Ah, summer

Why does it feels like summer is almost over by the time the Fourth of July arrives? I mean, we still have 66% of it left don't we? We aren't supposed to be on the downward trajectory to fall yet, right? Maybe its because all the swimsuits are on clearance and the back-to-school sales are starting... Maybe its because June is now over and I hardly remember it... Maybe its because the weather has been funky this year and it just started getting really hot and balmy... Well, one good thing about it "feeling" like summer is over, is that it motivates me to get my summer on, and fast.

So in the spirit of this independence day weekend, I am freeing myself to stop worrying about the impending fall colors and get to work. I mean, there is still plenty of time for sweaty bike rides, gloppy sunblock applications, sand stuck in uncomfortable places, mosquito bites, sticky ice cream fingers, dirty inflatable pool water, and voluptuous air conditioning bills! On the flip side, there is still plenty of time for slow meandering bicycle trips with fam and friends, beautiful sunny days, build towering sand castles and listen to the ocean's waves, getting bit by a bug or two... but while enjoying an outdoor concert or meal, delicious ice cream, refreshing cold wading pools, and while the AC bills aren't so appreciated, the AC itself is, so...
 In the last week we have accomplished many of these summer pleasures, so I really shouldn't be complaining. And next weekend we will be hitting the beach to make some of those sand castles and play in those ocean waves!

Charleston

I am a little late to post on our trip to Charleston, SC in May, but a few other things took priority:)

We hopped in the car Wednesday May 22 for our trek to South Carolina for the first time. Our midpoint on the way down there was Huntersville, NC, which was a bit out of our way, but worth the extra time since we got to see some family, Karl & Merna Hesse! We arrived at their farm around 6 and were able to chat for a bit and then take a ride with the girls on the golf cart to see the goats and horses. Then we meandered over to the chicken coop and the girls got to collect some eggs for breakfast in the morning. We ended up cracking two of them (as the girls were 'tossing' them in the bucket); we learned that the chickens will actually eat the eggs- if they are cracked.
After a great dinner and discussion about the history of the greenback and the general concept of money, we hit the hay to prep for our drive the following day. Full of oatmeal, berries, and eggs- we continued our trek to the next Carolina in our journey.

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*Karl and Lucy after dinner; Merna and the girls the morning we left checking out the Hesse library.*

We chose South Carolina so we could visit our friend Brian, who has a beautiful daughter the same

age as our girls. We knew Brian when he lived in Baltimore and haven't seen him in quite some time (too long)! He graciously let us stay in his home for our 4-day stay. We were able to go to Folly Beach twice and checked out Charleston proper a couple times as well. Every night of our stay we had the bonfire going out back with good brew and good conversation. Of course, the best part of the visit was being able to see an old friend and watch our kids play. It's an entirely different dynamic in your friendship when you can see your own offspring interact with an old friend's offspring. There are unspoken truths that we both can understand now as well.

Sitting outside of Magnolia's restaurant on Memorial Day

Some of the places that we experienced, that I want to remember for next time!

• Folly Beach 
• Farmers Market in Charleston
• Heart Woodfire Kitchen
• Piggly Wiggly: the only one around where you can get growlers from about 100 draft beers on site!
• Black Bean Co. restaurant (feel good food, but in the not-fried and fatty way)
• Magnolias restaurant (feel good food, but in the fried and southern way)... I am sure there were healthier options but we got the seafood and cheesy grits and a fried green tomato BLT... yum

Father's Day and our ode to Swine

 While we didn't get to celebrate with either of our Dads in person, we still celebrated in their honor, and of course celebrated Dave! It was interesting to me how, on Mother's Day, I just wanted to get away from being mommy for a day. However, Dave was all about hanging out with the girls- granted still eating lots of lovingly prepared food throughout the day. He did go to a movie in the afternoon, but he also spent a couple hours cleaning the house. What???? Yes, you read correctly...cleaning the house; dusting, sweeping, scrubbing the floor, and even washed all the dishes before bed. Did we have company coming? Nope.

At one point he mentioned that we should celebrate Father's & Mother's Day once a month. He said it was nice to see father's walking around the neighborhood with their kids-- "why do we really only see/appreciate that once a year?" If Dave celebrates Dad's day by chillin' with the kids and cleaning the house, then I am all in for the once a month thing. Now I realize that means spending a few hours myself in the kitchen however, but... I'm sold. Once a month for Dave cleaning the house, me getting some culinary me-time, and then the once a month Mother's Day where I can still escape? Sounds like a plan. But, we both know that will probably not happen, nice thought however:)

So after a trip to the farmer's market while Dave was still sleeping in, our ode to Swine began. We made breakfast that included bloody Marys, bacon (from pigs at a local farm); a feta, tomato, egg scramble (with eggs from chickens at the local farm), star fruit, & strawberries (from a local  farm!). I also scoured the city for an old-fashioned doughnut with no success- shouldn't have been that hard!

