Grandparents and Pool Parties.

All is right with the world. After a completely insane 24+ hour drive that included team driving and sleeping at truck stops, Tony & Jayne are here. This is the longest we've gone without seeing them, and we were all the worse for the wear. Even with dog kisses to contend with, this scene made my evening.

It had been a lovely week or so, although we were starting to get a little stressed about the impending move, and the fact that we have done virtually nothing to get ready for it. 

Not that you could tell from our "summer vacation" morning routine.

Seth bought himself a (ridiculously expensive) retirement present, a Hobie fishing kayak which is so tricked out it has actual club lights on it,

and these hooligans love it as much as he does.

So we've been spending evenings at the lake,

where (squint or you'll miss it) Ford caught his first fish. A small pickerel we threw back, but the excitement level was through the roof. Even Finley got on board and cheered her heart off for her thrilled baby brother.

F+F also went back to school for a couple days,

 

we caught up with friends-who-are-family,

and this bit of hilarity happened. Finley and Ford got into a lipstick that some terrible parent gave Finley for her birthday, and it turned out to be basically permanent. 

I scrubbed them a minimum of 12 times, and they still went to their last day of school looking like this.

Seth eventually purchased every product at Walgreen's and managed to get it off. I have no idea how, and I refuse to ask whether it involved steel wool. But allow me to wholeheartedly endorse Maybelline SuperStay, since the ads are not exaggerating. It does not come off.

It's currently the wildly rainy start of hurricane season (sorry, Tony & Jayne, who were promised great weather and pool reopenings) and we're glad we got in a weekend that looked like this first. (This is also likely the photo of the month.)

 

It included a Ryan pool party for the ages,

 

a new (terrible) jumpsuit,

and no sleep, ever. Because, summer vacation.

Two favorite photos of the week are this "like Grandpa/ like father/ like son" photo of my handsome boys

 

and this one of Finley, living her best life. On a Monday.

Quite a Week.

We said goodbye to the golf cart this week. We didn't share anything about it as we ordinarily would have, because it seems incredibly tone deaf given the current state of the world. But the fact remains that it was kind of the end of an era, and we will miss it

as well as our sun-drenched, friend-saturated, life in the pines here at Anderson Creek. 

As NC reopens gradually and we begin to juggle moving logistics, we're trying to soak up every last minute in our favorite place.

Plus, get a jump start on baseball. Look out, Fairfax County.

Our first week in June included (in addition to my heading reluctantly back to work fulltime), fishing,

a trip to our favorite dentist,

 

a day at the range with Dad, 

extended cousins at the farm and haircuts with Ha,

and Sunday Funday; which meant a trip to the reopened Fayetteville classic, the Lake Pines Swim Club.

It was even better than I remembered, not having been there for more than a decade, and was complete with food trucks and all manner of Americana and dubious- if earnest- sanitation.

We spent a lovely Sunday there, even if Seth and I remain baffled that we are raising complete and total chickens for kids. Who flatly refused to go down the big kid slides and dominated the one intended for actual babies in diapers for hours.

While- no kidding- waving and screaming as if they were cliff diving in Acapulco. Just look at this guy:

We would be remiss if we didn't note that a major highlight was the total surprise retirement present from Peru (thank you Bustamantes!):

and show off our fave photos of the week, of this kid we caught sneaking Nutella in the pantry while dressed as a superhero

and this Sunday night sibling love (with my gorgeous hydrangeas in the background.)

We know the world is a nutty place right now, and we are grateful for what we have and listening to those who have not. Here's hoping the next week brings healing and progress and love.