When planning the summer, we wanted the kids to decide on camps they wanted, and we would work around them. The boys wanted to return to Camp Bauercrest (boys, Jewish, sports, north shore MA). Sam wanted to do Pack n'Ride, which is a program of the camp she went to the two previous years, JCC Ranch Camp outside of Denver, CO. It's an awesome program where they spend about a week in the backcountry with horses, and they spend the rest of the 2.5 weeks of camp AT camp. I wanted her to challenge herself by camping and being on a backcountry trip (I used to lead canoe camping trips, like for YEARS, in Ontario, and I know these are soooooo good for kids and so fun!). BUT, the only time the camp was offered was the start of the summer. We decided that we would help her make it happen, and this also means she missed Michigania. But once we started mapping out the summer, I realized she got home the exact day that the boys left. This does not work for parents going on a trip with no kids.
I suggested Sam find a new camp to attend in addition. She found Road's End camp, which I had also heard about from a elementary school friend, but when it was time to sign up, they first opened to kids who were returning, and they were downsizing the camp, and it was filled. They said they could offer her a spot for the last week of the summer, and we agreed so she could get a foot in the door and be a returning camper next year in case she can return. BUT we still needed her to be away when the boys were away, so we tried to find one more camp.
We heard about one of our friend, Benjamin's friends who went to Touchstone Farm camp in New Hampshire, and she LOVED it. It was offered for two weeks in the summer, and it overlapped with the boys. Done.
A day after I dropped Sam off at camp, I flew to London. I had a wonderful day running with my running group, visiting with friends (and sleeping, because I had a bad cold), and then we took the train to Newcastle. Matt worked the next morning, so I walked ALLLLLL around Newcastle and learned a bit about its history (coal, industry, now trying to increase arts...), and then we walked together until we rented a car and drove west to our airbnb. We had a lovely dinner at the Milecastle Inn, just at the end of ten minute driveway (ok, some of it is a small road, but we saw no other cars, and it led nowhere...) of our farm stay. On the way back to our place, we saw a small walk, and it was a beautiful night, so we walked and we wondered where Hadrian's Wall was in relation to us, since our whole motivation for the trip was seeing Hadrian's Wall. We looked around, and sure enough, there was the wall!
lunch with the lunch bunch ladies in London. Wonderful.
Newcastle Upon Tyne
our evening stroll when we FOUND the wall!!
gorgeous
The next morning, we woke and drove to the area of the wall that is supposed to be the most beautiful. We did this hike which brought us to the remnants of a Roman fort, and then along BEAUTIFUL parts of the wall, with views on both sides - duh, that's why they built it there...We saw the sycamore gap, which I had read a lot about since two dudes cut down the tree there, and I didn't really process what had happened until we got there and saw it. It was a GORGEOUS hike. We had lunch at the Bowes Hotel, which was great. It was also next to this super fun pottery store, and we got a few pieces for our garden (which I then carried back on the plane - sheesh - heavy). I was a bit antsy, so we did one more BEAUTIFUL hike. It was mostly along a river and then it went up up up for some beautiful views. THOUGH we saw some drunk guys camping that scared us, and then at the farthest part of the hike, some other old dude who also seemed quite drunk (??) was yelling towards us, and we could barely understand him. This was the first time hiking out there that we felt a bit nervous - there were DEFINITELY no other people around. I'm definitely one to think that people are out to get us...but usually hiking gets me away from that. This was a unique experience, but it was still absolutely gorgeous and mostly enjoyable. We had dinner at the Twice Brewed Inn. Good but not the best.
Where the tree was
Where the tree was, from past it. the Sycamore Gap
Every time we drove back to our farm, the cows would stare at us like, "what are you doing here?"
Twice Brewed brewery. Eh. I got a sour, and it was BLUE. Ew.
We got back to our room, and we peeked inside the hot tub and realized it was all filled up and hot and ready to go, so we thought - why not? And we sat on the balcony, watching the animals do their evening things (cows, sheep, starlings) and relaxing. After about 13 miles of hiking that day, it was AMAZING.
The next morning we went to see another part of Hadrian's Wall, but Matt wasn't super into it, since it wasn't too different from the day before, and it was a lot of up and down, so we cut that hike short and went for a brunch (Lanercost Tea Room at the priory) before we headed out for a totally different and beautiful hike farther west. We had considered driving all the way west to the coast (it was only about an hour away!), but it didn't seem like there was anything there that was more spectacular than where we were, so we stayed. The town this took us through was super cute, and we even found a painting that we went back later to buy. It was raining nearly the whole hike, so it didn't seem like a good idea to take it with us! We then went back to the Bowes Hotel for dinner, since one of the owners is Thai, and they have Thai food on the weekends. It was a totally fine dinner, but it was not good Thai food. Enjoyable none the less.
