Our Virginia Vacation (History Lessons Included)

Day 1 - Left the Philly suburbs in the morning, and made good time to Manassas, VA for lunch and a visit to the site of two early and very deadly battles of the Civil War at Bull Run.

http://www.visitpwc.com/manassasbattlefield/

Saw a great film about the battles in the visitor center and then walked the grounds of the battlefield. There was a reproduction of an old woman’s house that was right in the middle of the first battle (yes, she died), a monument to the soldiers that died from both sides, and a larger-than-life sculpture of Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson, since this was the place where he got his nickname. Pretty cool.

Continued the drive to Charlottesville, and met up with the caretaker of the house we rented in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. Nice property, and we found a great Mexican restaurant in the nearby town of Crozet - Cocina del Sol.

Day 2 - Relaxed at the house in the morning, planned the week’s activities and headed to Charlottesville to see a bit of the UVA campus and the downtown shopping area. The UVA campus was filled with visitors, but the downtown area was pretty quiet. After a caffeine boost at Starbucks, we went to Monticello, where we got to take the last “Slavery at Monticello” tour of the day.

http://www.slaveryatmonticello.org/mulberry-row

Learned that Jefferson was probably more against slavery than I imagined him to be, though very much a man of his time who looked the other way sometimes and didn’t really expect that all races might ever live together equally. I think he would be pleasantly surprised by today’s world.

Heard a little bit about Sally Hemmings and her family and some other stories of slave families that lived at Monticello. Also learned that Jefferson was pretty deep in debt when he died, but did manage to arrange for 5 of his slaves to be freed, which took some financial and legal maneuvers on his part. Took an evening tour of the house, which was really cool. We got to spend a long time in each room, and see a lot of the books, artwork and architecture that inspired TJ before the Declaration of Independence and occupied him in his later years. What a fascinating life! Made it back to our little town outside Charlottesville to scarf down a couple pies at Crozet Pizza by 9pm.

Day 3 - Tuesday Started off with a drive to Lynchburg, about an hour or so south. Found a place to eat lunch before renting bikes for a ride on a trail along the James River.

Next stop was another Jefferson home Poplar Forest. http://www.poplarforest.org/retreat

It was smaller than Monticello and just starting to be renovated for visitors after people had actually lived in it through the early 1980s. Now a private trust took over the property in the middle of a residential neighborhood and they are doing research into what it actually was like in Jefferson’s time. We met some “agricultural archeologists” who were looking for old plant samples in the soil, so they would know what type of trees and shrubs to plant outside the house.

After that we zipped over to Appomattox Court House, which is actually the name of the town, not an actual court house where Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant on April 9 (day before we visited) in 1865. The surrender took place in the parlor of someone’s private home.

http://www.nps.gov/apco/the-meeting.htm

We never realized this was only 5 days before Lincoln was killed, and a guide told us it was this surrender which compelled John Wilkes Booth to act. One of the highlights of the trip was dinner next along the “Brew Ridge” Trail where team “Mario Kart” from NYC came in 2nd place at the Wild Wolf Brewery’s weekly trivia contest, beating out many of the locals!!! Gotta give it to Matthew for knowing that Magnum, PI drove a Ferrari! Lots of nice people there and we gave our prize $20 gift certificate to the crew of 20-somethings next to us at the bar who all work at the local ski lodge in the winter.

Day 4 - Wednesday

Drove about an hour and a half to go to King’s Dominion and ride some big roller coasters. The day was a bit chilly and VA schools were not on vacation, so the park wasn’t crowded and the lines for rides were short. We paid $38 / person for the day and went on tons of rides, so it was a pretty good deal. My FAVORITE was by far the “Volacano” which whipped you at a really high speed right away and then flipped you around in seats attached to an overhead attachment instead of strapping you down in a seat like most roller coasters. There was a stand up one with a loop (Shockwave) that I didn’t love. My second fave was the Dominator which Yamini went on 5 times. Trevor and Will liked the Intimidator the best which I liked for the 305’ high 85 degree vertical drop, but I didn’t like all the zig-zags at high speed afterwards. For dinner, we went back to Charlottesville and went to one foodie spot in the Belmont neighborhood called “The Local.” Good food overall, but nothing really remarkable except the truffle mac ‘n cheese.

Day 5 - Thursday - Took it easy today and didn’t really head out for any activities until 1pm. Picked up some good sandwiches from Hunt Country Market and Deli and ate them in the theater for the Hunger Games movie. Loved it. Great casting and really captured the spirit and best scenes from the book. Well done.

Got a car wash and went for a walk, then back to Belmont for a tapas dinner at Mas Restaurant. Everything was delicious!! Beet and tahini spread, tuna salad, jamon & manchego, grilled shrimp, steak, and good wine . . YUM. A great last meal in Charlottesville.