Then I started dinner not that long after we finished brunch. I made ribs. I have only done that one other time a couple years ago, so I was a little concerned that I may be cooking those baby backs for 3 hours only to mess them up. They were messy, but they were delicious. Served them with sweet corn and a pea, strawberry, almond salad- yum!

So even though I don't mind cooking and all, it will be nice once L & S are old enough to take on the father's day reigns. They have already become quite the sous chefs, so I give them 2 more years. That way I can focus on my dad again!

What I understand now about my dad, from being a mother myself and a wife to my children's father:

1.  You worry, a lot.
2. It's kinda cool and kinda scary that your kids look up to you... ah the pressure!
3. You want to give your kids the opportunity to do everything, even though we know that's literally impossible
4. You want your kids to like what you like (my dad and I like many of the same things-and growing; ie. sailing, gardening, writing, spending lots of time perusing random things on the Internet, German food, coffee & popcorn to name a few)
5. Sometimes you don't agree with your spouse how how to handle a situation with the little ones
6. As a husband- there are many of those times you have to let the mother of your children win:)
7. It's not easy when your kids seem to run to "mom" all the time.
8. You become a lot more aware of your surroundings and how they might impact your children
9. You make sacrifices
10. It's pretty neat when you see yourself in your kids... assuming they are doing something (cool, super-intelligent, wonderfully creative, etc.)
11. It doesn't always take much to make a parent extremely proud

Happy Father's Day!!

 

Lucy's fingers

Take note: Long story; Lots of details (some not so good)

One week ago, as I was starting a load of laundry, Lucy pulled a stone/ marble serving platter off the
kitchen island. I heard a loud crash. I ran downstairs to see a pool of blood and a very frightened little girl. I had no idea where she was injured. I thought she had lost a tooth or something. Then she lifted up her left hand and said, "Mommy, I broke my finger". This is when my stomach started doing contortionist moves and I felt an unmistakable physical pain for my daughter. A portion of her middle finger was barely attached and I could see the bone. I didn't scream, and while I tried to 'stay cool' I am sure the look on my face wasn't what Lucy wanted to see from her mama. When I first came down, she really wasn't crying, just had a look of shock on her face, but after she looked at my face she knew something was not right.

I am the first to admit that blood is not my thing...at all; but adrenaline must have kicked in, because within seconds I was in the freezer and on the phone with the 911 operator. I was a bit frantic on the phone because I didn't understand why the woman was asking (what I perceived to be) all these irrelevant questions. I just wanted to know what I had to do at that second for Lucy, like, should I be raising her hand over her head? Ice? Towel? Pressure? I also couldn't exactly hear the lady on the phone as I had a wailing child within inches of me, who wasn't very happy to say the least that I was applying strong pressure to her hand with a towel.

In what seemed like hours (but really more like 5-7 minutes), the ambulance arrived. I thought it was funny that the 911 operator was telling me to make sure that I locked up any pets before the EMTs got there. I am pretty sure I laughed quite loudly in her ear at that one... considering I was trying to limit bleeding on my little girl's hand while also trying to keep her calm. Was I about to go leave Lucy to her own devices so I could put Penny away? HA. The strange thing was, when the EMTs did come into the door, Penny was standing there silently. For anyone that knows Penny, she absolutely does not greet people that way, ever.

At this point, Stella had come downstairs. Thank goodness I had to separate them earlier and she was playing on a different floor when this all happened. She never even looked in the kitchen; so didn't see what happened to Lucy and didn't see the mess either. I almost ran out the door with no shoes, luckily, I had to get Stella's shoes, and then realized, I probably should put some on as well. I didn't have time to change out of my jammies however!

I had tried to text "911" to Dave, but learned quickly that you cannot text the numbers 911; it just assumes you are trying to call. So I had called him at work and the ambulance was just arriving, so I had just set the phone on the floor. I can only imagine what he heard, not having any idea why I called in the first place. I then picked up the phone to briefly say, "we are getting in the ambulance, you need to come now". As one may expect, I wasn't exactly thinking clearly, so I failed to let Dave know why we were going in an ambulance, and where we were going.

