We're still here!

Along with many, many visitors this weekend! The past few days have been a wonderful whirlwind of cleaning and visiting and eating and drinking and watching little ones play together and it has been grand (if exhausting). A part of me wishes the weekend would go on forever, or at least that we could do this every weekend. And the rest of me is very glad to be going back to our routine tomorrow!

We started the weekend on Friday with a second Henderson family reunion, when my cousin Steve and his family visited on their way from California to their new home in Maryland. Steve (who is the son of my mom's brother Ed) and I have managed to never meet each other before now. About time! Turns out, the hypothesis that Hendersons are pretty cool people, still holds true. We had a wonderful time getting to know Steve, his wife Eileen ( who is a house buff like me! ) and their charming children Gavin and Ada. Gavin is just over 4 so Jack was in seventh heaven, with a friend-in-residence here for 24 hours. The two boys bonded instantly and played so well together. Ada is adorable and spent a lot of her time giving a "baby" (a small stuffed dog who looks like a Springer Spaniel) to Corydon. She was pretty insistent that Corydon have this "baby" with her at all times, in fact. So cute. Ivy enjoyed following the crew around and being a part of the action....

Gram-Gram (aka Steve's aunt-whom-he-had-never-met) joined us for a wonderful dinner and a bottle of wine from their home in Napa and later we stayed up til midnight just chatting. Jack and Gavin were back to playing the instant they awoke the next morning. Oh, what a happy boy we had!
Sadly our little girl spent the night fussing and not sleeping much at all and awoke Saturday morning with a fever and a runny nose. Sigh. Luckily Little Miss Sunshine is a trouper and with the help of regular doses of Ibuprofen and a lot of tissues, she made it through the day smiling.


The people she is smiling with? Our next 2 rounds of visitors, who arrived before the Henderson crew had even left. First, we went for a wonderful lunch at Melinda and Will's, to spend time with Steve, Laura, and 2 year old Noah. Laura, most impressively, had just completed a one mile open-water swim in Lake Erie. They came for that but stayed the rest of weekend just to visit, and it is wonderful to have some our our Hiram family come back to town because they act as a magnet for everyone still in the area... it felt so right to be sitting in a circle of some of my favorite people, eating hot dogs and cookies and watching the next generation play together in the yard.

We only tore ourselves away to return home and welcome Fiona and Anthony, and their daughter Keely, who came for the sole purpose of visiting us. Aren't they grand? We had this magical bit of time where we lounged in the front yard, little Keely happily wandering, Jack playing quietly with grass and sticks, just enjoying the shade and each other's company (Ivy was napping at the time or that wouldn't have been possible. Love my daughter, so much, but there's no such thing as lounging when she's around!)

Steve and Laura and Noah, along with Kate, joined us at home for dinner. That picture above is us being smart and feeding the kids first; the adults had Melt takeout later on. Once again, our house had "4 under 4" playing and toddling about, but we had enough adults to balance it out and we all floated back and forth from kid-duty to adult chatter and it was lovely. S'mores and campfire with Noah and jack capped off the evening, along with an early bedtime for Ivy-the-sniffler and her tired mommy...

This morning we continued the theme. Steve, Laura and Noah spent the night so once again Jack was thrilled to find a playmate-in-residence when he awoke. And by that I am referring primarily to Steve, who really is a pied-piper around the little ones... After a leisurely morning here, we al trekked to Willoughby and spent the day at Kate's house, enjoying each other's company and Kate's lakefront access. I have no idea why we don't do that more often. Jack and Ivy both loved hunting rocks on the little beach and getting sprayed by the waves on the breakwall. The day was gloriously bright but the beach was shaded and breezy and it was a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon...

A happy, happy weekend indeed. Thanks to all who traveled to Cleveland and helped to fill our home with the love and happiness of children and family and friends. I think the whole place is glowing from it all. Or maybe that's all just spilled apple juice and cheerios. Either way, it was perfect. Here's to a wonderful week to come...