Here's a travelogue of our visit to my sister, Rozanne, and her family. I've tried to just stick to highlights in a chronological order.
My sister and her husband, Seguei, live in Maryland close to the border with Washington, D.C. and not far from the University of Maryland. By American standards, her house is small and I guess you might call it modest. It's packed to the gills with a jumble of possessions and all the parapharnalia that comes with raising two children: Ruby, age 7, and Sasha, age 5.
Thursday, July 30th
To our delight, British Airways upgraded us to business class for the flight to Washington D.C. It was faaaaaantastic! Massive legroom and comfortable seats that pretty much allow you to lie down flat. Good food and a nice entertainment system too. The kids enjoyed it and now R* is asking whether we can always fly business class. I wish!
We arrived well rested and rented a seven seater van for the duration of the holiday. It was a bit daunting but we managed to weave our way through the middle of Washington D.C. pointing out the Pentagon, White House and Capitol Hill to the children.
Dad: "See that huge building? It's the Pentagon"
R*: "What's the Pentagon?"
Mom: "It's where the plane crashed a couple of years ago"
Dad: "It's where fat generals sit around and decide which is the next country to send the US Army"
We got to my sisters in the evening. Of course both sets of children were wired with anticipation of meeting each other. Sleep came late.
Friday
A quiet day with a bit of shopping with my sister. Well it's not really quiet when you have four kids running around but it was low key. The great thing when children have friends or in this case, cousins, to play with is they demand so much less attention from you. Errr, except for the fights, accusations and crying that's inevitable!
Ruby and R* hit it off with a common interest in Harry Potter. They spent a lot of time lying around listening to the cassette tapes of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Maryland is hot and humid in the summer and there are lots of insects that snack on humans. R* seems to be particularly tasty and suffered the most.
We watched the movies "Kangaroo Jack" (ho-hum) and "After Life" (really good) that evening.
Saturday
Some more shopping. Bought six Putumayo CD's. It's a record label that publishes world music and I've discovered I like a lot of their CD's. I have twelve of them now.
We went to an outdoor community swimming pool where my sister pretty well lives during the summer. She's on the board of directors. As the summers are really hot, it's a great way to cool down and everyone seems to know each other there and is very friendly. I spent some time trying out my new scuba diving mask.
After the pool, we went to the cinema and watched "Finding Nemo", another excellent Pixar film. Highly recommended.
Sunday
A nice lazy day at the pool.
Monday
My sister lives by a large park with a river running through it. We walked to a place nicknamed Crocodile Island and got caught in a heavy rain. Got soaked but it was too hot to matter.
Tuesday
The big day! After squeezing ourselves and all our camping supplies into our rented van, we drove for a few hours over to Lewes in Delaware. I hadn't been camping since a teenager.
Rozanne knows the beach well at Henlopen State Park and had reserved two of the best campsites some time ago. It didn't take long to setup camp. Rozanne and Seguei are camping pro's and we were joined by some of her friends too. It wasn't long before we were settled in. By the way, this is cushy camping. Every campsite has a tap. There's a central bulding with toilets, showers and a laundry room. Looking around the campsite there are obviously some very professional campers with lots of great kit.
The kids discovered climbing tree's and were soon playing monkeys and alligators. Over the course of the next couple of days, that's where they spent most of the time. That and swinging each other on the hammock.
After some lunch, we were ready to troop off to the beach which is about a quarter mile away. It's a great beach. Long, wide and nearly no one on the part we were on. Our kids don't like big waves so they spent most of their time mucking about in the sand.
After the beach, Cynthia, Rozanne's friend and nominated camp chef, cooked up an excellent steak dinner over the campfire.
That night the heavens opened and it poured with rain. We were also treated to bright flashes of lightning and rolling thunder as we lay in our tent. Not easy to sleep with that going on and I compulsively checked the tent for leaks once in a while. After assuring myself that we wouldn't float away, the lighting show was quite enjoyable. I did sorely miss having a pillow though. I felt right sore in the morning.
Wednesday
It was a bit damp in the morning but the sun was out again and things quickly dried up.
The afternoon was spent on the beach again. I spent most of my time digging a massive hole which could be filled with sea water through a small channel. It's what I tend to do at the beach as I'm not into sunbathing and the sea is a bit cold for swimming. The kids have fun digging with me and splashing in our private pool.
There's a local school of dophins that patrols the beach shore. Serguei swam out and got very close to touching them.
Back at the campsite, we were treated to cold showers. Arrrgghhh!! Kids also had cold bathes which had them screaming.
After dinner, we treated the kids to toasted marshmellows which was new to them. They seemed to like untoasted ones better. Burning them was even more fun. Then we went for a moonlight walk on the beach which was really nice. Would have been so peaceful if the kids weren't there. Of course they loved running around with flashlights in the dark.
