The End of Summer

I know, it's hot as blazes outside right now, how can it be the end of summer? Alas, my wonderful break is drawing to a close. I've been up to the school a half-dozen times already, working on my classroom. And this Monday, I'm starting Violet in daycare so she can ease back into our routine before the real fun of pre-planning starts.

At the "simma poo!"

But we're making a pretty good end of things around here. Lately we've been staying busy with trips to the pool, a Braves game, date night with a turn at the movies (I feel like we haven't been the theater together in years!), and fun with friends. I've been speed reading through as many books as I can, with the feeling that reading for pleasure will be put on hold for a while. I got 12 under my belt this break, including this favorite and this classic! I also fulfilled my New Year's Resolution of reading and watching all of Harry Potter again.

"Helping" get my classroom ready.

This summer has been very different from last year's. Violet is so independent now, we can carry on conversations together, and I've had more me-time, like joining a new Bible study and book club. I've enjoyed her and my family more because of it. And while I didn't accomplish everything on my summer wish-list, I'm okay with that.

Babysitting these adorable two!

Tomorrow I have my first official back-to-school meeting with my first grade team, and I know my brain will just be awash with details and ideas and to-do lists as soon as it starts, so this is my last peaceful evening before the madness begins anew. Summer 2012, you have been good to us.

Testing out a few "big girl" beds. We converted Violet's crib to a toddler bed earlier this week and so far, the transition has been seamless!

Spontaneous Friday night Braves game!

Repeat

Want to know what it sounds like around the house these days?

Violet had earned a new nickname - Stewie.

Flying High

Violet and I had the privilege of attending a Vacation Bible School (affectionately known as Camp Sky) run next door by my multi-talented neighbor Kim. I helped out for three days, and Violet tagged along for two of them. While it was a little over her head, she still got into the singing and dancing, and you know she understands snack time just fine. Here are a few memories we made:

Getting some instructions on the side from resident expert Christian.

Waiting intently for the parachute game.

So serious! What a listener!

Following directions pays off with a purple fish.

A little face time with mommy before VBS starts. (Mommy needed way more coffee for this much excitement so early in the morning.)

Violet loved "Sky Camp"! This balloon was pretty much the highlight of the entire camp in her mind.

Walking the White Halls

I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to surrender my summer a moment before I had to by going into school. I've been trying my hardest to not even think about school. I've even started avoiding Pinterest because all the school-related pins were just bringing me down.

But then I shipped Violet off for three days to her grandmothers. And then I found out some friends were going to work on their classrooms. I knew the thought of other people getting a jump start on things would just cause me anxiety, trying to relax at home. I hate knowing other people are getting ahead of me. So I bit the bullet.

School or mental institution... you decide.

Definitely looks better than how we ended the year, though!

As you can see, they've done quite a bit of work this summer for us! In the two days I've gone in, I managed to get my room unpacked, arranged, and organized. Next time I go in (hopefully not until the week of pre-planning) I'll work on hanging things on the wall, making new materials for the year, putting student names on everything. We all have new classrooms this year, so figuring out where things will go and trying to adjust to a new layout has made things interesting. Hopefully I'll be happy with the choices I'm making.

Don't tell anyone, but I'm getting the teensiest bit exciting about the coming year.

Now I'm off to lay on the couch in my child-free house and enjoy the rest of my summer, thank you very much!

Sam Adams I Am

Sam he is.

Before we arrived in Boston, we were all tasked with choosing a day's worth of activities for the family. At the top of my list, one of the activities I was most looking forward to, was a visit to the Sam Adams brewery. And fortunately, the esteemed brewery happened to be in the very neighborhood we were staying in. A short 20-minute walk one morning brought us happily there. (Don't worry, Violet had a lovely time at the playground with Grandma and cousin Brooke while we were doing our tasting.)

One of my favorite flavors.

The tour was free, hands-on and rather impressive. I've been to a brewery tour before, the Shiner brewery in Shiner, Texas. But as that's the only place in the world they brew Shiner, we had to keep our distance. Most of the tour was conducted in front of glass windows overlooking the bottling factory floor. But that's cool, I understand. There is important work going on in Shiner, Texas!

This tour, however, was entirely different. It's here where they create, test and perfect each Sam Adams beer, but most of the actual brewing is done elsewhere (under conditions strictly controlled to exactly match the Boston site - down to treating the water to taste exactly like Boston's). We were able to sample the different kinds of grain used in the brewing process, handle and crush the hops in the same method the brew masters use when choosing the perfect ingredients, and of course, learn all about what makes Sam Adams a great beer. This particular tour had the added excitement of being filmed for some promotional web commercials, so who knows, perhaps I'll also get my big Hollywood break!

Cheers!

Of course, the highlight of the tour was its culmination in the tasting room, where our excellent tour guide walked us through appreciating our beer with all our senses. We tasted this year's new batch of Octoberfest and toasted one another on our new beer knowledge. We also got to keep these lovely tasting glasses. Cheers!

Octoberfest in July!

Lauren and Greg in the tasting room.

Ready for my Hollywood close-up!

Blue Steel!

Having far too much fun in the gift shop with ol' Sam. I had a remarkably difficult time centering the camera after our stint in the tasting room (notice the glass I refused to put down making an appearance in the lower corner. Cheers indeed!)

Boston in Pictures

Lunch break. It is so strange (to me) to see a bunch of nicely dressed business people with their shoes off, lounging on the grass.

A statue dedicated to ether, of all things. You'd have to hear the whole story, but this thing is hilariously frightening.

Chillin' in the park with Daddy.

Make way for ducklings!

Violet's first carousel ride! She freaked out until it started, but then seemed to get the hang of things.

My pal Paul Revere at the Old North Church (of "one if by land, two if by sea" fame).

