I am back from vacation.  We went to Ogunquit Maine for the week.  It was so nice to get away but even better to come home.  Taking a break and going away is such good perspective.  I realize that despite living so far from the ocean I absolutely love where I live.  Ogunquit was nice but a bit too upscale for my liking.  They make going to the beach a very exclusive thing.  Our cottage was in walking distance to one of the beaches in town if you didn't have two kids, blankets, a cooler and beach toys in tow.  Given that walking wasn't an option to us we were stuck driving.  Parking at the Ogunquit beaches sucks!  All lots were $15 a day or there was one that was $4.00 an hour.  What?  That is insane.  Other beaches I have been too on the Maine/NH seacoast were not like this at all.  I found it all to be a bit exclusive.  Luckily we ended up finding York Beach which was the next town over and we loved it.  It was much more our speed.  The parking situation was meters right up against the beach and it only cost $1.00 an hour.  Now that was more like it.

Leaving my hometown also makes me realize how crappy the food is in most other places.  Being a vegetarian is hard in America.  Most of the restaurants cater towards seafood and steak of course so it was pizza for us when we decided to dine out.  We found a breakfast spot called The Egg & I in Ogunquit that supposedly had been voted the best breakfast in Southern Maine.  I beg to differ.  I had an omelet with cheddar cheese, mushrooms and spinach and a side of home fries.  I guess I am spoiled because where I come from you can actually get fresh ingredients in your food.  The mushrooms in this omelet were from a can, the spinach was soggy like frozen spinach and the home fries were prepackaged frozen home fries.  It was nasty.  Honestly it was no better than eating at Denny's or a place like that.

At times I wished we had just stayed in our beautiful state and just rented a place on the lake.  Where enjoying the water is more accessible and the food is real.  We did have a good time though.  We took the kids to Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth NH.  Oh and if you are ever in Portsmouth you MUST eat at The Friendly Toast.  Amazing.  Truly amazing.  I finally found a restaurant that cooks real food!  Great vegetarian options too.  We also took the kids to York Wild Kingdom.  Kind of a cheesy place but the kids loved it.  It was fun to be able to do things with the kids they don't normally do.  Arcades, ice cream - most limits were off that week.  We all came home with belly aches and 3 extra pounds for me (boo-hoo).  I crave fresh vegetables and fruits.  Thank goodness it is farm pick up day for us at our CSA Farmshare.

Coming home was wonderful.  My yard and garden exploded while we were gone.  I have monster tomato plants, small peppers growing, peas and beans reaching for the sky, salad mix begging to be picked and strawberries and blueberries growing plump and juicy.  I spent the next day mowing, weeding and harvesting.  It was delightful.  It was nice getting away but it was wonderful coming home.

Ok I know this is going to sound absolutely terrible but I must get it off my chest.  There are exceptions of course but for the most part I just can't stand other people's kids.  People often ask me why I don't watch a couple of kids part time in my home.  There is simply no way.  Of course I don't mean all kids - just the ones who bug my kid and drive me crazy.  I am so glad summer vacation is almost here.  End of school year functions are over.  I had my last one yesterday.   Tomorrow is a half day and we are done!  I am counting down the minutes.

I was fortunate enough to have my child spend his kindergarten year in a unique program that was a multi age, non-graded primary education program offered to children throughout the city.  We made this choice last year instead of sending him to our neighborhood school because we felt a multi age classroom would be good for him since he was entering kindergarten at age 6.  We were not wrong.  He thrived in kindergarten this year.  It was wonderful because it allows the teacher greater flexibility since she is not forced to teach just one grade based curriculum.  He loves school, can read at an end of first grade level and made some great friends.  The bummer about all of this is they are phasing out the program so we decided to move him to our neighborhood school to start 1st grade next fall.  It was a very tough choice since we loved his current school so much but with the program closing it would mean my youngest son would not be allowed to attend and I would prefer they go to the same school.

