This guy

This guy.

Comes to see us when he has a few days free.

Is endlessly patient when the kids use him as a climbing gym.

Kicks the ball, plays the drums, is up for all the games.

How lucky are they, to have such a super great Uncle?

Photo taken by the 11 year old. 

On our long journey home, we made a couple of stops. In New Hampshire we were able to see Chris's cousin Marcia and her family. (No pictures, sorry, I was sadly negligent during our visit.) We were also able to see my college friend Emily and her kids who live in the same town as Marcia. Emily and her family took us to a beautiful lake where the kids were able to play in the sand despite the chilly Atlantic Northeast temperatures. 

The next day we drove to Boston where we were able to have dinner with a bunch of Chris's college friends. It's fun to see that connections made over small things many years ago can endure, despite age and change and distance. 

There were lots more people we wanted to see but the timing and distances didn't work out so sadly we'll have to save those visits for the next trip. 

Vermont

Billings Farm

 

While in Vermont, we were able to visit the Billings Farm Museum. The kids enjoyed seeing some of the farm animals up close, although Brixton walked into the milking barn, took one look at the rows of cow backsides, and promptly ran out. I don't blame him, it was rather pungent. They liked the horse though, and the sheep and chickens. It was also interesting to see the displays of old tools and read about what life was like for Vermont farmers of days gone by. 

Woodstock

Greetings from Woodstock, which is charming as ever. The town is like a little storybook village that has barely changed since the 1960s at the latest. We have been enjoying our strolls through town and exploring the area, as well as hanging out with Grandma Ann.

Vermont is the color of Chris's childhood and he loves telling the kids his stories of this place, of dropping off the rope swing into the river, of the route he took when delivering the local paper. It's very different from how we live now, but it's nice for them to get a sense of another kind of life.

So, our weekend was pretty good. We had the last day of swim lessons. The kids have both made big improvements in this area over the summer. Brixton even moved up a level! 

Sunday morning we went to Meeting, and afterwards we had an orientation for the First Day school program that is starting up now. I'm on the committee that organizes the curricula and the volunteer teachers, so this is one of my big projects for the year. It's fun to see it getting started and to have some of that new year energy.

Unity also had a birthday party to attend, and then we went to a coming-of-age gathering for a teen from the Meeting. This teen is very sweet with my kids and they treat her like a celebrity, jumping all over themselves to spend time with her. It was very nice to attending her gathering and hear some wonderful ministry about growing up and the impact that she's had on the people around her. Very inspirational. 

1st day, last year of Pre-K

1st day, 2nd grade

Seaside

                                                 

It's become a tradition, two siblings and their families meeting for one last summer frolic. We meet in the middle, in the state between our two homes. We line the kids up, noticing the growth spurts and hair cuts, the new faces they make now for the camera. We spend long days at the beach, reading and digging in the sand and inching out into the water as far as our frozen feet will let us. 

We play piles of board games, we play guitar, we settle into this borrowed home in these last days. Gotta bottle it up and make it last, gotta hold summer in your palm like one more fragile sand dollar. Until it's time to fold it all up, shake the sand out, and head back where things are waiting. Routines and lunch boxes. New teachers and closed toe shoes. 

And that daydream- of a beach house, and a few extra days, and the last taste of the season.