Things we did this summer......
(and I can't believe it nearly Christmas!!)
The first thing we did this past summer was to fly to Ireland after Keeva had finished her last day of school with Nana. We rented a beautiful house close to my Uncles outside a little fishing village and close to the beach. The gardens where great for the kids to run around in. There was even a "secret, lucky garden" as Keeva called it - an area of trees and shrubs that you could pass into into and it had a tree growing in the center surrounded by a bed of shamrock. It had a truely magical feel to it and I could see stories of fairies growing from such a great place. I would have had so much fun there as a child.
It was great to see all the family: the children back home have all grown so big and the new babies are too cute. It was nice to see the family growing. Keeva really enjoyed seeing her cousins. As she doesn't have any young cousins here in the States it's a big deal for her to see her cousins. She talks about them all the time. I did try to convince my grandmother to bring one of them over on a visit for Keeva but no such luck.
The best part though was enjoying the beautiful weather while Joe (sorry hon) was stuck here in the rain that seemed to fall endlessly for most of the summer this year. When the weather is nice in Ireland it really is beautiful.....sunny, blue skies with no humidity....just heaven. Although I think I realized that I have been gone from there so long now and with Mam and Dad here now it's not really home anymore. It was a sad realization but I've been gone thirteen years and a lot has changed.
Keeva's fear of the water really disappeared over the summer thanks to all her friends Moms who took her on playdates to the beach. By the end of the summer she was wading out waist high.....I was so proud of her! Dillon loved the water too and surprisingly the sand. He love to stand holding your hands and bounce up and down just low enough for his butt to slap the top of the water...what fun!
What else did we do?? Not much I guess...hmm thinking about it I guess it was a pretty boring summer all round. We did rent a house for a week on Cape Cod at the end of August. Poor Joe hadn't been away since May of last year so I thought the Cape was a good choice. He could take a day or two off work, still go to work a couple of days during the week and enjoy the beach in the evening. It was a great week. The house was fabulous and the best part was it was within walking distance of a little inlet that provided hours of entertainment for Keeva. There were no waves which meant her developing love of water was able to really take hold. The best part though for her was that when the tide went out the water disappeared over a lot of the area and all sorts of creatures could be found. At one stage she had collected so many hermit crabs in her bucket that they made a huge racket (noise) climbing over eachother and banging off the side of the bucket. We also found baby jelly fish, minnows, a HUGE horse shoe crab, snails and shells of all shapes and sizes. Being on the Cape was great too because we were not too far from home and some friends visited on different days which was really great. Our neighbors came for and night spent a night with us. Keeva's best friend Zoe and her family came for an evening picnic on the beach. Unfortunately the little inlet beach was closed that night so we had to go to the main beach where the waves where much bigger. Keeva really didn't like this but the Putzai kids didn't seem in the least bit bothered. Bless Brigittes nerves....they made me grateful for Keevas fear! Another day we Had Keeva's friend Elizabeth visit with her Mom and brother. They had a lovely time fishing and exploring. Unfortunately I had burned to a crisp the day before so had to stay covered under the beach tent which meant I couldn't take part in much of the fun but watching my beautiful girl, with the glow of summer on her skin and the smile of childhood on her face was just as good. She really is growing into a beautiful little girl.
(Photos will follow)
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