"My friends are my estate." - Emily Dickinson
My friend Nicole and her two girls, Jane (6) and Lucy (3) have been on a 5-week long road trip across the midwest and east coast visiting friends and family. This past weekend they stopped in Madison, just before the home stretch of their journey. It was so much fun to have them here. I feel like it has been far too long since Nicole and I had some time to hang out and catch up and it felt so good. All 4 kids (Zora included) slept in Owen and Zora's room. And they actually got some sleep, with Owen and Zora , of course, getting a little less than Jane and Lucy. We hit the farmer's market downtown on the Capital Square on Saturday. We got home in time for a little quiet time/nap time. Zora and Nicole were the only ones who actually napped and Nicole managed her nap while Owen, Jane and Lucy all played on the bed she was sleeping in. I always did envy Nicole's ability to take a nap just about any time, any where. We put the kids to bed early which left us grown-ups a little time to relax and talk - so nice. Owen and Jane and Lucy (mostly) had fun together. Owen and Jane worked together on several jigsaw puzzles while Owen and Lucy were just generally silly. Owen called Lucy "crazy Lu" and Lucy kept saying how Owen "likes to be silly with me." It is a little frightening how similar the two of them are in many ways, good and bad.
Having good friends around is so wonderful and it recharges me. When they left, Owen and Zora both were sleeping within 30 minutes and Ken went to work and the house seemed so quiet. I know that should be a good thing, but I was sad. I still haven't found a good friend here in Madison and I really miss the easy conversation and the ease of just being together and sharing all the little daily challenges of parenting and life in general. Thanks for a wonderful visit, Nicole. And thanks to all my friends far and wide who I never get to see as often as I like.
Here are a few pictures of the weekend:
Nicole reading to Jane, Lucy and Owen before bed.
Jane on Owen's old bike which was a little small - she made her first attempts at riding without training wheels shortly after this. Go Jane!
Lucy cruising on the trike.
The girls (with a little help from Owen) show off their map documenting their trip, complete with a polaroid (yes, a real old-fashion polaroid) taken at every stop.
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