Alexe's here!

A month of mama deprivation, and the kids came piling into our bed Monday morning to find Alexe!  (Ok, Annaliese came piling into bed.  Caspian went right on by headed for the smell of sausages and pancakes from the kitchen, but Annaliese chased him down to tell him mama was here.)

(A few days earlier I had reminded the kids that Alexe was coming to join us, and our drive home would include her in the truck for stories and singing.  Annaliese said, "like in the old days?")

It took 10 minutes, and then it was like the family had never been spread out.  We had a lovely breakfast, after I had a loooovely snooze, changed into swim suits, and headed to the ocean.

Breakfast in the courtyard with a.Kitty, u.Randall, and c.Ginny.  And the pooches.

We brought the wagon so we could collect rocks from the beach.

Look at my rock star!  (grocer/author/mommy.)  (Right now she's wearing my shirt and shoes, her new PJ pants, and sweeping the cabin porch.  The kids are in bed with me on the porch, drawing and discussing the process of pencil sharpening.  Caspian's bare booty is bothering Annaliese, so he may need to put some clothes on.)

The kids with two play mates at the beach.

And back to the house.  This is such a beautiful spot, we will be back here for a couple weeks at the end of July.

A little relaxing in the back yard with mommy, who was adjusting to being on vacation as fast as possible.  The stresses of the store certainly followed her int he form of a buzzing phone from the ladies running the store in her absence, but we're getting her some distance.

Popsicle chins.

Alexe succumbed to a Caspian-zombie attack.

At a little after four we piled into the truck, as a full family, and headed back to the cabin.  I have successfully trained the kids to travel in an efficient, low-stopping manner.  Alexe has never given in on this front, so we stopped for dinner maybe an hour into the drive.


We made it to the cabin around 11 that night, a drive filled with Alexe's chatter, a month's worth, bubbling out of her.  I've missed my girl.