the day after christmas, after a miraculous packing effort, the girls and i dropped ben off at the airport and hit the road for cleveland. 8 1/2 hours felt pretty short with the girls catching up on a lot of sleep, and we rolled into the hatters' driveway right about dinnertime. if i was wondering whether the kids remembered us, montgomery set me straight right away. i'm not sure if his feet or his words were moving faster as he filled us in on all of his latest and greatest =) oh, sweet reunion of friends and neighbors!
thoughtful joley had organized a playgroup for us the next day so we could catch up with all kinds of friends in one fell swoop. between hugs and grins, i drank up the chaos and camaraderie, realizing how much i'd missed it all, yes, even the chaos ;-) hopefully we will be able to find a place soon where we can host little hands and feet to our hearts' content.
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| some of the newest little hands - lovely little glorianne |
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| baby wesley, barely two weeks! |
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| the gang, minus the foxes |
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| our buddies |
of course, it wouldn't be cleveland without some of this, and of course the kids wanted to go out:
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| what's better than hot chocolate on a snowy day |
sadly, the stay was short, but we're expecting some return visits (hint, hint) before we leave the DC area ;-)
as a postscript, here's our favorite traveling lunch of applesauce and fries on the way home. a short 5 hours, and we rolled up just as daddy walked in from the bus stop. all's well that ends well!
friends and community are such precious gifts! and wow, i can't imagine life with snow! :)
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