Friends - It's Not Just in Syndication

There are things I just love about the summer, though at this moment I'm all set and ready for it to just be over. What I love the most about it is seeing friends. We don't get to see people enough in the winter months, since living in New England we get that thing called weather, but the summer months seem to offer us more opportunities to see those we love and care about.

This summer we have been very busy in regards to seeing friends, which is a good thing. We started out August with a visit to our friends the Delaney's for a birthday party for their youngest daughter. Patrick and Sara are from our Barnes & Noble time, and they are also among our Western Mass friends.  I love going the Patrick and Sara's for anything. It's always a good time full of great conversation, amazing food and a lot of fun. This birthday Sara presented us with homemade rainbow ice cream cake (and rainbow cupcakes). Where else are you going to get that? Another reason I love going is I think Lex (Sara's Chicken Whisperer) has a crush on Sara and Loki on Patrick (she just stares at him in awe). Along with seeing the Delaney's, the kids love to see the Dave's (the Delaney chickens). 

After visiting with our Belchertown friends we moved on to a cookout with some more of our Western Mass friends. I would usually say they are Mad Dog's friends, but that is just to state who they started out with because they are our friends now. We had the pleasure of being invited to Dave & Melissa's new place (with the help of Lori poking Dave about it - thank you Lori!), where Mad Dog got his geek speak on with some old friends. I think Mad Dog figured out he has known this group of friends for about 14 to 15 years now. Our time with them offered Lex and Loki a little kid play and gave Gabrielle the time to mope about not having anything to do (big surprise there). Lori, who recently became a mother, was their with Harper her sweet little girl, which Lex and Loki were both fascinated with and in between checking on her they played with Maeve (Dave and Melissa's Daughter) and Tristan (Bill and Heather's Son). It was a wonderful time and we managed to catch up with one another between checking to see what trouble the kids were into.  

This weekend we had a full plate. Starting with Build & Grow on Saturday morning before heading out to our friend Michael's 40th birthday party at Colt State Park in Rhode Island. This party gave us the opportunity to catch up with our Eastern Mass friends, some of which I've known 15-16 years. I hate the fact that we don't get to see each other more often, but with work, schedules and now in some cases kids it does get difficult to find the time. We do our best, picking up where we left off and finding a way to catch up in the few moments we have together. These people have been a huge part of my life for so long I can't imagine them not being there forever. 

In the case of this party, I even managed to get to catch up with my brother Kevin, since he has adopted into my college group of friends years ago. The kids had a great time, though with no nap we were a bit cranky. Loki managed to find a following of kids who kept wanting to pick her up and play with her, while Lex tried to play with everyone but we think he was a bit to sensitive to get it right at that point. Gabrielle was bored, but we knew that was going to happen - we tried to explain to her what the day would be like. She didn't really chit chat with people, thought several tried to talk to her about school, books and other things. In the end she sat and read for most of the time, but stuck close to Mad Dog most of the time. 

After getting a little sunburn we headed out to my Mom's. Where we met up with Kevin, Brent and our friend Blue. My Mom had offered to watch the kids so that Mad Dog and I could go out for a late anniversary dinner that evening. We took her up on it. Our plans were to take us into Somerville for dinner which allowed us to extend our time with Blue, while we gave her a lift back to the city. 

I'm going to make some kind of resolution, to make an extra effort to get in touch with people, make plans and find the time for our friends a lot more. This won't be a new years kind of a thing, but a now kind of a thing. Making sure that the fall and winter months are not the reason for those the large gaps between visits. These people are our families as much (and in some cases even more so) that our actual families. Here is to more friends, more time and more memories. 

A Pirate's Life for Me!

We are told more often than not we are told how happy Lex and Loki are as children. "What a happy baby!" or "He is just so happy!" So, to have a child who looks like the end of the world is coming is a bit of a discouraging.

Today we ventured out to Western Massachusetts to our dear friends Patrick & Sara's (yes this is the same Patrick who saved Bolt from being lost forever in Holyoke). The main purpose of this trip was to celebrate their youngest daughter's 7th birthday, the other secret reason for the trip was to get syrup! I think most of us had a lovely time. Lex flirted with anyone who would talk to him, ever going up to a complete stranger to hug her legs without warning. Loki enjoyed babbling away in her carseat, talking to anyone who came by to admire her pretty blue eyes. Mad Dog & I got to socialize between looking for Lex and telling him to stop doing whatever he was doing that might result in future tear or blood.

As for Gigi - well I would like to say that she had a great time, but I don't know if I can. I think she has gotten it in her head a bit that when she comes to visit she should be the center of attention. This happened the other week at the Reunion, when my cousin Morgan paid a little too much attention to the other kids leading to Gigi sitting inside sulking. Today seemed to be just about the same. I don't know if it was because it was Saebra's Birthday (FYI -Pink Pirate Party) or that Aurelia was being a good host to the kids guests. Though it looked like her Dog has been hit by a fence post and died (some people know this story - you can ask me when she's not around) - when told we were going to get going, she started to beg to stay. We don't understand the behavior, and I think at this late stage in the summer - can't even start to worry about it. We can only push her along and remind her that she is missing out, because she isn't willing to try. She would rather say it's because of someone else - Morgan didn't want to play with her or Aurelia isn't talking to her. I ever kids has those days, but to have them just about every other makes for a very long and unhappy life.

Even Pirates have a little "Yo Ho" in their lives!

Breaking News: Bolt is Back!

This will be a very quick little post to thank our dear friend Patrick for sending Bolt back into our lives. He arrived today, and is sleeping peacefully at the foot of Lex's bed with his other dear friends (Chew, the Wookiee, Hannibal, the Sheep and Richard Parker, the Tiger). Sad to say that Ace, the little black Lab, was once again voted off the bed and exiled to the table with the books and other superheros. We don't know why this happened, but Lex made the case off just before turning in. Otherwise we had a peacefully night, with not too many tears.

So, once again thank you Patrick and the kind soul that found Bolt and knew enough that it was apart of Mad Dog's litter! Bolt, we're glad to have you back.