My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

We spent our Friday evening at a local pizza parlor, grocery store, and Lowe’s Home store. It may not have been an action-packed outing, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. And the girls are easy to please; they thought the Lowe’s cart was as exciting as an amusement park ride!

I found myself today in the unfamiliar and luxurious position of having free time.  My in-laws’ kindly watched the girls for me all day so I could complete some long-awaited errands and housecleaning.  After dropping the girls off this morning, I was so heady with my newfound liberty that I instinctively drove straight to the nearest Starbucks.  Because what says freedom better than a mocha with whipped cream?

But instead of boring you with the details of my shopping excursions (which I found exciting, but which don’t really translate into entertaining blog posts), I scanned through some pictures taken last month and found one I had neglected to share with you all.   Despite yesterday’s post exclaiming I had made peace with the end of summer, I guess I must still be nostalgic for those hot pool-side afternoons.  Wouldn’t you be, if you had such adorable rafting companions?      

One of my few issues with living here in New England (other than snow and ice and hail and any temperatures that dip below, say, 65 degrees) is not having my family nearby.  I love Jim’s family dearly, but I miss my side of the family.  That’s why I was very excited when my cousin Sarah and her husband and son recently moved within a few hours of us.  I drove up to visit them today while my Aunt was visiting Sarah, and I loved every minute of our family time.  The girls were happy to see their little cousin Oliver (second cousin? first cousin once-removed?  Who knows!  Well, my mom probably does…).  They were especially happy that Oliver was so good about sharing his stash of toys, and that he had access to some pretty amazing parks. 

It’s still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I’m spending time with my relatives as an adult with my own family, and that my cousin and I are sharing parenting strategies, rather than being subjected TO parenting strategies (well, perhaps we still are, unbeknownst to us!).  I’m so glad that my girls and Oliver are similar in age, just like Sarah and I are, so they can grow up “together,” even if they end up separated by distance.  Because as we well know, geographic distance is no match for family ties!

There’s very little that I enjoy more than a good old-fashioned country fair, and I have to say that tonight, I was walking on air.  My in-laws, Jim and I took the girls to one this evening, and I think I was just as giddy as the girls when we pulled into view of the carousel’s flashing neon lights.  The girls let out excited squeals all the way into the fairgrounds as they pointed at one spinning ride after another, and I couldn’t blame them.  There’s just something magical about all the sights, sounds and smells of a fair.  It’s like a redneck Christmas party, complete with blinking lights, cheerful music, desserts and fried food as far as the eye can see, barns full of adorable animals, rows of tents with chatty vendors and goods you never knew you needed.  We had an incredible time soaking in all the fun (and probably the scents as well, given the amount of time we spent in the animal barn).  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.  Our smiles will communicate volumes, I’m sure!   

I always knew I had big shoes to fill (I wear a size 9.5), but apparently I also have a big rear end to go along with it, judging by the way Becky was waddling around tonight in my underwear!