On this chilly October evening, I'm enjoying looking back over some of our photos from the summer. Henry went to his first real camp, where his cousin Alena even accompanied him for a week.
We spent a lot of time with family this summer, making at least 4 (?) trips up to Rhinebeck, as well as a few to Connecticut. We didn't go anywhere exotic, but we did manage to steal 4 days in Disney over Memorial Day weekend (sorry no pictures), and we also spent 4 days up in Lake Placid with a full house of french family. We also took Henry to his first Yankee's game, where we met Snoop Dogg, or a Snoop Dogg look-alike (the world may never know). We also squeezed in a few weekends with friends, including a visit from Alex, Michelle and Madeline in June, and a trip to Baltimore for Isla's third birthday. We discovered more of the Jersey Shore, including a great weekend with the Abrams in Cape May, and a long day at the beach in Ocean City.
Finally, we also celebrated seven (7!) years of marriage with an amazing tasting menu meal at
Cafe Boulud (with Jeff and Michelle providing our on-call babysitting service and pied-a-terre). It's always fun when I beg Raphael to speak french with the waiters-- I get to pretend I am much more chic than I really am, and we get lots of little extras from the kitchen :) Anyway onto the photos.
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| the camper |
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| go Yanks! |
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| bastille day in rhinebeck |
Here are a few shots from Lake Placid. The house we stayed in was amazing, although unfortunately the majority of my pictures are of the house, only. All 14 of us slept there comfortably! Here is a link to the place we stayed,
Dartbrook Lodge. It is quite a gem of a hotel to discover, and we are so grateful to my in-laws for introducing us to it (and hosting us there!). We did some mild hiking and rafting (in
AuSable Chasm, among other places)- some of the vistas were simply breathtaking.
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| Alena, Henry & Aaron |
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| With the Pacauds, waiting for our turn to raft in AuSable Chasm. |
Finally,
here are our pictures from Ocean City, where we visited our friends Donna and Cord for the day. They invited two other families- all SES (or former SES) people. I truly cannot overstate what a great time we all had this day, and it was all thanks to their amazing house and hospitality. We arrived, and Donna basically took our lunch orders ("I've got salami, mozzerella, provolone, procuitto, tomatoes, watermelon..... just tell me what you like and I'll prepare it!") and shooed us off to the beach with Cord, where she soon met us. They had all the beach accoutrements all ready, and all we had to do was follow, like ducks in a row, the short one block walk to the beach. The kids (including the big kids, Raphael and Doug) built an impressive sand castle, and the little kids were buried up to their necks by the tireless Bronnie. After a few hours at the beach, it was back to the house where Donna had cooked up a storm. After dinner, we all flocked to the boardwalk where Cord handed us each a pack of ride tickets. The kids all had a blast on the merry go round and all the other rides. I can only hope to entertain my friends the way that we were entertained that day. Really can't thank them enough.
Finally, summer ended with Labor Day, the week after which Henry started soccer!
Here are pictures from his first day of soccer. Since then, I am happy to report that he mostly enjoys it and has some fancy foot work to boot. We are really proud of how he is learning to play a team sport. He seems to have a real knack for getting the ball in the goal! And did I mention, Raph is the assistant coach! Some days it is hard to tell which is cuter- Henry or "Coach Raphael!"
