These Past Two Weeks (or so)

It's been a very busy and very enjoyable time, first with my niece Madison (13) and then with her sister, Elizabeth (9). Demetrios and I love having them spend these days with us every summer. They are both very dear, very sweet, very well-behaved, especially when apart.

Maddy and I worked on my marble run, fascinating to anybody from about her age on up. We did a jigsaw puzzle, played our favorite board game, wrote a children's story, and bottle-fed the orphaned kitten. We went swimming and went down a very scary waterslide. It was one of those tube kinds with twists and turns. You become completely disoriented during the ride, as everything you can see is the same color. You cannot even predict when you will be dumped into the water. We went shopping for a few school clothes. We went to the Imax theater and saw two shows. We went to church, out to dinner a couple of times, and to a backyard cookout. Best of all, we had some good talks.

Elizabeth I took with me to visit all my grandchildren in North Carolina. Well, we also did a jigsaw puzzle and played some games and read some stories and worked on writing one which never got finished, and we went to the zoo and the Imax theater, too, but the main thing we did was our trip to see her cousins.

Here are some pictures. Obviously, I love posting pictures of the beautiful children in our family. Click if you want to enlarge.

This first batch was taken at a restaurant where we all met my friend Sylvia for dinner, before gathering at a conference room at her workplace, where she showed us slides of our time together in Greece. (I will also post those soon.)

From Left to Right: Connor, Kelly, Sydney, Ryan

Kelly (7) and Sydney (4)

Ryan and Connor (4) Horse Around with Uncle Jeff, Who is Sitting across the table from them.

Elizabeth, top, with Sydney and Kelly

The Original Cast of the Play. Sydney was in paradise, allowed to participate with the older girls.

Kelly had the opening lines: "Your Majesty, I bring you a rare and precious gift from a faraway land. It is a fairy. She can grant you a million wishes. There is only one thing about her, and that is that she is totally untrained..."

The Boys Horn in on the Act

Lizzie and Sydney at the YMCA Waterpark

Sydney being a Fish. Elizabeth, learning that she could move all over the shallow end of the pool with the help of a lifebelt and noodle, pronounced this "The greatest day of my life."

First Cousins Once Removed