I Missed My Coffee Boy

We had a well-laid-out plan.  John would take Dexter to Grandma's house on his way to Massena to hang out with his dad.  Nonna would go to New York City to visit Christy.  Maria would come see Dexter while he was at Grandma's house.  Mama and Erin would stay home and be pretty bored, because Dexter entertains us all.  It was a good plan.

And then my cousin died.  And the memorial service was scheduled for Saturday.  When Dex was already supposed to be in NY.

Like all plans this, too, could be changed.  John went to Massena Friday morning and got there in time for dinner.  Dex went to his last day of Nature Camp (total success - he loved it) and then came home for the afternoon and waited for Grandma and Grandpa to come.  Grandma and Grandpa spent Friday night with us and then went with the kids and I to the memorial service on Saturday.  They took Dexter home to NY from the memorial service and Erin and I went shopping in Lancaster.  I fed her some ice cream and took her to some shoe stores.  She was in heaven.

And then Erin and I spent Sunday and Monday all alone.  Which was fine, really.  Sunday we went to the pool at the Y, because it was free for the weekend.  Erin was entertained for an hour or so and then called it quits.  We swam in our own pool in the afternoon and had a wonderful day.  Monday morning we went to Longwood, and then in the afternoon we went to Fair Hill for an ice cream social I was invited to.  Again, Erin was in heaven.  Horse pictures and statues to look at.  Ice cream to eat.  Pretty much all a girl could ask for.

It's way, WAY easier just having one kid to chase around.  And way quieter.  And so nice to have afternoon nap time to myself.  Erin misses Dexter, usually when we are in the car or eating dinner.  That's usually when we call him so Erin can say hi.  And she missed Daddy - she was so cute this morning showing John everything she was playing with.

Me?  I mostly missed my coffee boy.  I was responsible for making my own coffee in the morning, which means I had to remember to do it the night before and turn on the timer.  I survived.  But I missed my coffee boy.

Some time the end of the week Erin and Buddy and I will trek up to NY to fetch Dex.  And some time we will come back home.  We're in no hurry.  We've got nothing planned for next week.  And Grandpa has a Keureg, so it's way easier to make my own coffee there.

Here's some super cute photos of Erin being super cute at Longwood yesterday.  I am going to be very sad when the kids are no longer fascinated by this place.  The fountains.  The stairs.  The getting wet.  The chimes.  The getting wet some more.  It's such a lovely place for kids.

How many eleventy million times have we been here?  And Erin led me on a walk to a place I have never been to before.

The ceiling of this very cute gazebo we walked past

Sometimes you've gotta get way up on your tippy-toes...

So you can reach cool stuff like this

Sheer joy here for a good ten minutes.  And then we sat on a bench right here and ate some crackers.  An entirely enjoyable snack time experience.

Puddle jumping.  There were some boys playing with us who did the same thing.  But she will play in any puddle she can find, any time, so it's not entirely the boys' fault.

Running on the bee pathway.  This she learned from her brother, of course.

I love this shot of Erin.  She was playing BOO inside the tiny little child-sized house in the garden.

We moved inside to play in the fountains there

And to get REALLY REALLY wet.

She has not yet learned to stick her whole head under the water, but I am sure that will come in due time.

She saw this fountain and said "Mama!  RAAWRRR!"

So then she wanted to pet the RAAWRRR

She is way too cute

Especially when she shows me her teeth.

We've got some plans for the rest of the week, and we might hit the gym a couple mornings.  Which Erin DOES NOT like to do without Dexter.  But she's going to have to deal.  For another couple days she's an only child and Dex is having a blast being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa.  It's a pretty good deal.