Two Little Children, not mine, but I love them anyway.

Our vacation was great! We visited our friends the Shoultz's in Schroon Lake, NY. Schoon is a picturesque little town on the banks of the lake bearing its name.

Beth and Nathan let us stay with them, and insisted on giving us their room while they slept in the double bed bottom bunk in the kid's room. Nathan still has a bruise on his forehead from his generosity. Jer and I would have happily slept with the kiddos, but Beth was insistant.

I'd grown numb to their absence (they moved to NY in January) and was so happy to hang out with them! We celebrated Gavin's third birthday, and went to the town beach, and to Ben and Jerry's factory in Waterbury, Vermont. We also visited Lake Placid, NY and all the little towns between Schroon and the two cities. It was quiet and very easy going. I loved the small town, I like small towns, they defy compartmentalization and even the businesses can overlap. For example, the bar also runs the video shop and the new consingment shop is going to have a small tea room.

And most everything closes at 5 at least until a little further along in the summer.

Now that I'm home and away from them again, I miss them again. Not more, but now that Carley is walking and talking, she's a personality to miss and not just a sweet little life that I admired. She's really good at the baby sign language, and she can say and sign "more please" and really likes icecream!

When they first moved it was really very hard on me, Beth is so generous with her children, she lets us "parent" them a little. And they're great about answering questions from Jer, who is always curious about things, but doesn't like to read all the books, I should start making a notebook of all of the things I've read and like.

So, spending time with them really filled a hole and it was neat that Carley remembered us, she was only 6 months old when they left and the sweet little smile she gave me in the car when I said Hi was one that seemed to be remembering. And the whole week, Jer was her best friend except for a few hours of shyness the first morning. I cried a little on the way home, but not as much as I did when they moved. And now I can visualize what they're doing everyday.

Can you blame me for missing these smiles?