Waterfalls and Puzzles

August 22, 2019 by Adam in Family

We woke up late yesterday, eventually driving down to Naples, NY to see the waterfalls at Grimes Glen.  There was a trail into the woods along a shallow creek, lined by slate that gave the cliffs some cool striations.  The path didn't last long, so we walked up the creek itself, which was shallow and pleasant in the heat.  Eventually we made it to the first falls, with children in bathing suits climbing around.  After a brief stop we continued on, getting to a bigger waterfall with a tiny cave at the base.  While we could have climbed the ropes to the top, we opted for a pleasant lunch instead.

We returned to Naples and walked around a little, stopping in an art shop and seeing the sights.  Next was an afternoon of puzzles, gnocchi for dinner, Shazam, and yet more puzzles.  It's been a productive vacation, puzzle-wise, as we finished one thousand piece puzzle and borrowed another from Don and Donna, our hosts.  That one's nearly done.

I think we'll try kayaking today, our last day on the lake before heading into Rochester.  Danica is hoping to play miniature golf one night with us.

New York Adventures

August 21, 2019 by Adam in Family

We made it across the country, taking the red eye and trying to sleep as we worked our way to Rochester.  We ate breakfast, dropped Ben off, said hi to Duncan and Kevin's family, and headed up the road to Canandaigua to stumble into our airbnb.  The owner Don was very friendly, though there was an odd carrot feeding ritual with their two dogs that seemed vaguely incomprehensible after barely getting four hours of sleep across multiple flights.

Yesterday Joanna suggested we see the Sonneneburg Gardens, which ended up being pretty amazing.  A New York banker and his wife built a mansion and multiple gardens, both of which were stunning.  Since it was Tuesday, the place was pretty quiet - we'd hang out on the balcony looking at the gardens, or listen to the volunteer play the piano for awhile.  We ate lunch, chatted with the giant goldfish, wandered the gardens more, and headed into town for ice tea and watermelon lemonaid.

We spent some time hanging out in our basement floor, working on our giant puzzle, then headed back into town for gluten free crepes that were exceptionally tasty.  We split a savory huevos rancheros and sweet blueberry aprocot crepe each, both of which were delightful.  We went for a walk to digest our meal along the main street of town.  Multiple impressive churches lined the street, along with the courthouse where Susan B Anthony was found guilty of voting back in the day.

We both slept in this morning, despite the upstairs dogs cavorting about, and obsessively finished our puzzle before breakfast.  Today we'll likely head out for some outdoor adventures as the weather is cooler.  Friday we take Duncan to Rochester and spend some time with Danica.

Mocha Friday

August 16, 2019 by Adam in Family

It's been a quiet end of the week as the summer winds down.  Emma worked for my mom a bit yesterday, driving her around on various errands.  I think it's good for Emma to tackle trickier places like west 11th, though she returned with a few harrowing tales of the road.  She's also decided we should watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, which started when she was a kid a decade ago.  I think she's pre-missing me as I'll be off next week, getting in her dad time as much as she can.

Joanna picked plums and apples off our fruit tree and made a crumble along with some custard.  It was delicious and I ended up having seconds.  She's really been working hard this week getting the house put together.  The basement is a pretty cool hangout place now, though I haven't lured anyone down for board games in a few weeks.

Other than trip preparation, I don't think we're doing anything too exciting tonight.  Joanna and I are going to have Fake Night tonight, probably eating dinner in the shed due to lack of babysitters.  I'd love to do a little kayaking sometime too.

Mid Week Already?

August 14, 2019 by Adam in Family

Life seems to move along at a rapid pace sometimes. 

The weekend has come and gone.  Emma has been around non-stop, so we spent a fair amount of time hanging out.  The two of us went to see Yayoe's band play on Friday night, which was really fun.  Emma and Jordan went to see Wicked on Sunday, thanks to grandma Sue, and generally had a good time despite being somewhat critical of the story.  I took Joanna and Ben out to Hendrick's park where Ben relayed the content of several funny WikiHow articles - the best being one on how to act possessed, though the one about pretending you have ice powers was a close second.

Emma hung out with her mom Monday night.  My dad came and visited.  Joanna did an amazing job cleaning out the pile of boxes in the basement that had emerged from Ben's room.  I've mostly been working away, trying to get our release ready.  We keep finding little bugs.

Last night we made pizza and watched Captain Marvel, which made for a fun movie night.  Emma and I went for a walk around the block afterward, seeing the full moon and Venus, and watching the many bats catch insects as night fell.  We sat on the porch and chatted until the mosquitos came to feast.  Those are the moments that sustain me.

