see what nature does on its own and to relive little parts of the tour that I remembered.  I was disappointed they didn't shut the lights off in the cave like they did before, because it's rare we're ever in that amount of darkness!

Back in the light, we walked across the parking lot to the activity that I think sold the kids on the whole trip.  But first, isn't the main building just adorable?

And how gorgeous is the view?!

The boys were excited to pan for treasures!  For $20 we got a giant bag of dirt that promised to provide all sorts of rocks, fossils, and more.  The boys each got to do about four rounds of running it through the water and revealing their treasures.  We got all sorts of cool rocks (we have to really study the charts we were given to identify them), arrowheads, shark teeth, and more.  Clearly the bags are set up to have a certain content and I have no idea what's real and what's not, but it was fun to see what popped up.  Both boys have a nice-sized Ziploc to sort through now that we're home, and I think that was a highlight of the trip for them!

Inside the building there was a cool fountain that you see behind Carter below.  The top half turned and water ran down the sides., basically disappearing into the floor.

A boy and his treasures!

We headed out knowing we'd have to miss the game, but it was definitely worth the stop.  Our route back to the Thruway took us up on the hills opposite the site, and I was excited to get this picture...

We still had a long drive to Connecticut, unfortunately, so it turned into a pretty long day.  We tracked down a Chipotle for dinner in Massachusetts, and finally arrived at our hotel in time to see a pretty sunset over the airport across the road.  Jacob had napped in the car and still fell asleep almost instantly upon arrival.  Carter took a little longer as Craig and I caught up on life a bit before bed, but we were all out pretty early, which was important since we had a very early morning and long day ahead!  But I'd call day one a success!

Freaking Hot Fourth

Our Fourth of July can really be summed up in three pictures:

Tuesday night we started off the holiday just as we did last year, with a trip to the drive-in.  We had been wanting to see The Incredibles 2, but with all of this traveling we've been doing, there hadn't been a chance.  It was a very warm evening so we headed out and had a nice time snuggled up in the van.  We almost always see someone we know there, and this time one of Jacob's lacrosse coaches ended up two vehicles down!

We had a nice sleep-in on the 4th, and then I hopped out of bed hoping to get a head start on getting Jacob's new basketball hoop together.  It came the week after his birthday but it had been sitting in a giant box in the garage until we had time to tackle it.  Of course, when we finally had time, it was over 90 degrees with a heat index over 100.  I spearheaded the assembly but definitely needed help from Craig because it was tall and heavy and not always easy to move.  It took multiple sessions from about 11am through the evening, but it was mostly finished.  I only cried twice.  It was so hot, and it took so many steps, and sometimes things just didn't go together quite right.  I also messed up a few times--nothing that couldn't be fixed, but once it took a lot of effort--but in the heat everything was exhausting.  The instructions were confusing, but the thing is standing.  I finished it up this morning with a couple finishing touches I just couldn't get around to yesterday.  We still need to add more sand to the base, but the bags are laying on it for now.  The sand in the bags was too wet to pour, so it's going to take some effort to get them in.  We're working on it.

After the very long day of assembly (with two pool breaks), I really just wanted to go see some fireworks.  I didn't really want to make the effort, though, so I convinced everyone to hop in the van and drive up to the Wegmans near the town hall where the fireworks were, so we could watch them from there.  I knew people do that, but I wasn't sure what the view was like or how busy it was.  At least if it stunk, we could just leave.  So I cleaned up and had everyone pick a drink and snack, and off we went!  It was actually nice having a movie and electronics to keep everyone occupied while we waited, and to be able to turn on the air if needed!  The display was very nice (see above for our view), and aside from a little traffic getting out, it was fine.  It was a pleasant, lazy way to watch the display after a very long, hot day.

I woke up this morning very sore and tired after the assembly.  I guess I was using more muscles than I thought!  Jacob is very happy with his hoop, which is a relief after all the debating we did over it.  We got the less expensive one and he's thrilled with how sturdy it is.  Whew.  We're still dealing with a lot of money-related stuff with him--from wanting to buy new sneakers again, to wanting to stay in nice hotels, to him being convinced he'll make the NBA and make a million dollars.  It's hard to talk him down, but I hope that an experience like this--where he sees that the less expensive option was good--or when we stay in a lesser hotel but can do more fun things instead, will help him with a practical understanding of the value of money.  Just because it's more expensive doesn't mean it's better!

