The boys got to see a lot of grandpa through afternoon visits all summer, but we were also there to celebrate his birthday with the whole family!

The Sunday following our return we went downtown to visit The Franklin Institute again. Yes, we had already been there, but this time we were meeting a friend and his daughter! The last time all three of us were together was long before any of us had kids, so it was quite the momentous gathering.

Plus, there were parts of the museum the boys wanted to re-visit or hadn’t seen the last time. Aaron got really into the interactive exhibits. Afterwards we went out for pizza.

On my own, I was able to take a long lunch one day to catch up with a friend over sushi and an evening to have dinner with a friend in King of Prussia. It reminded me how good it feels to catch up with friends, and there’s no reason my social life in Philly is more active than in California. I have friends in California too! Time to be better about planning outings with friends.

Later in the week I put a pause on work for an afternoon and took the boys out to the nearby Churchville Nature Center to visit the butterfly enclosure. We’re members and they have a lot of great little events, but this was the first time we’d been out there this trip. It was definitely a warm day to be outside, but not as bad as some of the other days have been, and the mist they provide for the butterflies definitely felt nice!

We spent Friday evening at The Academy of Natural Sciences in downtown Philadelphia for their event around Haddy returning to Dinosaur Hall. It was fun to see their newly installed Hadrosaurus foulkii, but mostly it was a good opportunity to visit the museum with the kids after hours. Afterwards, we had dinner at Victory Brewing Company. I’d never been to this “new” downtown location, but the vibes brought me back to the dozens of times I visited their brewery in Downingtown.

Our final week in town was rather chill, owing partially to do with some work stuff really picking up and causing us both to work a bit more than usual. But we still did a couple family visits and dinners, and over the final weekend in town we made our way out to our local model train shop where we picked up a few goodies, including some light-up tracks. Unfortunately, that evening I tripped in our den while working on some stuff with MJ and sprained my ankle, and badly bruised my shoulder. Ouch. This is the fourth time I’ve sprained this ankle (amusingly, it happens every 4 years) so I skipped the doctor and just tended to it at home. Still, no fun.

Outdoor time throughout the summer was mostly water-driven pursuits on the lawn with the hose or water guns and balloons. However, our final week there the weather cooled down a bit and allowed the boys to spend a bit more time outdoors riding their bikes! They love doing this in California but often find it’s too hot to do during a Philly summer.

Overall, it was a nice visit, and the six weeks flew by. It also felt like the right amount of time for me. I was definitely ready to come back to home prime when the time came, and our journey back to California was uneventful.

This summer would be the summer to start catching up!

I mentioned that when we got in Aaron helped me assemble a dresser. I also ended up ordering a “Zoo” stuffed toy organizer.

And we bought a sideboard to stash all the art supplies and experiment activities that the boys have. It’s lovely and really helped rein in the chaos over there and free up some space in the tiny pantry closet. But it was from Ikea, so in addition to getting all the pieces, I had to assemble it.

I also hung more pictures for the boys! We’ve held off on most decorating because the walls need to be painted, but they’re getting older and I wanted to get their art up.

Plus, one of the things that came out of my sister’s storage unit was a poster print from The Lion King that she gifted to them, it was in our bedroom when I was younger! Aww.

Speaking of my sister’s storage unit, she had a bookcase in there, and I’m the caretaker for several books that I’m not shipping up to her right now, so I got that reassembled and placed in our living room with the books. I also spent a couple afternoons sorting through the rest of her belongings, which was like a mix between a trip down memory lane and a treasure hunt. It was nice getting to talk to her for an extended time too, as adults we’ve grown apart for no good reason, and that’s a shame.

We hired someone to help us get some more storage by putting a door inside our garage to access the empty space under the stairs. He did a great job an we immediately filled it up as we moved around some of our storage. Why would you need storage in a vacation home? It’s a lot of empty product boxes we’re keeping through warranty periods and kids stuff we’re cycling through. Plus, wires and tools and things we need for on-going projects. It adds up surprisingly quickly.

The wire racks that previously lived behind my desk in the den were moved to an indoor closet we freed up space in and have been replaced by some more Ikea furniture that’s housing components for our upgraded security system. It’s going to look really nice when it’s done and has the fancy ventilated doors! But for this trip, it was a lot of moving stuff around and assembling more Ikea furniture.

