The circle of life

Last Wednesday Steve took the kids and met my folks in VT....and left them! Woot! I had a conference all day, so I was child-free for three whole days. First day didn't count, second I had extreme anxiety feeling like I was wasting my opportunity, third day I was loving it, and when we went to get them on Saturday I wasn't exactly eager. They had a wonderful time and said they didn't miss us "one little bit". Might have to do this again soon :)

First thing that happened after my conference was I got hit. Grateful the kids weren't with me, and the car is driveable, it's just a pain to get it fixed (also grateful I was in no way at fault. hard to be, when you're completely stopped waiting to pull out and someone else backs in to you...)

I didn't do any cooking or meal planning with the kids gone, just got what felt good at the moment. So, summer rolls and bubble tea for lunch.

Went to the library and sat outside and read for a solid hour. 

Friday was wedding day, we headed out a little after noon

Selfies to commemorate!

Traffic wasn't bad (we headed to the Cape) so we had a few hours to kill. Went to our favorite place to visit, the cemetery!

This one was right on an inlet off the ocean, the sea fog was rolling in

It had so many beautiful features and was well landscaped

Perhaps a distant relative?

Met the groundskeeper who was sprucing up for the holiday weekend. He'd lived there his whole life and knew the history of everyone, so he was showing me some of the points of interest and telling me stories. This tragedy is mentioned in Thoreau's book "Cape Cod".

Went to the beach but we weren't exactly dressed for it.

Then on to the Red Lion Inn for the wedding. The original part of the structure was a smelly and dark tavern, but the "barn" is newly constructed and used just for weddings. 

Coworker of Steve, and we hadn't met the bride before. They seemed happy ;)

Looking down during the cocktail hour. The ceremony was long, but it had tons of very nice music, and the whole event ended up being a blast.

Had some lovely cod with lobster sauce, drank many toasts to their future, and danced the night away. Well, until 9:30 at least. Then we headed home and snacked on awesome cupcakes we'd picked up earlier at a cute bakery down the street from the inn.

Monday we went up to Alton Bay in NH with a large segment from the church to spend the day messing about in boats and swimming. Started out nasty weather but turned gorgeous

It was easier to take the kayaks everywhere, so Tonia was ferrying me back to camp to get some supplies

Steve had 4 toddlers out with him

Sitting on the docks

The older kids are very tolerant of Hudson's nonsense.

The adults playing beach volleyball with an imaginary net.

They were in the water for a solid 4 hours

On Tuesday the kids got to meet a friend's new baby (he was a week old). I went with every intention of letting her nap and getting some chores done for her, but instead....

I held a sleeping baby while she dusted, vacuumed, and did laundry. She insisted she just wanted to feel normal without a kid clinging for a few minutes, but I still feel guilty. Fun to snuggle a newborn for a bit, though! And this one is super cute.

Some photos from Anna. Papa built the kids a fort so they could play pirates

Obviously it was a big hit

And then yesterday we played outside for most of it

The bubble machine is still working well

Hen braiding "wheat" into brooms

We took a widow in our church out to JP to visit her husband and extended family and decorate the graves. I'm so grateful to have older woman invested in my kids life to take on that extended family role with both of ours living away. Also, this lady is hysterical and I laughed for a solid 3 hours. Planning to head back here soon to walk around, it's another gorgeous spot. 

Continuing to sabotage my "lifestyle change"; after a full day of eating very healthy, broke down and got some ice cream after church. The kids kept "trying" mine though, so I didn't really eat a full portion :)

Getting children's church craft ready for this Sunday; making "harps" for King David to play.

And with all that, we are back to our usual programming. Nothing exciting planned for the next two weeks, so we can get back on track with house work and such. Hope you're all enjoying the unofficial start of summer!