Mocha Friday

August 09, 2019 by Adam in Family

Summer is moving by at a rapid pace.  There's a little over a week left before our Rochester trip, and after that there's a short break until school starts up again.  I look forward to the routine that comes with school, even if it means making breakfast for the horde every morning.

I've got some non-work things to get accomplished at work today.  I've got grown-up decisions around stock options and filling out expense reports.  I'd rather be writing code, but I guess the other things lead to money which is nice too.

Emma's been working for mom this week, and has a busy day of work, bank, and visiting grandparents.  I'm helping out Sam with plane tickets back home around Christmas - it'll be great to see him.  It'll be the longest time between visits since he was born.

Ben's been going to the library and having friends over the last couple days.  Their room is a bit of a mess as it gets put back together, and there's still a bunch of boxes in the basement.  Hopefully that can be sorted out soon.

I've got some more house projects I want to wrap up this weekend.  My fix for one of the basement floor bumps is almost complete and just need to caulk everything together and let it dry.  There are a couple other bigger bumps I may fix afterwards if I'm feeling brave.

Mom dug up some old pictures of me as a kid.  Since most of mine were lost in the house fire, it's a treat to see myself again.  This is Emma's favorite one.

Assorted Updates

August 08, 2019 by Adam in Family

It's been a busy week, with ups and downs as always.  I finally got some meeting-free time at work and managed to accomplish a thing or two.  I continue to work hard trying to automate tasks as much as possible.

Joanna, Ben, and I finished painting Ben's room, which looks pretty great.  Emma returned from the coast and is hanging out here.  Joanna's been taking Ben to various appointments and the library craft activities.  I've heard Ben made a clock and shrinkie dink bracelet charms.  Sounds like a good time.

Ode to Leia

August 08, 2019 by Adam in Benny

Ben learned to play a few chords on the ukulele while up in Portland.  A few days ago they wrote a little song to our cat, which they were very proud of.

Day of Painting

August 04, 2019 by Adam in Family

I'm back from Salt Lake City.  Joanna and I are listening to Ben make up a song on the ukulele about how great Leia is.  It's been a good, if exhausting day.  We emptied Ben's room, took everything off the walls, and put up two coats of bright yellow paint.  There were a few bumpy parts about Ben's return, though today has been good and we had fun playing board games yesterday.  Emma's off to the coast with Jamie.  Ben has a friend visiting.  Presumably Duncan and Sam are doing well in their parts of the country.

It was a mostly okay trip, though I had some headaches towards the end.  The escape room ended up being pretty fun, though our team didn't crack all the puzzles in time.  It was nice catching up with everyone, though coming home to my family and a normal altitude and humidity was most welcome.

Week of Travel

July 29, 2019 by Adam in Family

There's a lot of comings and goings this week, which is always a little disruptive.  I hop on an airplane at the break of dawn tomorrow, hang out in Salt Lake City for a few days, and then head back home to Joanna and Ben and briefly Emma.

We got Joanna off to Portland on Sunday morning, leaving Emma and I to have some father-daughter bonding time.  She went on errands with me to True Value, picking up supplies for the basement floor patching project.  I hung out with her as she cleaned her room.  At other times we played The Room 3, Regency Solitaire, and watched a combination of Parks and Rec and Avatar the Last Airbender.  And we made a pretty good quiche to boot.

Now it's a day of work and getting ready for my trip.  I'm going to screw up my courage and fill out expense reports.  I'd rather debug code.

County Fair

July 28, 2019 by Adam in Family

Joanna, Emma, and I went down to the county fair this morning.  I gave blood a few weeks back and could get in free, and Emma decided she really wanted to see the pig racing.

We got there when the gates opened, heading to the nearly empty hall that had row upon row of entries for pies, preserves, photos, paintings, and so on.  There was an Area 51 cake, every kind of cookie, and some kid who had made nearly a hundred custom Pokemon cards.  It was kinda awesome.

Next was the animals - goats and pigs and bunnies and such.  Joanna and Emma really liked that part.  We wandered out into the hot sun, trying to find the piggie race.  It turns out it wasn't for awhile, so Emma and I watched motorcycles make insane jumps and perform second-long zero gravity tricks.  Eventually it was piggie racing time and we listened to bad pig puns and rooted for our favorite pig.

We returned home tired, but happy that our fair experience would sustain us in the years ahead.