Our girl is 7! Her birthday was last Friday the 15th, and we had two full days of celebrating. Everyone here is still recovering, and I’m getting over a bug that left me with a fever upwards of 103 last night. Friday morning we were at school for her class’s birthday circle, then we left school for a day at Ikea (she asked for a new desk for her birthday) and Emerald City ComicCon. Saturday morning was her Wild Kratts-themed birthday party, and Saturday night we went to Monster Jam.
Category: Art
Other posts on this trip: We Spent Last Week in Italy, Wandering Treviso, Cortina, and Bologna, Museo Ferrari.
The big draw, the real reason we were in Italy last week, was to see Venice. I’ve been to Rome, and I did an art librarianship course in Florence in grad school. I love Italy. But I’d never been to Venice.
Other posts on this trip: We Spent Last Week in Italy.
Our first full day in Italy, we headed to Treviso, which was actually the closest city to the house. It’s much smaller than Venice, and we were there on a Sunday in August. It was practically deserted, but we ate some pizza at Pizzeria Sant’Agostino di Mansi Patrizia, and it was so good I’m still thinking about it, and we wandered the streets. Treviso has a mini canal system like Venice, it was fun to just walk along the water and in and out of the streets.
We signed up for a membership at Monmouth Museum, our local county museum over at Brookdale Community College. My brother’s kids love this museum, and it’s been on my list of things to check out for ages. Their recommendation pushed me to check it out on a recent weekday when we needed something fun, local, and out of the heat. The museum is doing a deal in July that gives you 13 months on a membership instead of 12, and they had some great hands-on exhibits and playscapes for the preschool set.
A couple of weeks ago H and I drove out to Trenton after her Tuesday therapies to check out the New Jersey State Museum, which is FREE. I have a Groupon for the planetarium, but we got there around 2pm and all the shows were done for the day. Another trip, we will be back!
With no camp or school program for H this summer, and Mama still trying to get some work done, it’s hard to fight the temptation to let her sit in front of the TV for hours while I get stuff done. And I will admit, there are days when that happens. But aside from our summer field trips, I’ve been turning off the TV and trying to put different activities in front of her to stay busy and engaged.
H’s been doing the camp program at her school, but it’s only Monday to Thursday mornings. So Fridays have been our field trip days. My mom was watching my niece Grace one Friday last month, and the four of us took a drive out to Grounds for Sculpture.
Last week was an absolute BEAR. I came home Monday from work and got sick, and I stayed sick through Friday night. In between bouts of thinking I was better before getting sick again, we had a blizzard. And H and I played in the snow. AND, for the umpteenth time this winter, we snow painted. Which was so incredibly good for my soul.
I’ve been on a fabric shopping spree lately. With spring’s arrival, inspiration has been everywhere. I’ve been doodling, sketching quilts, pinning color palettes, and craving new fabrics for my stash.
The last week in August we set out with my mother- and stepfather-in-law on another road trip through New England. We had such a great time back in March that we decided to do it again. But this time instead of Boston and Vermont, we spent a night in Mystic, Connecticut, went back to Portland for a few days, and then finished up in Cape Cod.
The trip up to CT was insane, the traffic through NYC was so much worse than we expected. But, we did find a Shake Shack in Westport that made everyone’s mood better. I’d never been to one, but Adam had one near his old work office.
H really liked the shakes.