Busy August

After a busy start and middle of the summer, I was hoping August would be fairly calm. But it doesn't seem to have been in the cards. And would I really like it calm? I don't think so.

We began the month with the tail end of our 3rd trip to NJ in 6 weeks. That hasn't happened since I was in college. I intended to stay home for all of August until our long planned trip to NC for Labor Day. But, things changed.

Quinn was invited to join Nana, Papa, Annie and the Wolter clan in Maine for a week. We wanted to take Keely somewhere as a special treat (i.e. consolation). We also wanted to see Aunt Lois, Uncle Ryan and Adelia in their new house in Florida. So we took the opportunity of only having to purchase 3 airfares and planned a trip for a long weekend with about 10 days notice.

Quinn left on a Friday and did not return until this past Saturday. It is the longest he has ever been away from us. He was fine...I took it a bit harder. We all missed him, but it was made worse because of his lack of telephone skills. He promised to call every day, but that turned out to be an empty promise and when we did speak to him, it was mostly 'one word' answers. He'll be getting better at this because we will now be forcing him to speak on the phone, I won't deal well if this is what it will be like when he goes to college! Of course, he'll have a cell then so I guess I can always text him. In any event, we all survived the separation and Quinn had a fabulous time. He made up for his lack of phone conversation by telling us all about his trip upon his return. He went fishing twice, sailing on a schooner, candlestick bowling, puffin cruising and much more. He came home with a gift for himself...a new hermit crab he has dubbed 'Jaws' because of its shell. He also brought something for everyone else. For James, a coffee mug filled with salt water taffy. For Keely, a stuffed puffin bird and a 'mermaid tear' (a hand blown crystal heart with red stripes). For me, a pair of earrings and a paper weight (again, hand blown crystal). His gifts were all well thought out and showed a lot of love and consideration. Even if he wouldn't talk on the phone, I know he was thinking of us while deciding what to purchase!

Back to our time without Quinn. It's really easy to have just one child :)

We were in Florida from Friday until Monday night. We soaked up the Florida sun, and our time with Adelia. She is just such a cutie and we loved being able to see her twice in one month! Keely loved the one on one time with her, and us. We hit the beach at least once a day, if not twice. We even saw a dolphin swimming along the shore on Monday! It was really relaxing and fun. We always enjoy our time with L&R, we have great conversations and it was good to see their home and surroundings. And evident from the pictures, Adelia was enthralled with Keely's DSi. Don't worry, that's not the only thing they "played" together while we were there :)

The rest of the week went pretty quickly. We met up with Mark, Liz and Matthew on Wednesday night for dinner in Arlington. It was fun to see them and catch up a bit while they were on vacation in DC/Virginia.

Nana and Papa spent the night on Saturday after dropping Quinn off. They left, and about 4 hours later Grandma and Grandpa arrived on their way down to NC. They spent two nights with us. We took them downtown to see the World War II memorial since they had never been. It's one of my favorites, especially at night. So it's a busy time. I think things will calm down once school starts. But the crazy is really what we were craving. The increased time with family...the ability to see them more...it's quickly come to fruition and the impetus for our move back East is most definitely confirmed. It may be crazy busy, but I really wouldn't want it any other way!