Yep. I'm back!

Okay, I don't have any excuses other than I wasn't motivated.   And I'm not promising that I am motivated now either, but at least I'm breaking the ice!

We are all doing pretty well--months flying by, 7th grade completed, many many trips to fun places (Mexico, Key West, Beach, a friend's wedding, Camp PALS, the NDSC convention in D.C., a tour through New England...).   We've been home one weekend since the middle of April.   But now we're settling in with no real agenda until September.   It feels good!

Hannah's been doing well.  She's up to her usual funny stuff, cooking, joking, creating.

Here's Hannah's description of the picture:
The Fire Brigade is there to put out the fire in the volcano before it burns the Brachiosaurus while the Pterosaur escapes the poisonous steam.


When we were in Vermont (family reunion) we took a little trip up to the Ben and Jerry's factory!  It was a lot of fun. 

 These are HUGE tanks! Three storeys tall!

 This is the graveyard of ice cream flavors that were eliminated over the years.  

Hannah is playing the role of the ghastly host of the graveyard.

 This was my favorite.

We also had the chance to go to Haverhill, MA to visit the Hannah Duston statue. (Click to read the backstory)

She was really excited about this!  A dozen years ago my mom went to Haverhill and bought some Hannah Duston postcards and a t-shirt.   I remember Hannah being two years old, looking at the "Adult Large" T-shirt, having a hard time imagining Hannah ever being that big.  I stuffed the shirt in a ziplock bag and left it on the top shelf of her closet.  Look at her now!  She's wearing that very t-shirt (a bit baggy still), and at 5'4" she's definitely taller than the original Hannah Duston.  She's more than I ever could have fathomed--delightful, moody, sensitive, silly, thoughtful, frustrating, playful, ridiculous, funny, creative, loving, obstinate, crazy, goofy--it's a whole package.  I love that girl.