On September 23rd Zoe and Elliot had their baby, Madeline Rose. She arrived just a few days before schedule and was happy and healthy! The girls got to visit her shortly after she came home, and then Dave and I got saw her at 3 weeks.
Dave, Don and I did the Waterman’s fall triathlon in Rock Hall again this year. Last year’s was my first tri ever, and I won the novice category. This time I raced with my age group – 40-44 and got third!
Here are our overall results:
Jess – place: 65th overall; 3rd in age group/ Total time: 1:26:34/swim: 14:13/bike: 46:17/run: 22:45
Dave – place: 68th overall; 11th in age group/ Total time: 1:27:18/swim: 14:59/bike: 43:00/run: 25:10
Don – place: 74th overall; 12th in age group/Total time: 1:29:15/swim: 15:02/bike: 45:29/run: 25:22
Here’s what we looked like a year ago.
After the race the day was beautiful so we took the boat out for a sail and swim. The kids had a great time jumping off the side. It was the first time Liam and Oliver were on the boat and they had a blast!
The second to last weekend in October was the Union League Yacht Club Fall Regatta in Annapolis. This was the first time racing the new boat. We had a small crew – just our family and Dave’s dad. We had a great time, despite a lack of strong wind and ended up taking 3rd in our class. The girls both had a chance to steer the boat, and it’s become a bit of tradition that Sophie steers us over the finish line in the ULYC regattas.
That evening was the party where we got our 3rd place plaque.
Last weekend we celebrated Dave’s 40th birthday by spending a weekend in Rock Hall with a few friends. John, Crystal, and Bella came up from DC along with Joe, and Rebecca, John, Ava, and Emma came from Philly, along with Walt. We had a mini raft-up with our boat and Walt’s boat. There was no wind, so we motored right to our favorite spot in Swan Creek and spent the afternoon swimming and grilling. The weather was perfect!
The summer has finally ended 🙁
It was a good one so I was sad for it to be over, but we’ve got good stuff in store for the fall.
This summer the girls had a Summer Challenge, where they had a to read, do workbooks, and practice the piano every week day. If they did it they could pick a pet at the end of the summer. I am happy to announce that we are now owners of two parakeets and a marginated tortoise!
Two days later the girls were off to Cynwyd Elementary. Lauren started her first year there for first grade and Sophie is now in fourth grade. We’re three weeks into it and so far it’s going really well. Both kids seem to like their teachers and they’re getting back into a routine.
For our last week of summer we headed over to Germany to visit Lydia. We flew in and out of Prague so we also spent a few days in Czech. Both countries were really amazing.
We had one small snafu before leaving the US. The girls had a dentist appointment that day – about 4 hours before our flight was schedule to leave – plenty of time (we thought). When we got there a cavity that we knew Soph had had actually turned into an abscess and she needed to have it removed, ASAP. Our dentist jumped into action, extracted it in about 10 minutes, and we were out of there and to our flight in time. Soph was a trooper. She was really upset when she found out she had to have it out, but she did it, and then flew with a mouth that didn’t stop bleeding for almost 12 hours.
We flew overnight Friday, arriving mid-morning on Saturday. The girls both slept about 5 hours on the plane, but unfortunately Dave and I did not. When we arrived we rented a car in Prague and drove straight to Leipzig, which is about a 90 minute drive. We stopped for lunch in Czech right before we hit the border at a little restaurant on the side of the road where little English was spoken. We got our first taste of Eastern European food, which is mostly meat, gravy, and potatoes.
In Leipzig we stayed in an apartment, which was the third floor of a house. It was perfect – 2 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room and living room. It also had a back garden that we could use, complete with a trampoline.
After we unpacked Lydia arrived and it was so great to see her again! The girls were especially happy to see her. We went to her apartment where she made us a delicious traditional German dinner. That night we crashed and all slept for 12 hours! The next morning we headed back to Lydia’s apartment where she put together a traditional breakfast and we finally got to meet Stefan.
After breakfast we took the train to the center of Leipzig where we met Lydia’s parents and sister and they showed us around the city. That night they took us to a traditional German restaurant located in an area surrounded by private gardens. People who live in the city can buy these little plots to grow their own gardens. Most also have little huts where they can stay for a night or two.
The next day we hopped into the car and drive about 90 minutes to a little town called Erfurt. It was the quintessential German town with traditional architecture and small cobblestone streets. It’s also home to the Merchant’s Bridge, the longest series of inhabited buildings on any bridge in Europe, and beautiful cathedral.
That night we had dinner back at our apartment. The next morning we headed out again, this time to Karlovy Vary, a city in Czech known for their hot mineral springs. It was a bit of a hike to get there, but very worth it. The town is built on either side of a little river that bubbles up in places with hot springs. It’s also filled with spa hotels, none of which we actually went into, much to the dismay of the girls. People walked around the town with these little cups with built in straws drinking the water from springs around town.
That night we did dinner again at the apartment, and also packed up because the next day we needed to check out. We left early the next morning to go to Dresden, about an hour car ride away. It’s a bigger city, closer to the size of Leipzig (thought not quite so big), with a beautiful central square, in the middle of which is the Church of our Lady, which was bombed during WWII and rebuilt in 2005.
