the last postcards of Summer

Okay...the last of What I Did on Summer Vacation...the loveliest parts are being with the people, of course...

Great-Great Aunt Jean searches for Waldo

Eliza was noticeably so much taller this summer.  That and the gorgeous dye-job and she's a different person!  

93 and 11

We stayed with my grampa again this year, soaking up all of him that we can in our short days together.  He still humors the girls by reading Br'er Rabbit to them.  Ninety-five and maybe he's slowing down a bit.  We managed to catch him in between a trip to the Upper Peninsula and his work at Habitat for Humanity.

We were gone from home a total of three weeks.  Egads!! A year or two ago that would have been impossible, at least for Anika.  Her need for alone time is slowly diminishing, and she is more gracious and generous with her spirit, more willing to share herself with lots of people she only sees once a year.  Used to be that after 10 days we had to high-tail it home with a melting child who just needed "normal".  Three weeks was long for all of us, but there was never a melted moment for her (or should I say for just her!).

playing with new baby friend, Eve

 Part of what helped, I think, were a few bits of Normal, inserted here and there.  Crafting with a cousin...

At some point, lying on the beds in "the blue room" over the garage at Papa's house, Eliza started a story that is a riff off of Alice in Wonderland, and the story fever grew.  The girls threw themselves into long stretches of writing - writing! - which of course gave them nice pockets of down-time away from the crowd.

Ani's first story

I got a much-anticipated break from the family visit when I gathered for lunch with The Ladies from the spring trip to Israel.  Swoon. Stories, updates, pictures, Arabic coffee, and the best baklava I have ever had, at The Nile.

We spent the last few days of our vacation with my sister's family and my mom, up north.  It was a great, relaxing way to end our trip, with nothing to do but play games, swim, hike, read and take a nightly drive with my mom and sister, looking for wolves.

The girls read their stories aloud around the campfire on our last night

And that was almost it.  One more stop, in Chicago, to visit my cousin Ben and his family. Just when you thought there couldn't be more babylove...

Good lord, there is something so sweet about your baby enjoying other babies...suddenly she isn't so little.