After our beautiful walk, we looked for a place for a beer that was relaxing, and we found this pub in a TINY town. The pub owner talked to us for a bit. She is from the town, and she was running two other pubs in the lakes district. This pub was being sold, so she bought it and has revived it. She knew EVERYONE there other than us and one other table. And everyone had a dog, and all the dogs were playing in the green next to the pub. It was so so so cute. The pub owner had all of the dogs come to her and sit, and then she threw a ball for them.
Since we had explored East (Newcastle), South (Allen Banks), and West (Talkin Tarn), we figured we should try north! We wanted to know what it was like up there, JUST below Scotland. We drove up to this reservoir, and the drive was as beautiful as the hike around a peninsula. We had lunch in an old schoolhouse in Falstone, which was surprisingly good and enjoyable. Then we did another beautiful and short hike through Bellingham (pronounced BEL-in-jum - WHO KNEW??). We looked for a place out there to have a beer with a view, and we ended up at the Holly Bush Inn. We sat and read for a long while, and then they asked if we wanted to stay for dinner. Why not? It was great.
So. Many. Ferns.
This tree looked like it had freshly fallen over
beautiful reservoir
relaxing Holly Bush Inn. We sat for hours. There was a little horse in the field too
here's the horse
The next morning we started our (not long) drive back to Newcastle, and we stopped in Corbridge on the way. Based on reviews, we only did the walk out to the castle and back, and a small walk around Corbridge. You could hear the highway for a lot of the walk, which I do not like, but some of it was also super beautiful, the castle was cool, AND we saw a gorgeous deer running through oat fields.
We drove back to Newcastle and had a quick snack at Ouseburn Farm, an urban farm in this bohemian, old industrial area. We went to see the Victoria Tunnels and learn all about them - helping to get coal out of Newcastle to the boats on the river, and we learned about how they were a shelter for THOUSANDS of Newcastle citizens during WWII. It was a great tour - super interesting with great storytellers. I grabbed a quick lunch for the train (AMAZING salads) and we were off! We gave each other a high five for the best, seamless trip ever. We both had such a wonderful and relaxing time, clearly just hiking, eating and soaking in the hot tub each night. I also read one full book, finished one and started a new one. Though we should have waited on the high five, since the tracks were closed on our line leading into London (someone was hit by a train??). The train stopped at Stevenage, a random town not that close to London. There was no advice or help at all, but we found a random guy who told us to go with him on a bus to Luton (an hour...), then take a train there to London (35 minutes) and then the tube back to our hotel. Eh. We were three hours later than we expected, but we had NO children, NO hurry, and plenty of snacks. No problem.
I got to spend a glorious day visiting Jill and Ben at his mom's house in Hemingford Grey and do a beautiful walk with them, their kids and Ben's mom, Sue, who we get to see every year on July 3. It was so special to see this amazing area and where Ben grew up.
Hemingford Grey. So many thatched roofs - they were GORGEOUS
loved my day with these folks. BIGGEST smile ever.
unbelievably gorgeous
I had one more amazing day in London, running with my peeps, having lunch with a good friend, going to a museum with other friends, and dinner with others. It was a great second goodbye of London.
ending the last run. on Abbey Rd, obviously
When I went to meet the ladies to run in St John's Wood, the tube stopped in Westminster and they said it wouldn't be running again soon. I go out and ran the three miles to meet them! Though they were running down to Hyde Park, so I didn't quite have to go all the way there. With the extra run it ended up being a more than eight mile run! And when I came back on the tube to Westminster, nearish to our hotel, I got one last pic with my good friend, Ben.
the view from our last room included parliament, westminster abbey, the shard and big ben. Nice goodbye.
Other than this trip, we had a wonderful time at Michigania, though we missed Sam and a lot of our really good friends who didn't get in. It was the same beautiful place, same memories, same activities, but it felt empty, like a person died or something. It was super weird and a bit sad but also fun...we found new mountain biking trails nearby which was a highlight for me. And pickleball every morning. I tried archery and did pretty well! I got bullseyes on the 10, 15, 20! Next year I will go for my Robinhood, which means a bullseye on every target. I also got to go to the field with Elie. Evenings were quiet without many of the friends. The boys had a great week. Lots of shooting things - archery, Koby's first riflery, time with friends, arts and crafts, horse riding, high ropes...everything - they both did everything. Matt had fun too. And it's obviously great to spend a week wtih my parents, brother and cousins.
This was the first time I have run at michigania. OMG it is so hilly. but also beautiful. The first day was raining, so I might as well run!
