The Story Of Us

I have a few more cities left to post about from our United Kingdom summer vacation but before summer is completely gone and fall approaches I want to recap some of our summer fun. We went for a little weekend getaway with family to Upstate New York to celebrate the 4th of July. We stayed in Corning and went to Watkins Glen to hike through the gorge.. which was simply stunning.. and then went a little further up to the Robert Treman State Park near Ithaca for some swimming.. We did some crafts.. we bought these model planes last summer and never got around to making them.. until now.  Both of their planes are now hanging in their bedrooms..  We also made crystals with borax and pipe cleaners   We sailed on the Hudson with friends..  We read a lot.. our town library runs a great reading program and the boys get so many goodies after completing certain goals. We hit a nearby book sale as well as spent some birthday mon...

How are we all doing? Where has time flown by? Farewell summer (I am happy to say mainly because it has been just so so hot), hope you all had a good one. And hello September, which of course means back to school. They are three days in at this point and D has homework every single day. Even the weekend. I am not a big fan of enormous amounts of homework especially on the weekend. H on the other hand had no homework and I wished his teacher had at least given him something. Never satisfied are we?  Both boys will do there regular sports this year, D wants to join the chess club as well (he has developed a sudden and intense interest in it this past year) There is also a podcasting club (new) and I am pushing him into trying it out.    This has been quite the summer.. we started it off with our trip to Switzerland and wrapped it up with a trip to California.. but more on that soon. When we weren't traveling  The boys were playing tennis with their favorite coach. This...

I started the year in a reading funk. I am not too picky a reader. I have a few genres I try to avoid but I try to keep an open mind. I'll overlook a few inconsistencies if it's a fun and thrilling experience. As we do with other forms of entertainment like movies and tv. ` The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle Synopsis - Twin sisters Iris and Summer are startlingly alike, but beyond what the eye can see lies a darkness that sets them apart. Cynical and insecure, Iris has long been envious of Summer’s seemingly never-ending good fortune, including her perfect husband Adam. Iris is called to Thailand to help her sister sail the family yacht to the Seychelles. But when she unexpectedly finds herself alone in the middle of the Indian Ocean, everything changes. When she makes it to land, Iris allows herself to be swept up by Adam, who assumes that she is Summer. Iris recklessly goes along with his mistake. Not only does she finally have the golden life she’s always envied, with he...

What have we been upto these past few weeks.. We made breakfast on the grill..  and made dinner as well.. these are an attempt as cheesesteak sandwiches.. M is in progress of becoming a grill master.. I wish we could cook more outside but we have had too many rainy evening. We worked on a puzzle. and we read some books. We hit the library just the other day to stock up on some summer reads.  We went to the movies. It was a little predictable but still so much fun. The perfect summer blockbuster. I worked on a little nook in our foyer and gave it a refresh. The floor is hand painted by yours truly about 6 years ago.. you can check out the before here. We spent a day in Montclair.. we used to live not far from there when D was little.  The station is now home to a market where we bought this incredible spicy cheese. We visited a bookstore Had brunch at this cute Pakistani place called Chashni Perused some antiques How has this become normal.. Halloween in July.. seriously...

Summer is coming which means I will be here a little less. We have an international trip planned and a local trip planned. I also want to try to explore a bit more of our own state.  H has four more days of school left and D six.  H will be saying goodbye to Elementary school and had his moving up ceremony last week.  and then we went out for dinner to celebrate at Gosht (means meat in Urdu) in Brooklyn. We had all of H's favorites.. meat and marrow..  In the midst of all the end of year activities we are also planning a surprise birthday party for my father in law who is turning 75. Don't worry, he doesn't even know the blog exists so the secret is safe. While the party is being hosted at a restaurant we have 8 family members flying in and staying with us for a few days.. So we are party planning then planning activities and food and everything else needed to make it a great weekend.  All this coincidentally coincides with D turning 15 so we are adding on a lit...

I am going to be taking a leave of absence for most of the remainder of the summer. The boys and I are flying back home for a few weeks later this week. So most of my days are being spent packing.. I am looking forward to attending a very close friends wedding and the boys with get a chance to bond with family.. especially cousin's who are waiting anxiously. While most of my family have met D.. this will be his third trip.. though the first in his mind, he doesn't remember the other two. No one but my parents and brother have met H.  Take Me Away What I am not looking forward to his the airport and flying 16 hours solo with the two boys.. D shouldn't be much of a problem.. I am packing many activities for the flight.. but H is a bit of a wild card.. send me happy thoughts!! M will join us towards the end to join in on the wedding festivities.. and then on our way back we have picked a new European country to explore :) Planning a Eurotrip yourself? Here are is ...

The last few weeks of summer have slipped away.. and school has started.. we were hoping to cram in a bunch of fun in August but things don't always go according to plan. We had a trip to Florida planned (it seemed like a good idea in May and we were all newly vaccinated) and Florida refused to get with the program.. so bye bye trip to the Keys. :( We heard of this new Airbnb-esque website where you can rent peoples pools by the hour. We don't have a pool so we thought why not. This time the weather decided to be uncooperative. We rescheduled twice but we had days of rain and clouds.. plus lets not forget about Hurricane Ida. Thankfully we were unaffected but our thoughts go out to all those who were. M got the boys a jungle gym obstacle course.. this was the highlight really. It was a pain to put up but the boys are really loving it. We also managed to make a trip to the zoo. We usually go to the Bronx Zoo but it ends up being a whole day event.. so we decided to try another z...