As we fall into routines and patterns, the number of days becomes less important and whilst we still count ourselves in "phase 2" (with jobs but no house yet), the rhythm of life definitely feels more familiar as we start "phase 3" (house hunting). However, this Sunday marked the 100th day here (which seems crazy, given that the longest holiday we'd ever spent here was 43 days), and I've been meaning to celebrate it with a general update, and probably some photos on Facebook. Everyone is out tonight, so with a bowl of Goldfish crackers on one side, a beer on the other and the Red Sox crushing the Minnesota Twins on the TV, let's go through the family.
Sophie
Let's start with the smallest. Sophie turned 1 in June (I need to write and back date her letter!) and is slowly revealing her personality to us. She has an infectious giggle and the most charming, engaging smile that I've seen. After Jake, who was always slightly suspicious of strangers (and still is to an extent), she will smile and gurgle at anyone, and the combination of her big grin and crazy curls means that she makes friends wherever she goes. She's learned to crawl at fast pace (watch out Marlowe and Brody!) and is currently climbing up and pulling herself up on everything. Walking is not far away at all, and it's crazy to see her small little body getting ready to move.
Jake
Jake becomes a young boy with every passing day. Whilst he's only grown half an inch since we arrived (I measured) he seems taller and bigger than that. It might be that he's that much more confident, or that much more happy or just that spending so much time out in the sunshine and fresh air is stretching him. In any case, he is turning into a much more friendly and socialable kid with other people. We went to see the cats on the farm (not a euphemism!) and he chatted and went with the farm owner who he had never met before. We also went to a birthday party a while back and it was delightful to watch him play with his friends from daycare, freeing me up to make some friends of my own. He's also becoming a book worm, easily wrangling two or three books a night out of anyone who will read to him (including Nana checking in him whilst Kelsey and I were out!), and I leave him each night reading a book to Hobbes. It's such a sweet routine, and I can't wait for him to start being able to read (he picked out something with his name on the other day, so the process is starting).
Kelsey
Kelsey is quickly getting up to speed with her new job. It's quite an intense role, attempting to integrate new Americans and refugees into the school system. The organisation that she's working for seems to be a little chaotic, but I can see her making changes to make it all more efficient. The "so today at work" stories continue, but tend to be about crazy kids rather than work colleagues making her life difficult. It's a trek across to Concord each day, and her summer schedule has her working long hours. We're hoping that it will calm down when schools starts, but it may be a while before she's can do the routines quickly.
Me
As for me, I'm loving being out here. My job starts up properly in September, but I've filled my summer with some summer school work and a whole bunch of training. My school district is part of some big educational changes (more of this in another post when I've got my head more fully around it) and it's an exciting time to be a teacher in Kingston. My parents arrive in New Hampshire next weekend for a family holiday in Ossippee, which is going to be fantastic to see everyone! They're then with just us for a week, including a game at Fenway Park with my dad (very excited, the tickets have already arrived!), so whilst I'm officially on summer vacation, my schedule is booked up until school starts.
We have the periodic conversation about whether we made the right decision. I honestly don't think that the move could have been any better. It still feels like an adventure, and our recent decision to actively start looking for houses (seen 5 so far, with no hits) brings the exciting next phase as a close reality. That's when the real adventure will start.
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