Your songs remind me of swimming

Our summer so far has been a mixture of bangs and whimpers, the unexpected and the monotonous.

The first week was a bit of catch up - filing, cleaning.

That first Saturday, we had planned to go see the movie Brave, starting our summer off with a bang. Kate cried the whole morning, refusing to go. The boys finally decided to go by themselves.

As they were getting ready to go, Kate whispered: Okay, mommy. When they go, we are going to go too and meet them there.

Me: Um, what?
Kate: We are going to surprise the boys at the movie.
Me: Um, what?

We rushed around the house after they left and were able to meet them there.

David: What the?

That was unexpected. And a good surprise.

My brother, sister-in-law and niece were visiting last week from Washington (the state, not the capital). We spent some time with them in Albany with my mother and Long Island with my father. My brother Conor and his girlfriend Meredith joined us on Long Island. There's something so comforting about being around family. It had been the first time we had ALL been together in about 2 years. We swam almost every day. And barbecued. And laughed, harder than I've laughed in a long time.

This week feels like catch up again - cleaning and laundry, some napping and reading, soccer and swimming lessons.

We are all home together this summer, all summer. Some days work, some don't. The trick is finding a good balance between family time and alone time.

And, hopefully figuring that out before August.

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