A Vacationlet.

Clara, Katie, and I took a minivacation to the lands on either side of the Mason-Dixon line over the course of this past weekend.  While we didn't see any mechanical ducks on our visit, we did have the fortune to visit my grandparents and some of our friends who have migrated South with our feathered friends towards (slightly) warmer locales.  During our journeys on the road southward, we also encountered not a few snowflakes; I discovered, much to my chagrin, that it is difficult to satisfy indignant feelings toward such injustices as snow-in-October while traveling on the highway, and the best that I could do is call my mom and complain.  Thank heavens for mothers (and cell phones).

Clara was fortunate enough to get acquainted with a whole host of new people who love and care for her from afar, including:

my grandmother Arlene, who was amazed at Clara's training to seek after a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Fingers Simultaneously in Mouth",

my aunt Mary, who taught her how to imitate the effect of drinking a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew,

Katie's law school friend Leslie, who taunted her with a delicious cream cheese pecan pie which must have been conjured, rather than made (actually, it was I who did the taunting while eating said pie),
 

our friends Sonya and Jeff and their daughter Rebecca, who is cute as a button, has enough energy to put the Energizer Bunny to shame, and sweetly shared her toys with our little drooly (sp?) munchkin,

and my grandpa Redding, who over the course of his 87 years has actually figured out how to tell jokes to his 4 month old great-grandchildren.

We also were able to visit our friends Jared and Amy in Baltimore and got a chance to see their gorgeous new townhouse in Baltimore and meet the even gorgouser Sylvie Pearl, who is just a few months older than Clara but already is a barrel of laughs and smiles, visit the Mutter medical museum in Philadelphia and marvel at the many icky things that can be (and are) stored in specimen jars, and visit the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the adjoining new (to me) park space so that Katie could see where the Constitution that she defends in so stalwart a manner was written.

It was a fun trip and wonderful to reconnect with so many friends and family that we don't get to see as often as we would like.  As with most good vacations, we were a little worn out at the end, but it's a good worn out.