Northampton and Amherst

  

We stayed at The Old Mill in Hatfield, a former mill property turned into a lovely modern rustic inn. The waterfall outside our windows was beautiful, but so, so loud. It was like an industrial fan on full blast running all night. :) We wandered around town, including Smith College, and then ate dinner in Northampton - Taiwanese food (soup dumplings, bbq pork bao, eggplant and tofu, fried rice) followed by ice cream at Herrell’s.

 

 

 

We spent a cozy evening in our rooms. I found a cool make-your-own-NYT Connections puzzle website. Liesl and I made up a really challenging one for Steve, and two easier ones for Seb. It was harder than we expected to create a puzzle!

 

Wednesday morning I headed out very early to fit in a long run -- Christie and I are running a half marathon on April 19th and I need to keep up my training. I went to the Norwottuck rail trail, which stretches between Northampton and Amherst -- flat and paved -- and ran 10 miles. The initial crossing of the Connecticut River in the morning light was possibly the most scenic stretch. It's stick season in MA and the trail is most likely better when the trees are leafy and provide shade from passing traffic. But it was good enough, and I was happy to be out.

After an amazing breakfast of bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits, pastries, fruit, and coffee at the Old Mill, we headed to Amherst College. Steve and I haven't been on campus in more than 20 years and obviously much had changed. It was fun to see our old dorms -- Pratt, Garmin, South, and Millikan for me; Cohan and Seelye for Steve -- and the gym, student center, main quad, and Memorial Hill. The new science building and res halls are beautiful.

We found my freshman year volleyball team photo in the gym....

And a 1960 photo of dad/Bompy as the manager of the baseball team. Sadly, the photos from the 1930s, with Grandpa in his baseball uniform, had been taken down.

 

We headed into town for lunch at Antonio's pizza, which was as quirky and delicious as we remembered.

 

 

And then we headed across town to UMass Amherst to tour a big state school campus. As Seb has said, we're doing a vibe check on college campuses -- city vs small town, different states, big universities vs smaller colleges. We're getting a sense of what might be of interest, and it's been fun.  UMass was a little overwhelming at first, but then we got a better sense of the campus layout and walked around observing the students between classes. At 3, we hopped back in the car and drove to Boston.

Irvington

We spent Tuesday morning wandering around NYC -- we got bagels and lox from Russ and Daughters, amazing coffee, some pastries and fruit from Eataly. We strolled around Union Square and stopped in the Harry Potter store (Liesl got a chocolate frog). Steve and both enjoyed the feel of being back in NYC and the life and bustle of the streets. And then it was time to pack up and go.

We stopped by Irvington for old times sake; we wandered the main street and visited Red Barn bakery, stood on the old train bridge and watches some trains whiz by, and peeked into the parks and library.

Seb pointing at our old apartment in Irvington.

Our tradition: the kids with Rip van Winkle on Main St in Irvington.

 

 

We drove up the Taconic Parkway to the Mass Pike to Northampton - Steve driving, Seb in charge of directions, and Liesl and I snuggled in the backseat playing Uno and snacking and listening to music.

NYC

We drove into NYC in a steady downpour -- very sad, no views. We left our car and bags at the Broadway Plaza hotel on 28th St and set off to eat and explore. Handroll sushi was delicious. Then Grand Central station for nostalgia and Lilac chocolates; subway to Moynihan station to see the new-ish building, out to Hudson Yards (for sightseeing), and then back to the hotel for some downtime.

 

Dinner at Gramercy Tavern, then a show on Broadway: Glengarry Glen Ross. Very funny, very profane, some very famous actors.

 

spring break: Long Island

We drove to Seattle on Saturday morning for a flight to New York (it's not spring break in WA state, and thus was much cheaper for travel). Early morning, long drive, airport wait, long flight, car rental, drive to hotel. Long day. But we made it, and went to a Jewish deli called Bagel Boss for a midnight meal of bagels and lox.

 

On Sunday, we had a slow start, but then got some Greek food at a deli (spanakopita, gyros, moussaka, souvlaki) and drove out to Greenlawn. Steve entertained the kids with stories of all his pranks and misdemeanours and poorly thought out adventures as a kid and teenager. We drove by the old Raab house in Greenlawn, and through the town. We met up with Mary and Rylan and went to Sunken Meadow state park to stroll on the boardwalk in the bright sunshine. We stopped at a Friendly's, where we got Liesl her first ever classic ice cream sundae, and then when to the LaMotta's house.

 

 

 

We played dart games and soccer games in their amazing backyard (Joseph and Joe came back from a soccer game/practice), ate pizza for dinner, and then Seb taught everyone how to play president's, his favorite card game, and we enjoyed a couple of rounds. It was a good family day.

 

spring arrives, sort of

The flowers are blooming! No trilliums yet, but the daffodils and tulips and forsythia and cherry trees are lovely. We've also had more days and instances of hail than I can ever remember having -- Monday was particularly schizophrenic, with bright sunshine followed by a hailstorm followed by sunshine and then torrential rain. Phew.

February and March have been busy with school and work, and with many weekend soccer games. Both Seb and Liesl are playing at the premier silver level with their club teams, and finding mostly success -- at least, winning records. Liesl has moved from being a defensive wingback to being the center back, holding the middle as the final defender. She's played with confidence and speed and it's been fun to watch her grow into a new role.

Seb is the captain of his club team, tasked with the mundane (calling the coin flip and shaking hands with the refs) and the more interesting (creating the lineup when the regular coach can't attend and the assistant coach doesn't know the players). He's been playing really well this winter and it's fun to watch him using his size and speed to be more aggressive on defense and to set up the attack with long passing balls. 

It's hard to take interesting/good photos of soccer games, especially in winter -- the phone camera struggles with distance and speedy movement, plus it's often cold and wet, tough on my hands. But the President's Cup end-of-season tournament is coming up in April, and maybe there'll be photos from those games.

St Patrick's Day!

We almost missed it -- everyone is busy with work and school and sports -- but in the end, Steve made a delicious beef stew, we roasted some cabbage, enjoyed a Guinness, and I baked soda bread buns. 

Haircuts!

Liesl and I both got haircuts this week. I cut off what remained of my long hair into a short bob. Liesl went to a special curly hair studio.

The before.

The after!