Thursday
It started to rain heavily on Thursday. We had a tarp tied over a picnic table to keep us dry but the rain continued to pour. Rozanne insisted that we all go crabbing on the fishing pier. K* and I took the car while everyone else hiked for twenty minutes down to the fishing pier. K* had a bit of a fever at this point but was holding up well. Thought it best to keep him dry and offer the kids a ride home. Heck, thought it was best to keep myself dry!
Serguei is very inventive and he and Rozanne created a crab catching device. It worked as was demonstrated to us when we met out on the pier in the rain. Kids loved it. Eventually the kids, Cynthia, Jenny and I all piled into the van to drive back to the camp.
With it still raining, we had soup for dinner made over a propane stove. No camp fire today! I confess that I instigated a vote to leave that night rather than wait until the next day. When the rain let up, we packed up and headed back to Maryland.
Friday, August 8th
The children were by now suffering a fair bit scratching and itching themselves. K* was particularly bad as he rubbed his skin raw.
Jenny and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary at a posh restaurant called "Asia Nora". Excellent service and food. It was kind of a European style done with Asian flavours. Dessert was a chocolate tort to die for.
Saturday
I spent the day with Ruby and R* taking them down to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum via the metro. It was one of the most enjoyable days of the holiday for me just bumming around with two very chatty seven year old girls. I kept a fast pace through the museum trying to keep them interested for as long as possible. Indeed, they are both very much into animals as you might expect. We also watched the T-Rex 3D movie at the IMAX which scared R* to death. But soon food and shops started occupying their attention. We visit all *four* gift shops that were in the museum. As a treat I also took them out for dinner at TGI Fridays before heading home.
Sunday
Again we packed and headed for the great outdoors. This time, our destination was the hills of the Shenandoah valley near Lydia in West Virginia. They're called the Blue Ridge Moutains but as a Canadian, I insist on calling them hills. On the way through Washington DC, we passed Chinatown so we made an inspired emergency stop to buy roast duck and squid (we brake for food).
Mistake. The aroma meant we had to stop for an inspired emergency picnic. Luckily we found Bull Run Park.
A few hours later we made it to the Shenandoah and drove up a steep dirt track to a parking spot at the end of it. However that didn't get us to the cabin. Next we doned our backpacks and hiked about ten minutes the rest of the way to Wineberry Cabin.
Great cabin! Much nicer than I had imagined. Clean and really well equiped. Clever details in the design. Lovely porch and eating area. Outdoor grill that was covered by a roof. A little brook tinkled down the hill close the the cabin. The cabin itself is nestled in an airy forest. Only thing it lacked was a view. Of course it also lacked electricy, running water and a toilet. The water from the brook was drinkable and the outhouse was a short walk away.
That night we were treated to a major rain, thunder and lightning storm again. This time we could admire it from a porch while drinking wine rather from inside a tent. Much better!
Jenny and I slept upstair in the sleeping loft with the four children while Rozanne and Serguei slept downstairs. Well, Jenny didn't sleep very well because there was some critter gnawing in the roof! But I now had a portable pillow that worked a treat.
Monday
We spent the day doing a couple of hikes in Shenandoah National Park. This was a bit of a test for our kids since they've really never had to hike any distance at all. Ruby and Sasha are tough and used to the outdoors. Ours are not. K* did well but R* was a bit grumpy on our first hike to the summit of Stoney Man. Even the breathtaking view from the top didn't cheer her up (especially after she fell off a large rock).
Our second hike was down to Dark Hollow Waterfalls. Our kids were much happier as they got to wade about in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall and pick and eat berries while hiking back up the trail.
The highlight of the day was seeing a mother bear and two cubs from the roadside as we left the park.
Tuesday
We cleaned up the cabin and got ready to leave. Before we left, Jenny and I enjoyed the outdoor solar shower that's in a nice secluded but unenclosed location. Very clever design and the water was indeed warm. Maybe we should give naturism a go one day...
On the way home, we visited the Luray Caverns. The entrace fee is a bit steep but it lived up to it's claims of containing a lot of spectacular formations. We even had time for a quick tour through the classic car museum next door (mental note: I would love a 1927 Mercedes).
Wednesday
My sister left with Ruby to fly to Los Angeles. Jenny and I left the kids with Serguei and got some last minute shopping done.
Thursday
Our flight wasn't until 9:30 so we left early and killed some time in a shopping mall before catching our flight. Treated the kids to the Rainforest Cafe.
Our flight got delayed due to the blackout across the North East USA but only for a short while. R* refused to sleep for the whole flight until we landed! It's taken a few days but the kids are finally back to their regular sleeping pattern.
Home Again
So it's been a good adventure. We're glad the kids got to spend some time with their cousins and they got a taste of outdoor life since it's not really something Jenny and I do. Camping is fine if it doesn't rain. The mountain cabin was excellent. Talking to the kids later on, they liked the beach best and mountain second. One of the things R* liked was helping with all the work. Wonder if we can get her to enjoy helping with work at home!