Last day of the vacation - Left the house in VA by 9:30am and actually drove a bit further south, so we could drive 40 miles on Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains Shenandoah National Park. Nice quiet ride with lots of scenic overlooks. Stopped at lunch in the town of New Market, VA for lunch at this great place called the Southern Kitchen off of Rte 81. Had peanut butter soup (!) good fried chicken and pork bbq and chocolate and coconut creme pie slices for dessert. Thank goodness the portions weren't too big. Got back to NYC by 7pm and ordered some sashimi and spinach to get back into eating healthy. . . nice to go away, nice to be home.

Yamini's Brownie Troop Loves Water

Here's a video the Girls in Brownie Troop #3367 made about how important water is.

Watch it and then sign Yamini's petition at:

http://www.change.org/petitions/protect-new-yorks-water-stop-fracking

Fall Turns to Winter

Can't believe it is already holiday season!! This fall went by in a nanosecond!! It seems like just yesterday that the Occupy Wall Streeters were camping out and drumming up a storm in Zuccotti Park across from our apartment, and now its just a quiet concrete rectangle with holiday trees and an abnormal amount of police protection. . .

I started a new job in September at the NYC iSchool in Soho. Smaller than my old school, with more personal attention for the students, more creative scheduling of classes, and more technology in the classroom. So far, so good, but I had many more students and more new lessons to prepare, therefore, lots of work!! Matt's company has been keeping him busy too, but he has "no comment" on any business matters at this time! :)

Trevor too has been feeling the pinch. In 7th grade, he added two more teachers and classes to his schedule and is dealing with more homework than last year at M.A.T. He was on the varsity soccer team and is playing JV basketball now.

William is enjoying his new 7th grade homeroom and his advanced math class. He is also learning a lot of Spanish, so we are hoping to get to a nice Spanish-speaking country in the next year or two -- Argentina, anyone? He is still doing tennis lessons once a week, and he had lots of homework last year, so this year is just more of the same in that regard. He did manage to start his own blog -- www.willacademy.blogspot.com

Both boys are doing a Saturday basketball clinic, have been doing a "Math Circle" at NYU and just started Junior League Team Tennis up in the Bronx on Saturdays too. So our Saturdays are packed, but Matt and I discovered the most awesome Arthur Avenue restaurant so we enjoy a good meal with Yamini while the boys play tennis.

Yamini has some fun stuff going on this year too. Her new favorite after-school activity is fabric and textile arts, she is doing a very creative classical and modern dance class on Saturdays, and she is now a Brownie Girl Scout!! So yes, we ARE selling cookies - e-mail me if you want some Samoas or Thin Mints!!

Had fun on Thanksgiving weekend celebrating Pop Pop Leonard's 70th with family and we are looking forward to getting away with Matt's parents to San Diego for Christmas and New Year's! Legoland, here we come. . .

Summer in Bucks County

Ah, the last day of a month in Pennsylvania! I should be cleaning up and putting labels in Yamini's camp clothes, but instead I am sitting on the porch because it is a beautiful (not too hot) day, and I am just happy to have a porch on which to sit!! Thought I should update our blog with a little of what we do out here in Bucks County. . .

On the weekdays, the kids have fun at camp - Trevor and Yamini at the most awesome Camp Briarwood, and William at the Doylestown Tennis Club. Once everyone gets home we like to take a swim, have a nice dinner, read, watch some TV -- basically the house is all about relaxation and fun!! As for me, I am a bit of a stay-at-home mom during the day -- food shopping, cooking, laundry, exercise, cleaning house -- though I do manage to do some lesson planning and catch up on my "to do" list. On the weekends, we try to just enjoy being out of the city by getting outside a lot and making good use of our barbeque grill!

We swim, go for walks in local park

s (lots of 'em) and do some fun activities in the area. July 4th weekend is great because there is a great symphony concert with fireworks at Tinicum Park and then an Old-Fashioned 4th of July Celebration at Fonthill, the old Henry Mercer estate in Doylestown. They have everything from sack races to watermelon eating contests. Our favorite is the "cake walk" where they have a circle with 20 numbered spots. 20 people walk around, a bit like musical chairs without the missing place, and when the music stops, they pick one number from a bowl and the

winner gets to pick a cake from a big donation table! The cakes include delicious home-made treats and disgusting-looking supermarket made objects, but it is fun to imagine which one you would pick if you win. (Of course, we never win!!)

On regular weekends, we love to have friends and family over for a swim and to make some of our favorite meals with food from our favorite local places - Haring Brothers Butchers, or None Such Farms for meat, Carroll's Seafood Market for fish & clams, and Penn Vermont Farms for PEACHES and other fruits. We finish it all off with a drive to Owowcow Creamery for the best locally made ice cream.

As for restaurants, our favorites are Luberto's for brick oven and the best (and least expensive) home-style Italian food and El Mariachi in Plumsteadville, PA for yummy homestyle Mexican.

This summer, Yamini and I found a local potluck farm dinner to attend where everyone brought a dish (we made colorful carrot salad) and then we got a tour of the farm.

