Vacation, part 1

Sorry about the long delay - it's been one thing after another since we've been home, and posting hasn't actually been the priority.  I didn't even get most of these photos downloaded until today!  But here you are, patient blog-followers: the first weekend of our last vacation, otherwise known as Asa and his many many cousins.

M.'s cousins do enjoy a good get-together.  We eat, and chat, and eat, and play with the kids, and eat, and swim, and eat.

This was the first of these reunions in which Asa was not under direct adult supervision at all times.  He ran and played with the kids, discovering the drumset, the books, the puppets, and all the joys of cousins.  He swam like a fish (with help... okay, for that part he had adult supervision) and played chase in the water with the kids.  It's a strange lesson, this learning to trust that the child you can't actually see is still okay, and not in imminent danger.

It was also really nice to have one extra night to spend in peace and quiet with just our reunion hosts.  We got to have longer and more relaxed conversations - even to watch a ballgame together.  Sox-Yankees, at that.  I'm just sorry none of us made it to the Sox' win, at the end of extra innings...