Grace & Lucy’s Web Log

Lucy is becoming quite the jet setter - having just completed a quick trip to NY for the weekend (or airport code HPN which we were told meant “high-priced neighbors.”) While the more traditional jet setter would have flown in for an exhibit at an art gallery, dined in a fancy NY restaurant, danced until dawn at some trendy club and then hopped on an early morning flight, the Fuchster definition is somewhat different: it includes a visit with GiGi and Unkich and a Barbecue/High School Reunion-type event in Orange County (during which we of course forgot to take pictures) - and a leisurely breakfast before our afternoon flight home at a diner.

Here’s the group shot (outside the diner - oh the things you miss when you move to the midwest):

And here’s Lucy at the end of a long weekend:

Since there’s no way these the girls could have inherited any sense of rhythm or gracefulness from their parents, we feel that ballet is one way to keep them from having constantly scraped knees and elbows (although Lucy in particular seems to manage to stay perpetually scabbed). At the end of each session we get to come into the room and watch them perform - which meant they mostly focused on us rather than dance but we did get to see a few moves. Here’s Grace (and her friend Grace) doing a tendu (to the tune “Tendu the Tulip”):

Lucy was more comfortable just posing for the camera:

Here’s Grace finishing off by preparing for a turn:

Living close to a fairly busy intersection ensures that the Fuchster clan hears a regular stream of sirens, car horns and even that occasional crash sound. The girls tend to focus on the sirens from fire engines and have taken to playing “firefighter” in the backyard. But unlike real firefighters, our “firefighters” are clothing minimalists and there’s no blaze that a terry cloth towel, an oven mitt and a purple crayon can’t squelch:

Here are our fearless firefighters in their individual hero poses:

After a hard day’s work, nothing says “job well done” quite like striking a pose in front of the camera in your underpants and boots:

Although we can’t even begin to sort all of the photos we took over the 4th of July, we thought’d we start with this one since we’ll probably need to have some prints made. The girls were visited by their cousins Anna & Matthew and their Aunt Karen who were making a midwest tour following the 1 year deployment of their dad (Uncle Aaron). Fortunately, the ‘Lou has plenty to do - but we thought this photo best captured the mood.

And here’s the one we’re calling Red, White and BLucy:

Although “see as much strange stuff as possible” was one goal of the trip, another was to actually introduce the kids to their first (and second) national parks. First stop on the tour: Mammoth Cave, Kentucky - a photographers worst nightmare since it’s so dark in the cave that when you take a picture and the flash goes off, everyone closes his or her eyes.

Here are the ladies waiting outside the visitors center before we descended several hundred feel below earth (pretty much sounds like a bad idea when you have small children, doesn’t it?):

The cave tour started with a long descent to the bottom of the cave to an open area they called “Grand Central Station” - which looked absolutely nothing like Grand Central Station:

If you’re possessed by demons, it tends to show through when you’re down in a cave:

Photographers dream shot #1 - Daughter with closed eyes:

To be topped only by: 2 daughters with closed eyes

But at least for one of the rare family shots we had taken on this trip we were able to look somewhat normal:

There are few things as exciting in the state of Kentucky (sorry Kentucky) as standing next to full scale replicas of Dinosaurs at Dinosaur World. Despite having all the obvious signs of being a tourist trap, this incredibly strange place was not only one of those “only in America” type experiences - it was (gulp) kind of cool. The strange names for the dinosaurs, many of which were obviously made up (Photosaurus? C’mon…) and the misspellings on some of the signs all added to the charm - as did the fossil dig which felt like a set-up (felt like a sandbox that they fill with fakes when nobody is looking). We met our friends Erik, Cheryl and Melanie there and, despite tons of skepticism, had a pretty good time:

Here we are on the oh-so-fake-feeling fossil dig:

After the fossil dig, the kids had a chance to brush sand off of a real (or was it) dinosaur skeleton partially buried underground:

And of course you need the obligatory, “stick your head in a dinosaur’s mouth” display to truly create memories that last a lifetime (even the parents got into it):

The place also featured a walking path so we could pretend we were seeing the dinosaurs as we would have seen them if outdoor zoos existed in prehistoric times (apparently these fearsome creatures would not have dared cross 2 simple pieces of rope), no matter how hungry or carnivorous they were:

Thanks to Dinosaur World, not only do we now no that the creature below is NOT a Triceratops but rather a Chasmosaurus, but we know that it is capable of rather complex emotions (just look at what must be a rather authentic Chasmexpression on its face):

