Long, lonesome days!

So, I'm recovering from another embarrassing surgery due to my baby making parts not holding up properly. Once again, I am very grateful for all the wonderful help from friends and family. Food, kids covered, attentive husband. A friend even hunted down an old movie I wanted to watch. I also have lots of time to sit down and read, since I'm only supposed to rest and take a few short walks each day. I'm currently reading another history by David McCullough about the Panama Canal (refer to booklist for full title). I love his books. He takes what may seem rather boring, and researches all about the people and time period, making the event come alive. He wrote one about the Brooklyn Bridge, "The Great Bridge" I belief, that was fantastic. Its this kind of book that makes me excited to learn about individuals who go beyond the comforts of a good live, stretching their minds and ideas to create impressive monuments to society. I'll admit I'm not quite done--its a long book, 615 pages--but I'm completely fascinated. The book was also a very thoughtful, post-surgery gift from my husband and kids.

One good thing about not being able to do anything is that I've had some fun down time with my kids. Sometimes its nice to justify cuddling and watching a movie in the middle of the day or playing American Girl dolls with my daughter (we did all of their hair and dressed them in party clothes). I also love listening to Mitch and Maddy practice the piano. Sometimes life is so hectic, I tell them to practice, but I don't pay that much attention. Sitting in bed and recognizing that your son or daughter is playing a tune you recognize is pretty fun. The other great thing is eating good dinners without all the prep work. People are so nice!

Anyhow, we're getting closer to being done with our remodel. I haven't posted any new pictures or anything, but I will soon. Other fun family events, we took a family trip to Cape Cod, Boston and New York City in early July and had a fabulous time. Cape Cod was a very relaxing, dream come true for me. I loved the non-crowded beaches (unlike California) and all of the quaint villages and shaker shingle cottages. My favorite day was probably the day we rented bikes and biked the Cape Cod Rail Trail. We biked 21 miles to and from, and stopped to swim in a lake on the way back. I would have loved to do the whole trail, but I am so impressed that my kids did that. What troopers! I could so live there!

We spent a fun, rainy day reminiscing in Boston, where we'd lived and worked for a summer 14 years earlier. We saw our old apartment complex, walked the Freedom Trail, ate lunch at Fanueill Hall at the Durgon Park Restaurant, munched on canoli from Mike's in Little Italy, rode the T over the Charles River to Cambridge, where we stopped and bought books at the Harvard Co-op. Then we hopped back on the T, rode to Boston Common, then to Fenway Park, where we ate a late dinner at UNO Pizzeria. I have such great memories of being newly married, recently graduated, without children, living and exploring in a new place. Boston is such a great city, I definitely need to return soon. Though I do have to say, my kids were funny when we walked the Freedom Trail, they kept asking when we were going to get where we were going. The walking tour thing without a big final destination was apparently a bit confusing.

After a week in New England, we drove back to NYC (where we'd flown in and rented a car), returned the mini van and spent a great couple of days. The great thing about New York is that you can do so many different things, no matter how many times you go. Pete and I have stayed in different parts of the city every time we've gone and its so much fun to get a feel of the different areas. This time we stayed at the Embassy Suites by Ground Zero. For Peter and I, it was humbling to be there, and remember watching the events unfold on the television. Here I was with my family thinking about how it seemed like it happened just yesterday, yet I was 6 months pregnant with Madeline, Mitch was not quite a year old, not even walking yet and Jake was 3 1/2. I remember wondering if I'd be able to fly home to see my family and attend my 10 year reunion in October. I felt fearful of bringing another baby into this scary world. I was also amazed at how sad I could be about 911, and yet, where I lived, it was a beautiful, sunny fall day in Ann Arbor. Neighbors were walking there dogs--it seemed crazy to think how that event would change life. Anyhow, we walked around and saw Trinity Church and then headed back to our hotel. The next morning, we walked the esplanade to Battery Park, to catch the earliest boat to the Statue of Liberty. We weren't able to get passes to the crown, but we did climb all the stairs to the base of the statue. Then we took another ferry to Ellis Island, where we watched a movie about the immigration to the U.S. through Ellis Island. After a great tour (self-guided, thank you very much) we ferried back to Battery Park where the kids played in the fountain and we ate a lunch of side-walk vender hot-dogs and pretzels. We took a little break, and then subwayed to Central Park (Jake's favorite thing about NYC--he's told me many times how he prefers suburbs to cities), then to FAO Schwartz. Back on the subway to Time's Square, then we had dinner at Dave and Buster's, a loud, busy, full of video games type of place. Afterwards we went to the Toy's R Us on time square where my boys were not nearly impressed enough with the big T-rex. Our last morning, we headed to the Empire State Building and took an elevator to the top. I'm glad we did it, but we were pressed for time, so we were up and down as fast as we could so we could make our flight on time. Another great city and we had a fabulous time.

So that's been our summer. Its nice to slow down a bit and enjoy my kids, especially since school starts Aug. 20th for Jake, who officially starts middle school, and Aug. 23 for Mitch and Madeline. Thankfully, Tyler and I have a few more days to relax before his preschool begins in September. Happy back to school to all and to all, a good night!!