We live just blocks away from Johns Hopkins hospital, so that was where we were headed. Luckily the EMT called Dave again to let him know where we were going. On the drive, Stella was buckled into the stretcher and Lucy was in my lap. I was trying to get her to sing with me to keep her mind off things. She looked at me and said "Where did Grandma go?" then, "Mommy, pray". That gave me quite the chills, and still does when I recall it. We'd like to think that Lucy was being watched over by Grandma Karin; its pretty hard to dispute this magic when a 2 year old proclaims such a sentiment during a situation like that.

We get into the ER and the team on standby took off the towel to assess. I couldn't look and was trying to keep Lucy's eyes diverted as well. There were two fingers that had been damaged/ severed. Her middle finger and ring finger on her left hand. Lucy was not very happy, we had to give her something to calm her down a bit.

Dave arrives and you could see a look of huge relief when he entered the room; Huge relief that his kids were OK. He had no idea what was happening when I called and he was thinking the worst as he raced to the ER. So when he approaches the room to hear Lucy crying and just seeing her hand wrapped up... there was some joy no doubt.

After Lucy got a bit of morphine, she was pretty happy. It definitely helped mommy to see her that way. She had an xray and we found out that, despite what it looked like to me, the bone was still in tact with only a minor hairline fracture- good news. Bad news, we couldn't do anything to re-attach her fingers yet because she had eaten too short of a time ago.

To backtrack a bit, when we arrived to the ER, there was a woman named Deevna (Divna?) that greeted us whose job was purely to interact with the children, and help to keep them distracted and calm during their visit. She was amazing. Lucy took to her immediately. She reminded me of a Disney princess- the kind that you would find dancing the hallways and singing to the birds- she made the whole experience soooo much better for Lucy.
This short video features Lucy chillin in bed waiting for surgery with Deevna and Daddy.
 
After several hours of waiting and having several doctors and hand specialists come in to examine Lucy's hand (and several times of me using Stella as an excuse to leave the room). We finally had some options of how to proceed. We didn't want to wait any longer to re-attach, and we would have to still wait if she was to go under sedation or general anesthesia. We decided we didn't want her to go under anyway, so we chose to do local anesthesia paired with some anti-anxiety medicine. They did the surgery right in the room. Dave was lying on his back on the hospital bed with Lucy lying on her back right on top of him. Basically Dave was giving her a big hug the entire procedure and she did an amazing job. She had to keep her arm very very still and she did wonderfully. Princess Deevna was also bedside the entire time showing videos and keeping Lucy occupied.
Stella and I hung out in the family room and then started exploring a bit to make the time go a little faster. The children's hospital at Johns Hopkins is very new and quite swanky. The lobby is filled with trendy cushy chairs (that are different shapes and some spin) that were fun for Stella to play on and there are neat huge fish like balls hanging from the ceiling- quite neat and distracting for a while anyway!

The surgery actually only took 45 minutes, but seemed a lot longer. Dave couldn't really move that

entire time either, so I am sure there were several limbs of his own that had fallen asleep during the process. They attempted to re-attach her fingers. Now we just had to wait for one week to see if they "took". She had a large club-like soft cast on and we took her home. I gave her some Tylenol and both girls fell asleep pretty quickly. I was worried that night was going to be a long one with Lucy waking up in pain etc. She woke up once (and not in pain). I on the other hand, woke up at least 5 times and went racing to her bedside for no apparent reason. The next couple days, Lucy was doing remarkably well. I think I gave her Tylenol one more time, but that was it. She complained of NO pain. She didn't appear to be favoring her hand either, she was just trying to use her cast to assist with her day to day activities.

Friday evening we started noticing that her thumb was slowing sliding into the cast and it appeared as though the cast was moving downward. By Saturday morning, the cast was basically falling off. And I was basically freaking out. I had to work that day at the zoo for 529 day and we were initially planning on Dave bringing the girls to the zoo while I was working. Change of plans, Dave took Lucy back to the ER, I was working, and thank goodness for our friends Tiffany and Ryan who were able to change their Saturday plans to watch Stella. They ended up taking her to the zoo and then Lucy finished up a bit earlier than we expected so she still got to go too!!

The good news about the cast falling off was they had to open it all up. They said it was looking good. We still had 5 more days until we hopefully heard those same words from the hand specialist. Once again as the days passed, Lucy was just fine... every now and again she would run across a neighbor or person at the store and explain that she broke her finger. But other than that, in her world, it was almost if it had never happened.

Yesterday morning Dave took Lucy into the plastic surgery outpatient center for her appointment. They confirmed what the ER doc said Saturday that things were looking good. If they weren't they were going to have to remove the portions of her fingers. We are not sure about the nail growth, they maybe a little off, and who knows how they will come in, but the important thing is that her little fingers are doing OK, and most importantly Lucy has not really been phased by all this. If anything, I have learned from her and gained strength from this little remarkable lady!