We saw a lot of family during evenings and weekends, but I had very little quiet time for reading, writing, or watching TV. Most days felt like it was just work, kids, projects, and sleep. It’s incredibly satisfying to see how much we got done, but I’ll have to work on a better balance next time we go back.

Still, we got to see Portland Head Light! One of the most famous light houses in the world, it was in my back yard. It’s strange coming to the town I grew up in as a tourist, but also interesting to see the beautiful place I grew up in through a different lens and share that with my family.

After the light house, we did go over to the lobster roll food truck, because A Bite of Maine makes my favorite lobster rolls in the world.

Our adjusted lunch plans took us to the grocery store where I picked up grapes and what we needed for peanut butter sandwiches for the boys, which I cobbled together in the tailgate before heading over to Portland. But if I’m honest, the whole situation was stressful to me. Forgetting the food stole the opportunity for us to drive by the house I grew up in to show the boys. Plus, it caused us to skip a stop at The Lobster Shack where I really, really wanted to get some fried clams and take in the view of Two Lights, the pair of lighthouses at the end of the road where I grew up. Bummer.

MJ had some errands to run, so he dropped us off at Thomson Point in Portland where we stopped at another brewery, as I do. This time it was Bissel Brothers which makes an excellent assortment of beers, of which I enjoyed their Swish Silver pale ale and the Forbidden Knowledge saison. Are we friends on untapped yet? Again, it was an incredibly chill, family friendly place and they also had no issue with the boys eating the peanut butter sandwiches and grapes while we enjoyed some delicious snacks from the food menu. Highly recommended.

Next door was our next stop, the International Cryptozoology Museum! I had the pleasure of visiting in 2016 when they were at their downtown location, and got to meet Loren Coleman that time! This time my main goal was to show Aaron the mothman exhibits, and it didn’t disappoint. Aaron is four years old and doesn’t quite understand cryptids, but when we stuffed my Mothman at Build-a-Bear, he fell in love, he now has his own Squishable Baby Mothman. The Mothman part of the museum didn’t disappoint! They have a big Mothman model, a lot of pop culture Mothman items, and all kinds of information about the legend.

Annette and Xavier enjoyed it too, so it was fun to be there with them to explore! And I got to visit with bigfoot again.

MJ was back by the time we wrapped up at the museum, and it was time to go pick up the U-Haul trailed that we’d take all my other sister’s stuff back to Philadelphia in.

Then we had to load it up! The boys went back to the hotel with our au pair to go swimming again, and Annette and I did a final trip to the local Goodwill with some donations, and she helpfully took a bag of trash with her so we didn’t have to figure out a way to dispose of it (mostly old bathroom supplies and a few old/broken things that weren’t being kept). It was done pretty quickly and we got to head back to the hotel to relax before dinner.

At dinner I finally got my fried clams at nearby Coppersmith Tavern & Table where we enjoyed a lovely time in their outdoor seating area in the gorgeous summer weather that people come to Maine in the summer for. It was our last meal with Annette and Xavier, so we said our goodbyes once we wrapped up. A long day for all of us, the boys were quite sleepy on the ride back to our hotel for our final night there.

The next morning it was time for our journey home. It was a long journey home. We had to avoid certain bridges and routes due to pulling a trailer, and our speed was capped at 55mph. What might have usually been an 8 hour journey ballooned to over 12 hours. Thankfully, the boys did great. They were generally in good spirits and took it all in stride, as much as they could. Lots of TV, Adam and I played Mario Kart, and there were some road games and car bingo played. We stopped at Target in New Hampshire to pick up a TV we had pre-ordered for the guest room in Philadelphia (the trailer came in handy!), and the boys did some shopping for new backpacks. We also made the decision to stop for a late dinner just 90 minutes from home so we could scoop the kids into bed as soon as we got home.

But we made it! We were back at the townhouse late on Tuesday night, concluding our first grand road trip.

As I’ve written, our first stop was Boston and on Saturday we left midday for the drive up through New Hampshire and into Maine. Our first adventure stop in Maine was one of my favorites, the Seashore Trolley Museum! When I was a kid, I frequently asked to go, and I now often make a stop there on my trips to Maine, so I was really happy to bring the boys. We got there a bit late in the day, but we were able to enjoy a trolley ride, and I absolutely love that journey through the forest and the boys did too.