All kidding aside - the T-Rex did have the kids a tad nervous (but apparently not Luce):

To remind the kids that it was all pretend, there was a little petting zoo-style display/playground at the end (it was surprising they didn’t have those gumball machines with fake food to feed the dinosaurs):

And so none of us can deny we were there (and enjoyed it)- here’s the group shot we asked another equally “wowed” group of tourists to take of us:

Next stop in our midwest tour was Churchill Downs - where we learned the full value of the Truckster. After being rejected by multiple parking areas, we were informed that buses can actually park in a lot practically in front of the place. How very American - punish the small cars and reward the monstrosities. Although other bus drivers in the lot didn’t really seem to view us as kindred spirits, but more as imposters. Either way - I guess the lesson is the bigger you are, the more special treatment you get (sounds like a little weight gain may be in our futures…)

Anyway, the girls knew that this Kentucky icon was part of their heritage so to speak - and really got into it. In fact all of the kids really got into the actual horse race - which means that for our next vacation, we may be able to simply drive to the local OTB. Here they are in the winner’s circle:

And here are the girls in front of a stuffed version of SuperSaver - the horse that won the 2010 Kentucky Derby:

The best part for the kids was actually seeing the race (and watching Lara win a whopping $3 on one of them):

It was also fun watching the moms trying to work through some mint juleps:

Of course - sometimes watching a horse race, just isn’t as much fun as riding a mechanical horse in front of a video screen:

And this visit simply wouldn’t have enabled us to check the “Americana” square if there wasn’t some guy walking around as a giant stuffed horse mascot (we also got to watch a “circus” of kids who barely knew how to sommersault):

So the Fuchster clan, along with our friends Ryan, Archna, Sanjay and Anya, decided to do go on a little midwest tour. At first we thought we’d be real midwesterners and rent an RV but the thought of 8 people using one toilet for a week (and then driving everywhere with that same toilet) helped us settle instead on the VanTerra - 1/2 van, 1/2 … terra (whatever that means). So, in the tradition of the Griswold’s and other great family road trippers, we set off to see some classic “Americana” - and while we didn’t see the world’s largest ball of twine, we did see enough cool, wierd and tacky things that will stay in our memories for quite some time.

So to start - here’s a shot of “The Truckster” 

First stop: Louisville, Kentucky, home of the “hot brown” (an openfaced sandwich), Churchill Downs, the Louisville “Bats” AAA baseball team (one would think “Sluggers” would have been a better name than bats) and the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum (home of the world’s largest bat):

While there have been many fearsome batting orders on many major league teams over the years, we think this one might top the 1927 Yankees’ Murderers’ Row in making pitchers a little nervous (try pitching to these strike zones!):

Inside the factory, the kids had many chances to swing a bat or two (to include Mickey Mantle’s bat), which might explain how they wound up not killing each other with their wooden bats that they were given at the end of the tour:

Well - Grace is yet another step closer to driving and all of that other fun stuff, hitting the 1/4 mark to her 16th birthday (or perhaps her 1/10th mark to her 40th). Either way, we’ve always felt like she’s a tad older than what her official age is - and she didn’t disappoint for her birthday. And she makes buying presents so easy - like the year she wanted “balloons” for Christmas. This year she wanted an “umbrella”:

We started off the day with some special birthday cereal (the one time of year she doesn’t have to eat that disgusting healthy stuff…she chose Crunch Berries), and then we spent the morning getting all of her party favors ready for the main event at her school - which Grace decided would best be accomplihsed if she looked like Janis Joplin:

Carrying party favors is fun…until they get heavy:

Grace was most excited about the party at her school - she wanted to have a monster cake that looked like the monster in the book, “There Was an Old Monster” - and a local baker in south city, did a great job:

And we finished off the evening by meeting some friends at Happy Joes (the Dave and Busters equivalent from the 1960’s - and never updated to this day). The place has a game corner where you earn tickets - although there’s one machine that spews them out by the hundreds simply for putting one quarter in - they don’t seem to care, and despite having an amount of tickets that made us look like skee-ball sharks, our prizes were only on the ok side. Here’s Grace being serenaded by the folks at Happy Joes:

Happy Birthday Grace - here’s to the next great 4 years!

Thanks to some fine crafts-womanship by the girls’ Great Aunt Lu - Grace the “The Luce” have become the proud owners of two Raggedy Anne dolls - which they decided to use as a good lauching point for discussing human anatomy.

 Here’s some video of the girls meeting their new dolls for the first time. Thanks Aunt Lu!!