We woke up on the 1st in Edison, having left for vacation the night before and stopping halfway to our destination. We were staying at Home2 Suites by Hilton, most remarkable for being only a couple of months old, and everything was fantastic. After a complimentary hot breakfast, we got on the road (minus Nina’s pillow). Jill got some of her favorites at Nathan’s for lunch, then we got back on the road. When we were close to Hillsdale, we went grocery shopping, first at Taconic Orchards for produce and cider donuts, then Hannaford Supermarket for everything else. We were soon at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and got everything set up and collapsed. The Cannons had arrived soon after us, and we got dinner together. I wasn’t feeling up to it and skipped music that night. I’d brought a glow in the dark capture the flag type game, but the girls skipped the game to have impromptu lightsaber battles with the pieces.
Friday Nina had a new friend (daughter of an old friend) and tried some of her hard cookies. A week earlier she’d had an expander (precursor to braces put in), and one of the cookies knocked it out of one side. We just needed to get it out at that point, and Jill spent hours on the phone trying to find someplace that could do it that day. Finally Adirondack Orthodontics was able to fit us in. It was about an hour away, but we didn’t have much of a choice, so we headed northwest past Albany. They were even able to take us earlier once we were up there, and so pleasant and quick. Jill saw a Friendly’s on the way out and we stopped there for lunch. We headed straight back to Copake Falls as the Cannons were swimming there. When we got back to camp we made food for the taco night potluck dinner, then I started assembling the jellyfish umbrellas (Nina’s number one request from last year). Soon we were ready for concert #28: Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus Of Dreams at the Dance Tent, and all the girls marched in the jellyfish parade.
Saturday Jill once again had to trek into civilization to wash some sheets. At midday we went over to the Workshop Stage (and met up with AJ) and caught the end of Our Roots Are Showing with Carolann Solebello, Low Lily & Mid-City Aces for concert #29, then concert #30 was also there: The Songwriting Process with Stephen Kellogg, Kerri Powers & Beth Nielsen Chapman (and a whole lot of talking). We made leftovers for dinner, and Jay made some ridiculously good Korean barbecue as well, so I enjoyed that. Later I went out solo to see concert #31: BoDeans at main stage.
Sunday the 4th we packed up and headed out. Jill was hungry and we stopped at Betty’s Pizza Shack in Lenox for some delicious pizza. Jill said “Nina said ‘it’s so nice to be able to flush the toilet!’ Yep, got that right. Nothing like a little gratefulness training.” Later we went to Jill’s mom’s house – I thought about trying to go see Queen with Nina that night near Boston, but they were sold out and it would have been a lot of work. Monday Nina and Jill ran errands and I walked over to Stop & Shop, enjoying some uninterrupted Wizards Unite time (Jill and I were getting competitive, and she was 2 levels ahead of me). That night we met the Bradys at Joe’s Spaghetti & Pizza in Northampton, then after dinner, Jill and I played Wizards Unite while Sue accompanied Tiernan while he played Pokemon Go (the others went back to the house).
Tuesday morning we met Jill’s dad and Sue at Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens. Nina was scared of the butterflies, but liked the turtles getting fed. We had lunch at The People’s Pint in Greenfield, then some ice cream at Ice Cream Alley. Then we all drove over to Hadley to visit with Jill’s dad’s mom. We packed up in the afternoon and went over to Robin and Mike’s house, where we stayed the remainder of our visit. Wednesday Jill and her sisters planned a beach day (but weather meant they ended up in Old Sturbridge Village). Meanwhile I took Nina to Half Mile Falls Park and the Tavern Restaurant for lunch. In the afternoon, I made it over to Turn It up before we had dinner at Sue’s.
Thursday Jill and Melissa took Nina and Ava to Six Flags while I hung out with Mike and Finn, going to Stanley Park. That evening Sue and Dave brought dinner over. Friday we headed home, and traffic was not terrible, which was a nice surprise. Saturday we ran some errands and played Wizards Unite at Reston Town Center – Nina tried Pokemon Go on her Kindle, but it kept crashing. Sunday, Nina and I went to concert #32: Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band at Wolf Trap. Nina’s second Beatle, although the song she was most excited to hear that night was Africa (thanks, Weezer). She also lost another tooth (good timing as her expander went back in the next day).