And then do some exploring through the barns before dropping by their very fun gift shop. The weather was beautiful and we all had a good visit, even if I wished we had gotten there earlier to see a bit more.

When we got to Scarborough, we checked into our hotel and did a quick stop at the storage unit to get an idea of how much stuff we had. It was then dinner at Sebago Brewing Company, where I enjoyed a lobster quesadilla, a spectacular slice of blueberry pie, and learned that breweries in Maine can put THC in their beers. Wow, Maine!

On Sunday my sister Annette and my nephew Xavier made the drive down from their place and met us at the storage unit. We swiftly identified trash and donation items, and got through a lot more than I expected. Annette helped me load up her car with donation goods (mostly old kitchen supplies and such) and we got a lot more done than I expected. Xavier was kind enough to help MJ finish the work on wiring the trailer hitch, which I was grateful for since it allowed Annette and I to focus on storage.

Then it was off to have some fun! We had picnic area tickets to a Portland Sea Dogs game! We love baseball, but amusingly the only games I’ve been to this year were a couple games in Boston, and now their AA affiliate, the Sea Dogs. I swear I’m still a Phillies and Giants fan!

But baseball is baseball, and we had an amazing time with gorgeous weather. It was great to have a game to watch while I caught up with my sister, and our tickets included some food. And the Sea Dogs won! Plus, with the team going away for games elsewhere for a couple weeks, they held a Kids Run the Bases event so MJ and Adam got to run some bases while the rest of us cheered them on.

That evening we enjoyed dinner at The Great Lost Bear where we continued our trend of bringing our kids to drinking establishments (hah!) but truly it is a family-friendly place and I remembered it from when I was a kid. I now realize why it made an impression, the whole place from floor to ceiling is packed with pictures and lights and THINGS. It’s 100% my maximalist aesthetic, and I find a sense of peace in such chaos. The beers and food were top notch too, and I really enjoyed their buffalo fried cauliflower.

We got back to the hotel late, but I had promised Adam he could stop by a pond near our hotel before heading to bed. With Aaron asleep in the car, MJ ended up dropping off Xavier, Adam and I at the pond, and the boys proceeded to find some frogs. Xavier caught one and Adam was entranced! Those 20 minutes we spent at the pond doing some cousin bonding time was one of the most memorable moments of our trip for me.

But the trip wasn’t over yet! A whole day of adventures and the road trip back to Philadelphia were still ahead of us.

I’d say this was our first proper Great American Road Trip with the kids. They’d done an hour or two here and there, and three hours when we drove from Hollywood Beach to Melbourne, Florida over Thanksgiving, but this was a six+ hour trip. We wanted to stop and visit Boston and MJ’s best friend Matti, and then we’d continue up to Maine to see my sister and nephew, and show the kids where I grew up.

We drove up to Boston on a Wednesday, and made pretty decent time up to Boston in spite of a little traffic and the required potty/meal breaks. At one point we stopped at a Target to pick up some supplies. We made a final stop for fast food in Boston in the late evening and eventually got to our hotel. We did adjoining rooms again, but it was an extended stay style hotel so the rooms were larger and had pull out couches instead of the full multiple beds like we’ve done in the past. It also had a kitchen, which came in pretty handy for washing water bottles and keeping our fruit and leftovers chilled in a real refrigerator. The first night I slept with the boys while they got used to the room, but by the second night I was able to convince them to sleep on their own with the connecting room doors open in case they needed us (or just got scared), and we brought their audio baby monitors for an added level of support. It worked out well.

Our first day in Boston was spent going on their first MBTA subway rides!

We met up with Matti and took the subway over to the Boston Museum of Science. Growing up in Maine, this was basically the closest science museum to us, so it was where our Girl Scout troops did our adventures at, I remember sleeping there at least once (maybe twice?). I have a ton of memories from there, and it had been years since I’d been back. It was a real delight to bring the boys there.

I had hoped that going on a weekday would mean the shows wouldn’t be as crowded, but the Tesla coil demo was already filled up a full 15 minutes before the show, and the 3D movie shows were mostly booked for pre-registered school groups. Still, we had a lot of fun. Aaron’s love of animals drew him into the natural history exhibit and drawers full of specimens, from fur to beetles to bones.

Adam’s more mechanical inclinations had him chasing lights and motors. They both enjoyed the dinosaurs and the Boston Dynamics robot.