Old Ironsides - the USS Constitution.

Playing with Grandma while we toured the Constitution.

Happy girl! (Notable because she wasn't such a happy camper the majority of the day. Apparently three days of non-stop sightseeing was one day too many.)

Two If By Sea

So it's time for the annual Loughman family summer get-together, and this time instead of playing it safe and sticking to the familiar, we decided to branch out and visit the big city of Boston, home of Matt's big brother Greg.

My expectations for a vacation with a two-year-old are low, but so far I'd rate this trip a solid B-plus. There have been times Violet has understandably lost it, and other times where we've just decided to throw in the towel and call it a day, but on the whole she has been a trooper and we have really enjoyed exploring the city as a family.

The Redcoats Loughmans are coming!

After a rather uneventful flight (the only time Violet freaked out was when our DVD player ran out of juice - fortunately we had plenty of back-up videos on our phones), we hopped on the Boston train like pros and made our way to the rented condo. Considering I was braced for the worst (screaming child, dirty looks from passengers) when it came to the actual travel part of our itinerary, it was nice having it off the list, especially since Violet did such a great job. Then Sunday we packed our gear and set out for a Boston Harbor Islands tour. It was a hot, sunny day, which made being out on the breezy water just that much better.

Two if by sea...

The nice thing about having a local for a guide - I never would have put the Boston Harbor on the top of my sightseeing list, but it was so nice. A perfect, low-key way to start our vacation. We hung around, visited an old fort, watched a random vintage baseball game, dipped our toes in the frigid water, good times.

The family on Georges Island.

I want to go to there.

My happy family.

On the ferry, homeward bound. It takes a real man to carry around Minnie.

She finally conked out on the boat ride home.

After a long day at sea, we finally made it home. Because we hadn't walked nearly enough that day, we took a little pre-dinner jaunt to Jamaica Pond, just a few minutes from our place. In fact, this condo is in the perfect location - a quick walk to a park, restaurants, T stop, and an awesome playground with fountains and playmates. Oh, and it's in the same neighborhood as the Sam Adams Brewery, but we'll get to that later!

A pretty way to end the day.

On the Road

I'm so proud of this little Noodle. And this big Noodle, for that matter. Violet conquered planes, trains and automobiles today and we're all still smiling! More updates from our adventures on the way. For now we are just happy to be cooling our heels here in Boston.

Just Finished

I just finished reading this book again. The year I first read it, it became the best book I picked up that year (I keep a list - I'm nerdy like that).

It's one of my most recommended reads, if anyone ever asks.

And when my book club picked it for next month, I was thrilled to delve into it again.

Even though I've read it before and I know whodunit, it kept me hooked to the last page. I tried to slow down towards the end, to savor every word, but the suspense, the haunting melancholy of the characters, the brutal beauty of the story unfolding delicately, revealing itself with a shy, sad smile, kept the pages flying beneath my fingers.

Some people are bothered that this character-driven detective fiction leaves too many questions unanswered at the end. But life doesn't tie itself up in a neat bow for us either.

It's hard to finish a book like this, knowing the next one I pick up just won't quite measure up. Perhaps I'll reread this one next.

Happy Birthday America!

Keeping Busy

Last night was a really fun night. You know, the kind where the ladies are all relaxing and enjoying a bottle (or four) of wine while the guys are off playing Guitar Hero. And then a wild bunch of little boys dressed like ninjas attempt to stage a coup. You know, one of those nights.

Here are some other things we've been up to!

Violet with my sister Chitra.

Ladies who lunch - Violet and Madeline.

A trip to the neighborhood fountains.

Water balloon fun! The kids called their balloons their "babies" and cared for them by putting them in "daycare" ie: the splash pool. Then they had fun sliding into the pool and trying not to land on the babies. Such excellent parenting!

Playing the princess at Madeline's first birthday party.

Paint Chips Ahoy!

Remember when I made the paint chip coasters? Well, I was originally inspired by this idea for a paint chip calendar. Seeing as the first project turned out well, I decided to get crafty once more.

While the original idea just involves gluing a bunch of paint chips to paper for each month, I don't have the time, patience, or guts to take a year's worth of paint chips from my local home improvement store. So I decided to modify a bit and make a reusable version. Here's how it all went down.

Assemble the palette.

First I had to procure enough coordinating paint chips. This involved me skulking around Home Depot surreptitiously slipping paint chips in my pocket. I'm not sure if they would be mad at me taking 35 paint chips, but I decided not to care (or advertise the fact). I decided to go with a cool blue and purple palette that would hopefully look good with my kitchen.
 

Cut to size.

Next up, I had to trim the paint chips into squares and then arrange the chips into a pleasing pattern. I didn't want the same colors ever touching, and I kind of did a light-to-dark color thing, but other than that, this was all eye-balling to see what looked right.

Arrange the grid.

Finished design.

Once I had it in a pattern I liked, it was time to glue it down. I used a 14x18 frame and just flipped over the faux family picture insert it came with to give myself a white background. I drew a line around the edge of where the chips would go, just to give myself something to follow. If I was super crafty and a perfectionist, I guess I would have drawn the entire grid, but I decided to just eyeball the spacing, and it seemed to work out. ( I also left more room at the top so I could write in the name of the month, just so you know.)

Glue those babies down.

I started gluing from the bottom, and added each row above, again, just eye-balling the placement of each square. A glue stick worked fine, and since the whole thing is going under glass, I wasn't too worried about getting the corners down perfectly. Then the whole thing went into the frame. I used a vis-a-vis marker to fill in the dates (although once school starts I'll find a black or blue marker in my stash - it would look better than the green). And there you have it!

Calendar? Or modern art? You decide!

Bring it on, July!