We had several visitors stay with us this summer, reaffirming to my surprise that I mostly like hosting houseguests! First it was two high school friends who flew in Mother's Day weekend to check out our new place and attend a reading by author David Sedaris.
They posed with my scary dolls:
We went on a hike near the beach and stopped at this fern grotto:
and of course attended the show, which was fantastic. David read various unpublished essays, speeches and answered questions from the audience but didn't even mention he had a new book called
Calypso coming out! I gobbled it up and am counting it as my very favorite of his, and that's saying something.
My husband went to Canada for a week in late June to spend time with some of
his high school friends. Three of my sisters and the 5 kids they have between them, including 2 preschoolers and 2 babies under a year old, visited while he was gone. My kids were in cousin heaven!
We made it to the beach:
Mothering in the forest:
The older cousins watched The Greatest Showman. (Credit to my short-haired high school friend for the ventriloquist dummy snuggie they're sitting on)
2nd Brother especially adored the babies:
Mid-July brought us my husband's cousin, his wife, and their 5 kids from Canada. We had good times shopping downtown, going to the beach, and playing Drawful and Why'd the Chicken, but the only pic I took was at the Boardwalk:
In early August we hosted my husband's college roommate and his family. 1st Brother was at a Scout camp, but the others enjoyed marshmallows together:
and by the time of their visit, we had discovered the wharf, so moms and boys headed down to check out the sea lions while dads golfed and went to lunch:
