Spring Break

Jack is doing great in his second semester at UConn. He’s planning to spend spring break with the rowing team at camp in South Carolina. I wish I was going away on spring break!! It’s still icky and cold here but I heard it’s not exactly hot down in SC. But definitely warmer than CT that’s for sure.

I was trying to get the full scoop about the trip from Jack this week so I know what’s happening and when.

Me: Where’s the agenda? Like what’s the plan?

Jack: There’s this creepy presentation I can show you that has the info in it.

I start flipping through. It is weird looking but I keep going to see if they tell the kids what to pack and what to expect, etc. I get to a big checklist.

Jack: Woah, I didn’t even see that!

Me: Come on, did you not go through this? It has everything you need listed out here.

Jack: Well it kept getting stuck on one page so I gave up.

Me: Nice. Lucky for you I got this far into it. So what’s the driving situation? Does everyone take turns or what?

Jack: We’re driving down in vans and it’s about 12 hours to get there.

Me: Who’s driving?

Jack: The older guys. There’s a driving buddy that has to stay awake with them. Then they swap. There will be lots of breaks.

Me: I can’t believe you’re all leaving at 5pm on a Friday! Like wouldn’t it be better to leave in the morning, miss all the traffic and actually drive during daylight?

Jack: There’s these things on Friday called classes and exams, Mom.

Me: Oh yeah.

Jack: They told us we needed to bring a sleeping bag and mine’s at home and dad doesn’t want to drive it to me tomorrow.

Me: I guess you’ll have to bring the blankets from your bed then.

Jack: Nah, I rented a sleeping bag for $12 from the school.

Me: Okayyyy… maybe want to wash it?

Jack: No way I’m waiting for a sleeping bag to dry tonight Mom.

Me: Good point. Well, ok have a good night and don’t forget to call me before you leave tomorrow.

Jack: How can I? You call me like 3 times a day already.

Me: 😬😬😬

Lucky Parking Spot

Jack and I are on the way to Florida! It only took 50 minutes to get to HPN and I got my lucky parking space right next to the 3rd floor entrance. Wooooo!

me: Remember last time I flew to Florida for work and had the two hour delay?

Jack: When was that?

me: Last month.

Jack: What did you do?

me: I sat on that bench right over there in the sun for two hours. Rather than waiting in the freezing cold airport!

Jack: Oh look the 3rd level parking is open.

(I drive up to my usual spot)

me: Oh look, my lucky spot is open!

Jack; Didn’t you just say your flight was delayed?

me: Yeah I guess this is a very unlucky spot.

Jack: Did you pack my goggles???!!!

me: No.

Jack; Aaarrrrrgghhh!!!!!

(It begins)

me: Let’s check the flight board, we’re early.

(Our flight is delayed 1.5 hours due to “weather”)

Jack: Sigh

me: Sigh

Quote of the day – At the Met

me: Jack, how come we never bring your selfie stick on these trips … we could get better photos …??

Jack: Because I’m not a 14-year-old girl…

me: Are you sure about that?

Jack: No.

Germany: Day 1

We landed in Germany at around 3 am our time, 8 am local time. Koln (Cologne) is a very pretty city with lots to see and do! We visited the Dom Cathedral…

…and walked for miles looking at shops (including the beer museum, nutcracker store, and a few local gallerys). 

We stopped at a street stall and ate curry Wurst with pommes frittes (same words for French fries that they use in France). Yes curry wurst is a thing. 

We also visited our German sales team, saw their office, and had a quick sushi dinner with them and picked up some groceries at a local market.

Now it’s 8:30pm here and 3:30pm back home. Time to catch up on Zzzs.

I had been waiting for Jack to call for about 20 minutes. Where was that boy? He had instructions to get off the bus, feed Bella, change her water, scoop her litter and then call me. I was getting wonky after only 4 hours of sleep on the plane last night, if that.

Finally he called.

me: Hi Jack! Want to FaceTime?

Jack: Nah…

Too late I had already dialed in.

me: Hey there you are! How was Bella? 

Jack: Good. She’s eating. I changed her water and scooped her litter. 

me: Awesome, thanks! Why didn’t you call me when you were home? (I noticed he was back at his friend’s house)

Jack: I didn’t want to. Bella was eating. 

me: That’s ok. You’re walking in circles over there eh? What are you doing? Any homework?

Jack: Nope! Gotta go use the bathroom.

me: Oh ok. Um…Talk to you later. Love you.

Jack: Bye, love you too.

And that was it! Guess he’s not missing me yet! I’m now officially deliriously tired. 🙂 tomorrow we officially start working at a big international tradeshow. Should be interesting!

Here are a few more pics! Enjoy!

Glad you’re home. Goodbye again.

Jack has been traveling more this summer than I have in 5 years. 2 weeks at camp in NYC, a week at Lake George NY, a week coming up in Arizona, and then a week following that in South Carolina!  All of the weeks have been without ME! The SC week involves me so in glad. We’re driving down to get my nephew from the Marines. Woot!

It was a complete circus last night unpacking from one trip and repacking for the next. Jack truly lived out of his suitcase yesterday. I just refreshed some clothes and replaced an inhaler. It was a suitcase tune-up. LOL.

I’m sure Jack just wanted to sit and do nothing, but there was a lot to accomplish! He played with the photo booth on his laptop, making goofy face videos that had roller coaster scenery going by, etc. I kept trying to get him to come hang with me but he insisted on doing his thing. We did get a little cranky with each other. 😦 I just wanted to see him!

Anyway, I puttered around the house cleaning up and putting his stuff in the laundry, or away, as needed. Going from upstate NY to Arizozna means the heavy sweatshirt could go away, and maybe the pants too. Needed extra sunblock and goggles for swimming. Swap out the shorts and shirts, pack different toiletries that had been forgotten, etc. it was nuts.

Our most meaningful exchange last night: 

me: Hey do you want to sit on the couch with me and relax and watch TV for a few minutes before bed?

Jack: Can you please step out of the frame so I can calibrate my face properly?

me: sheesh…
 

Best everything ever

Jack and I are waaaayy out on Cape Cod. Wellfleet. We’ve been coming here regularly for about 6 years. Staying in the same house, same week of September if we can get it. Same same same. Why? Because it’s the best ever.

September has always been my favorite month. My birthday is in September and that is always referred to as the best day ever!! So there are lots of “bests” happening right now.

Best weather. Ever. We’ve never had a bad weather week on the Cape in September.

Best food. Omg. Fried clams and oysters in Wellfleet. Chowdah in Yarmouth. Seafood. Sushi. Scott Cakes cupcakes in Provincetown! Etc!!

Best house ever. Just see the pics.

Best people. So nice and laid back.

Best art ever. Wellfleet is the artsy town. Dozens of galleries and specialty shops. Sighhh.

Best beaches. And beach glass.

But really, if you haven’t been out to the wrist on the Cape Cod arm, you are really missing a sublime vacation.

me: What’s your favorite thing about the Cape?

Jack: I’m not telling you. This is for your blog isn’t it?

me: Maybe…

Jack: It’s private! I’m not telling you.

me: Ok. But what do you really like about the Cape.

Jack: Everything! (Pauses) Heyyyy!

me: Ha!

Almost the whole world knows who I am!

me: Hey Jack, check out all of the different countries that read our blog…

Jack: (heroically tearing himself away from minecraft for a millisecond) Woah… All of those countries read the blog? That’s almost the whole world!

me: I know…cool huh?

Jack: Wait, is everything you write about me?

me: It’s your blog about everything you say, so yeah, pretty much.

Jack: Oh my god, almost the whole works knows who I am! (He gets a maniacal look that can only mean he’s thinking of world domination.)

me: I guess you’re right. Oh look, your mood ring is blue.

Jack: (not looking up from the iPad) It’s always blue.

me: What’s blue mean?

Jack: Happy.

me: So you’re saying you’re always happy? What about the fit you had outside of security in the hall with everyone watching?

Jack: Oh, it was gray then.

me: Sigh.

(He’s now muttering to himself as he kills zombies … “And that’s what happens when you mess with the Jacks!”. Our vacation is over much too soon.)

