Run Fox Run

So many photos…it must be summertime. As if the ballet recital and grandparent adventures of last month weren’t enough, we’ve also got ample documentation of our trip to SoCal for Lance and Kayleigh’s wedding. And while I’m well aware of how cheesily ridiculous this would’ve sounded to the 18-year-old me, I do want to mention that it is tremendously satisfying to see your kids become friends with your own friends’ kids. Friends you’ve known since you were an 18-year-old…or maybe even longer. Friends with history. The notion that these same friends could be walking through Legoland with you now, and that their own kids could be *awesome* and running ahead of you, holding hands with your kids — well, it might not have occurred to you back then, but it’s delightful.

So West & Stella, Nathan, Keira & Shane, (and Jay, Lucy & Finn, and BUG too — in absentia for now), thanks for letting us hang out with you and your parents. We totally dug it.

Here in the northeast we have developed a somewhat distrustful relationship with the weather, this winter. So we are reluctant to acknowledge the current state — budding trees, chirping birds, shining sun — as actually being “springtime.” We have been punished before for our overconfidence: the snowstorms of Groundhog Day and oh, what’s that other important day, right, THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING have made us gunshy. Our clan spent Spring Break a few hundred miles south, in Charleston and Savannah — where it was warm and persuasively buggy. There, spring had come. We returned to snow and freezing rain. But now the evidentiary coup de grace has been delivered: Cleo Carver turned FOUR this week. As Cleo reminds me, her birthday is in spring; ergo, it is now spring.

…to be more precise, we jumped into several lakes during our recent wonderful trip to Italy and Switzerland. In Italy we stayed with Grandma Lynn and Papa at a lovely, large house in Lesa on Lake Maggiore. We explored the Lake’s islands and sites — including some fantastic gardens that clearly thrive in the hot weather — and cooled off in the Lake and the pool. Lake Maggiore is the larger, but less busy, neighbor of Lake Como, home to the famous Bellagio, where we disappointingly found neither choreographed fountains nor craps tables. As Papa George reminded me, Lake Maggiore is also home to Stresa, just north of Lesa, where the hero of Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms recuperates, and we found its lakeside cafes quite well-suited to rest, relaxation, and rehabilitation.

Hikers at Oeschinensee

After a terrific week in Lesa, we drove north to Switzerland through a gorgeous alpine pass. For the last leg of the drive we were actually on a “car train” which carries a single line of cars, with passengers sitting inside, through a tunnel to our next home in Kandersteg. From this home base we took day hikes that began with an assist from a gondola or funicular to get us several hundred meters UP so that we could enjoy a more leisurely stroll through cow pastures and around pristine (if chilly) lakes. The landscapes were unbelievably dramatic, the architecture quintessentially “Swiss,” the wildflowers colorful.

After a day in Bern to see the fine collection at the Kunstmuseum (note to Lance: Kunst is German for art) and explore the city, we saw one last picturesque lakeside town: Luzern. Here, our engineering hearts warmed to the sight of the compound steam engine on our ferryboat and to the many wonders of the Verkershaus (Transport Museum). Through it all, we enjoyed great company, good meals, always preceded by a glass or two of Prosecco. Lots of photos are in the Italy-Swiss Album.  Thanks to Grandma Lynn and Papa for sharing a great trip with us!

The sea is calm tonight,
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits

(With apologies to Matthew Arnold)…with just 26 hours in San Clemente we visited three beaches.  Full documentation in the album at right.  Thanks to the Hoida-Mulholland crew for a beach-tastic time.  Next time on the Atlantic coast!

We recently returned from a week in Colorado.  Aunt Maya and Uncle Tommy were excellent hosts, and the five cousins played together non-stop.  When we took pictures, we didn’t even have to tell them to smile.  We had lots of fun at home and out at the pool, the zoo, the science museum, various parks, and at the theater.  We even managed to see the Butterfly Pavilion with the GREAT Grandparents Stroud!  Copious documentation is provided in the Colorado 2009 album.  Thanks Crawfords for a wonderful week.  While Maya claims that we are missed, something tells me she isn’t referring to Leda and Cleo’s pre-6-am wake-up each morning