The next day we took the other two subway lines (we hit all 4!) and for a visit to the New England Aquarium. Once again, this was the aquarium from my childhood, but the last time I was th/images/journalpics/072025/mtba_subway_fam.jpgere was actually in 2019 when Adam was a baby and we were in town for a conference. My mother, sister, and nephew came down to visit and we had a lovely day together.

It was really fun to meet up with Matti again and go with MJ and the boys. The aquarium was a bit lean on sharks, much to Aaron’s disappointment, but they both love penguins and this is a good aquarium for them.

We split our aquarium visit in half, taking a break for lunch and playground mid-day and then returning to see the rest of it later in the afternoon.

We also got ice cream, during which time the boys insisted upon getting soft serve ice cream from a truck, while the adults partook in Ben & Jerry’s. Yum.

The next morning it was off to Maine! MJ had a few car parts for the trailer hitch we couldn’t complete in Pennsylvania shipped up to Matti’s house, so he collected those in the morning and we got on the road around midday. I was thrilled to be on our way up to Maine, but the boys are real city kiddos and they loved spending time in Boston. We’ll definitely have to make the trip up again in the coming years, but this visit was a great start.

Thankfully, our trip got much better from there! Thanks to MJ’s dad, we found Wheelworks over in Huntingdon Valley that was able to do a thorough detailing of the back of the van to get every molecule of milk out of it. And we ordered an all-weather mat to put in that portion of the carpeted floor so this doesn’t happen again. We also finally picked up a dresser for the boys so we could move their changing table upstairs now that diapers are largely a thing of the past. Aaron helped me assemble the dresser next to the old changing table that’s now being used for storage in their bedroom closet. The trip to Ikea for the dresser also gave us an opportunity to scope out some furniture for an “art center” to put in our kitchen for the boys and some cabinets for a server project we’re working on.

MJ’s father has come over several afternoons to spend time with the boys, which they’ve really enjoyed, and is the whole reason for us being here. We’ve also had a chance to catch up with MJ’s sister and nephew for dinner and house visits, including an evening that included a fire pit outside, which Adam won’t let us leave without doing again, this time with s’mores.

The boys have enjoyed catching the ice cream truck each time it comes through the neighborhood, and literally catching fireflies when we keep them up late enough for the fireflies to come out. One evening we also found a toad in the road that Aaron hilariously scooped up to help him cross it.

On our first full weekend here was a bit chaotic as we settled in, but then we went down to The Franklin Institute to visit the newly re-opened Heart and got to finally show the boys the Baldwin 60000 steam train that resides in the under-construction-for-years Hamilton Collections Gallery. The train used to move, but we learned that since it only could move a few feet the wear on the wheels was uneven and maintenance under those conditions was challenging. It’s still cool even though it doesn’t move, and the boys do enjoy a run through the Heart.

We saw a planetarium show, which Aaron continues to be unable to stay quiet during (thankfully, he does ask questions that are on-topic, and the person sitting next to us fell asleep in spite of his regular whispering, hah! We also made our way over to the Demonstration Theater to see the “Liquid Air Show” that Adam really enjoys, and this time didn’t disappoint.

The next day we drove out to New Jersey to have some pool time with our friends Mike and Jess and their two sons. The boys are getting really comfortable with water, which we’re really happy about. I’m hoping this translates to more security when it comes to their swim classes upon our return to California in August. It was great to catch up with our friends too, which only seems to happen about once a year, Facebook contact aside. The heat did get to me at the end though, so the drive home was a bit of a queasy one for me.

On the 4th of July we took a drive up to Kutztown for a visit the Crystal Cave. Aaron loves caves, and was left wanting after we took him to the cave/tunnel near the old San Francisco Sutro Baths for his birthday. Fair. This time we went to a real, natural cave! Plus, it’s a cave MJ had gone to with his parents when he was a kid, so there was the nostalgia and family connection factor there too, which was amusing to reflect upon as the tour guide through the cave mentioned that visiting the cave has become a family tradition for generations. Indeed! The story of the cave is an amusing one too; discovered in 1871 it was opened to tourism just a year later when they learned it was an otherwise useless limestone cave, but tourists might enjoy seeing it.

After lunch and the cave tour, we took advantage of the less humid, cooler summer weather of Kutztown to do through their mini-golf course. I’ve continued my streak of having enough focus/interest to complete about 9 holes really well, and then take a bored/distracted approach to the second half of the course. It’s a good thing I don’t play real golf.