Today the program held their end of year celebration to honor all of the children and say goodbye to the olders (the 2nd graders) who would be leaving the program and moving on to regular 3rd grade classes.  It was basically like a graduation in a way but with a much cooler spin.  Each kid got an award and you could really tell the teachers spent a lot of time thinking about each child, their personalities, strengths and accomplishments.  My son got the “Fabulous Friend” award.  He was so proud.  I was so proud.  Sure he learned lots of math, science and reading this year, sure he had music and art too, but he also learned to be a compassionate and caring person towards his fellow classmates and he was recognized for that.  Wouldn't it be great if they taught classes on becoming more compassionate and caring in schools?  Oh yeah – that is what should be happening at home right?  If only it happened more.

I cried tears of pride, tears of sadness and tears of joy.  My son completed his first year of school.  We are sad to leave the friends we have made but we are excited to make new ones and especially excited to be able to ride our bikes to drop off and pick up  next year.

I have learned a lot this year too. I had a super tough time adjusting to public school when he started.  I still wish there could be many changes made but I have realized the importance of getting involved, voicing your opinion and remembering you are an advocate for your child.  I think I have grown just as  much as he has this year.

3 more days and we are out for the summer.  I will look forward to easy mornings, not packing lunches, trips to the beach, gardening, bike rides and sleeping in.   I know I will get sick of the lack of schedule in a few months but for now I look forward to it.  Bring it on.

Oh how I have been enjoying this season. Each day I crave digging in the dirt, transforming my yard, and growing fresh organic veggies for my family. Gardening cleanses my soul. There is nothing better than going out to my herb garden while I am cooking and picking some fresh herbs to add to the meal. Here are some photos to show how it is going so far. I am trying many new things this year.

I decided to try my hand at two raised beds this year. I put them in a different spot away from my other gardens to see how they do. The one on the left has tomatoes, green peppers, hot peppers, radishes and squash. The bed on the right is my baby lettuce bed. I plant baby lettuce seeds alternating sides every two weeks.

The structure on the left has peas, the one on the left has beans. There are two strawberry plants, chives and several garlic plants. In the very front row will grow corn and sunflowers.
My garden fort is growing. I can't wait until this is covered with lovely flowering vines.

This was my latest project. The front of this garden section is filled with chives, basil, lemon balm, Italian parsley, cilantro and lavender. Behind the herbs is a new edible flower garden I just planted yesterday. Behind that is two rows of pumpkins, one row of corn and two cucumber plants.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling to a family gathering for my mother's Italian side. The Grasso/Locicero family. My great grandparents moved to NH from Sicily when they were in their late teens. My great grandmother was a Locicero and my great grandfather a Grasso. I was too young to remember my great grandfather but I have many memories of visits to my grandma Grasso's house as we called her. Her first name was Vincenza. I was too young to really absorb and realize how much I had around me at the time. Instead as a young child I was easily annoyed that I could not understand her broken English and every time she pinched my cheeks I wanted to scream. The many large meals we had at her house though were unforgettable.

In Italy it is tradition to pass down family names to the children. When they came to America though most of this tradition stopped. My great grandparents carried it on. They gave birth to Salvatore (my grandfather), Mary, Camile and Rosario. It was this generation however who chose more American names for their kids. I am assuming in order to have them become more "Americanized".

When I married I did something I never thought I would do and I took my husbands last name. When I was younger I used to wish my mother had hyphenated our last names so I could have used her maiden name as well as my father's. I found it unfair that the women marries and gives up her name. The one identifier of her past. I have been thinking of switching my name back for years now. I mean no disrespect to my husband and his family. I only wish to hold on to mine as well.

Some people move their maiden name to be their middle name. This is an option for me but I don't want to lose my middle name either. I think the only thing to do is to have several names as I have given my children. So I believe I will add my mother's maiden name to my middle name and then add my maiden name to my last name and maybe hyphenate it them or something.  Sometimes I think of just dropping my married name and going back to my maiden name and adding my mother's maiden name to that.   I'm sure it will confuse people but I don't really care. I have never been one to do anything normal anyway.

What did you do?