So, today we stuck around because of Jacob's practice (and a therapy appointment), and it turned out his practice got rained out after a short time.  Boo.  Instead we're taking off in the morning and hopefully have a full, fun day ahead to start off our last lacrosse weekend of the summer.  Here we go!

Saratoga

After the graduation on Friday, we hopped in the van and made our way to Saratoga.  It was my fourth time on the Thruway route to Syracuse in four weeks (with presumably one more to go unless our side plans reroute us), so I'm getting pretty bored with that trip, but at least I'm getting more used to what's where and knowing better where we are in case we need to stop.  The trip wasn't bad, but it was dark just past Syracuse so we had a couple hours in the dark.  The good news is that the moon looked cool for a while and the end part of the trip was off the Thruway and therefore had more to see, but we were very happy to get to our hotel by 11:30.  We were a little annoyed to find out our hotel had no elevator, particularly since we had an extra heavy cooler with us, but it's hard to stay in tourist areas without breaking the bank!

We had to be at the field by 8am Saturday.  We had three games, and we knew that by the end it was going to be dangerously hot.   Even though it was still cool enough first thing in the morning, it felt like quite the hike from the lot to the tents.  However, Carter was ready to go!

The morning started out pleasant enough, especially in the shade, and the first game wasn't too bad.  We had a pretty easy schedule that day, too, which was extra good news since it meant Jacob got to play more.  We won 13-2 in game one, and 12-1 in game two.

 

After that we had a bit of a break, and the day got progressively hotter as we waited.

Cooling off!

We had no idea how the boys were going to hold up.  It was in the mid-to-upper 90s with a heat index over 100.  We did everything we could to get the boys to eat and drink during that break.  Luckily, it turned out to be another easy game, with a 14-1 win.  The pools were a little screwed up in this tournament, with our 2027 team getting a tougher draw than us, but we knew the true test would be in the playoff brackets the next day.  Jacob ended the day with two assists and some good plays, which was better than he'd had since the first tournament.  We were thrilled!

We dragged ourselves back to the hotel, cooled off, and cleaned up.  Some families were getting together at one of the hotels where the boys could swim, and we made a pit stop at Target to pick up a suit for Jacob, since he needed one anyway.

Carter just had to get his picture taken outside of Target.  I know we have the same photo of Jacob somewhere...

 
We had a nice time at the hotel, chatting with parents, watching siblings hang out, and trying to keep tabs on the boys as they moved from the pool to a room and back.  We got pizza and enjoyed the still warm but slowly cooling evening.

Carter tried playing with the younger siblings, at one point showing them how to play a game.  I had to take a picture of him holding court, because he's so darn cute when he's explaining and gesturing like an adult.

He did have a bit of a rough go with one of the siblings (different one than the one that hurt his finger in Philly), because they were playing lacrosse and he ended up with a (short-lived) fat lip.  Sigh.  Shortly after that we packed up and headed out to get the boys in bed at a reasonable time.  We didn't have an early morning, but we knew it would come soon enough!  God knows we needed the sleep from the heat alone!

As much as it seemed like it should have been a leisurely morning, we still had to get up relatively early and rush around to ensure we could pack up and get on the road on time.  Packing coolers and gathering up suitcases takes up more time than you'd think!  Our first game wasn't until 11am, and it was already incredibly hot.  And of course this time we ended up parked literally as far as we could be from our fields, at the far diagonal from where we needed to be.  UGH.  Just walking caused us to sweat profusely.  It was gross.  A team of parents mobilized on the sideline (which was mercifully in the shade) to spray down the boys and keep them hydrated.  Even so, one kid came out about halfway through our first game (his parents kept him out--yay for smart parenting), and you could tell the boys were chugging along.  They still put in a great effort and won 9-7 (although it wasn't that close until the end), and we were headed off to the championship...again!

