Back home but not for long

Wow, speaking of being behind, I just realized that I never even mentioned the fact that we moved 2,745 miles across the country from Seattle back to our current home in upstate NY. So, yes we did.

Unpacking was a treat because prior to leaving we threw (some literally) our personal belongings in one bedroom so that we could sublet our apartment for the summer, and the mountain of belongings was so large that we could barely close the door. After a couple days we decided to ditch the unpacking in favor of a road trip.

Our first stop: Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is a beautiful city, and felt perhaps more foreign than I expected which made the trip seem like a real getaway.

Perhaps the greatest highlight was spending time with Joe's childhood friend Will Butler, his wife Jenny, and their adorable son Alex. Will is an actual rock star which makes him an unusually interesting person to me, but both he and his wife are incredibly down to earth and super nice.  We all walked around Mount Royal Park and dined at Aux Vivres, which is the kind of cool, vegan restaurant that I eat at all the time in my dreams where I am an actual cool person.

Other Montreal activities included:

The Biodome

Seeing a huge catfish which Jack loved

Sampling poutine--to my knowledge, the most famous local cuisine. French fries + cheese curds +gravy.

 Visiting St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal

Looking over the city at sunset

Strolling around the city, admiring the graffitied walls

 And buying some delicious berries at Atwater Market, the "Pike's Place" of Montreal

After Montreal, we spent a night in Lake Placid which has something of a Jackson Hole meets New England kind of vibe--a very happy place for me. Our priceline motel had the name "Motor" in the title--that tells you everything you need to know about the room we slept in, but the motel also had free kayaks and paddle boats to take out on Mirror Lake. This we loved!

Jack loved dragging his hand through the water as Joe paddled 

Maggie loved paddling which means we also did a lot of floating

We finished up the trip by taking in a 360 view of the Adirondacks with a hike up Owl's head mountain. Then we called our trip a success.

Golden Gardens

Okay, here is one more beach post. You'd think I could find something else to write about, but I can't seem help myself. I love the beach.

Golden Gardens seems to be the beach to visit in the Seattle area. It is the one that everyone keeps recommending, so of course we had to visit. I liked. Didn't love. I think living a summer in Hawaii and three years in Santa Monica must have turned me into something of a beach snob.

Still, the kids had a blast, and it is a very nice park. Maggie was one of the few people at the beach braving the water even though the sand was blazing hot. I can always count on her to go in--in this way she is definitely my girl. Jack had his fun army crawling through the sand and, of course, eating it too.

We have already returned to the park for a sunset evening on the beach, and I am sure we will be back again.

 Both kids were stubbornly determined not to look at the camera.

Maggie has started taking pictures for me. She loves it!

Ithaca is a fun place when you have a husband

When Joe finished school for the semester, we had one week before needing to frantically pack up our apartment in preparation for our sublettees and two weeks before our flights to Seattle. Therefore, we had one whole week to play hard. I tried to take advantage of every minute of having Joe around.

We started with  a little kayaking exersion. I have been dying to get out on Cayuga Lake. As beautiful as water is, looking at it makes me restless. The more I look, the more I want to go play. Just like the mountains. We were sans kids on this little adventure, and it was quite nice. I was reminded of our courtship and the early years of our marriage when this kind of activity wasn't such a rarity. If I had it with me here in Seattle, I would post a picture of the last time Joe and I were in a tandem kayak. We (or mostly me) looked a lot younger or maybe just a lot less tired. However, our years of marriage have made me more trusting of Joe's ability to correctly steer a kayak which  is probably a good thing. Plus, just this weekend someone told me that Joe and I didn't look old enough to have been married 8 years. Ha ha. Take that gray hairs and wrinkles!

 Also on our activity list for our week was a hike (or perhaps it was a leisurely stroll) to Taughannock Falls.

Kids are so cooky. Just when you think they are starting to get some judgement they prove you seriously wrong. I turned my head for one minute (pulling out my camera I think) and Maggie was on top of the wall.

Cooky and cute

Also, not during this week, but somehow fittingly for this post, we visited Ithaca Falls (a bit earlier in the season as evidenced by it's icyness). I just had to share Joe's happy moment when he is standing inside a culvert with his two kids. Maggie even recognized it as a culvert. What a proud daddy and check out Maggie'e cute muddy bum. 

Niagara

The realization that the new year is upon us didn't really hit me until I was downloading pictures and after placing them in my over-crowded 2012 folder I realized that I needed to create a new folder. 2013 baby!

