Vacation (Round 2)

Well folks, I had a really fun post all written out for you, but as of five minutes ago it has become nothing more than stardust lost in the abyss of deleted internet files.  C'est la vie, I suppose.  I wish I could say I'd attempt to recreate it from scratch for you, but it's currently 1:25 a.m. and I've already spent the past hour shuffling photos and writing.  My apologies for the less than stellar narrative you're about to receive.

Eily is already worried

Okay, so the previous post went something like this:  "Moving to NY is great.  We have lots of friends and already know our way around. Yadda yadda yadda."  Except better.  Much better.  I'm talking NY Times best-selling, Pulitzer Prize winning novel material*. 

(*It wasn't really all that good.  I'm just feeling too lazy to try to remember what I wrote.)

The early part of this week was spent revisiting some old haunts with Kelsey and the kids.  On Monday, we bummed around the fair city of Albany, a place that will always be near and dear to my heart.  Our first stop after running some errands was to grab breakfast at Professor Java's Coffee Sanctuary, where my fellow Javateer Kevin and I met 9 or so years ago.  Who knew almost a decade later I would be shacking up with him and his family in a sweet little commune?

Eily's first cup of joe water in the same to-go cups we used to use back in my day.

Eily and Rayleigh eating oatmeal in the library at Java's.

Later that morning we hit up the mall (coincidentally the first place I worked when I moved to the Capital Region back in 2001).  Eily and Rayleigh got in some shopping while we were there.

"What do you think, Rayleigh?  Can I pull off red, or are they a little too Wizard of Oz?"

"Thanks for convincing me to go with the blue water shoes.  They're much more practical!"

Once the retail therapy session had concluded, we drove over to Bombers Burrito Bar to grab some take out for a picnic in the park.  Just stepping into Bombers was enough to fill me with the kind of nostalgia that lets you know you're home.  I spent many a night closing down the bar upstairs with my boys Armando and Adam in my early days living in the area (last call is 4 a.m. for all you non-New Yorkers).  Those nights were filled with bottles of Newcastle, philosophical discourse, unwritten drafts of the next great American novel, and the best friends a shy, broken girl like me could have ever asked for at a time like that.  (I'm getting a bit weepy with the memories.  A different post for a different day, I suppose.)  Anyway, as I was saying, we grabbed our food to go and had a lovely picnic in Washington Park.  Here's Eily playing around on one of the big shady trees:

 

Later in the week, we headed south to Oak Hill, NY for our annual pilgrimage to the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival.  Kevin, Kelsey, Rayleigh, Dillon, Eily, Jesse, and I (forever after known as "the tribe") met up with our friends the Adams family (Jim, Natasha, and Rory) and the Shillidays (Andy, Nicole, Liam, and Keen).  The festival runs from Wednesday to Sunday, so camping is the only way to get the full experience.  This year we ditched the dusty ghetto of Pickers Paradise for a more suburban setting on the High Meadow.

Base camp - the social hub of our camping party.

  

Base camp went classy this year with fancy kerosene lanterns giving off ambient light after the sun went down.

I'm not really a big fan of bluegrass, per se, but the festival this year was particularly fun.  Being up on the meadow, behind the main stage, afforded everyone in our group the opportunity to switch off from kid duty to catch a few acts here and there.  Even without being into the bluegrass scene, there are always a million things to do at Grey Fox.  The event is family friendly, so getting the kids out for some fun was never hard. 

Eily, Keen, and Liam sharing a camp chair.

Eily and Rory walking back from the swimming hole.

The "big kids" circle - Liam, Rory, Rayleigh, and Eily.

Learning about constellations in the Family Tent.

Little cowgirl and her daddy.

Hippie dress & cowgirl hat day!

The trip itself is all a blur at this point (I'm still detoxing).  Our days were filled with lots of cooking, child chasing, dancing, yoga (barely), bathing in the local swimming hole, beer drinking, and of course, music listening.  The cool thing about Grey Fox is that almost everyone who goes is also a musician.  So even if you're not hanging out at one of the stages, you just have to walk around to different campsites to catch some really talented people jamming with their friends. 

Eily hanging out, listening to the sounds of bluegrass floating on the breeze from the main stage to base camp.

Like any good vacation, we played hard all day long and slept like babies in the crisp cool air each night.

Eily passed out in her very own sleeping bag.  She's a natural camper!

We're off on more adventures yet again this week, so be sure to tune in again soon.  Until then, here's my favorite shot of Eily from the festival.  She's growing up to be such a little lady!