Russia – Day 4 – Vladimir

Koshka (Cat)

I’m realizing that no matter how diligent I think I’m being about posting…yeah…I’m going to fall behind. Sooooooooo this post is from Wednesday. I don’t even want to say “yesterday” because of the time difference. I think it’s already tomorrow here. Or there. Shtow? What?

Okay, today we woke up in Sergiyev Posad and then had another new friend drive us by car to the town of Vladimir, which is more North East. It was a beautiful 2-hour drive through some smaller towns, the countryside and even the deep woods. there were lots of trees similar to our white birch tree, plus some other varieties that I didn’t recognize. Pines were plentiful!

We had a professional historical tour guide take us on a walking tour of the town and it’s various churches. Amazing photos! I will do my best to post them below. We’re flipping through the photos now and I’m quite impressed! 

So here’s a little bit of how our routine works. We wake up and enjoy the free breakfast in the restaurant. It has typical American type foods like yogurt and pastries and eggs, and also Russian foods like deli meats and cucumber salad etc. Then we go back to the room and unplug our various electronics from the mouse maze of converters we have set up. There’s one 2-pronged thing that goes directly into the Russian wall socket. Then a big converter box that turns that into a 2-pronged American socket. you have to set high or low power for either a phone or a hair dryer. Don’t ever forget to do that! Then there’s a converter that turns our 3-pronged cords into 2-pronged. It’s like 6 inches long when you’re done so you have to prop it up with a water bottle or else it unplugs itself. Fun!

Then we gather our gear for the day and walk to the Metro. OMG if we didn’t have a Russian native tethered to us at all times we would probably die down there. And not just lose a leg like I almost did when the door closed on it. The escalators go down about five stories and there are tunnels everywhere with trains whizzing past at a million miles per hour. Or “a million miles for an hour” as Jack likes to say. :). This is HIS blog isn’t it? shoot…

We stop at cafes for snacks or zakuska. Usually coffee. Then see the sights, walk for miles and miles, then reverse it all back to the hotel and plug everything back in. We have iPods, iPads, laptops, cameras, and I think that’s it. Our phones are useless. 

We’re feeling more comfortable with the language and now ask for non-sparkling water, the check, the bathroom and other things with complete confidence. Except for the time that I called myself a sheep instead of saying I’m hungry, or something. Yikes. 

More photos for you to enjoy, now posted below!

Moscow looks a bit like the Bronx

I’m here! In Moscow. Now I’m homesick…Wahhh…
Luckily our friend has arrived to help us translate! So far I’ve asked for or said the following things IN Russian mind you:
A phone card (no luck)
How far is it to the hotel (our nice driver Evan said 25 kilometers)
What’s your name
My name is
Do you speak English (many people do! The ones that don’t are very apologetic.)
One bottle of water (my brother can ask for his own, ha!)

So yeah, we haven’t eaten yet. It’s 8:05pm. Still very tired…
Jack got pretty upset yesterday when it was time for us to finally leave the house.

Jack: Waaaaahhhh, why didn’t you buy me a ticket!!! (pitiful sobs, then they immediately turned off as this thought occurred to him)…Sniff, but you’ll buy me some extra special presents right? like a megaphone??

What happens in Vegas…

You know the rest, right?

Well I missed Jack’s goodnight call tonight because a) he’s 3 time zones ahead of me, 2) I slept on both of my flights to Vegas and really did adjust to the time change, and d) it’s like so freaken loud here that I didn’t even hear the phone. Whaaaattt??? Oh and that’s a total Home Alone reference back there if you caught it… Hee hee.

Here’s the playback of Jack’s message to me. At least this is how I remember it after a few “iced teas” from Cabo Wabo…

Jack: Hi Mom, it’s me…Jack…heh heh, wellll, I’m back home or at Dad’s and yeah we’re back from New York City and I’m going to bed, after I take a shower… Miss you and love you and see you soon… Soooooo…yeah I’m kinda sick so bye.

Leave it to both of them to then turn the phone off and not tell me what the heck is going on. Le sigh…

(neighbors, if you’re reading this, thanks again for feeding the cats…I’m putting something on red for you!)