Of course, that meant a final game in the worst of the heat.  It was in the 90s with a heat index around 106.  Awful.  Completely miserable, even in the shade.  There were even a couple teams that opted out of their lower-finish final game, presumably because it wasn't even safe to play.  Our break between games was much needed but only prolonged the agony.  No amount of shade gave relief--only the random breeze once in a while, as it hit the abundant amount of sweat everywhere.  It was so hot that even a referee got heat stroke!  The game was close for a bit, and Jacob didn't play as much as we would have liked, but he did get in a few times.  As the game neared the end, we took a decent lead, but a while before when we expected the final whistle, we saw the boys mobbing the goalie and realized that they may have cut the game short due to the heat.  We won 8-4!

Stopping at the booth to get their championship shirts was just one more thing on a very hot day, but we were happy to do it!

It was so bad by the end that even my shoulders were sweating!  On the drive home the temperature got as high as 98.  When we stopped for a bathroom and snack, we couldn't believe how hot it felt.  I was never so happy to get home and stay in the air.  I had turned the air down while we were gone, but even a house in the 80s felt better than outside!

It's been a bit of a weird week with the holiday, but another adventure awaits!

Graduation!

It had been long awaited, but finally last Friday, the big day arrived--Carter's graduation!  He had been practicing songs for months, and after going through all of the rehearsals last year with his classmates and not actually graduating, I think this one was a long time in coming.  

We had originally been concerned that Craig and Jacob would miss it because of Jacob's lacrosse tournament.  In that scenario, my parents were going to drive Carter and me to Saratoga after the graduation so we only had to have one vehicle there for the weekend, but luckily Jacob's schedule ended up not having any Friday games, so it worked out that we could all stay in Rochester for the graduation and leave right after.  I got out of work a couple hours early to finish packing so we could have dinner and leave directly from the graduation.  Despite my best efforts, the kids ate painfully slow, and suddenly we were running late.  Not late for the actual program (though closer than I would have liked), but no one ever told us the desired arrival time, so in the end we were way late and it was a rush to get Carter ready.  Luckily in the end it all worked out well enough.  We met my parents there and we settled into a very hot church to watch the program.  

Carter processing in...big kid!

We said the pledge at the beginning, and Carter kept his hand on his heart (well, his other heart--oops!) into the first song :)

The kids sang a bunch of songs, which were predictably super cute.  Here's the last one.  The silly part at the end involved some sort of Ukranian term, thanks to the two little Ukranian girls in the class, including Carter's current bestie, Julia.



After some remarks and a poem, they were presented their diplomas.  As they got ready to walk out at the end, they were so cool they got to wear shades!

There he goes!

We all headed downstairs to the much cooler basement for the reception.  Carter was so cute in those shades!

We had some snacks, punch, and cake, as well as a special treat for the graduates - an upside-down Hostess cupcake with a chocolate graham cracker on top, making a graduation cap.

His teacher handed out some awards...

...and this is Carter's...

Apparently he always comes in ready to tell a joke!

Before we left, Carter and I hit up the photo booth...

It's so hard to believe we're headed to Kindergarten in the fall.  When Jacob did this, Carter was still an infant.  Jacob seemed so big back then, but Carter still seems so young now!  Of course, Jacob insisted on dressing up for his in a shirt and tie, but Carter had no interest--and it was really too hot anyway--so it was a golf shirt, shorts, and new sneakers instead.  Two different kids, for sure!

How are we here already?!

All in all, it was a good night.  It's hard to believe we're in the home stretch at daycare, after so many years there.  These last few haven't been the best, but we've made it work.  We may be back next summer, but maybe only if Carter's buddy will be back next summer.  If not, we'll see if I can get him in a better program in the long run.  Heading toward Kindergarten I'm still a little concerned about his writing skills, and feel like they should be noticing what I am, but no one is yet.  I feel like after a year of writing his name, it should be effortless by now, and it's not.  I know he's smart because he remembers countless factoids about stuff, but sometimes his short-term memory seems selective and the trouble writing perplexes me a bit.  I guess Kindergarten will be the true test, but I hope he's ready.  He still also has some temper issues that could have some rough consequences in a school, so hopefully these next couple months are a learning experience for him.

