Two seasons diverged on a cool fall day as I sort through photos,
reflecting back on our first full summer in our new home in Philadelphia and preparing
to host our second Thanksgiving at 502 Woodbrook Lane. Our summer was full with three different
camps for Lila (I needed a spreadsheet to try to navigate it all), a blowout 5th
birthday party, a very special family trip to Cape Cod and Lila’s first trip
to Lake Michigan.
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| 1st Day of Camp Cricket |
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| Happy Camper |
Our young camper swam, golfed (sort of), improved her racquet
skills, soccer footwork, and even pulled a rabbit out of a hat at the camp
magic show. L took a vacation from camp
and Greg and I took time off from work to prepare for Lila’s “High Five Hoedown”
(the social event of the season) for which we needed a week on the beach to recuperate. Over 40 of Lila’s friends and classmates put
on their boots and came to celebrate her big milestone complete with
entertainment, ponies, face painting and plenty of giddy up! We were lucky to have great cowpokes like
Miss Liz, who flew in from California, and Kira, who came down from NYC, to make
one little cowgirl’s birthday dreams come true.
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| Lila's High 5 Hoedown |
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| PeeWee the Horse |
On to Cape Cod for what has become an annual Martin
vacation- this year we were joined by the Beards, Rizzos and Grama Cathy for a
beautiful family beach vacation. We
swam, enjoyed fabulous ocean front picnics, lobster rolls, nighttime cocktails on the balcony,
and got busted when our Jalopy paddle boat drifted into the “swim zone.” Lila and Stella shrieked their way up and
down the boardwalk, swapped fashion, and became “summer sisters.” After a few weeks back to our routine, we
were off to Michigan for our 2nd summer vacation to see Stella’s new
house and Grauntie’s house renovation in progress. Lila also had her first trip to Lake
Michigan- our little water girl has declared she prefers fresh water to the
ocean (less seaweed salad).
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| Cape Cod |
After our summer whirlwind of celebration, varying camp
schedules and travel, we greeted the first day of school with a mountain of
magnificent summer memories, which left us satiated but hungry for the next
course of fall routine. Having one year of SCH under her belt, Lila bounded right into her Kindergarten class, excited to be back
with her girls and to kick off another year of learning and growing, this year
under the direction of the fabulous Ms. Culbert- also known as “Ms. Cookie.”
We capped off the official summer with a late season
September visit by the Beards. (Beth and
Stella’s first trip to Philadelphia). We
watched the Cubs beat the Phils, had lunch at a beautiful farm where Stella and
Lila took center stage when the band began to play, and wrapped it up with a
tour of Independence Hall and visit to the Liberty Bell. After three months of consecutive visits in
three separate states, Lila and Stella firmly established their summer
sisterhood—one which we hope to repeat and will always treasure.
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| Cubs vs. Phillies |
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| Wyebrook Farm |
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| Summer Sisters |
As most autumns go, it was a blur of school activity,
after school soccer, computers and ice skating, ballet and tap lessons and lots
of Temple and Eagles football. I took on
additional responsibilities at work last September which have increased my
travel and have Lila asking, “Mommy, why do you work so much?” So as this weekend came on the horizon I
decided to call a time out. We received
several invites for play dates, which I declined. Greg had both a Temple and Eagles game to
attend so it seemed the perfect weekend for Lila and me to go into a
bubble. Not that we didn’t do anything-
we got all of our Thanksgiving shopping done after school on Friday, did a
little holiday shopping on Saturday and went to the local art museum last night
for the tree lighting and to welcome in Santa (first year Lila has actually
embraced the old guy). We bumped into a
neighbor at the market who was lamenting how rushed and over-scheduled they
are- which made me think about the power of politely declining and saying “no.” Lila and I have watched Elf twice, worked on her Christmas list, made smoothies and hot chocolate,
and are now watching Christmas Vacation. So on the weekend eve of the unofficial start
to the holiday season we are re-charging and feeling grateful for time to do
nothing— together. Happy Thanksgiving.
What’s New:
We are in the “know it all” phase. More often than not when we tell Lila
something we are responded to with, “I know that.” We look forward to the passing of this phase-
though know the next phase will likely be worse. Lila is full of questions- “Where does fire
come from?” “Where does electricity come
from?” And the more complicated sort, “Why
don’t we celebrate Hanukah?” “Can girls
get married to each other?”
Lila is 43” tall, weighs 38 pounds and sports a 10.5 shoe. She often says she is a vegetarian but had a
hamburger for lunch yesterday, though after eating half of it said she was
going to be a “fishatarian.” Thanks to
Aunt Beth and Uncle Jeremy for introducing us, Lila is obsessed with Pitch Perfect and performs regularly to
the soundtrack. Other favorite songs
include “Fight Song” and “Bad Blood.” Lila
discovered Linda Ronstadt’s classic, “It’s So Easy” on my phone so that has
become our favorite “car rock out.” L’s
favorite game to play at home and school is “going on a trip”- which entails all
kinds of things getting thrown in various bags and she dresses up. She is studying the continents in school and
keeps asking when we are going to go to London.
We are eagerly anticipating many adventures for this little traveler-
near and far.
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