Gem Fest
The 4th of July holiday week brought us together with Buddie’s family on Vinalhaven Island in Maine. It was a gorgeous location and the best Gem Week so far. (They get better and better each year.)
One great opportunity was making it to Boston in time to have lunch with one of our nieces from my side of the family. She was moving to California the next day, so we just caught her. It was great to catch up.
Highlights of the rest of the week for me were taking a walk with Monkey nearly every day, the gorgeous quarry where we went to swim several times, and our youngest niece, J, who has largely rejected me for the last two Gem Fests when she was little, saying to her mom: “What is Monkey’s mommy’s name?”
“Aunt Ginnie.”
“Yeah, Aunt Ginnie. I like her.”
She may have rejected me for Buds in the past, but I WILL win her heart.
There were many, many games; fantastic meals; deep, interesting conversations; planning for future years of travel together; swimming; walks; town adventures; fire works; and vast amounts of laughter. Randy, the caretaker was incredibly helpful. We all got in some great workouts. Yoga on the lawn was splendid. We had lobster rolls a couple different times. Buster tried out narrating a large group game of Werewolves after he got to observe Uncle Scott do it a couple times.
One of my very favorite parts of these weeks is that the families all jumble together. You’ll see aunts and uncles hauling around children of all ages and sizes:
A puppy pile of wrestling may erupt at any moment:
Everyone spends time with everyone. I love to think of the memories all these cousins are making of joyful times together.
We headed out of Nashville early on a Friday morning:
For those (like me) who like pictures set to music, some additional shots:
It took a car, a plane, another car, and a ferry to get there, but what a splendid week it was.
