Comings and goings

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks, with 42 Eton Avenue being quite the crossroads lately. After returning from Kazakhstan for the weekend I turned around and hit the road again for a few days in Europe. Before I had made it back, my mom had arrived for a 5-day visit; Karen had hopped a flight back to to Buffalo (via Toronto) for a long weekend with her nieces (one of whom is shiny and new); and our friend Martin from South Orange had spend the night on our sofa. Around the time I got back, my dad also arrived. In an apparently unrelated development, Andrea the nanny fell ill. Chaos! The only constants throughout were Sadie & Parker, who took most of the changes in stride, although they were a little more clingy towards me than usual. It was tough for them to be away from Karen for so long... whenever I mentioned her name, Parker would start howling.

But they were happy to spend time with Meme and Pepe, and we were blessed with a warm summery weekend, which meant a long walk around Hampstead Heath, a trip to the Parliament Hill paddling pool and picnic with Adam & Lucy, visiting Gillian from Boston. And thanks to the grandparents I even got some welcome pub time with Adam down at The Washington, the neighborhood watering hole. 

Parents flew to Athens this morning, and Karen flew in this afternoon (after what sounds like a great trip but miserable return journey)... and life is slowly returning to normal, at least for a few weeks.