Vanderbilts for a Day!

One of the best things that I did this summer while I was back East was spending a day in Newport, Rhode Island. Newport is one of my most favorite places ever! It's a historic, lovely town by the ocean and has beautiful old mansions along the coast that can be toured. Peter took me there when we first started dating and we had such a good time that day. This time, eleven years later, I went with my parents, my sister Elizabeth and her son Rocco, and my boys. (Poor Peter was stuck back in Iowa, hard at work!)

We toured one mansion, The Breakers, which is my favorite one and is the biggest of all of them. ("Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the biggest of them all?") It was the summer home of the Vanderbilts and construction started on it in 1893. It's modeled in the style of an Italian palace. My favorite things about it are the cozy library, the second-floor terrace, the lovely grounds, and its amazing views of the ocean.

I wanted to get a cute picture of John and Sam on this stone lion near the front entrance, but John was being a pill and wouldn't let Sam get on the lion.

Oh well! We tried.

I kind of rushed through the mansion and didn't get to listen to the automated tour that's given on headphones because for some strange reason, the kids weren't all that interested. This is where having my husband there would have been very helpful! It was okay though because I'd been through it before. I walked them through and did my best to rein in Sam's desire to explore beyond the velvet ropes, and then let them escape onto the grounds to play. In the future, I don't think I'll bring young kids to tour the mansions!

This is the beautiful ocean view from the back of the home's second-floor terrace. If I had lived here I would have spent many of my summer days on this terrace laying on a chaise lounge and reading books. Amazing!

I love the grounds because they have big sweeping trees and perfectly manicured green grass and bright puffy  hydrangea bushes and beautiful views of the mansion and the ocean.

This is the biggest birdbath I've ever seen!

Hydrangeas are everywhere in New England during the summer, from the grandest estates to small bushes of them along random side streets. I love them!

The boys had a lot of fun climbing on the trees and running around under the low-hanging branches. They'll take the joys of nature over a stuffy old mansion any day!

The back of The Breakers. The second-floor terrace that overlooks the ocean is there in the middle...

Of course we had to take the requisite family pictures with the mansion as the backdrop. Sam was trying his best to escape (again!)...

Elizabeth and I and our boys...

Just a few more views of this wonderful place that I love!

A girl can dream...

It's fun to imagine about the people who lived here and the things that happened behind those gates, within those walls, and on those grounds a century ago.

After we were done at the mansion we went to downtown Newport, which is full of fun shops, galleries, and restaurants. John decided to catch a wave while we were there...

I bought a book a few days later that I plan on reading at some point: Gilded: How Newport Became America's Richest Resort by Deborah Davis. It combines two things that I like: history and glamour. It should be a good read!

And that was our lovely day as would-be Vanderbilts!

Random Thoughts on a Friday Morning

Here are some of the things flitting around in my head right now:

-Hurricane Irene. I'm a little anxious about it. I love a good storm but this one sounds like it could be pretty serious. I don't live in New England anymore but my family and many of my friends do. I'm a little worried!

-What is going on this week?! An earthquake on the East Coast, an incoming hurricane on the East Coast, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, and it looks like Libya is finally going to get rid of a terrible dictator (who has a crush on Condoleeza Rice, which I find very amusing!). 

-I hate my hair. But first, in an attempt to be positive, here are the things I like about it: it's naturally straight, soft, and blond. And here are the things I don't like about it: it's thin, it's taking forever to grow longer, it's breaking off on one side, and it has become super-fragile. What's up with that? I hate my hair.

-I now have a son old enough to be in Boy Scouts! John started Cub Scouts this week and I am now the proud mother of a Tiger Cub. (Does that make me a Tiger Mom?)

-Tomorrow I'm getting a lava rock massage!

-This picture inspires me and brings out my inner neat freak. I'm trying to get my life organized so that September can get off to a good start.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Summer 101

When I was looking through some of the pictures I took this summer, I noticed that the ones from a barbecue at my sister Elizabeth's house illustrate well many of the classic great things that I love about summer!

Watermelon, swimsuits, beach balls, and pools (even little ones!)

Corn-on-the-cob

Chillin' out!

Baseball!

Family 

S'mores!

I love summer and it's been a great one! What are some of your favorite summertime things?

More Peas Please!

Sam is a picky eater, which can sometimes make mealtimes less than successful, but it helps that the things he likes to eat are mostly good: fruits, vegetables, crackers, breads, cheese. As you can see, he absolutely loves peas. Just give him a pot of peas and he's happy!

That is one pea-powered boy!

A Fair to Remember!

 Last week we got back from our summer vacation to New England! It was a wonderful trip and so nice to be with our families again. I have much to blog about from the summer but until that happens (after I get my pictures--over 1200 of them!--pared down and edited), I wanted to post this blog post I wrote last summer and never posted (did I just say "post" three times in a row? Make that four times!). The Iowa State Fair is being held right now about two hours away in Des Moines. We wanted to spend a day there, but after the road trip from Massachusetts and all the time Peter's taken off from work, we decided we'd just have to skip it this year. We're sick of being in the car and not even a trip to the state fair can entice us! So without further ado, here is my ode from a year ago to the State Fair, now getting its moment in the spotlight after languishing in the "Unpublished" file for a year...

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You didn't really think I was all done writing about the Iowa State Fair, did you? This is my third and final post on the matter. (The other posts are here and here.) What can I say; I found the fair to be rich in blogging material!

