Home again

After all my bellyaching last week (sorry about that, by the way) the weekend actually turned out really great. Jeran was back to normal on Friday, but we pretty much laid low except for a wonderful dinner with Grandpa and Grandma Louwerse. Saturday, while James fished and the boys hung out with Grandma Louwerse, I was able to join with family to partay in honor of my cousin's first baby (estimated to arrive in early October). It's hard in a way to see my family getting older: grandparents, parents, even cousins - getting married, having babies. I guess because, no matter what, change is just always hard for me. I think I'm just sad, too, that we don't get to see each other very often. Anyway, as usual, I digress. On Saturday evening, Jeran, James, and I got to hang out at the beach for awhile with my brother, after which my parents and Ben joined us for supper. Such a great time, especially since we don't get to see my bro and his wife NEARLY enough (and this time my sis-in-law was galavanting around Guatemala - we missed you, Meliss! I suppose you weren't galavanting so much as...hmmm...what type of gait do you adopt, would you say, when you're working?). Sunday the Louwerse clan was gathered together in Caledonia at Tim and Ruth's, with Uncle Darwin and Aunt Lorraine from Iowa added to the mix. A wonderful time of catching up. Sunday evening we got together with friends we haven't seen since college (going on almost 10 years now?!) at their home - fantastic (both the time spent hanging out AND their home, actually). Monday morning Jeran and I hit the beach again which was really relaxing, and I was grateful to get some one-on-one time with him while James golfed.

Then, of course, we battled the traffic to get home. It was a four-and-a-half hour comedic blend of tag-team crying from the boys, threats directed at three-year-old misbehavior, and muttered curses at the endless construction and traffic (like we don't know better than to expect that by now). All in all, though, a great holiday weekend, and a good end to the summer, as much as we hate to see it come to an end. And the drive home wasn't all bad, as we were graced with this glorious sunset.