Visiting the Walls

There are many things I love about Emily and her family, not the least of which is their generosity and willingness to invite me to simply come hang out with them for a few days.  We didn't do anything particularly remarkable.  We enjoyed several of our favorite haunts in Seattle, Bellingham, and Mount Vernon.  We ate well; shopped; walked along a chilly, driftwood-covered beach; played with the kids; shared recent YouTube favorites (mine and hers); and, as always, talked.  Blog reading aside, Emily and I rarely keep in touch between visits so we had 14 months of news to catch up on in addition to our usual reminiscing of wild and crazy college/backpacking days.  The confidences and conversations that come in the drowsy-but-not-asleep dark are some of my favorite things in the world, and we indulged in them far longer than a busy mother-of-three should.

I literally don't know how she does it.   I don't know how Emily puts together a Teacher Appreciation breakfast for 80 people; keeps a PTO and a Primary in line; soothes, cuddles, teaches, counsels, medicates, moderates, and keeps alive three young, loud, and smart children; runs a household; plans for her grand summer adventure; and yet still has the energy to stay up all hours of the night with me.  I marvel every time I watch her do it; yet I am so, so glad that she can do it because it means the world to me every time she does.

Like I said, we didn't do anything particularly remarkable this weekend.  But Emily sure did.

Here are a few more pictures I didn't post before:

Emily and the kids during Scripture Time

Ben wrangling Sarah during our Grown-Ups dinner at Il Granaio
(and, truly, I have never had such a stark and shocking
"Whoa, I'm an adult" moment as when
Emily, Ben, and I walked out the door of their house,
leaving the kids with a 13-year-old babysitter.)

Sarah showing off her sitting-up skills at the Co-Op

Caitlyn working on her Cosette look

Logan showing off his climbing skills

The view from our hotel room

Reason #2 why SEA is now my favorite airport (those ovals under the seats being USB/Power outlets)
(Reason #1 being the free wifi)

Thank you again, Walls, for the terrific weekend!  I will continue to take full advantage of your generosity on at least an annual basis. :)

(Side note: The storm that greeted me last night turned into quite a show.  I spent several minutes around 11:00 last night watching the sidewalk outside my apartment turn into a stream and the front yard into a series of puddles under a constant barrage of lightening, hail, and rain.  It was apocalyptic and awesome and, aside from the squishy grass, there was no evidence of it in the morning.)