Then we had some ice cream on-site and bought a big bag or rocks and sand with gemstones and fossils mixed in that they had a little “panning” area set up for. The boys LOVED that. As expected, Adam was very into the rocks and gems, while Aaron is still completely enamored with the fossils.

That evening we enjoyed some sparklers in the yard before getting to bed much too late, but that’s what summer is for!

On Saturday we began our serious New England trip prep. MJ had done a lot of the legwork to determine what would probably be needed to install the tow hitch on the minivan, so we had an appointment at a place in King of Prussia to get the work done. I drove out as well so we could spend the afternoon having a lovely (if too filling) lunch at Fogo de Chao and then a little adventure over at the mall. MJ and I both picked up some things we needed at L.L. Bean, and then the boys and I made our way over to the Lego store for… things we didn’t need.

Unfortunately, the hitch installation didn’t go well, and we had a multi-state adventure to get that completed ahead of us. The heat and overindulgence at Fogo also got to me that afternoon and I was flagging a bit by the time we all had to drive home. Still, part of the work was done and I was happy to have our new Lego treasures with us. But speaking of the car, MJ and Adam also had a project of installing a new rear view mirror on the new minivan. As high as it was, the trim level on our minivan didn’t have the buttons to open the garage, or auto-dimming for nighttime driving. Bummer. So we ordered the mirror from Kia and eschewed the dealer quotes for them to install it. It took more time and a few more panel removals than expected, but they got it done! Right in time for our road trip to New England that began on July 9th.

I had one last big event before out trip though, and that was presenting at the Philadelphia area Linux Users Group chapter that I was a member and organizer of years ago. It’s a great group of folks, several of whom I’ve known for decades, and I was there to give the latest about open source on mainframes. I started out with a Star Wars scroll parody with a mainframe theme (YouTube video) There was a lot of hardware geekery, but the gem of my presentation was definitely showing off zopen Community tools that bring familiar open source CLI tools to IBM z/OS Unix System Services (USS). I had a developer account that I was able to do a live demo with, and then several folks dove into the repositories during the meeting. It was a great night and I really enjoyed seeing so many old friends, and at the end I was surprised that one of the organizers had brought his son, who I hadn’t seen in probably 15 years? I babysat him once, he’s now old enough to be a software developer and attend PLUG talks now, wow! Also, cool. I couldn’t have thought of a better way to wrap up work and go on vacation than that.

With MJ traveling, the boys and I spent the first Sunday of the month visiting a flea market in town, where I found a Disney’s Pinocchio picture vinyl – the same one my family had when I was a kid!

We then went over to The Chabot theater for an afternoon showing of the new live-action Lilo & Stitch. This is only the second time our boys had been to a movie theater, and the first time we went to one that wasn’t a special event. They did great! The movie was cute and the boys had a good time, but the live-action remakes aren’t really my thing.

I took Monday and Thursday off from work to do other summer things with Gaby (our au pair) and the boys. Monday it was a visit back to the Cull Canyon swimming lagoon for swimming! Unfortunately the weather was on the cooler side, so there weren’t a lot of people there and we were a bit chilly. We still had fun though, got to swim a bit, have some PB&J sandwiches, and try out the beach tent and wagon we bought after our first visit.

We picked up the wagon at Costco, and it collapses really nicely. The beach tent came from REI, and it’s not one of the easy pop-up ones, but setting it up is easily done with a single person and a few minutes of focus. It was actually good chilly and our visit to short to use the tent, but I could see it really coming in handy during longer visits on warmer days.

On my Thursday off I took everyone up to Fairyland in Oakland. It’s been on our list for a while, and I realized that at 4 and 6, Adam at least would age out of it in a couple years. Now was the perfect time to go! Gaby and I packed up a bunch of snacks and drove up. Parking was easy and it wasn’t busy when we arrived. The park is also celebrating their 75th anniversary this year, so at ticketing we got our Fairyland keys that were decorated with sparkles for the anniversary. So cute!

As one of the first theme parks, it inspired many others over the years, notably among them being Disneyland. I suspect it’s seen better days with fresher coats of paint, but these aren’t things that kids notice, and to Adam and Aaron it was one of their favorite days out in a while. There are lots of places to run and climb, there was a little train that we rode a couple times, and the carousel and Ferris wheel were kids-only, which they thought was pretty fun(ny). There was a giant (kids-only) dragon slide that they went down about a half dozen times, and they both thought it was hilarious to hide inside various little houses inspired by fairy tales.