There's often a good CARNIVAL going on to support one of the local fire stations and we hit at least two of those every summer, so we are honorary "carnies". On one weekend, we take a drive into Philly to hang out with some friends there, and maybe catch a baseball game there or in Trenton (Yankees Triple-A Thunder).

For the past couple years, I've taken the kids to see Philadelphia Freedoms tennis at Villanova University (met the Bryan Bros. on "twin night" and got Billie Jean King's autograph). This year, I took the kids to a Hollywood Classic Movie night (Kids are free!!) at the County Theater in Doylestown for "Rear Window". Basically, if we didn't already live in the greatest city on earth (go NYC!), it would be nice to live here, so we really enjoy the time we have "in the country".

The Last Portugal Post

Since we were all staying up late in Portugal, I got a bit behind on the blogging. . . Here's some highlights from the last few days of the trip.

Took a really cool drive to "the end of the world" or at least to what Europeans used to believe was the end - the city of Sagres, where Portuguese King Henry set up his School of Navigation. All the major Portuguese explorers and even Columbus spent some time sailing around those cliffs. Today, it is a hot spot for surfers and we had a snack at this cute surf cafe owned by a nice French woman.

Drove to the mountain town of Monchique for a nice dinner with some good local ham and

chicken piri piri (yum), but the drive wasn't really worth it as we ended up getting lost high up on curvy mountain roads for two hours on the way home. Not the best night

of the trip (or of the last year . . )!!!!

Finally got a partially sunny morning on our last day in the Algarve, so William and Matt played tennis while Trevor, Yamini, and I took a walk on the beach collecting shells. The beach is really cool because of the high cliffs you pass through to get down there. The Atlantic Ocean wasn't even that cold, but we didn't have time for a swim since we were checking out of the hotel.

Our last stop in Portugal was the city of Evora, which has a beautiful medieval walled center. We stayed right outside the city in a hotel that used to be an old convent - still has a gorgeous chapel and all the old architecture was beautifully preserved. On Easter, the hotel had a great activity for kids. The chef took us all outside to plant trees on the expansive property, then back to the banquet kitchen to make pizzas an

d chocolate mousse. YUM!

The other highlight in Evora was seeing the Chapel of Bones, which yes, was literally lined with human bones to remind us all of our mortality. Would have been really creepy in there if it wasn't such a tourist attraction, so it was just plain cool, not too scary for the kids. Our dinner the last night was at the lovely restaurant Fiahlo where we had more great local wine and food.

The last morning we were up at dawn (for a change) to drive back to the Lisbon airport and head home! A great trip.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Not rain all day, but here and there, keeping temperatures cool and making the hotel beach out of the question. We are making the best of it though!

On Wednesday, we hung out at the indoor hotel pool which is big and roomy and has lots of families, so you don’t have to worry about your kids being too loud, splashing, etc. like at most other fancy hotel pools. After swimming, we needed to work on that DS Charger situation, so the concierge told us about a nearby shopping mall.

The mall was Fun! Lots of nice Euro stores - like a kids’ Zara (got Yamini some cute clothes) and an awesome food court -- everything from junky Burger King, Pizza Hut and KFC to crepes, salads, yogurt, etc. Matt and I had yummy Portuguese coffee. We did find the DS charger in the video game store, so the boys were back in business later that night! Our favorite store was Continente, just like Target, and we got some fun snacks there for the car and hotel.

For dinner, we drove to the small town of Paderne, where I read about a restaurant in a wine store, Veneza.

It was really beautiful and the Portuguese food we ordered (grilled prawns, lamb stew, pepper steak) was all excellent. The best part was that our server picked a reasonable bottle of wine for us (17 Euros) and it was so delicious. Because Matt was driving, I got to drink 2/3 of it myself!!

On Thursday, we drove 40 minutes in the direction of Spain to the town of Tavira, an old fishing village. There is a little island - Ilha de Tavira - with ferry service, so we decided to go there. The island is really a giant sandbar on the Atlantic with dunes and beaches. When we got to the island we learned that it was in the middle of an International Sports Festival, so there were hundreds and hundreds of college-age kids from Spain and a few other countries doing every type of sport you can imagine. Lots of them were drinking beer, but mainly they all looked healthy, friendly and in great shape as they danced, surfed, played futbol, volleyball, etc. After a ferry ride back to town, we walked around a little -- cute Portuguese style buildings, an old Roman Bridge.

At night, the kids wanted to order room service (chicken nuggets for all) and stay in the room and watch a movie, so Matt and I asked the concierge for the best restaurant within 5 minutes of the hotel to avoid eating a hotel dinner ourselves. He gave us a good recommendation, “Retiro Do Isca” which was a little empty when we arrived at 7:30, but soon filled up with happy people. We had some more vinho verde, fish soup, clams and shrimp and a platter full of lamb chops and roasted potatoes!

Today, Will and Matt’s tennis game was cancelled for weather conditions, so we are about to hit the indoor pool once again!