We're back! (Part one)

Hi Everyone!!  

Thank you for indulging us in our blog break.  It was nice to have time off but I missed you. There were times when Bill and I would turn to each other and say, "This would be a blog post!"  But we also found ourselves saying, "What a relief not to have to come up with a blog post after a long dull day of work."  I think the solution will be a less frequent schedule - a weekly post recapping the fun, interesting moments of the week rather than a daily chore.

Of course this means that right now I have a backlog of fun moments.  Here are some highlights of the past four weeks.

Diane (aka DiDi)'s cousins Ann and Maeve arrived from Ireland for a family vacation in Maine.  I had the honor of meeting Di and Maeve in Boston for a night on the town before they headed north.  You may remember Maeve from our trip to Paris 3(?) years ago.  She's growing up fast but still adorable.

This was one of those moments when I was really missing the blog…when I saw my neighbor's rhinoceros menorah.  Please notice the scale - this thing is the same height as that table on the right!  Now I know what to get Whitney and Aaron for Hanukkah this year.

I enjoyed some carpool karaoke with Piper this summer on some trips to and from doggy daycare.

Little Miss Oona was baptized!  It was a full family event on a beautiful August day.

Mom - please note that she is wearing the dress you sent.

Uncle Joey came in his new teacher wardrobe.  As of tonight he is a week and a half into his first real teaching job and doing great!

Malikai rode home with us after the baptism and entertained us with some twangy southern style songs wearing Grampa Bill's hat.

Phase two of the outdoor renovations are in full swing - -the new porch!  This was day one  - the destruction of the old porch.

And here it is yesterday - not quite finished but really taking shape.  This is Bill's winter cigar smoking area so the plan is to get a comfy chair that he can use without blocking the front door.

I took a trip up to Vermont to see Chris and Earle on the weekend of the Middlebury New Filmaker's Festival.  It was so much fun!!  

One of the festival events was to see Maggie Gyllenhaal….

and her husband Peter Sarsgaard in conversation with director, Jay Craven.  Maggie was super cute and much happier than she looks in that top picture.  I went in saying I wasn't crazy about Peter S. but he won me over by the end of the event.  They live in Vermont not too far from Chris and Earle.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the foursome is hanging out together at The Bobcat.

As much as I love celebrities, seeing Chris and Earle was really the big draw for me.  

I got all the way to end before I realized there were no pictures of Bill!!!  So here is a really cute one from when Whitney and Aaron came to visit.

I've still got more updates so my next post will be part two.  Then we're off to the UK for a real holiday.