This morning, I was seriously proud of myself. By 7:10 a.m., all three kids were (mostly) fed, (mostly) dressed, and buckled into the car. We swung by a friend’s house to pick up their son for carpooling. By 7:40 a.m., I had deposited two kindergarteners to the correct classroom door. Within 20 minutes, the remaining twosome and I drove back across town to pick up my preschooler’s pal for carpooling, stopping ever so briefly for a potential episode of carsickness. {Read More}
The first “family” trip without my Dad.
August 13, 2015 By Leave a Comment
At the end of Bon Voyage, Pittsfield week came Howdy ho, Cape Cod week. (Listen, some of us know how to “summer,” amiright?) Even though my family is sporadically far-flung and the majority of us have established households, it felt really good to spend our vacation in the spot that my Dad adored (and made us promise to visit this August), spread his ashes in the part of the ocean he loved best, and be together for reasons neither funereal nor {Read More}
Hugging your hometown goodbye.
August 10, 2015 By 2 Comments
Hey, Chicago, we’re back! Super pleased to announce that we were successful in both 15-hour, Midwest-to-East Coast jaunts. (The latter is especially impressive, since the return trip should’ve tacked on an extra three hours to the drive due to its even further East starting point.) Some people are just crazy intense drivers. Some of those people are my husband. So. For today’s post, I’m going to include those pix on my “Farewell, Pittsfield” tour. Keeping in mind that there’s no {Read More}
Peace out, post-roadtrip edition.
July 27, 2015 By 6 Comments
Good news: We made it out East, safe n’ sound. (Were you holding your breath? I hope not, because we traveled on Friday. Ouch.) Long story short (as Nora has recently/bizarrely begun to say), the 15 hour drive actually went pretty smoothly. This was thanks to my big sis’ New England efficiency, my love of driving to oddball NPR podcasts, my kids’ ability to sit in one seat (kinda) for the entirety of their waking hours and a portion of {Read More}
East Coast drive, part eleventy-billion.
July 23, 2015 By 5 Comments
So how does one follow up a Monday post of E.R. announcements? With the information that I’ll be hitting the road- with all three kids- to drive out East again. Tomorrow. (Yes. I know. Whatever you’re thinking- I agree.) P.J. is staying behind for the first part of the trip and is meeting up with us for the beachy jaunt. (Because he’s a very, very good planner.) But I have a secret weapon- never fear. My sister Kate. She’s flying {Read More}
35 Beats 34 And Here’s Why.
June 8, 2015 By Leave a Comment
If I may be permitted to post about my birthday one last time (for this year, anyhow)… 34 was a hard age. In fact, it was my toughest year ever. It actually had very little to do with the number or the midthirtiness of it all, and more to do with the fact that 34 was the year which kinda shook the ground beneath my feet. The day I turned 34, I was the mother of a 4 year-old, 2 {Read More}
Wedding Weekend 2: The Bride of Wedding Weekend.
May 14, 2015 By 2 Comments
So, as promised, here’s a smattering of my youngest sister’s #flynnpesq Wedding Weekend 2015 highlights. (Because we’d need a coffee table book for the whole dang shebang. We’d probably need to borrow a few more coffee tables, too.) And as I don’t yet have access to Em’s sure-to-be glorious wedding photos (and because my phone was someone else for the majority of the day), here are a few cobbled-together pix: The hotel had a salt water pool. It was freezing. {Read More}
Return Of The Minivan: The Condiments Strike Back.
May 7, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Apologies for the nonexistent Monday post. During the time that I’d usually be publishing the Monday a.m. blog, we were careening somewhere across New York. Or maybe it was Pennsylvania by that point. Definitely not Ohio, and years away from being Indiana or Illinois, end-of-journey-wise. Here’s what I’ve learned about trekking halfway across the country in a minivan with three kids, aged 5.5 and under: Don’t do it. Stop. Why are you still thinking about it? Don’t be a jerk. {Read More}
