home from vacation

Dressed to leave for the airport. Are we geeks or what? (Yes, I wore green too)

The first place we went after arriving in Boston - Watertown, where we lived when Jamie was born. Here is my firstborn sweetie sitting at that house. He really wanted to see it,  and seemed satisfied and touched when we went.

Here is some old-fashioned paper notebook blogging I did on our no-screens vacation:

August 26
This is the day after the big lobster party at the beach house Bill and Beth rented on Cape Cod. The trip has been really nice. The boys are managing nicely without their TV, computer and video games. They have spent many hours playing, reading, swimming, talking and testing a new card  game called Phase 10.  It's a lot like Liverpool Rummy.

Dardi came for the day yesterday. We followed Ryan around while Evan and the boys socialied. J and J met some friends, ages 11 and 9, and they've had a great time - Alex and Jacob are their names. They want to get together again, but I think it's unlikely. It is wonderful to see the boys are quite comfortable talking with adults and are also very eagerly able to befriend children. (I have in mind common socialization-related criticisms of home education).

The book I'm reading is very moody and a bit depressing. It is The Testing of Luther Albright and I'm not thrilled with it but the writing style is nice and there's a mystery that I want to discover. So, I read on.

Maria is the au pair here for B and B.  She is from Panama. She is very sweet, happy and attentive. We've been practicing a LOT of spanish with her and we are planning to become email pen pals.

The weather is completely wonderful. The breeze at the Cape is cool and the sun is hot. The sky is clear. So far, only about 30 minutes of rain.

Evan and Ryan are getting lots of dada-baby time together, and loving it.

The no screen situation inspired me to consider other regular family retreats we can take that would be no-screen but tons of fun, not so far and not so expensive:

- camp at John Bryan State Park
- Great Bear Lodge
- some camping place with cabins - Buck Creek? where? in KY or MI?
- Indianaopolis Children's Museum weekend (weekdays?)

Sunday, August 27
We're going to meet Steve Crowley at a park where our kids and his kids can play. We haven't seen Steve in 10 years!