Visiting Old Friends and Making New Friends

My very first friend was a boy named Eduardo.  His parents and mine were close friends, and because of that, he and I were born into that friendship.  When we were in 4th and 3rd grade, Eduardo's parents moved several states away, but we still saw them about once a year.   Eduardo and I were very close friends into adulthood, but lost touch years ago, as we got busy in our own lives and then raising our own families.  Now, though, I have moved to Virginia and he has moved to Pennsylvania and we find ourselves living just a few hours apart, the closest we have lived in 30 years!  Over the 4th of July weekend mom, dad, the girls and I went to visit Eduardo and his family.  It was great to re-new our friendship and to see our children become friends.  

Eduardo and his family with me and the girls.
Look how Elise and Eduardo's daughter are holding hands
 in this picture, so cute!

Anja, getting friendly with Lily, the Jack Russell, and Argus, the
Giant Schnauzer.

Eduardo had all the kids fishing in the pond behind their house.
I don't know where he gets the patience, but I sure appreciate
it, as the kids had a great time!

Anja and Eduardo's daughter.

Elise waited so patiently,
 but never caught a fish.  This was very
frustrating, since she could see them
swimming around her bait.

The whole gang, getting a line in the water.

The two younger generations went for a
hike in a nature preserve, it was beautiful!

They found something interesting, but I'm not sure what it is.

On our hike, Anja found several bones from a deer.  This was the
biggest bone.  We brought it back, but Anja decided we
shouldn't have it in our car as it might attract bugs and worms,
so she gave it to Eduardo's kids before we left to come home.

Eduardo and his family have chickens on their farm, which the girls
(especially Elise) loved to play with.  I joked with Eduardo's wife
that those poor chickens will be so worn out and traumatized
by the experience that they will never lay eggs!

There are a couple of horses on the farm, and it was delightful to be
around them (and Eduardo's wife, too!)

Catching the chickens, after they mysteriously got out of their pen.
Hmmm, I wonder how the door got left open?

At one point we were all out wandering around the pasture, so
I called everyone together to take a picture.  As I was getting ready to
push the shutter, this horse trotted up and photo bombed us!

The kids, enjoying Birch Beer (tastes a lot like Root Beer).  Cheers!

We planned our visit for a time when Eduardo's mom would also be
there.  We hadn't seen her in 15 years, waaaay too long! They've
been friends a long time and there were some great stories to be heard!

Eduardo's mom, Ruby, Ruby's husband, Larry, and my mom and dad.

We are already looking forward to the next time we can get together!

Girl Scouts!

Elise and Anja are in a multi-age Girl Scout troop at their school, where all girls in Girl Scouts in their school are in their troop.  At meetings, the girls break into their divisions (Daisies, Juniors, Cadets) for activities.  Being part of a large troop gives them some opportunities a smaller troop would not, and they get to make friends across grade levels, which is really fun for them.  This troop stays very busy, meeting twice a month for regular meetings, and they have a larger activity about once a month.  The end of the school year brought the year-end picnic and awards ceremony, and in June the girls attended Girl Scout camp.

The girls had a fantastic time at the end-of-the-year picnic!

Anja receiving the badges she earned the second half of the year.

Elise's troop leader made each girl a photo album with pictures
from their year in Girl Scouts.

This was Elise's last year as a Brownie, and
she got to "bridge" to being a Junior!

The whole troop, grades K-5.

Girl Scout Camp
In June, the girls spent a week at Girl Scout Camp, about 20 miles from our house at Lake Anna.  Every day they worked on badges, swam in the lake, and had a great time.  On the last day they presented a program for families, where they sang songs and performed short skits.

As each group finished, they got popsicles.

Elise, ready to do her skit.  She did a great job!

So proud!

Last Day of School 2014

So, the first 14 days of June:  wedding in California, buy a house, wedding in New York, and THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!  Elise finished third grade and Anja finished kindergarten.

A little comparison:

First Day of School 2013-2014

Last Day of School 2013-2014

Recognition
On the last day of school Elise received a certificate for her participation this year in her school's student chorus.

Kindergarten Graduation
These guys were so cute!

Anja is in the purple dress with the flowers on the skirt.

Hold on, Mom, let me fix my hat.

Anja, receiving her certificate from her teacher.

Look what I have!

After the ceremony, Anja's teacher had a reception in the classroom and gave out individual awards.  Anja was given the "Radical Reader" award.

Special days deserve flowers :)

Anja and her teacher

So long, kindergarten.
First grade, here we come!

The House!

So, California one weekend, New York the next, and in between...we bought a house!  Yep, it was a busy week!

It's an exciting day, we bought a house!
This calls for champagne!

Cheers!  It's ours!

Getting Settled
We closed on a Monday, and that night slept on mattresses on the floor (hmmm, we are still sleeping on mattresses on the floor, but that is a different story).  We were all VERY excited to be in the house, and started to get settled in right away.

Dutch was antsy at first,
but then gave in to the change.

No kitchen table yet, but there is a bench to sit on!

And there is also this very large, funky planter
thing in the kitchen which makes a good bench.

Adirondacks, New York

Two weekends, two weddings.  The weekend after the California wedding (and 100 degree days), we drove north into the Adirondack Mountains (and 50 degree days).

Road Trip
It took us 12 hours to drive from home to Big Moose, New York.  We drove pretty much straight through, except for one stop for lunch along the way...

 Elise was deep into a book when we left and spent the first four hours of the trip reading to the end.

Covewood Lodge
We got in near midnight and didn't see much of the lodge until we woke up the next morning.  It was gorgeous!

This was our breathtaking view
 from our room when we woke up.

Breakfast in the lodge dining room.

Elise wanted me to take her picture with
every dead animal in the lodge...

After this one I said "no more dead animals"

It was chilly!  Jason bundled up before
we went outside to explore.

We told the girls the water was too cold to swim, but they
had to test it themselves off the lodge's dock.

Historic Covewood Lodge.

A little too chilly to fully enjoy sitting by the lake, but the
view was beautiful, nonetheless.

I had packed for this trip two weeks earlier, when the weather
forecast said highs would be in the 70s.  Two days before
we left I checked again and predicted highs were
now in the 50s.  Too late to add colder weather clothing,
since everything was in boxes to move to the new house. 
I figured we could just tough it out, but on the first morning,
when we could see our breath outside, I asked the
staff if they had any sweatshirts we could buy. 
Thankfully, they did!

This little lady was waiting to say goodbye on our way out.