A Lovely Vacation Week

We had a terrific time, although it was just as eventful as you would imagine. Sofia had massive diarrhea for a few days, Sam got stung by a jellyfish, and Micah and I had to visit the local Emergency Room because he apparently has Lyme Disease (well, we were in Old Lyme, after all!). The weather was not awful - the amazing thunderstorms were mostly at night, and it just rained occasionally during the day. The jellyfish made beach-time less interesting, but my kids had a blast with our friends' three kids.

Each morning, I would get up with the kids (usually around 6:30 - I'm convinced my husband is a vampire, since he would stay up until all hours of the night but then sleep late in the morning). By 7am, at least one of the Burg kids would be on our couch, too, or else my boys would have made it across the porch to their cottage. By about 7:30, I gathered all 6 kids for a bike ride around the neighborhood; three long roads, with short blocks, all flat, all "private gated area", with tons of extended family and friends.

It turns out we knew a few people in the area - there was a rather large contingent from New Britain, where David grew up, so we met people who knew his folks, and we also met up with a guy we both knew, I.F. I knew him from USY, and David knew him from the New Britain synagogue.

Oh, there was a tiny little shul, and on Friday evening they had a children's service. My darling Micah grabbed the microphone to lead "Lecha Dodi". Sam was too shy.

Ok, let's do these in order:

On Sunday, we all went on Kathy's uncle's boat. Here's Sofia in her Life Vest:

And here are the other five kids:


Unlce had to shuttle us back to the cars in two groups, so while we were waiting for the second group, Micah and Arlie tried to remove his first lose tooth:


Success!


(Micah and Arlie have been in school together for three years already, and aside from looking like twins, they sound EXACTLY alike, which, at that pitch, is something everyone should worry about!).

Monday morning, all six kids watched TV in my living room:

(notice how the Burg children pose so nicely, while my three are just sprawled out?)

Kathy is a former professional hairdresser, so Tuesday afternoon, she gave everyone haircuts:





Sofia and Kendra watch Sam play his guitar (David keeps telling him "it's all about the chicks!")


There is a carousel and ice cream place around the corner, so that was the usual nightly event. Tuesday night, the other Sam (yes, Kathy's son is also Sam, and her husband is David!) lost his privilege and had to stay home, so we took the girls. Here are the girls and my boys waiting to go on the carousel:


and everyone eating ice cream:


Laura and Lilie came down on Wednesday, and we went to the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat. Sofia slept through much of it:








and of course more ice cream:




Friday my folks came down, and we went to the children's service, then they took Sam home to their house for a few days of spoiling:


Playing ball in the street before shul:


Sofia tries to make a run for it:


Grandma Korine and Sofia on the carousel:


My kids were great at catching the Golden Ring (which wins a free ride):


We stopped at a country fair before coming home, and Micah and Sofia went on a kiddie ride:


I think Sofia liked it:


Whew! We got home yesterday afternoon, and the babysitter arrived 2 hours later so we could go to dinner with R&J. Today I did mounds and mounds of laundry, and we took a nice bike ride; Sofia fell asleep in the bike seat!

Many thoughts, but I'll try to gather them coherently this week.