Good Times with Good Friends

Two Sundays ago we made a quick road trip down to the Downers, ostensibly for an impromptu tennis tournament. As much as I miss Vermont, I do love having so many friends a lot closer now that we live in NH and nearer to "civilization!" Tennis was played at the Downer Country Club, but I won't say it was pretty. In particular, I am a spastic tennis player. Andy, Chris, Nic, Becky, and a host of Downer friends put in a much better showing than I, but it was muggy and about a thousand degrees, so there is only so much you can do with that. My favorite part was that in a stroke of brilliancy, Nicole filled up a blow up pool in the corner of their large tennis court and we moved the plastic lawn chairs in for a redneck spectator ring. With a corona in hand, it was heaven.

The kids were very busy running around the yard, climbing on all the landscaping equipment, splashing in the pool and mixing their own "mocktails." In a second stroke of brilliancy, Nicole convinced a friend's two teenaged daughters to keep an eye on the gaggle of little ones (7 in all, 6/7ths girls...good odds for Aiden!) so we could relax a little and enjoy each other's company. That Nicole, she's always thinking...

Michaela & Livvy

Aiden on Chris's tractor

Pool fun

Livvy, Grayson and Abbie

Livvy the big sister

Then, later that week, Tim and Becky stopped by for dinner on their way up to Becky's family's house on Lake Winnesquam. Aiden had a great time with them and we all got to enjoy Tim improvising his own tunes to songs in the book "Sally Jean, Bicycle Queen" It was priceless.

Aww, Manny the lovebug