The summer has been such a wonderful blur of visits and visitors. As you know, if you've been reading the blog all along, our last year here (Oh my gosh! We've been here almost a year!) has been a weird mix of loneliness, excitement, boredom and constant stimulation. Say what? Basically, we've been loving the lifestyle of Hoboken and NYC. The lifestyle here really suits us. I love the energy of the city, the constant "something new". I love the way it all reminds me so much of Europe with our ability to walk anywhere and everywhere, with our access to so much within such a short distance. I love this life. That said, it has also been lonely moving here. Having been in DC for such a long time, it was hard to leave behind our friends and, to a certain extent, my family. It was hard too giving up my office job and transitioning to working from home. I realize there are so many advantages and yet there is so much I miss about being in the hard-charging office environment.
The summer has been a wonderful release from the ups and downs that have somewhat plagued the last year. It seems like we've had constant visits from friends (old and new) and when people aren't coming here, we're heading out to see them, rather at a family wedding or just for a brief weekend get-together. This month, especially, has been fabulous. First we had Andrea and Darren here for the Fourth, then my mom came up for a week, followed by The Ducks for three days, followed immediately by the Longfellows who just left this morning and now we only have a week before Lucy arrives with her family and that will take us straight through to Beach Week. Phew! It is craziness and chaos and I love it. We so rarely had downtime in DC and while I recognize the value in downtime now (even more so since Kayla's arrival), I miss the constant action of a full day's work, followed by happy hour, followed by a volleyball game, followed by a soccer match...I know running around with my hair on fire used to occasionally drive me crazy, but I loved it all the same.
But enough about me...
This past weekend, The Longfellows came to visit and it was a fabulous time for all. Janie, Dave and Adam hadn't seen Kayla since she was a teeny tiny thing and so to see her now, all wide-eyed and active, was quite a change. Janie, herself, is now about 8 months pregnant with a little girl of her own, so we're hoping that seeing and holding little Kayla got her even more excited about her upcoming new addition. Snuzzler certainly helped out by being on her best, most adorable behavior.
Adam, as well, got a little taste of what it might be like to have a baby sister.
I don't think he was overly impressed with Kayla's constant sleeping or lack of puzzle building capabilities, but he was adorable holding her and it was good practice for his "gentle" skills. The kid is only 4 years old, but he is built like a mack truck, so learning that babies are a little more delicate...well, he's getting that down.
We ran those poor Longfellows ragged this weekend. Having lived here for a year now, we forget that not everyone thinks 15 blocks is a "short walk", so we hauled the poor 4-year old, his pregnant mama, and his patient dad, around the city all weekend. Friday we took them up to Central Park for a ride on the carousel and a trip to the zoo.
Later that night we headed back downtown for a fabulous NYC dinner at Megu. It was a risky endeavor with the kiddos, not typically the kind of place you'd take a toddler and an infant, but we're getting braver and braver as time goes on. Plus, once you've got the baby, you can either take it with you where YOU want to go or you can fall into a trap of never going anywhere that's not "for baby" again. And so we went. And it actually went really well! Kayla was such a trooper. She sat in her car seat and giggle and smiled at the ceiling, the lights, the table legs and anything else that struck her fancy. She is such a patient kid...I can't get over how calm and accommodating she's become.
Saturday was spent searching for "real New York bagels", exploring the Children's Museum of Manhattan, eating ourselves silly at Dylan's Candy Bar, and walking through FAO Schwartz dreaming of days when Snuzzles will be ready to play dress up. Quote of the day from the little ones, "Excuse me, Daddy. I put my finger in my nose, but then I didn't put it in my mouth." Nice.
All in all, the weekend was fabulous and it was hard to watch the Longfellows leave this morning. Again, I just wish we could transport all our DC people up here. Hoboken would be perfection then.
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