My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

The sky is falling!

(Actually, Daddy was reflecting light off his silverware onto the ceiling to amuse the girls.  I remember my Dad doing something similar when I was a child, only I think he was amusing the dog…)

We went for a leisurely walk this evening to enjoy the gorgeous 75-degree, low-humidity weather.  I know, I know, Mom…California has that weather all the time.  But it’s a treat for us!  You can see the girls enjoyed themselves.  This is what summer’s all about: sunny days, strolls, smiles, and yes, swallowed bugs (I had the honor of accidentally ingesting some kind of gnat.  And yes, Mom, I know…California is nearly bug-free. Oh well…Connecticut now has one less bug.). 

Our family all drove up today to Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts to take advantage of one of New England’s most dramatic views.  Since we had the girls with us, we opted not to do a repeat performance of our gut-wrenching hike last month.  We just drove straight to the top.  That’s the way to see scenery, if you ask me – out the window of a moving vehicle.  It’s much less sweat-inducing.  However, we still ended up dripping, just not from sweat.  We were soaked with an unexpected downpour just as soon as I had strapped both fidgety girls into the stroller.  As I was loathe to immediately unstrap them, Jim constructed a make-shift rain shelter from the vehicle lift-gate:

You can see that Becky wasn’t too thrilled with sitting in a wet stroller…

…but she perked up once the rain stopped.

Susie took it all in stride.

Fortunately, the passing shower didn’t obstruct the magnificent views.

Once we were sufficiently chilled at the mountain summit, we piled back into the car and turned on the heated seats (yeah, I know, we’re wimps).  Jim’s Dad and Alli not only had to do without heated seats, they had to sit on cold, wet seats, because Dad had driven his motorcycle.  But their spirits weren’t dampened by the storm, and Dad urged us to drive even further North to Bennington, Vermont, where we stopped briefly to snap a picture of its famous monument:

I didn’t get any more scenic shots because we were once again greeted by showers, and since I apparently melt when wet, I opted to sit in the car while Dad and Alli quickly took a few pictures and hopped back onto the bike and tried to outrun the storm.  We rounded out the trip with a stop at a tiny cafe sporting an all-you-can-eat buffet consisting entirely of pasta and various vegetables and meats soaked in marinara.  We still managed to eat our fill and enjoy the company of the cafe’s white-haired patrons, who were charmed by Becky and Susie’s dinnertime antics.  Who knew that stuffing crackers in one’s mouth and banging a spoon on a table could be so entertaining to others?

We finally made it home, although not before enduring a few more downpours.  It was a full, wonderful, wet day!

We bid a tearful goodbye to Jim’s sister’s family today.  Becky and Susie will miss their little cousins and the constant entertainment and distraction they provided.  Jim’s niece Alli will stay in Connecticut for another month before returning home, so my girls weren’t deprived of ALL their cousins at once (and I wasn’t deprived of all the extra helping hands, either!).  Alli is a huge help to me, given her experience with her young twin siblings (but I did promise her that I won’t make her do any dirty diapers while she’s here – the kid’s gotta have some break from double baby-duty, after all!).