what I did over summer vacation

Life is tough for our kids over the summer.

As a child I remember summer being endless. It was shocking to me to grow up and find that it was more abbreviated than I had realized.  I want this for our kids.

We had our nephew with us for three nights last week and spent each day in the sunshine swimming and eating ice cream.   Braeden, my sister Kathryn's son, took a real shine to Sandi's dad at Schoodic. I love this picture.

The girls and I went raspberry picking at our usually haunt.  Just a mile down the road is my friend Jeanne's house which, by some wondrous universal alignment, is the former house of my beloved friend Martha who passed away tragically in 2009.  I cannot describe the peace I get when I enter the garden I've known so well and when I climb into the raspberry thicket.  Plus I can't really remember the peace because, keeping up their annual tradition, the girls always start complaining and saying they want to go home when I have picked (and eaten) merely a pint.

Still, it warms my heart to see them in this garden.

This week we also got treated to boat ride up the river with our friends Andrew and Lindsay and their adorable (and I mean adorable) daughter, Leah. It was an impromptu motor up the river near our house which I was amazed to realize I had never been on.  We boarded at the marina not even a mile from our house where we used to take our dogs to swim and now we bike to with the kids for ice cream. 

It was a perfect summer evening: a little beer, some cheese and crackers, giggling kids, a few rounds of B-I-N-G-O and Row, Row, Row You Boat (which we hoped we wouldn't have to do) and the need for a sweatshirt on the way home.  I think Maya only tried to go overboard once.  Okay, twice.

I'm not sure how this happened, but I have the most BEAUTIFUL friends.



Andrew, who insisted I call him "Captain, oh Captain" (which I did) and kept making announcements through the "loud speaker" (his hand).



Look who got to drive the boat! She did a great job despite the antics of her assistant.

Three happy girls



A rare Sandi sighting.  She got home from work early and busted out her care plans and came with us.  It is so nice to feel our family is complete again, if only for a few hours.

Oh, summer. Slow down.  And while you're at it, talk to the rest of my life too and tell it to do the same.