Day one on our trek west (found in the archives)

Waiting to leave...

How to care for  our cats...

Fun at Howe's cavern...

Dancing after dinner...

Playing at the rest stop...

Hiking

Sometimes we forget what makes our family happy - and then we head out into the woods and we remember.

This afternoon, after all the busyness of the week and swimming lessons and piano lesson this morning, we headed out to the Fells.  We hiked around the lake, making a trail when we couldn't find one.  We met a great dog who chased after our sticks with leaps into the water.  We saw turtles and heard bullfrogs.  We hiked.  And everyone was happy.

Having big kids

Summer has not been relaxing this year, especially not the last 2 weeks.  Mr. 12 was nominated for the National Youth Leadership Forum and there was one right here in Boston.  This gave him the option to be a day student which he really preferred.  Since we know that these kinds of activities can be stressful for our introvert, we agreed.  It was only a week, we can manage - driving at least 45 minutes each way to Needham twice a day!  Add in 3 other kids at 2 camps with only one car, we basically transported kids 4-6 hours daily between us.  Not to mention our regular jobs and generally all the other things that keep our house running.

It was a good week for Mr. 12.  He made a friend, performed in front of 200 people a rap about Newton's Laws, had a chance to process on his long drive every day, learned more about who he is and options for the future, but it was tiring for all of us.

And just as we were finishing this, David's parents arrived to help us out while David went to Mountain View for a big presentation.  The help was definitely appreciated but it is always different having people in the house.  Over the weekend David even managed to finish the new sandbox lid (with a little help) before flying out to San Francisco.

And Monday we started Kidsweek at our church.  This is the first and only year that all our kids can go - Mr. 12 for his last year and Mr. 3 for his first.  Mr. 3 was so excited about it - until it was actually time to go and then he was not so sure.  He is not fond of new things or transitions to begin with and Grandma and Grandpa had to take him and pick him up and it is exciting and busy.  It was a difficult week.

And then David came back Wednesday night and decided he would take the boys on the hike on Thursday afternoon and everyone had a wonderful time filled with stories to climbing rocks and seeing an eagle and getting lost.  And Friday everyone seemed to have settled in and had a great time.  We stayed to help clean up after the program finished at noon and Mr. 3 spent 2 hours asking how he could help and carrying things down to the lobby.  Mr. 12 had gone home with a friend so it was just Mr. 10, Mr. 6, and Mr. 3 working hard.  We headed home about 3:30, before our energy failed.  All was well until 4:30.  At first we were going to stay home and let David pick up Mr. 12 after work, but then the screaming started and we decided what we really needed was a nice long nap in the car.  Plus, Mr. 6 needed a bigger cello (hard to believe he's already outgrown his first) so we drove to the music store, picked up Mr. 12, and met up with David.  We had dinner together at a Thai restaurant and everyone ate lots of yummy food, talked about their day, pointed out things on the huge mural covering one wall of the restaurant.  It was a picture of small boats filled with different kinds of food, a market on the water.  Mr. 6 guessed that maybe it was Egypt because the Nile is an important river that floods, but Mr. 10 thought it might be Bangkok.  After dinner we walked around the square and found a fun bookshop and bought too many books.

And when we got home, we realized that we've graduated.  We have big kids.  Kids who can try new things and then go out to dinner at the end of the week and talk about them.  Kids who read great books and are excited to pick out books for friends.  Kids who try new foods and remember talking about Egypt in school.  Kids who need bigger cellos and when we go in to get one, just sit down and try a few songs on the new cello to make sure it's the right size.  We're not quite out of diapers yet and there are still meltdowns but it feels like we're actually going to get there.  At least on some days.