Thank you to everyone's well wishes over this past week:)

May Camping: Brunswick Family Campground

We hit the tents a little earlier this year during the first weekend of May. We went to the Brunswick Family Campground in Maryland, just shy of Harpers Ferry, WV. My goal for this outdoor adventure was to be able to camp right next to the water (which is surprisingly difficult to find around here!). You may be able to camp kind of near it , but never where you can touch it from your campsite. There is always Assateague and some other beach campgrounds, but its a little different when you are trying to set up in sand (and the sun becomes a bit of an issue as well). Thats why I think river or lake camping rocks!

It was hard to tell what the campground was really like from their website, but when we arrived, we had an entire section to ourselves all the way at the end. Normally it consists of 2 or 3 campsites but considering the time of year we had quite the space to spread out; just in our campsite alone we had 3 picnic tables and two fire pits. And there was a trail right down to the river, so in just a couple steps we could touch the Potomac! We were elevated a bit, which was probably good to keep the kids away from the water and the scary river creatures away from us.

We went with Tiffany and Ryan again, which is not only great because our offspring LOVE them, but we enjoy their witty banter, bug repellant devices, cool glowing stuff that they always have, ability to sense animals that may be nearby, and of course their barcar. However one of the highlights of our cohabiting in the trees, is our woodsy gourmet concoctions. Unlike last fall, we had all the parts for our propane camping stove this time so it made a few things a little easier, such as making eggs and boiling water for coffee. On the dinner menus were chicken tinga with chipotle veggies and espresso-rubbed pork with delunctious brownies encapsulated in oranges. For breakfast we did smoky cauliflower frittata and chicken sausage hash with eggs on top. Oh and of course we had the french press this time. Now I realize that camping is supposed to bring you closer to nature, and back to a simpler time without smoked paprika, fresh margaritas, and french roast coffee... but, who are we kidding? We don't go camping to eat hot dogs, marshmallows, and tang! And we appreciate that there is a bathhouse nearby (but in this case, was actually not that close, so when nature called, nature received- about 60% of the time we were there).

We do enjoy being in nature, being out of our element, but we still like certain comforts; I prefer to blame having kids on the need to have certain necessities around. Would if they have a major accident and they need a shower pronto? Would if it rains and we can't buy wood from the camp host to keep them warm? Would if we run out of ice for our cocktails?? (camping with kids? Margaritas help!).

We weren't able to actually go out on the river (too early) but we hiked around and had a picnic during our full day on Sunday. The girls enjoyed finding dandelions and were very intrigued by all the bugs we found.

When we left on Monday we went to drive through Harpers Ferry just to see what it looked like, it was a really neat small, historic city- we'll have to try and make it back!

Bier, Wurst, & Trampolines

We took a mini vacation last weekend to our great neighbor state of Pennsylvania. We drove first to Philly and got a free hotel room (courtesy of credit card points, so maybe not really 'free', but...) right on the river by the Ben Franklin bridge. We stopped at a beer distributor and grabbed a case of Summit Red Ale (which is unavailable in Maryland) and to date we only have a few left after sharing (and drinking) the beloved MN brew.

We ate dinner at one of our fave spots right on South St, Brauhaus Schmitz, an authentic German watering hole (and eatery). I think this was the 3rd time we went and while I am sure there are many great restaurants in Philly, we can't pull ourselves away from this Wurst and Bier oasis. We ordered sauerkraut fritters and homemade leberwurst (liverwurst) to start, and continued on with the massive Butcher's Plate that included pork shank, a huge pork chop, a bratwurst and spicy sausage, some more leberwurst, all on top of a mountain of sauerkraut and a huge potato dumpling. In addition, we couldn't resist ordering a couple sides of spaetzle and cucumber salad. Naturally, we sipped a few beers with this feast after having to select from a massive beer list. Then we topped it all off with an Apfel Strudel and Apfel Schnapps. The only downside is that we couldn't really save our leftovers since we were traveling! We were STUFFED so the 30 minute walk back to our hotel helped:)

Post eating, on our 'balcony' table at Brauhaus

The next day we hit the road to Coates, PA to visit Shelly (my mom's cousin, so second cousin??) who I haven't seen in what we think is 20 years!!! She has a great place in the country with a nice spread of land, beautiful gardens, and it was great to see she is a solar panel user!! She made us a wonderful lunch and we got to play with her 3 energetic dogs, who would squeal with anticipation until the ball was thrown:) She also has a huge trampoline that the girls got the hang of pretty quickly and spent a good chunk of time jumping and rolling around on. There was a really neat and intriguing cemetery (very small) next to her house with old grave stones dating from the early 1800s (maybe earlier), but really cool to explore.

