Larryville

Our dear friends live in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas and twice previous (both for very brief stints) home of E and I. On paper it appears perfect for our little fam, but it never quite sticks. However, visiting our friends there is one of my favorite pastimes - and P agrees :)

Hanging out with the girls and their kids reminds me of my childhood. Kids running around barefoot and happy while the adults chat. Watermelon eating, water-gun spraying, baby pool puddling, pizza party noshing; ease in a day. Typically, E and I have very little adult interaction with the little man around. He feels his place is beside us and will either interact with the other adults, listen quietly very briefly, or, last but not least, jump up and down yanking our limbs to receive all of our attention. So rather than fight the inevitable, we just skip the whole situation. But its somehow different in Lawrence. He's still more reticent than many four year olds to jump in the social fray, but he's also content to let me laze in the love of my girls. Maybe he can tell how much I appreciate it, maybe he's fascinated by the conversations, maybe all of the new toys just fill his void. Whatever it is, its a laid back, happy day for the two of us.

Reed requested a pic of his popcorn:)



The boys dangle their lines:



The kids had tons of fun together, but I only really pulled out my camera for the fishing expedition. The little pond in front of Reed and Ella's house begged to be bothered by a bunch of four year olds (well, little Oliver is three;) but there was only one fishing pole. Fabulous Uncle Allen fixed that fast with a couple of bamboo sticks and some string. Whalah, happy kids fishing for water plants.

It was funny though. As the other kids moved on to the hose or just running willy nilly, still P played with his rod. It was normal in my world, so I gave it no thought. But Uncle A laughed and said "Focus much?" And I remembered the truth: P is very much related to E :)

Ella is impressed with P's big catch:



Post note. Aunt D had tons of mint growing around her wee pond. P, being P, having P's nose and P's obsession with mint, smelled a million leaves of it and begged a few to take home too :) Aunt D, being Aunt D, gave P as much mint as he wished and then made marvelous mojitos with even more mint. Fast forward a month (I'm woefully, woefully behind here!) to today, and P and I were at the botanical gardens (I'll get to that post in another month or so :) We went to the smelling section and were going crazy rubbing leaves and sniffing our fingers when we came upon the mint patches. There were so many varieties! My favorite smelled like lemon, pineapple mint - it was Amazing :) P kept on smelling and then stopped. "Mama! Come smell this!" I did and was instantly taken back to the mojitos. Apparently, though drink free that day, P absorbed that particular strain too. "Mama! This is the same mint Aunt D has!" Its amazing how Everything is a part of Everything in a child's life. Its fabulous to see the threads unravel and cross and re-cross :)