22, 23, 24 // 52

“A portrait of my children every week in 2016.”

Lillia: You’re now in your fourth week of school vacation, and you certainly seem to be enjoying the slower pace of summer, which mostly entails lounging, walking to the pool with friends, and watching your favorite TV shows on Hulu and Netflix. You’ve also been doing a lot of watercolor painting, which is great! You reluctantly accompanied us on our family vacation to Lubec, Maine the week before last. As is to be expected of kids your age, family stuff isn’t your highest priority. One aspect of our trip that you did seem to enjoy was our sea-kayaking excursion off the coast of New Brunswick—you had to go in a tandem kayak with the instructor named Bruce which, despite your initial hesitation, turned out to be the best possible scenario. The two of you chatted like old friends which, in a certain sense, you were: Seven years ago we took the very same excursion and Bruce let you borrow his special wool hat because it was so cold. Neither of you remember this, but I do, and we have pictures to prove it! We’ve also signed you up for an acting class this summer, which will be your first foray into formal acting instruction. I think you’ll really enjoy it. [Lillia will be a guest-poster on my blog later this month, so stay tuned!]

Zane: As soon as school was over, we started doing the Zane childcare shuffle. Because I only work part-time, we were able to cobble together a mixture of grandmother-care and summer camp at your preschool, which will carry us through the summer. While you were with Meme you got to visit the library, swim at the lake, and play at the children’s museum. The biggest highlight of your summer so far was our family vacation to Lubec. You’re always up for whatever we have planned, and you really enjoyed all of the outdoor time we had in Maine. Before we left we bought some Golden Guides to help us identify all the birds, plants, and sea shells we might encounter, and you used them quite a few times during our trip. You were particularly interested in the different kinds of shells we found—we came home with quite the collection of bits and bobs. You were particularly enamored with empty crab shells and crab appendages. I have to be honest and tell you that I did not bring the crab legs home with us: I have to draw the line somewhere! For the next month you’ll be at day camp and I’m sure you’ll have a blast.