But for now, I'm proud of this milestone and looking forward to the adventures ahead! And that night, adventure #1 was a trip to Saratoga!

Mid-Week Fun

Last week was another busy week, though it felt a bit like a lull leading in comparison to the weekend ahead, which we knew would be even busier.  So, mid-week I tried to take whatever opportunities I could to enjoy a little fun!

Jacob had lacrosse practice on Tuesday, which Craig handled, and since I didn't really have anything else going on, I offered to take Carter to a new playground.  It was at an elementary school not far from our house.  We'd driven by it one day not long ago and realized we'd never checked it out.  Their equipment looked a little different than other schools, so we thought it might be fun.  It was!

We were there for around an hour, and Carter had a blast!  He is so funny at playgrounds because he comes up with these silly back stories about what we're doing there.  He was all over the place with this one, but mostly he was a chef at a restaurant, and we had a new house (in the preschool part of the playground).  He loved the big slide...

And the zip line thing is always fun!

This is him at the "counter" where I was ordering my food...

He's so cute, isn't he?

Had to get a selfie when I was putting him up on the monkey bars!

And who knew he'd acquired some new monkey skills?  I'd tried to get him to flip up on rings at the playground we frequented during Jacob's spring lacrosse season, but he didn't quite get it.  But with the bar, suddenly he was hanging up every which way!

Believe it or not, I can still do that, too, but I wouldn't recommend it at my age!  He kept me running back and forth between apparatuses, and luckily the weather was perfect for it.  It was a pretty glorious day!  I couldn't resist taking a picture of this very tall tree with cool, peeling bark...

It had been a while since we got to do something like that, so it was fun to have that time with him (and to work on my monkey bars skills, which I'd built up in the spring, then let lapse!).

On Wednesday, my college roommate Mary was coming to town for a concert with her mom.  We planned to meet up for dinner, but I had a little secret mission to carry out beforehand.  I was originally planning on taking a half day in case she could come in earlier, but when her plans changed a bit I opted to split my half day (it was a weird week and it actually made sense to do it that way) to leave a couple hours early on both Wednesday and Friday.  So, on Wednesday, I left work and headed right downtown to the area around the Jazz Fest (where the concert was).  I went to a cafe that sells the best rice krispie treats, ones reminiscent of giant ones we had at college.  I'd long talked them up to Mary, and decided that I'd run down there and buy a couple before the Jazz Fest crowds took over.  It was a rainy day, but it was strangely fun once I was down there and walking through the rainy streets.  I had called ahead to reserve them (yep, I'm weird) and bought my two plus another for my boss.  It took some effort to stuff three giant bricks into my purse!  Because I was down there alone and had a couple minutes before my meter was up, I had to make a detour.  I was due for a visit with the Chihuly :)

I had seen a shot like this in some University photos and desperately wanted my own. 

This may be one of my favorite pictures ever, up close.  It's so vivid.  It's basically a close-up of the shot above, to deal with the brightness issue.

I'm overdue for a new profile pic, and this was my attempt!

On the way out, as I was snapping the last picture above, I started chatting with a guy who had no idea who Chihuly was.  I told him a little about him (yes, it's really glass) and ironically his daughter lives in Seattle, where Chihuly is practically everywhere.  I hope he looks into it further--it will blow his mind!

I finished off my extra couple hours alone with a bunch of quick stops to prepare for our weekend ahead--Walgreens for a ridiculous amount of beef jerky sticks (only place I can get the gluten-free kind Jacob likes), Dick's (for a new chair umbrella to block the sun, since my other one broke), and the bank (cash is helpful).  I had a lovely dinner with Mary and her mom, and then it was back to reality at home with a long to-do list!

Thursday was Craig's and my 15th wedding anniversary, which seems pretty impressive at this point and should probably be worthy of a decent celebration.  But between kids who don't make getting a babysitter an option, and urgent packing duties, and severe indecision on my part, we had to settle for takeout Chinese at 9pm after the kids were in bed.  Maybe someday.

Friday was the last working day of the fiscal year at work, so we wrapped up a busy week and a very rough year before I headed out a couple hours early to start this weekend's adventures.  Stay tuned!