Summer Vacation

For the past 10 days while Daddy was at work in Brazil, Aidan, Kiana and I have been on “summer vacation” with Grandma and Grandpa Ruane in the Catskills. Grandma (or Gma, pronounced “Jemma”, as she has newly named herself) has looked forward to hosting “Grandma Camp” for years, and I think counts as the inaugural session. Cousin Miya was there (visiting from California), as well as Aidan and Kiana. Sebastien (also 8 years old, like Miya, and part of the Ruane extended family) also visited for the last few days. Grandma scheduled all sorts of entertainments, as well as keeping some time free to splash in the stream and pick berries, and I would say that overall, it was a definite success!


Of course, vacation was not exactly a vacation for the adults: Grandma worked like crazy to keep everyone happy, and there were obstacles to overcome: Miya had wonderful days but missed her family a lot at night (it was her first time staying away from home for so long without her family). Nights for us were tough too, without Daddy, as I got up with both kids for nursing & potty breaks, and Kiana had a couple nights of midnight partying. Aidan and Kiana and I started upstairs in the “little house” side of the house but moved downstairs when I found it too difficult to lug Aidan (now 40 pounds) down the stairs for potty breaks in the middle of the night (the downstairs blow-up bed next to the bathroom ended up working out much better!). The kids were not used to playing together, and had figure out how to do so in ways that worked for everyone (fortunately, this mostly did happen).


Most difficult, food was unfamiliar, and the older kids all had pickiness issues. Grandma ended up cooking like a maniac, because she wanted everyone to be happy, but this was a big order since the three big kids had *completely* different preferences (Aidan: carbs, Miya: fruits/veggies; Sebastien: meat). At least Kiana ate everything in sight - including a kale omelet, bacon, pepperoni pizza, and her normal fruit, crackers, etc. However, keeping up with the rest of them was exhausting! I also had a tough time dealing with comments from the two oldest kids that *they* were normal eaters but the *other* kids were picky (talk about the pot calling the kettle black!!!) Despite this, everyone survived, and the older kids even got each other to try some new things (deviled eggs, French toast, hot dogs). And at least the adults ate like kings and queens (salmon, steak, pasta, beautiful salads, and more, as well as the amazing breakfasts/brunches of omelets, French toast, pancakes, Beignets, smoothies, and fruit).


Despite this, Grandma’s schedule made for a really amazing and wonderful time. Here are some highlights:


THURSDAY: Drove up from NYC to the Catskills during Kiana’s mid-day nap; played in the stream;


FRIDAY: Chilled out around the mountain house; threw rocks in the stream; fed the chickens; petted the dogs; explored;


SATURDAY: went swimming at the lake/beach at Pine Hill; rented a four-seater paddle boat, and paddled Aidan & Miya around the lake. Saw an otter’s house!


SUNDAY: Saw the Bindlestiff Cavalcade of Youth, a circus at Bard College including juggling, miming, people on stilts, aerial silks, gymnastics, and more, all starring youth aged 12-19. Grandma loved the mime who tried to escape an overly friendly ballon. My favorite was the upside-down juggler. :)


MONDAY: In the morning, we visited Laura Jean and Vinny's house. Because it was raining, we didn't get to watch the fish in their koi pond much, but Aidan loved playing drums, Miya loved making jewelry, and both loved playing in the kids-sized house they have in their backyard. In the afternoon, we visited neighbor's Gene and Maureen's amazing house, where they had a model train world set up in their driving circle (complete with cowboys and Indians, a graveyard, a circus, multiple towns, mountains, lakes, tunnels, plains, and much, much more), two horses (Firefly and Hawk) in their back "yard", and a pool! Aidan got to drive the trains, Miya got to ride Firefly, and *everyone* had a blast in the pool. In the pool, Aidan propelled himself in a floatie tube across it back and forth at least 6 times (the first time he has actually moved *forward* in the water), Nadu (Gene and Maureen's 5 year old grand-daughter) swam underwater for one of her first times, and I taught Miya the beginnings of diving (crouched close to the water's edge, arms straight up)! Lots of firsts and wonderful for everyone.


