Ahhhhhhhhhh

Goodbye, lake. You've had this effect on all of us.

Dispatch from up north

Bay View cottage, Adirondacks

(4 stings of three people in the first 15 minutes here. Ouch. We stay away from that side now.)

Conference call with a view

We're having a deliciously relaxing time in the woods of New York.

Rainy today, so we spent the day playing a 6-hour marathon of Monopoly.

If I ever run away from home, you might try looking here for me.

I'm loving this simple life of early bed times,

leisurely mornings,

and simple meals in a three-room cottage.

Why do I make life so complicated?

(I found a bar of internet coverage for a little window of time...we'll see if it loads!)

Lunch language

unrelated picture but I love how they ended up posing just the same, down to the shape of their hands

Saturday morning.

We divide to conquer the day's list. Greg takes Sam with him to the barber (both need trims) and the dry cleaners, I take the girls to Costco for supplies for the trip and food for the party we're hosting when we get back from vacation. The humid air makes quick work of my hair and my clothes cling to me, damp and unflattering. We get the cart loads packed into the car, drive home, unload and put everything away. Surveying the room with our looming departure in mind, I move on to the laundry, replacing dry with wet and wet with dirty. And there's always more where that came from.

You know the drill.

In the middle of it all, Sam arrives home and, trailing me while I carry piles of laundry upstairs, asks his usual question "when are we having lunch? I'm hungry." I sigh, loudly. There's so much to do. And it feels like we just finished breakfast.

"Sam, you know where everything is. You can make it yourself, can't you?" (Once I heard someone ask "What, are your arms painted on?" and that's how I feel in this moment.)

"Um, okay." His voice trails off as he backs up down the stairs, trailing his hand down the banister. "I didn't know if we were getting it ourselves or if it would be more...together."

I watch him take his deflated self back down to the kitchen, trying to figure out what his deal is with lunch. Everyone else in the family is always content to grab something on days like this, happy to tailor the timing and content of lunch to their own preferences. No big deal. But not Sam. He's always trying to organize us into a midday meal.

Guilt-nudged, I follow him down and enlist his sandwich-making while I peel fruit. We sit down together and share communal chips and salsa. He chatters happily about Louie and contradictions and plans for middle school and the book he's reading. And thanks me three times for doing lunch.

And then it hits me.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to realize.

Lunch is his love language. Or one of them, anyway.

It's a revelation. Huh. Kids have a love language, too, not just venus-and-mars married couples. This bit of obviousness has completed evaded me before now.

Of course I knew he really likes lunch, but I suddenly understand that it's more than just a preference for my daily servitude. For him, it is connection. It is proof I care enough to stop and spend time with him. For me, lunch is simply nourishment and work. For him it is like a family sacrament, where simple bread and peanut butter transform miraculously into a dose of love.

Well. This I can do.

Now if I can just convince him that wiping up the table crumbs and putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher is my love language.

Wringing the magic from the weekend

1. at Providence's WaterFire, 2. L, contemplative at dusk 3. easy picnic on Monday

4. L @ park 5. we love the park 6.gondola @ WaterFire

7. white legs playing games 8. Miss M 9. more games

10. G on his first holiday off since January 11. protective geese parents 12. crazy Sam

We got two hours of gardening work out of each child (yay!)

went to WaterFire

had a picnic

played badminton

saw Night at the Museum (kids)/Angels and Demons (grownups)

took naps, went on walks

did a lot of lazing

had reallyreally good burgers from our grill

had patriotic, thankful thoughts

and planned and dreamed.

A good restorative weekend, all in all.

Greetings from Florence, Day 1

^Sleepy layover in Paris (2 a.m. our time)

^My favorite adventure companions (Paris airport)

We love our Florence apartment

{More info here if you're interested in coming here}

night walk across the Ponte Vecchio (Duomo in the distance)

Other memorable moments:

~Sam throwing up in the taxi 

(but first politely asked for a bag and 

Greg luckily had a ziploc just in time)

~the funny host at the restaurant

who took us under his wing 

and treated us to free drinks

~Loving the chance to brush up on

my rusty French at the airport

~pain au chocolat and fresh grapefruit juice

~explaining bidets and the two kinds of flushing

for European toilets

We told the kids that

these are our theme words for our adventure:

flexibility

&

positivity

So far so good!