We’re back

from 10 days on the east coast to visit my sister and her family in Baltimore and attend Michael’s sister’s wedding in New York City.  We had a great time!  We had adventures!  I’m sure I’ll share more, as well as pictures, in the days to come.  The pictures, though, are on Michael’s camera, and I don’t know a.) where it is, or b.) how to get the pictures off the camera.  So that will have to wait.

One adventure we could have done without: our flight was cancelled yesterday. That meant that, instead of arriving at 2:30 in the afternoon, we were put on a nighttime flight and arrived shortly after midnight.  Blech. The kids slept most of the second flight and were very good, but midnight here was 3 a.m. on the east coast and Michael and I didn’t sleep much at all.  Michael’s birthday is today, and instead of making him a cake, I took a three-hour nap with the baby.  (He didn’t complain, and was fully in support of the nap.  He took one, too.)  We had chocolate chip cookies for dessert, and he had a candle in his.  His gifts were all ready, though, and I’ll work on getting him a cake sometime soon.  Hopefully we’ll be a bit more ready to go tomorrow, since two yards of compost arrive in the morning, to be put into our planting boxes!

One really fun aspect of this trip is that everywhere we went, people told us how wonderful our kids are.  We had to agree – we think they’re wonderful, too.  But there is something quite refreshing about going places and seeing the looks of fear as our four kids accompany us on the way in, and then getting compliments on their wonderful behavior and friendliness on the way out.  There’s a lot of intense work with parenthood, with many rewards that won’t be seen for a long time, but sometimes there are rewards here and now. 

One really, really cute thing that I have to report here happened as we were sitting on our Amtrak train during a delay.  Sim, who had taken a nap on the train and was feeling refreshed and joyful, began singing.  “Thank you God for giving us Tess!  Thank you God for giving us Tess!  Thank you God for giving us Tess right where we are!  -- Sing with me, Mama! – Alleluia, praise the Lord!  Alleluia, praise the Lord!  Alleluia, praise the Lord right where we are!”  I’m pretty sure he was the perkiest person on that train.