We saw a puppet show at 11AM, during which we followed the lead of a bunch of other families in using the opportunity to have the kids enjoy their PB&J sandwiches. The Pinocchio puppet show was cute, but Aaron and I were quite distracted by a squirrel who understood it was lunch time and got very close to us in his efforts to take Aaron’s sandwich.

It was also great that they allow outside food, and even the in-park food didn’t seem wildly priced, maybe we’ll check it out next time. I think going on a Thursday morning was a good choice too, even if it required a day off from work, it meant there were virtually no lines and even the school groups that were there didn’t make the park feel full. In all, the place was pretty low-stress and enjoyable for all of us, as soon as we left the boys were asking when we could go again.

MJ returned from his work trip late on Thursday night, just in time for us to enjoy Father’s Day weekend! Saturday was spent at the annual Castro Valley Car Show. One of the reasons we delayed our trip to Philadelphia was to avoid missing local summer events like this, so it was nice that we got to go this year. Adam even found a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, famously the same car that KITT is in Knight Rider, though this one was white and I think it was from 1983 (the one in the show is a 1982).

Sunday featured a trip out to the Hiller Aviation Museum for Father’s Day! They had some activities for the kids, but they didn’t seem too interested in them, so we skipped them in favor of the standing exhibits, including a 747 that we went in twice, and a large gallery of various other aircraft.

We also took the recommendation of a woman in the gift shop who said we should check out Sky Kitchen just across the runway at the San Carlos Airport for a kid-friendly lunch, which definitely hit the spot. Afterwards, it was easy to come back and check out a few things we didn’t get to before lunch, and to spend a little time in the gift shop. We also ended up getting a membership because we all really enjoyed it and there was more we wanted to see.

And then it was the countdown to our trip to Philadelphia! The boys and I finished a jigsaw puzzle that we’d been working on for a few weeks and I wanted to finish before we left.

I also took a long lunch one day and went bowling with Gaby and the boys to make sure we had our fun with the Kids Bowl Free pass once more before we left (though we will have some time in August to use it too). Leaving for six weeks is always a bit nerve-wracking for me as we prep the house, make sure we don’t forget anything, and get our house sitter all set up, but I paced myself as much as I could and made extensive use of lists, and it wasn’t as chaotic as it usually is. I’m definitely glad we didn’t leave right after school ended, it was really nice to do California summer for a little while before Philly summer began.

When we moved to Castro Valley in 2018 I had to swiftly adjust my habits. We live in the village part of the town, so I can walk to get a coffee or pick up lunch, but I do a lot more driving these days. But we bought a Hyundai Santa Fe when I was pregnant with our first, so I didn’t really drive the Alero until one night when I took myself out to a nearby resort to spend a full 24 hours decompressing. It was great. And I found that I bonded with the car in that time.

I also quickly tired of FM radio, so I got a cassette to AUX adapter, which I added an AUX to USB-C adapter to so I could listen to music from my phone on the car speakers. Since then, I’d take it out a couple times a month to go grocery shopping or something else local to keep it running, but ultimately it wasn’t reliable enough to be a daily driver anymore, so MJ wasn’t using it to commute to work. As a coupe, it also wasn’t practical to use with the kids.

A few months ago we had another instance of the poor car sitting in the driveway for a few weeks because I hadn’t taken it out and it fully losing battery charge. That’s when MJ and I had a chat about it. The fact is, it simply didn’t have a place in our current life. As one of MJ’s first cars we had somewhat held on to the hope of fixing it up some day, but ultimately we had to admit we wouldn’t have the time for that, especially with how much work was needed both interior and exterior. In the meantime we’d be paying registration, insurance, and whatever fix-ups along the way. We had to think about letting it go.

The next morning I felt a little sad about saying we should get rid of it. So, in no rush to retire it, I took it for a car wash. After paying for the wash, I went to put the window up and I heard a “clunk” in the door, and the window failed to rise. A component of the window motor had broken and the window was now stuck in the door. I got a refund for the car wash and took it over to our mechanic who gave us a quote with parts and labor to fix it of over $500. It was a perfectly reasonable estimate, but too much to put into a car that we had just effectively decided we weren’t keeping long term. I cleared out enough space in the garage where we had to store it for a few weeks, and ultimately donated it to a local organization that would give proceeds to a non-profit of our choice. MJ took it for a last drive, and then we said goodbye.

