a visit with friends!

Our yearly visit with our very good friends all the way from Michigan. They come in every summer for a week (Maureen’s mom still lives in NY) and we always get our designated day, which usually includes the beach. It’s always a concern seeing if the boys fall back into being friends (there are a few anxious comments on both sides before the visit), but it was like they haven’t been apart for a year. They just picked up where they left off last year. And they still all call eachother "best friends". They haven’t lived in the same town since the boys were about 3.5 years old, but they have always called Connor their best friend. Love that. We had a great time spending the day down at the beach, dinner here and a sleepover for the big ones. Poor Katie wanted to stay the night here too- next year! The boys all stayed up until 11:30pm after an exhausting day in the sun and ocean and pool (still don’t know how they did that) and slept til around 8am. So they were all a bit crabby the next day and snippy cause they were all sad they had to say goodbye again. We went over to the park for a few pictures (of course) and some running around. The goodbyes were teary and sad, but that’s the way it is between friends.

How gorgeous is my god-daughter?? Her hair is awesome!

We put the extra seat in my van and jammed all 6 kids in there. The picture is just as much of a mess as the car was! It was so funny seeing all of them in there together.  

The typical boy rivalry we saw between them all last year seems to have faded significantly and they had a blast hanging out together, talking about school and sports, and trips, and games, and everything. Katie and Timmy REALLY hit it off this time- they are old enough to play together instead of fighting over toys. The two little ones played til 10pm and wanted to keep going. Awesome.

Connor is now goalie on his travel ice hockey team and we MUST get up there to see him play. Hopefully this year. He was the BEST photography subject- so cooperative. Good thing they don’t live here- that poor kid would be so sick of me too. Did a little mini shoot for Maureen and the kids. Nothing major, just for fun. Like me, she’s not in many pictures either since she is always behind her camera.

On the way home from the beach, we stopped by Jennifer’s (it’s on the way) on a whim. The boys all got a kick out of seeing eachother. It took a while for them to realize that they all had been the best of buddies from aged 3 months on when we met at Gymboree. Jen hauled out the scrapbook and we looked at all the shots of Connor, Beau and Jack & Patrick, and then the shots of the whole playgroup. They ran around for a few minutes like the old friends they are. So awesome.

Love the self portrait! Miss you tons, Cool Mo Z!! (that’s John’s nickname for Maureen- so dosen’t fit her at all). March, ok?!!

All the pix are in an album on the left.