Friday the 16th Sue and Tiernan arrived for a visit. Saturday we celebrated our anniversary early (Sue took the kids to Glory Days and the Air & Space museum). Jill started first, “I treated myself to a boudoir photo session as a 40th birthday present to myself. I wanted to celebrate this body I’m in, and have some fun. It exceeded my wildest expectations. Makeup by @chellzdidit, hair by @jasminepalmaartistry, photography by @ahiddenexposure. It was an amazing experience; if you feel the slightest inclination about doing something like this for yourself, I Highly Recommend it! Kerry and I also got some anniversary pictures taken. @ahiddenexposure put us at ease and got some great shots of us goofing around!”. She’d booked a room at the Kimpton Lorien Hotel & Spa, and after the photos, we went downstairs to Brabo for an excellent meal.
In the morning we had bagels across the street (only ok). Jill headed home and I went to Hole in the Wall books to stop by for the last time as the owners were retiring and closing down at the end of the month. my best friend Chris and I started getting into comics around 1981 by riding our bikes across 236 to the 7-Eleven and buying them there. Hole In The Wall was the first actual comic book shop I started going to. It was tiny and cluttered but it was awesome. Later we discovered Burke Center Used Books & Comics which was closer and I had a subscription for comics there for the longest time until I moved to Herndon and went mail order (they closed not long after that). That night I was out solo for concert #33: Mark Knopfler (from Dire Straits) at Wolf Trap. Amazingly he was still on my concert bucket list, and happily still sprinkling in the Dire Straits songs. He also had a 10-piece band for a very full sound. It was a hot night, and a cool breeze during the show had me worried until I saw on radar the storm was heading up through Maryland. This is a pretty spot on review.
Wednesday the 21st I went over to Mosaic and had dinner at Caboose before going to see the Rush: Cinema Strangiato at Angelika, but the combination of salt and heat had me feeling poorly and I left halfway through. Thursday Nina skipped camp so Jill and Sue could take her and Tiernan to the National Zoo. Friday Jill was working but I was planning on taking everyone else to The Pietasters at Royal Lake Park, but it was canceled due to rain. I took Nina to Target after her last day of camp and got her the new Taylor Swift CD, plus put things on her birthday wishlist. And we ended up going to Popeyes as everyone but Sue was into that (big lines even though they were out of their new sandwich). That night it had taken a while (I started last year), but due to recent events (our band director passed away), I got working a little harder. Here are just about all the W.T. Woodson Band tapes I have, now digitized and free to stream or download. Saturday Nina had a cold and we tried to sell the tickets we had for Aladdin without luck. Melissa and Maddie were down so Maddie could move in, so we all went to visit the new apartment, then had dinner at Alto Fumo Pizza & Pasta Bar in Clarendon. Sunday Sue went to the Fairfax Comic Con solo to meet the teacher from “Stranger Things” before Melissa and Tiernan headed home.
Monday Nina recovered just in time for her first day of school. Tuesday we got takeout from Hunan East and I guess it had been too long since ER visits, as I got another one that night. Apparently I just got my first food allergy, so no more sushi for me for a while. Wednesday the 29th Jill and Sue visited the National Cathedral during the day. That night we did end up going to the Kennedy Center for show #34: Aladdin. Contacting member services proved helpful, as we were able to use our tickets from Saturday, plus bring Sue. Nina loved it of course – we were thinking about leaving after intermission, but we were outvoted. And Major Attaway has a wonderful performance as the genie (I just found he’s headed to the Broadway version now). Thursday I went to Jammin’ Java for concert #35: SHEL with Wild Harbors. SHEL is a band of all sisters with great harmonies, and I’d helped crowdfund a CD of theirs a while back but hadn’t gotten around to seeing them live. Worth the wait, and they do a smokin’ cover of “The Battle Of Evermore”. Friday school was closed and Sue took Nina to Clemyjontri. Saturday we got ready for Nina’s birthday party.