Last month I happened to come across an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal (which is this blog's namesake...they should be paying me for this kind of publicity) about state fairs titled "Our Love Affair With the Fairs." It was a fun little editorial and among other things, it said:  

"State fairs represent the America many of us praise from afar, or live within, or simply puzzle over."

"Fairs...can be traced back to 500 B.C....Fairs have existed as microcosms of society from the beginning..."

"Let's face it: no matter how sophisticated we become, a life-size statue of Elvis sculpted from 800 pounds of butter will always fascinate us. And if you don't understand this, then I'm afraid you don't understand America."

What Midwestern state fair would be complete without a tractor parade?

Classic cars, all in a row

Junk food at its finest

My father ended up buying an organic cotton mattress!

These huge fat snakes make me feel slightly nauseous even now.

We plan on going to the State Fair each summer. It must be the American in us!

The Tell-Tale Picture Wall

A few months ago, I put up a picture wall of the boys in the upstairs hallway. The top row is John's and the bottom row is Sam's.

 

As you can see, Sam's row has been just a little bit neglected! And it's not just because John has over four years on him. I attribute it to what I call "second-child syndrome." John was the first child and so I was really good about getting his pictures done every few months when he was a baby and then once or twice a year as he got older. Sam is my second child and I love him and cherish him every bit as much as I did John, but I haven't been as good about getting his pictures done regularly and displaying them promptly because I'm more busy with two kids than I was with one, and for me the second time around has felt a little like "been there, done that!"

I haven't been totally neglectful of Sam and his photos, however. He had some nice newborn pictures taken, along with a photo shoot when he was about three months old, eight months old, and one year, although I haven't yet taken the time to order the prints, frame them, and hang them up (as you can see above...they're not there!). But I've resolved to catch up on that, at the very least so that Sam doesn't grow up with an inferiority complex. And last week I took him to a photo studio and got his pictures done, which I meant to do three months ago when he turned 18 months. Better late than never! I think the photos turned out really cute, despite the bug bite on his forehead and the lock of hair in the back that wouldn't stay down. Eventually, in the hopefully not-too-distant future, some of these will make it up onto the wall!

At the beach! (The photo studio beach, that is!)

Our First Spring in Iowa

Seeing as the first day of summer is this week, I better get my springtime pictures up before they become totally irrelevant. As many of you know, this was our first spring living in Iowa and in the Midwest. It was very pretty--everything gets really green and blooms like back East. And living in a new house is cool because it's neat to see what blossoms up in your own yard...

This is our "popcorn popping" tree!

It was good that I took pictures of this pretty flower bush/tree when I did because the next day almost all of the petals were gone from a big storm we got...

This beautiful flowering tree is in the field next to our house. I wish it looked like this all summer!

Dainty little lavender flowers...

This is part of the backyard and was taken in later spring when the trees had finally gotten all green and full again. Green is my favorite color!

It's been a lovely time of year, and now I'm looking forward to the beauties of summer, which is my favorite season. The fireflies have already started flickering at night. Life is so good in the summertime!

The Last Day of Kindergarten

I know everyone says it about their kids, but it really does seem like John's first day of kindergarten wasn't that long ago. In reality, it's been almost ten months, but it flew by fast. His last day of school was two weeks ago on June 2nd, so his time in that hallowed year of kindergarten has officially come to a close. (I'm so glad I have another child who has yet to enter kindergarten, otherwise I'd be beyond sentimental about this!)

And the end-of-year report is this: John had a great year! He adjusted nicely to being in school for a full day and also to living in a new state and going to a new school with nobody that he knew. He made many friends, had lots of fun, and learned many new things. His final progress report that he brought home on the last day of school states that he has been "promoted to next grade level." The first promotion of many in his life, I hope!

Just to mark his growth, this was John back in August on the first day of school before leaving for the bus stop:

And here he is (in the same shirt!) on the last day of school before leaving to catch the bus. He's really grown up this year! And is becoming quite a handsome guy, if I do say so myself. :-)

So long to my kindergartener and hello to my 1st grader!

Toddler's Best Friend(s)

Last fall, we adopted Yogi and Boo Boo from an animal shelter, and they've turned out to be very good with the kids. See how good they are at keeping Sam company when John isn't around?

 

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the snack cup in his hands, aren't you?

Yeah right! A snacking Sam = instant best friends for Sam. Lucky Sam! (And lucky dogs--Sam likes to share!)

An Epiphany...

 

I wonder what it was about? Apparently it didn't involve the realization that he could make his parents happy by no longer saying "butt," "poop," and "idiot" a hundred times a day because that hasn't happened and I took this picture in April. Oh well. Hopefully it was about something on the peaceful and profound side!

How to Coordinate Your Home Accents with Your Children's Clothing!

I've been looking for some good toss pillows for the family room couch for months. I finally found some that I liked, and I liked them even more when it became apparent how well the colors of Sam's outfit coordinated with them.

Now he just needs to wear the same outfit every day so that he can continue to be color-coordinated with the pillows. Truly ingenious home decorating at its cutest and most practical!

I Told You I'd Be Back!

So I uploaded the April/May photos from my camera onto the computer last week and it made me want to do some blog posts, so I'm back sooner than I said I would be! Didn't your day just get a lot better?!

Plus I didn't want Arnold Schwarzenegger to be the first thing people read about if they happened to visit my blog this summer. Now it can be something cute about my kids or some random aspect of my life instead.

I'll still be gone in July and probably for most of August, but not for June anymore. Yippee!