We are all pretty sad about it. I wouldn’t say I’ve gotten attached to every car I’ve owned, but MJ has had this car as long as I’ve known him and we all had a special fondness for this one.

But it was immediately clear that a real benefit about having that car was that it was useful was when the Hyundai was in the shop. This way, I’d still have a car I could drive in the meantime. We’d thought about getting a minivan for a while, and this seemed like the right time to finally pull the trigger on it. MJ did a bit of research to confirm we still wanted to go with the Kia Carnival that we had test driven a couple years earlier, and then we decided to buy one for California and one to replace the SUV we keep in Philadelphia. The timing worked out to buy the one for Philly first, so we used a car buying service that would find and manage the purchase of the exact model and specifications we wanted, and also ship in to Pennsylvania. All I had to do was show up at their office to sign the paperwork, and the car joined us a week later during our spring visit to Philly, hooray!

Next up was the one for California, which we went to a dealership ourselves to buy since we didn’t need the added complexity of cross-country shipping. The interior color differs from the one we have in Philly, but otherwise the vans are identical. Fortunately, we like them! It’s already been really useful to be able to pick up furniture or other big things without a full reconfiguration of our Hyundai SUV, including removal of the car seats.

Buying two cars at once felt incredibly decadent, but so is having a vacation home where we keep a car. And these are the family cars we expect to have for the next 8-10 years, so it’s not like we’re over here doing a luxury car refresh every couple of years (indeed, two Kias are the price of one luxury car, hah!). Before coming out to Philly for our summer trip, MJ and I made our way over to AAA to do a bunch of swapping of license plates between cars so we’d be ready to remove the expired temporary plates when we got into town.

The biggest question for me that I’d been mulling over is where my “pleia2” plate would end up. I first got it when I had the Maserati Ghibli a few years back, and it was glorious. Going from that to a minivan? It was emotionally jarring in a way I struggled to come to terms with. I’m 100% in with being a mother, and while I don’t love the cultural implications of moving to the suburbs and buying a minivan, it is a truth about our life now, and there’s no use pretending it’s not.

Someday I’ll put it back on a Maserati.

Adam’s graduation from Kindergarten was a week later and we were all able to attend that, and conclude the day with a graduation cake for both of them and dinner at Fogo de Chão!

And then it was time for a few weeks of California summer! Last year we left for summer in Philadelphia directly after Adam concluded school, which meant we couldn’t do anything in California before we left, and I was pretty disappointed about that. California is gorgeous, and in spite of nice weather year around, there still are seasons for things like swimming and boating and it was a shame to miss that. This year, we didn’t!

When I returned from Boston, we went to Ardenwood Historic Farm for their annual Rail Fair. The last time we were at Ardenwood the train wasn’t running, so our first stop was getting to ride on that.

From there, we met with folks from the Western Pacific Railway Museum where we learned about their Run-A-Locomotive program where an instructor teaches you how to run a diesel locomotive and then you get to run one on their grounds! We are 100% going to do that. They were also really kind to the boys, both of whom asked a lot of questions and they were happy to indulge.

Several areas were also set up with model trains, which is always a lot of fun. Perhaps the most fun was the Live Steam group from the Bay Area Garden Railway Society whose model trains ran on actual steam. Some use little pieces of coal for the boiler, others some type of gas or alcohol solution. Very involved, but also very cool.

We spent the following weekend with a lot of water. First up, was our first visit to Cull Canyon Swim Complex! Gaby had gone a couple weeks earlier and reported that there wasn’t a lot of sand, which was important for one of our very sand-adverse kiddos. We went on a rather warm day, so it was already crowded by the time we got there, in spite of getting there rather early. Still, we had fun! And promptly made plans to buy some additional supplies from Costco and REI for our next visit so we could enjoy our time there for longer. On our list: Beach tent, beach chairs, and a collapsible wagon.

The next day it was over to Lake Chabot for paddle boats! We had considered going to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to enjoy the paddle boats there, but the boys didn’t want the long drive, and we were slightly concerned about crowds. None of those problems at the Lake 10 minutes from home!

