The kids loved playing with Paw Paw’s pool table, even though the boys kept insisting it was “baseball.” James loved the table so much that he drew on it. With red crayon. (I’m still so sorry about that, Paw Paw. James is, too.)
Sophie wasn’t too fond of Jake’s (their beautiful new lab) kisses. So she created this cage for herself—she sat up here, often.
The boys loved the train table Grandma and Paw Paw found on Craigslist.
James also loved hitting Owen on the heads with trains. Which he got put in time out for. Which, as you can see in this picture, he loved.
We took a day trip to visit my aunt Alise and uncle Tom, and their three kids—David, Jessica and John. We spent the hot, hot day playing in the sprinkler, enjoying a cookout and eating ice cream sundaes.
There was up-past-bedtime-swingset time.
And s’more-making time.
We visited Paw Paw’s office in downtown Baltimore …
and Grandma’s office, too. The kids loved Grandma’s view.
Sophie even got a present from one of Paw Paw’s colleagues—a crown-making kit, which she loved, and which she still plays with, almost daily.
James and Owen playing at Grandma and Paw Paw’s house—and proof that James isn’t the only one who gets into trouble for hitting/touching/otherwise bothering his brother.
We also celebrated Paw Paw’s birthday!
Jake
Grandma’s flowers
The night before we left, Sophie got a tour of Grandma’s jewelry studio. She loved it.
So much so, that the next morning Sophie and Grandma made a beautiful necklace together. You can read more about Sophie’s venture into jewelry-making here.
On the way home, we stopped at my alma mater, Ohio University, for dinner. It was surreal, seeing my children walking the same grounds I walked for four years, before I knew them, of them, of this life I now live.
The drive went as well as you can expect although we arrived much later than I had hoped. It was so nice, though, to see the home where Grandma and Paw Paw live, for the kids to be able to envision that space when they think of their grandparents. It was fun to see their workspaces as well. And there’s something just so comforting to wake up and eat breakfast while in pjs with family. To spend the day sharing one’s day-to-day activities with others. To stay up late talking. And to wake up and get to do it again. Especially when family lives far away.
“The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.” —Thomas Jefferson
![The kiddos at First Unitarian Church are collecting books for students at South Avondale School to help fill the free bookstore our church sets up at the school regularly. If you have gently used or new books you'd like to donate, please let me know and I’ll come by and pick them up! We mostly need Pre-K/K (board books, concept books [ABCs, shapes], not lots of large hardcover picture books), early readers, early chapter books and blank journals. Because of the importance of children seeing mirrors of themselves in these books, diversity is key. Thanks!!](https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/vp/1b0de463b3b6651ce328e04c69eefb61/5DAF8772/t51.2885-15/e35/p320x320/65600510_490323258372040_2015424398939439067_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent.cdninstagram.com "The kiddos at First Unitarian Church are collecting books for students at South Avondale School to help fill the free bookstore our church sets up at the school regularly. If you have gently used or new books you'd like to donate, please let me know and I’ll come by and pick them up! We mostly need Pre-K/K (board books, concept books [ABCs, shapes], not lots of large hardcover picture books), early readers, early chapter books and blank journals. Because of the importance of children seeing mirrors of themselves in these books, diversity is key. Thanks!!")
