An empty nest

We are childless! Well, for a week anyway. Jen and I just got home yesterday afternoon from delivering the boys into the nurturing clutches of my extended family at their summer base on the outer part Cape Cod. We spent a few days down there ourselves cavorting with my sister (read: getting my ass kicked on the backgammon board), her husband John, and their two lovely girls who are almost identical in ages to our boys. This marks the second year now that we’ve been able to do what amounts to a child swap with those guys. Sam and Max will spend the better part of a week down there reading (a little), watching movies, swimming, having water fights, and playing ping pong, pool and extreme bocce with their uncle and cousins on the beach. They’ll also get to see a fair amount of my parents who live just five miles away.

Then we’ll swap and the whole hoard of 10 to 13 year old cousins will come up here for 10 days and get a taste of Vermont in August together. Aside from the major holidays this is really the best chance we get during the calendar year to hang out with the girls so we especially look forward to that part of it. That we will all get to meet in between next Wednesday to take in a baseball game at Fenway (hey, it’s half way!) is really just a bonus. Fun will be had, oh yes it will. I’m note sure my liver would agree with that notion but we’ll cross that one when we come to it.

For now we’ll catch up on farm stuff over the next few days, weigh new crias, do a few breedings here and there and just enjoy the dog days of summer a bit. Jen and I also have the chance over the next five nights to go out for dinner or take in a movie (or both) without any worries about bed times or babysitters. Somehow I think we’ll survive. More later…