checking in

Too much going on, and not much time or desire to catalog it all.

DH arrived Tuesday night to general celebrations.

Wednesday, what? It's all fading into the mist already. I have to think about it. Ah, now I remember: In the morning, DH and my bro installed a new toilet in my mom's downstairs bathroom -- the 34-year-old harvest gold model was just using way too much water. About noon, my brother up in Boston called and had somehow managed to produce two tickets to that afternoon's Red Sox game, so DH and my PA bro took off immediately for the game. I took the kids to the beach, along with their new boogie boards. We were somewhat disappointed in the lack of waves, but the kids had fun anyway. The beach was empty once the day camp kids cleared out about 3:30.

Thursday, DH and I took a carload of stuff up to the transfer station (aka: dump), and then went out and bought pavers for a new back porch. After lunch, we took the kids to that go-cart place I'd driven by for the past 35 years and had never visited. We had a blast: go karts, bumper boats, mini golf, and an arcade, plus various other fun things. It was a late night.

Friday, it was a mostly cloudy and grim sort of day but we went to the beach anyway, and had it all to ourselves. There were big waves and it was fun. In the morning, we laid the pavers to make the porch, and DH and two of my bros made a frame so they wouldn't shift.

Saturday was the big bash, and it was great. After some minor drama in which my nephew, son of the guest of honor, said he wasn't coming, everything turned out wonderfully. The nephew, after a couple of serious discussions, came and brought his toddler (leaving the difficult wife at home), and that meant that every one of my mom's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren was there. The caterers were efficient, friendly, and made great food; the weather threatened rain but only sprinkled on us a little bit. It was a very good, long day.

Sunday we were up early for mass, then home, and after breakfast, packing up the car to head for CT. It was nearly noon when we left, but that turned out OK. We stopped for fast food at Charlton Plaza, and then met my in-laws at Sturbridge Village, where we had a great time. Sunday night my brother-in-law and his family joined us for dinner, mostly because they had left their cat with my in-laws and needed to pick him up, but it was great to see them.

Today, the cousins came over just after lunch time and spent the afternoon with the kids. Nana filled up the wading pool, and the kids were in and out of it all day. We all assembled for dinner once again, but tonight we did a better job of getting the kids to bed just after 9PM.

Tomorrow, we're heading to Lake Compounce for a long day of water park and amusement park fun, and I have no idea when I'll be posting again.

Throughout all the CT fun: my in-laws cockapoo, Muffin. She has a sweet personality but my kids aren't used to dogs, so it's interesting to see how they react. DS1, thankfully, seems to be over his stark terror. DS2 likes dogs in the abstract but is more skittish of Muffin than I expected him to be. We'll see how it goes.