Joe and I planned to go to bed around 10:30 on New Year's Eve and really start the New Year off right with a decent night's sleep (boring, I know!) but Jack had other ideas. He made sure that we all stayed awake so that I could at least get a New Year's kiss from one cute husband. My, how my children have changed me. There was a time, not long ago, when I would have mercilessly ridiculed anyone who didn't think it was worth staying up to welcome the New Year. Secretly I was happy that Jack sabotaged our non-plans. I didn't really want to go to sleep before the new year began.

We decided to make up for our less than stellar New Year's Eve and start the year right with a family vacay to Niagara Falls followed by a little visit to the National Museum of Play.

Sometime ago I saw a picture of Niagara Falls shrouded in snow and ice and I have wanted to see if for myself ever since. IT WAS AMAZINGly cold. Seriously, the coldest place I have ever been in my life. The whole time I was gazing at the falls for the 30 seconds that I could stand it I was wondering where my flock of emperor penguins was (do penguins flock?).

The night of our arrival, I walked out to see if we should take the kids out to see the falls illuminated (definitely no!). EVERYTHING was covered with ice. The sidewalks, the railings, the trees, even the snow on the ground, had a serious layer of ice. The mist from the falls was like freezing rain and the roar of the falls was so deafening that without a person to be seen in any direction, I felt like I was on another planet. Maybe Superman's planet.

The next day we did bring the kids out and they hated it! The mist from the falls was turning into snow. The wind was biting. BITING! My hands were stinging in literally seconds. Jack screamed and Maggie cried. We didn't last long. But, it was B-E-A-UTIFUL! I have never seen anything like it, that is for sure. We are definitely going to make a trip back when it is a bit warmer and we can appreciate the falls in a different way.

Jack is in there somewhere. He is facing me in his carrier. I didn't actually hang a jacket over his face, although he probably would have preferred it.

Did you notice the stairs on the lower left corner? Not very open to tourists this time of year.

Also, I love staying at hotels! Such a rare treat. I don't think there is anything quite as restful (at least when two kids are involved) as staying at a hotel. Jack sort of enjoyed his first ever dip in a swimming pool. I loved it.

 

Snow Day

I wish I could say that I was loving the snow. I haven't really played in the snow in years.

There was a day when I did love the snow. Today is not that day. Beautiful? Yes. But not nearly as much fun when you are stuck in a little apartment all day with two little kids. Maggie was really excited durning the first few snowfalls, the ones that didn't leave but a skiff on the ground. She wanted to eat the snow so badly that she would pick the tiniest of crystals (mostly mud with a little snow stuck on) and eat it. She is not quite as tough when the snow starts getting in her face or up her sleeves.

As for me, Santa Monica spoiled me BIG TIME. I always thought that I would miss the changing seasons, but it turns out that I am perfectly okay with 60-80 degree sunny weather all year long. We are trying to make the most of the snow around here, but I am worried because I am already ready to play in the sun and yet the winter JUST STARTED. How do you moms get through these long, dark, cold days? I am not sure who is more stir crazy . . . me or Maggie.

Anyway, if it is going to be cold, there might as well be snow, and we will keep trying to play in it.

Oh, it is kinda adorable though. When Maggie makes tracks through the snow, she says she is "making paw prints." Kinda appropriate my little animal.

Maggie's paw prints

Some stuff we have been doing

Well, it turns out that it is really hard to get out of the house when you have a two-year old and a newborn. It seems like by the time I finish feeding Jack and getting us all ready to go it is time to start all over again. Luckily we have been able to sneak in a couple of fun trips lately.

The first was to a place called Flat Rock. Maggie has been (regularly) asking to go the beach. Sad, I know. She just doesn't understand that there is actually no beach here. So, we decided that she needed to at least have a chance to play in the water. Flat Rock is a portion of the river where the water is very shallow and passes over large slabs of slate. It is the perfect little swimming spot and only about 10 minutes from our house! Maggie had a blast wading in the water, throwing rocks, and standing on her hands while letting the current tug at her feet. Every now and then she would lose her balance and roll under the water. She would stick her hand up for help, stand up, wipe the water from her face and go right back for more. She really is a little fish!

Next we went swimming at Treman State Park. There is a swimming hole carved out by a waterfall. Even though it is very improved and you have to jump from a diving board instead of from the rocks, the water was cold and refreshing and the setting was beautiful! One of the highlights for me was  doing something marginally active (sad that I am that desperate to work out). Even though I only jumped  a few times it felt great to sneak in a little tiny bit of exercise. I am counting down the days (only 3 more) until my exercise ban is lifted.