We quickly learned that paddle boats are quite tiring, hah! Adam and MJ started the journey, but Adam and I very carefully swapped places on the boat halfway through so I could take over for him and MJ and I could get us back to to the wharf. It was fun, but we all agreed that next time we’ll take out one of the motor boats so we can focus more on the scenery and less on paddling.

For some indoor summertime fun, we enrolled the boys in the Kids Bowl Free program that our local bowling alley participates in. It’s funny though, in over seven years of living here all of our au pairs have taken the boys bowling, but MJ and I had never been! So the other morning I took them over to get them checked in and watch them wildly throw a few balls down the lanes. I should participate next time.

It’s been fun, and we have more to do! I took a couple days off this week so we could enjoy a few more fun things and avoid the weekend summer crowds. Plus, after the whirlwind that was April and May at work, I could use a break.

What’s for dinner? A lobster roll, of course! I ended up at The Barking Crab where I enjoyed a blueberry wheat beer, some steamers (clams), and my glorious lobster roll with fries and coleslaw. I was seated in a 2-person table right by the water, which with the lovely spring weather, made the whole experience basically perfect.

That evening I also stopped by L.L. Bean because the perfect weather was threatening not to last, and I had a baseball game to go to the next day. I picked up some quick-drying hiking pants that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting wet, and a rain coat that I needed anyway and had been wanting to buy for a while. I also walked over to some more touristy areas to pick up some gifts for the boys.

Saturday morning was the most chill time I’ve spent in a long time. I slept in, enjoyed the hotel pool, spent some time reading and playing video games. That allowed me to leisurely get ready for my journey to Fenway Park for a baseball game. I took the MBTA regional rail to a station that was about a 20 minute walk from Fenway, and the lovely walk took me through a park. The stadium took me by surprise, I was just walking down the street and suddenly it was in front of me!

I walked around to get a feel for the area, and then went in side to enjoy the pre-game Taco and Tequila Fest that I had tickets to. If I were to do it again, I’m not sure I would have done that part because it was a bit boring to do by myself, and there was a fair amount of milling around as we waited for the rest of the stadium to open so we could get to our seats.

I had good seats, and there was an empty one next to me which was nice. The weather ended up being absolutely perfect for an evening game, with the threatened rain not making an appearance. It was just warm and lovely. And it was a great game, with the Red Sox trailing for most of the game but pulling off a win against the Braves in the end! Plus, I got to see a home run sail over the green monster and out of the park, and the Braves have former Athletics players Matt Olson and Sean Murphy so it was nice to see them play again, even if I was rooting against them.

The journey back to the hotel was noteworthy for me because it was my first time riding the subway in Boston and it was completely overflowing with baseball fans leaving the park. They were running a lot of trains, but it was still a squished ride back. I took two subways and then a bus which put me quite close to my hotel, and it was all pretty easy to navigate. Thanks, Boston!

Sunday morning I took a walk down to the Boston Tea Party Museum for a 10:45AM tour. I was lucky to be on the tour with a small group and so we all got our hands on the “tea boxes” to throw off the boat and could ask questions. Throwing things off a boat because we’re mad at the government over import taxes felt very appropriate right now. I really enjoyed the downstairs walk through of the tea party story as well, they made really fun use of projectors and other tech to make the whole experience quite immersive. We’ll have to take the boys some time.

From there it was over to enjoy lobster roll number 2, this time at James Hook & Co where you ordered from a truck and then sat down in their outside patio. Continued nice weather made this a lovely lunch, though I did prefer the food the day before. My walk back to the hotel included a stop for ice cream, and then I swung by the conference center to pick up my badge before things got busy on Monday. I had a relaxing evening, and then popped downstairs when I got a message from a colleague about a few folks who had gathered in the lobby to say hello for an hour or so.

My week was spent at the Red Hat Summit and on Thursday I had a late check-out which allowed me to take it easy and then have a late lunch (and lobster roll number 3) nearby. But a spring nor’easter was coming through, and the rain was coming down in buckets. I’m grateful I decided to take my tourist days before the event rather than at the end, because it would have been very disappointing otherwise! Even as it was, I got to the airport rather early because I had nowhere to be late on Saturday afternoon and my flight was ultimately delayed due to the weather. A rainy end to my trip, but rain is lovely once I’m out of it.

Thankfully, once my delayed flight took off the journey home was uneventful, and I was able to rest at home on Friday.