Essex invasion

Kyalo and I are up in Essex, having left Dexter at home to prepare for a big project and three exams this week.  Seemed like a good idea to vacate the premises, and it was perfectly timed with my brother, Adam's, visit to Essex with his four oldest kids.  So while Dexter was hitting the books, we were keeping ourselves busy.

Baseball games - the boys gave up two All Star games in their Little League teams, which feels like a big deal to us.

Kyalo and Caroline (5 1/2) 

this was just moments after our long car ride.  Caroline kept Kyalo very busy the whole weekend.

Catching toads in the frog pond. . .

Water fights

Pool time

Campion - 9

Legos

reading

Badminton

 Abby's serve

and even Grandpa - with a gimpy leg - got in the mix

I love this action shot

Watching the Red Sox (and the US Open, and the Bruins, and the NBA finals.  Whew)

wagon rides

ice cream

yum

sharing - and sometimes fighting over - Grandma's iPad

morning jammies

:cousin love:

Abby (13) Jack (10) Kyalo (2) Caroline (5 1/2) Campion (9)

To say that Kyalo had a good time would be a major understatement. He got out of the car (note - driving four+ hours by myself with Kyalo in construction and/or summer weekend traffic = no fun) and hit the ground running. I'm not sure I saw him til Monday afternoon when everyone left.  I'm so glad he had this time to get reacquainted with these cousins before we go back out to California in August.  I'm sad that they live so far away, and that we see them so rarely.   This was a really special time for all of us, I think.  Filled with wonderful childhood memories.  It was simple, and fairly slow paced, but to me it was magical.

Oh, and let me leave you with this.  On Friday while I was basically parked in traffic in Connecticut, they were exploring Boston - the North End, Paul Revere's house (he was a dentist - did you know?), The Boston Children's Museum, etc.  My brother grabbed this shot of everyone on the "Make Way for Ducklings" ducks in the Boston Public Garden.  Priceless.

possibly the best photo, ever. 

EVER