The new mountain biking trails. SOOOOO FUN!!!!
there was an ice storm in March, and the forests were FULL of trees that have fallen down. it must have been SOOOO much work to clear the trails this spring
michigania
i got all the arrows in black or better at 20 yards! this was my second bunch of arrows, so i'm guessing it was mostly luck, but I'll take it!
in the field with Elie
mountain biking with jer and my dad
elie got to play pickleball with the grownups (when he woke up for it...). He's so so good.
Elie and Oscar
Jer having lunch with the boys
Jer sailed with both boys a lot. Elie did all the sailing when he was with Jer. This is on Jer's Laser
Missing Sam, but same family pic as every other year, otherwise
my mom went for a nice bike ride everyday. one day on the way home from my run I ran into Jer coming back from a long road ride and mom going out! go mom!
Annual Jer sailing pic. with camp in the background. Ah walloon. so beautiful.
we sailed back from the west arm with a billowed sail. this is julie and peter on the boat
on the way to dinner
Elie and all of his awards
kids are getting bigger...
The boys went off to Bauercrest. Sam came back from Ranch Camp Pack n'Ride, and she had an amazing time. I got a lovely week with Sam in MA. She went to Touchstone Farm camp and had a GREAT time there too. Sounds like Koby has had an up and down summer. I have gotten SEVEN terrible letters from him (and none that have anything positive, though a couple have an exclamation mark, which seemed like an improvement). Elie seems to be having a lot of fun, but I will hear all about it when I pick them up next weekend.
leaving london in June. So. Much. Stuff.
Matt sent us off from our little mews.
no space for legs. It was an awful ride. Our driver consistently turned into all traffic. It took more than TWO hours to get to the airport. We were all car sick when we got there, and only I and Elie usually get car sick. Gross.
The last few years I have gone up to visit Jer when the kids were with our parents, at the end of June. This year, Elie wanted to go with me. Jer, Elie and I had an amazing few days. We mountain biked, we ate, we hiked, we walked, we Cataned, and Jer and Elie baked. It was so so so relaxing. We all love the same things, generally, so it worked out so well.
I ran into Bryan from high school in Target!!! What a treat!!!
the company moved us home, so we got business class flights on the way to MI. Pretty fun, because it was a daytime flight where you don't have to sleep, so the kids enjoyed.
Elie and Koby wanted to run with me, but it wasn't that fun. Someone always crapped out.
Canoeing with Elie
Fixing jewelry with papa
Mountain biking with Jer and Elie at Maplehurst. It was Elie's first time mountain biking. He loved it.
I had a few runs in Elk - what a beautiful place to run, between Elk Lake on the right and Lake Michigan on the left.
Making Joanne Chang's Oreos. YUM.
Lake Michigan - the bay
Mountain biking at glacial hills
When Elie and I got back downstate, Koby wanted to try mountain biking too! So Papa and I took both boys to Island Lake. Twice. They were GREAT and loved it.
July 3rd with the Dronfield fam. Missing Sam. But fun fireworks and evening.
Sam at Ranch Camp
Sam in her new sensory swing in her old bedroom in Newton
These are the guys who have done the most of the work to renovate our house. Jorge, on the right is UNBELIEVABLE. We love our house. Michael, on the left, can make it all happen. They have others on the team too, but they're the main dudes. I'd link to his site, but he doesn't have one! :)
Sam and I went on a hike up in New Hampshire before I dropped her off at camp. It was gorgeous! but HOT!!!
At the top there was a quick view, before we went back into the woods
Hope they're having fun at camp!!
Susie gave me this gorgeous mug before I moved to London. Every morning I drank my tea from this mug, unless it was in the dishwasher. It gave me so much warmth and love, which I really needed, especially those first two years. One of my first mornings back in our house in Newton, I was washing the mug, and the handle just snapped!! We decided it was symbolic, as I don't NEED the love from the mug, since I have her here with me now in Newton. (But I'll still fix it and use it)
Peaches enjoying a scratch from Sam. This is at pick up at Touchstone Farm
It was so so so so beautiful and peaceful there!!!
Sam and Ike. is this why she is so sick right now?
she grew her nails for the first time ever. And omg, ew.
She wanted these mozzarella sticks right after I picked her up. CHEESY!!
We went to visit Natick Farm, and my good friend Jen is the vegetable farmer there. She was working on a Sunday and had some animal chores to do. Sam helped with them. Jen is a superstar - omg she works so hard!!!
four piglets all chewing on sam's shoelaces!?
Collecting eggs. She got two full baskets full.
changing the bunnies' water
sam caught so many chickens and threw them into the place where they sleep
She got to feed a baby bunny who is less than a month old with a syringe and nipple. Cutest thing ever.
Elie's team beat Koby's team in the pickleball finals 11-0
Papa had a day with Koby at the Detroit Zoo in June. Koby had a lot of days with grandparents while Elie and I were up north (Sam was at camp), and then I went to Boston for a few days to check on the house. Lots of time with those grandparents.
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