It also has the Fürstenzug, a large mural of a mounted procession of the rulers of Saxony, and is the largest porcelain artwork in the world.
That afternoon we said goodbye to Lydia, who took a train back to Leipzig, and we headed on to Prague. We stayed in a Hilton right in the center of town, so didn’t need the car for the remainder of the trip (which we were all pretty glad to be out of).
We spent the next 2.5 days exploring the city. The main part of the city has two squares: Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square. Old Town Square was very crowded and touristy, but had some cool things, like the Astronomical Clock which was installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still operating. Every hour it still chimes. The square also has the Church of Our Lady (popular name over there), and St. Nicholas church, both built in the 14th Century.
Wenceslas Square is more known for historical events, such as demonstrations and celebrations.
We also walk by two famous buildings, together called The Dancing House because they look like they’re intertwined in a dance.
One day we crossed over the St. Charles Bridge, the only pedestrian only footbridge, to explore the other side of the city. We took a tram to the top of a hill where we climbed up to the top of the Petrin Tower to get a great view of the whole city. We then walked back down to Prague Castle, where we saw the changing of the guards. A very formal, if not small, ceremony that happens every hour. Inside the Castle grounds is St. Vitus Cathedral, which was beautiful from the outside, but unfortunately closed for visitors when we were there.
And no vacation trip blog post would be complete without a look at some of the food we ate. Lots (and lots) of meat and ice cream.
My family did their Ocean City week a little later this summer, in mid-August. The girls and I visited for just a few days, Saturday-Tuesday, which was the perfect amount of time. The house was further south and about 11 blocks from the start of the boardwalk, which was actually really nice. It was really quiet and the house was waterfront with a huge porch, which was lovely!
The weather was also great for all but one of the days we were there. The girls tried boogie boarding for the first time and loved it.
We went up to the boards just twice, which was perfect. Over the last few years the seagulls have gotten really bad, so this summer they brought in a falconer to keep them under control. When he’s on the boards with his falcon, the seagulls keep their distance, meaning we could actually eat food outside, which normally you can never do.
We’ve passed the midway point of summer, and even though people are already lamenting the end of summer and talking about back to school, we’ve still got time!! We’ve been fitting as much as possible into our weekends to make them all feel like mini vacations.
A few weeks ago we did a weekend in Rock Hall with the Townsends. We had originally planned on spending the whole weekend on the new boat, but it was ungodly hot, so we stayed at the house and just went out for an afternoon sail/swim. It was a ton of fun, as it always is with that crew.
The next weekend we took the girls to their first real concert – Jojo Siwa. It was a glitter, rainbow, unicorn explosion and they loved every minute of it. We had bought the tickets for Sophie’s birthday, so she was allowed to bring a friend, so she choose to bring her friend Dior.
This past weekend Dave sailed in a regatta called The Governor’s Cup, which is a 70 mile overnight race from Annapolis to St. Mary’s College. The crew left Annapolis on Walt’s boat at 3pm on Friday and arrived at St. Mary’s at 1:30 on Saturday. They were completely exhausted and totally spent, but had a good time (I think) and ended up placing 2nd in their class! Here’s the crew, with and without kids, and their 2nd place trophy.
And finally, we’ve begun construction on our new kitchen!! We’ve been planning since January and demo finally started last week. Our contractor thinks it will take him a month, so in theory we’ll have a spanking new kitchen by the time school starts. Fingers crossed that actually happens! Here are shots after the first day of demo.
It’s official. I’m 40. While I competed in the last two triathlons in the 40-44 age group, I knew I was still in my 30s! (despite what was written on the back of my calf). Alas, it’s no longer true.
Because I believe birthdays should be a weeks long celebration, that’s exactly what I did!
My birthday present from Dave was a violin. I’ve been renting one since I started taking lessons about three years ago. It’s pretty cheap and I since I think I’m going to stick with it, I wanted to get a nicer one. My teacher recommended a violinmaker in Philly and that’s where I went. His typical clients are definitely more along the lines of professional musicians, so I think he was a little surprised to see me, but also super nice and helpful. His name is Christopher Germain and here he is putting the finishing touches on my violin!
Later in the week Doug and Vicki hosted a big family birthday party at their house. It was a combined birthday celebration because Dick and Joan both turned 70 recently, and then there are the slo of July birthdays. In addition to me, Mom, Becky, Vicki and Maithili all have birthdays in July.
After the party Mom, Dad, Becky, Arian, Doug, Vicki, Quinn, Carley, and me and the girls all went to Eagle Rock in the mountains of PA. It was really pretty and relaxing. Here are a few shots from our stay there. It’s the first time I’ve ever tried the paddle board and it was super fun.
We were also there for mom’s actual birthday. She turned 64.
My actual birthday was pretty low key, which is exactly how I wanted it. Dave and the girls turned our dining room into a French Bistro and they made a delicious dinner. Here’s the menu. It was all delicious and capped off an excellent few weeks of birthday celebrations!
Lauren has lost her first tooth! It was wiggly for a few weeks, and the last few days was just hanging in there, but it finally came out – in an elevator! Her adult tooth is already in behind it. The one next door is also loose and will be coming out soon as well.
