Last hurrah

Back before the move, there was a final celebration with two of Edith's best buds, whose academic parents are also moving on to new positions in other parts of the world. We spent a weekend in Delaware with Harry and Desi and their families, courtesy of Tom's parents. The toddlers were keyed up the whole time, especially Edith, so it wasn't quite as relaxing as I'd imagined it would be. Edith seemed to be dealing with her mixed emotions around all the change by bullying her friends. I think my in-laws were fairly appalled at her; I know I was. But three-year-old coping techniques and a minor car accident aside (poor Campbell was rear-ended, but fortunately there wound up being no damage to car or persons), we had a good time. We had figured that beach + cows + ice cream + rides would be preschooler nirvana and seemed confirmed in that guess when Harry announced the last morning, "I'm dead. I'm in heaven now."

Harry and Edie hit the links first thing. Here Harry studied the angle for his putt.

Some down time with Pop-pop. You can tell how well the toys and books have been kept over the years: The one Pop-pop is reading to Edith is about how Curious George becomes the first living being to travel to space and back.

Desi's family arrived the second day. Desi was raring to go.

We hit the beach.



We even saw a pirate ship on the horizon!

The sun and sand made the kids hungry, of course.

After naps we head out to the new creamery at the family dairy farm.

Tom enjoyed a chat in the shade with his father and grandfather. People travel far for this ice cream: Other cousins were up from North Carolina for the day, and we bumped into them at the creamery, allowing us the chance to catch up.

Edith had her semiannual check-in with the calves.

Then an evening at the boardwalk rides. Edith had been anticipating that Desi would love the firetrucks best, and she was right.



This shot may be handy as blackmail some day when Campbell is applying for a Christian ed pastoral position. (The planes themselves are fun; unfortunately no one has taken the mounted guns off them since the ride was installed some time around WWII.)

The last morning was when the kids got especially riled up. Just when the parents were at wits' end chasing them around trying to resolve squabbles, clean up messes, and prevent further havoc, Harrison and Edith ran to the piano and with that inimitable preschooler knack for cheekiness, began to sing, "Yes, Jesus loves me..."

Chalk time in the driveway

Edith has started sounding out words to see if she can spell them. To my knowledge, this was her first completed attempt at her own name: H-I-T-D-E. She wrote the letters in almost the right order: H first because it's her favorite letter, followed by E-D-I-T. She just didn't put them in the positions an adult might expect. I confess I was pretty impressed.