Thursday, June 19 (NH)

We're here! We loaded up the car this morning with the jetlagged kids and the pets and drove ten hours to NH. It wasn't a bad drive. The kids watched shows and slept. Andrew and I traded driving shifts and listened to Scam Inc, a podcast from The Economist. We stopped at Sheetz. Nutmeg glowered at us from her cage.

We arrived around five, and after we unpacked the car we went into town to pick up groceries and pizza from Pizza Chef. Back at the house, the kids decided to go into the pond before eating dinner; they're wasting no time. Andrew and I inflated a bunch of the inflatables, and Andrew hung up the swing in the back yard. Tomorrow we'll hang the hammocks and put up the pond rope, and we'll be ready for our stay. We are all excited to dive into our carefully chosen book stacks and will, of course, add to them at Books-A-Million.

When we left last year, we never could have predicted what the year ahead would bring. I'm so glad to be back, even more than other years. I'll be glad every year.