Upstate Girl

Two weekends ago, Ted, Violet and I flew out to New York to visit Casey and Lauren. Normally I visit them in the city but they recently bought a vacation/weekend home an hour north of the city in Cold Spring. They bought a great house, and with their amazing eyes and incredible senses of design, made it absolutely incredible. The whole thing is gorgeous and it really is too bad that we did not take enough pictures (story of my life). It's the stuff of Architectural Digest. Seriously. Amazing. They've had a bunch of work done to the house but what is more amazing is everything that they have done themselves. They've made doors, made furniture, built a deck (with the help of my Dad). And it's all beautiful. In addition to letting us stay in their amazing house, they were the most extraordinary hosts. We ate delicious food that Lauren made, had some amazing meals out, and they both are fantastic with Violet. The only downside to the weekend was a 4am awakening Saturday to an inconsolable Violet. Truly inconsolable. Like I have never seen her before and would really prefer to never see her again. Everything that we tried (that normally works) fell completely flat. It got so bad that I became convinced that she had meningitis and we headed to the closest ER. Thankfully she finally calmed down and fell asleep en route. Since she seemed so much better, we decided to skip the ER and just hit Walmart for some Tylenol and a thermometer. While the guys were in getting stuff, I looked over and lo and behold, pus draining from her right ear. The poor thing had ruptured her ear drum. The ear infection must have come on pretty fast because she was happy and playful Thursday night on the plane, as well as Friday night when we put her down. A week of antibiotics later and she is definitely on the mend (although now constipated, thanks amoxicillin!). Thanks to Casey for being the calm and collected one as Ted and I panicked over our inconsolable child. All in all, despite the ruptured ear drum, we had the best weekend and cannot wait to visit them again.

If you notice, some of the pictures are way better than the rest. Full disclosure, the amazing ones were taken by Casey. Thanks Case!

Petting Zoo

About a month ago, Annie and the kids met us at the Domino's Farms petting zoo for an hour of fun with animals, and we had a pretty wonderful time. Vivian was certainly a huge fan and she ran right up to all of the animals irrespective of how large or dangerous said animals may have been. Nathan did really well too, and Violet was a bit more reserved. We'd been to a petting zoo in New Hampshire not too long before, and she seemed a little more wary than she had been on her first outing. Or maybe it's my fault for whispering to her, "Don't trust the goats, they seem a little desperate." All things considered, I think that the kids had a great time, and it was great as always to see Annie and the kids.