Chuck D & Mr. T

I love that Charlie wants to cuddle with me each night.

Charlie and Teddy had Pascal and Griffin over after tennis camp today. While they were playing in their room the boys all pulled every piece of clothing out of every door and the closet every book off the shelf, every single toy out of every basket and the window treatments off the window. Before bed I helped Teddy and Charlie clean up. As I was tucking them in Teddy said “Mommy, we made the mess because we were so happy.”
I said “I know you did. It’s ok to have fun and make a big mess. You just need to clean it up when you are done. And try not to break the blinds.

Nell loves the water and is totally fearless. She basically just swims on her own and can float without my help. A coincidence that she loves Ariel?

The girls saw a seagull on the vineyard swooping into the water to get fish and shellfish. Now about once every other day they will come up to me and say “Seagull. Food. Swimming.”

Tonight we went to our friends Courtney and Sean’s for dinner. All the kids were upstairs playing. Then Teddy came downstairs with brushing his teeth with their electric toothbrush. I suppose he felt really at home.

We went with the Wollins to play ping pong and have pizza at Comet and then to Fort Reno for music. So much fun staying up late and out in the summer.

I have been trying to spend more and more one on one time with Teds. Yesterday he went shopping for furniture and clothes with me and told me what to try on. Today I picked him up from Teddy Bear Camp and took him swimming where we placed a game he devised in which we were fish and he sold candy but then I had to carry him to a fish doctor because he broke his fin and he needed a crutch with a silver fin on the bottom

On my way to ride at the stables this morning I drove alongside the bus to Calleva camp that Charlie was on with Oliver, Ethan and Jack from next door. I waved twice unsure if he would see me but didn’t want to wave more because I didn’t want Charlie to feel like his mom was following and wanted him to feel like he was grown up and on his own (which he was being 5 and heading off each day on a bus of big kids to camp). Each time I pulled up next to them at a stoplight I could hear them singing gross/ or irritating songs but it was so cute and sweet. When I told Charlie tonight that I was driving with the bus he seemed happy.

We got back from the vineyard and there are so many things that were great
Going on the boat with Grandpa, me, MJ and the boys tubing off the back, MJ teaching Hannah to waterski, the kids playing “tennis” and Charlie and teddy actually playing tennis at the West Chop Club, the boys getting lemonade after camp at West Chop and playing pong pong on the grass, sitting on the porch for lunch, the girls wearing tutus everywhere, Nelly and Scottie demanding to be in the water all the time, Charlie and Teddy swimming with MJ all the way out to the dock, eating meals leisurely with Allan and Michele, dinners made by Milly with everyone sitting outside together,  talking with Greg and Carolyn, our first annual Fourth of July scavenger hunt, the kids counting down for me to swim in the water and then take them one at a time out into the water while the others wait lined up on the beach, Charlie having a lacrosse coach come play with him for an hour each day after mini group at the West Chop Club, the boys getting money and shopping for candy at the Chop Shop without any adults (and Charlie telling me exactly how to stay outside while they shop), seeing The Audience with Allan and Michele and loving it, getting to spend time with Allan and Michele that was uninterrupted and so relaxing…I wish we could do this more than once a year.

Seeing Scottie and Nell run across the lawn yelling “Hi!! Hi, Peter Rabbitt” trying to greet a little brown bunny was beyond heart warming. The cuteness doesn’t stop.

I really think about being with my grandparents in the summer and running around the grass and walking through the woods down to the lake. And the sound of the sprinkler system outside in the morning. I loved going to the Downey’s each summer…shopping with Mama Downey who was an excellent shopper, very ladylike, interested in fashion and make up; smelling her Youth Dew perfume; visiting their good friend Ed Koch and him giving me stuffed animals each timer I went to his office (and one time I wore a bubble gum pink ruffled sun dress that Mama Downey let me buy and Kitzy Cat and John were mortified I wore when they saw the pictures); playing the piano in their living room; riding their exercise bike in the kitchen; playing restaurant and making the adults give me their orders; going through cookbooks and cooking with Mama Downey who was such a thoughtful menu planner, cook, and baker (I looooved her ginger snaps); swimming in the lake; Papa Downey buying vanilla and chocolate popsicles; the way Mama Downey would call my grandfather to get his attention “Bill?” and he would answer wittily “Marion?”; watching Wimbledon in their bedroom; hearing Mama Downey tell me about my mother; looking through her drawers at the dolls and ribbons and old pictures; smelling the guest soaps in the linen closet; feeling extremely loved.

Happy Birthday Scottie and Nelly!