The trampoline electrified their red hair as they were jumping- cute!

We look forward to heading out to her place again, it doesn't hurt that we found out that Victory Brewing Company is just minutes from her house as well! Thanks again Shelly!

Unsolved Mysteries: The Case of the MIssing Socks

It all began one hot, summer day in July, in the year 2010. A year that marked the end of the first
decade, of the first century (not to mention the first millennium) that I have witnessed from the very beginning. This decade of new beginnings, from graduating college in 2000, moving to Baltimore in 2006, to getting married in 2008 and wrapping up the decade with the production of two very similar-looking offspring that arrived the same day in 2010. It was a decade of becoming wiser, along with adding letters to my (already long) email signature; from Thron to Thron BA to Thron MBA to Thron Treiber MBA to (soon hopefully) Thron Treiber MBA CFP.

I grew up in a household surrounded by smart people. I always used to boast about my parents both (while in different fields) being doctors. I pride myself in learning and becoming a resource in that knowledge (whether I really know what I'm talking about or not). I also like to think that I am mostly right, most of the time, as do most of us right? (OK, so as I get older I realize that I am not right all time). I feel that I have been trained in school and in life to use logic and deductive reasoning. I feel that when life presents a problem, its merely a challenge that can be solved.

So, that super long preface leads me to my story...

So again, it all began one hot summer day, in July 2010. Two girls were born. Eventually, it got cold enough that they had to start wearing socks. It wasn't so bad at the beginning. I didn't even notice there was an issue. As these two girls grew they started wearing more socks- bigger socks. And they also started doing things for themselves, like taking off their socks. Sometimes the socks would fly off while we were out and about; if I noticed, that was good- I knew it was gone, somewhere in the public world- on some street somewhere or in some aisle at the grocery store. More often however is when the socks would come off inside, in our private world. I would find a sock stuck in the couch cushions, in the diaper pail, under the bed, in my purse, or nestled strategically in the pantry behind the diced tomatoes.

Why the need to take off the socks? Did it prevent airflow? Did they just not like the feel of them? Maybe they slipped too much? Was it just fun? There's no real answers to these questions, mere speculation- but I am going with fun.. and maybe there was a little slipping.

I was warned by my sister. with two lovely offspring of her own, that I should stick with white socks...and only white socks. I smiled and said, "good point" and went on adding to my collection of frogs, stripes, princesses, polka dots, rainbows, hearts, and snowflakes. And while white socks go with everything, they are no fun. They express nothing. Now of course, my children are not expressing too  much through their dress quite yet- but I take great pride in wearing my own socks that include frogs,stripes, polka dots, rainbows, hearts, and snowflakes (I haven't had any princess socks as of recent unfortunately). But fortunately for me, I generally take off my socks in one place and at one time throughout the day- and they usually end up in the same load of laundry and hence back in drawer readying themselves for another expressive day on my feet.

So for the last 2.5 years, since the big she-bang, I have always noticed the random disappearance of the sock. THE sock is they key word, because its mate would remain. However, a few days ago (after having done almost all the dirty kids clothes that presented themselves). I realize I had 5 matching pairs of socks; and 25 random socks, with no cotton partner. TWENTY-FIVE. Just to put this into perspective, 3 of the 5 matching pairs were white, so who knows if that was really the sock they were "supposed to be with".

Where do these socks go? Have they just had enough and allow themselves to be stuffed under floor boards and cabinets? Flushed down toilets, tossed in trashcans, and placed in under-the-sink plastic bins mingling with the band-aids and cotton balls? Maybe they travel to their car-seat seams, out windows, and in consoles and glove compartments? I do know they happen to enjoy purses, strollers, coolers, and mail slots.

I have searched in the most logical places that I can conjure, like under couches and beds, in toy bins and laundry bins- with minimal success. Chances are greater that I will find yet another sock sans mate to add to my list. My last thought was that the washer and/ or dryer were sucking them into their cylindrical worlds. But unless we dismantle them, who knows? (Our dryer actually is taking an awful long time drying these days, wouldn't it be great to learn that it was because of a sock? Or 25?

So while this mystery is still unsolved, I will keep investigating. And I hope that being armed with the wisdom learned through my years and the smarts of those around me that at some point before the end of the second decade of the first century and the first millennium (that I experienced from the beginning), I hope I may solve this mystery of the socks... or at least find some of these darned socks.