Summer: NH, Fri. 7/1 - Mon. 7/5

The week between Cape May and leaving for NH was a blur of unpacking, laundry, house cleaning, errands, and repacking. Somewhere in there we went to the pool, the kids had a playdate with friends, I went to a free Indigo Girls concert, we met with our bookshelf renovation team (yes, team; our let's-put-in-some-built-ins has evolved to a much larger project), and the girls and I visited Mom and Dad for dinner. 

We decided to split the ten-hour drive to NH into two days. We left on Friday 7/1, drove six hours, and stayed the night at a hotel with a pool. Best laid plans etc etc--it rained constantly, and it was chilly. So our pool fun was curtailed, though the kids did take an evening dip during a break in the rain. We ordered dinner from TGI Friday's, went to Walmart so I could buy a sweatshirt, and watched Shark Tank. Farrah was a good hotel guest as long as all of us were in sight. She'd start crying anytime Andrew or I or any combination of us and the kids left the room.

Saturday we continued on to NH and arrived just after lunchtime. We've spent the past few days putting our NH summer things in place--hanging the hammocks, inflating the many inflatables for the pond, grocery shopping. There was no Fourth of July parade again this year, so we spent the Fourth just hanging out here, swimming in the pond, lighting sparklers, and watching the kids play Harry Potter with flaming sticks from the fire pit. We haven't read Harry Potter for a while and they couldn't remember any spells, so they just shouted "Aluminum foil!!!!" Our cousin set off fireworks that we watched from our backyard.

Today, Monday 7/5, we spent time at the pond and in our hammocks. Bliss. Farrah has been enjoying her freedom (we keep a leash attached but mostly let her explore around us). She loves running at top speed up the front hill, sometimes adding a gratuitous little leap. Andrew took her in the pond for a second; she swam immediately to shore and scrambled out. 

What We're Reading:

Margo: Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen; just finished The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw.

Andrew: Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid: America's Original Gangster Couple by Glenn Stout

Lucia: Aru Shah #1

Greta: Tricked (Fairy Tale Reform School #3)

Read aloud: Harry Potter #6