Friends

So I don't think this will come to a surprise to many of you, especially if you are reading my blog and you know me, but my friends are really important to me.  I like to think this is one of the many traits I have inherited from my mother.  I love keeping in touch with friends and still have many close friends from high school and college that I talk to on a regular basis.  I love Facebook because it helps me to know what is going on with folks when life gets too hectic to meet for coffee or drinks as often as I'd like.  One lesson I hope to pass on to Trey is how valuable good friends are and how they really create the support system that a person needs to lead a happy and fulfilling life (especially if he is an only child).  Right now almost all of his friends are my friends' kids, and that is certainly not a bad thing.  I hope that as he grows older he chooses wisely, as I read in one of Malcolm Gladwell's essays that as children grow their peers have a bigger influence on them than their parents.

Trey and I have been going to swimming lessons with Mindy and Camille.  One day as we walked out of the locker room on our way to the park, they grabbed hands.  Mindy and I nearly melted with the cuteness of it.  Trey and Camille have been spending time together since they were 3-4 months old, but this summer feels like the first time that they have realized that they are friends and like each other.

The sweetest thing ever

I was really hoping to spend more time with Kathleen and her boys, Garland and Maclyn, this summer, but somehow our schedules have made that difficult.  It is a real bummer because summer is almost over, and I'm not sure Trey (26 months) and Maclyn (22 months) have learned yet that they are going to be really good friends.

For some reason I can not get these three boys to look at the camera at the same time.  Here is Maclyn, blond as ever, smiling for the camera.

Playing on the teeter totters at Peninsula Park

Getting wet, of course

Kathleen and Maclyn

This may be Trey and Maclyn's first official one-on-one interaction.  YAY!

One day after swimming, Mindy and I realized that Trey and Camille were dressed as twins.  This made their holding hands pictures even cuter!

Last weekend Sarah Long came up from Eugene with her kids, Anna and Curtis.  I went and hung out with them at Sarah Kopplin's house (I still can't figure out why I call Sarah Long by her maiden name and Sarah Kopplin by her married name - maybe it is because so many people in Portland who know Sarah Kopplin know her by her married name???) before we went out to dinner.  I love how Trey is getting older and starting to interact more with the kids.

Trey and Curtis at Hopworks 

Sarah Kopplin, Sarah Long, Curtis (4), Trey (2), me,
Anna (7), Kai (4), and Zander (7)

Hands down, one of my favorite things about summer is getting to spend more time with my friends.   While I'm starting to look forward to the routine and structure of the school year, I will definitely miss my summer playdates.