TUESDAY: We lay low; Grandma worked on making a fancy dress for for Miya's doll, Lanie, for her to wear to Miya's aunt Cindy's wedding. Despite the bobbin being very difficult, Grandma persevered, and Lanie ended up with a beautiful new outfit! (Grandma and I agreed in the process, though, that it might - after all - be worth it to spend $50 on a doll's outfit if the alternative was to spend 2 full days fighting a breaking sewing machine!). Miya convinced Aidan to collaborate with her in practicing a play about a hawk and a cougar and a circus of their own. At the end of the day, they performed the circus for us, complete with clowns, balancing acts, juggling with rainbow scarves, and something they called the "jumping bean", where Aidan and then Miya jumped onto our blow-up bed, and then did a summersault! That made Grandma laugh for about 10 minutes solid! They ended by saying "This! Is The Beginning! Of! The! End!" (!!)


WEDNESDAY: Another chill day. Grandma got me a massage! (AHhhhhhhhh! Heaven!) Sebastien and Brooke arrived in the late afternoon.


THURSDAY: Another chill day. In the morning, everyone had tea with Nadir, and the kids explored up the stream, found blackberries, and drank tea. (Miya decided that it was so wonderful that it would be the site for her long-awaited "Miya-land"!). While visiting the chickens, Sebby started singing "back, back, back-back!" to them, and Kiana was so intrigued that she started saying "bah bah bah", too! Tea was delicious, though the event was exhausting for me and Grandma: Sebby was allergic to dogs and a friendly neighbor dog was visiting; Sebby got frantic about it and Aidan caught a bit of the hysteria. Inside was dog hairy and Aidan and Miya had to be convinced to drink tea outside so Sebby didn't feel left out. We all survived, though, and the blackberries, stream, and chickens were great! In the afternoon, we all went back to Gene and Maureen's house for more (AMAZING) pool time. This time Miya learned the second part of diving, and totally got the hang of diving in from a standing position, even getting one leg straight!


FRIDAY: We drove two hours up to the Saratoga race tracks! Grandma let each big kid make a bet on the gorgeous horses. (Kiana was happy to just visit them in the warm-up area!) Sebby actually won his $2 bet (he made a safe call on the expected winner.) Miya picked a long-shot called "Glinda the Good" (she LOVES Wicked!), which didn't get anywhere close. Aidan had been set on "the lightest one" since the previous night when Grandma talked to them about it, and so he settled on "Rocky Fortune", who - in the sixth race- had the lightest jockey (R. Curatolo, 114 lbs) of the whole day (he was tied with Pegasus Papou's jockey, R. Persaud, in the same race who was much more of a long-shot and who Aidan decided against); Aidan's race ended up being *very* exciting, as it came down to a photo finish between Rocky and the eventual winner! Aidan had picked Rocky to win (even though Grandma had tried to get him to go for show or place), so he was sad it didn't work out. But it was very exciting! (just like Lightning McQueen in the Cars first race!)


SATURDAY: Miya gave us a "rock concert": stone fireworks, stone games, and stone music. Then we drove home to NYC! Grandma and Grandpa Ruane and cousin Miya came with us. We all then took the A train downtown to visit the red panda (Miya's favorite animal) at the Central Park Zoo, before meeting Miya and Grandma at home (they continued on to the American Girl store for further clothes for Lanie). Thai food for dinner. Yum!


SUNDAY: Kiana and Aidan woke up at 7AM, and as we were walking out to the living room to find Grandma and Grandpa, we heard a knock at the door -- and it was Daddy!!! We were so glad to have him home! Grandma, Grandpa and Miya left for Boston, where Gabe, Karen & Siena are picking her up tonight. The rest of us took naps, then went to the pool, and then to bed. Vacation is nice, but being together is the best!


Other points of note:
- We had tea parties almost every day. Tea flowed like water, and the kids loved the strawberry shortcake, jello, and pudding treats!
- Marguerite gave us a couple of containers with butterfly cocoons in them: we got to watch all four of them hatch and go out into the world!
- Comment from Aidan, while sweeping and mopping the floor and noticing dust in the air: "Know that tiny stuff in that's in the air, Grandpa?" (Grandpa: What?) Aidan: "It's dirt - that can fly!"
- Aidan learned how to play the "hot and cold" game; Kiana learned how to be chased! (She at first would stand there and laugh and wait to be caught, then run *towards* you, and finally learned to run away! Miya and Aidan LOVED running after her!)