Family ties...

Good Morning! And it was a rather early one at that. My stepson and his wife and our two grandchildren got up at 5AM to leave this morning to head back to Maine. I said my good-bye's last night, as 5AM is kind of rough for me. That was fine by them. So we hugged and promised to see one another soon before we headed up to bed.
They had arrived on Friday night, about midnight. Last year, I waited up. We met at the front door just after midnight, hugged, and went to bed, all of us too groggy to say much. So this year, I told them, 'I'll leave the door unlocked and the light on. See you in the morning! It worked out fine.

We had a nice visit. We hadn't seen our 15 year old granddaughter in 2 years, as she lives with her mom in Alabama, and didn't come home last summer. She barrel races, and had too many competitions to get away. She has grown so much since then and we were glad for the opportunity to see her again.  She is a typical teen who is into her books, texting, and spending time alone. I wanted to get to know her better, but teenagers don't seem to be interested much in adults at this age.

Our grandson is 12 now, and plays basketball during the school year. He loves to sit and talk and play board games, anything that involves the whole family. He also likes to play darts with his grandfather when he visits.

It is hard loving your grandchildren and not being able to be there for them. Being so far apart makes it difficult to keep in touch enough to keep up with each others lives.

They went to Six Flags yesterday.  They came home a bit sunburned and tired last night, but happy.

We are hoping for a trip to Maine on the weekend. Part vacation, part house hunting. We have entertained the idea of moving back up for the last 3 years. We are here because of the job, a really good job, but we haven't really made many friends, or connected with the area.
There are SO MANY PEOPLE here!! (read: Traffic)

For people who come from northern Maine, western NB and a quiet part of the Midwest, it is hard to get used to, even after all this time (4 years). The pace of life is definitely slower up there. The people are for the most part friendlier too.
It seems because of the transient population here, the locals are a bit reluctant to get to know you unless you've lived here long enough for them to see you aren't lunatics or serial killers. While we've grown comfortable with our neighbors and we all occasionally wave or say hello it hasn't grown into a visiting kind of thing. Perhaps it's the area of CT we reside it? Although in reading forums on city-data.com, there are several out there with concurring opinions.

I was used to the visiting kind of thing in Maine. In fact, I might have mentioned in previous posts about my 2 generous and kind neighbors I had in Waterville, Maine before we moved down here.
The first week, Mrs. Beal, who is in her 80's, came over with homemade banana muffins and brownies. Mrs. Frye, also in her 80's, on the other side of us, came at least once a week for a year and a half, to keep me company while my DH worked in Baltimore. She always waved and called out the window to him when he came home on the weekends, and they always teased each other. It was so nice. Even though we were renters, they made an effort to get to know us. Perhaps they were relieved to find we were ordinary friendly people.
They were unhappy when we left. I had done some flower gardening for Mrs. Frye, and in payment (although I wanted nothing but the joy and therapy of gardening) gave me some beautiful pink Heisey glass antique dishes, bless her heart, as a thank you.
In combination with the high cost of housing/property taxes here in CT, these are elements that are the driving force in our decision to think about moving back to Maine. Let me clarify that. 'I' move back to Maine. My poor DH will have to stay here during the week, and come home on the weekends. Such a hard decision to be apart, but when you are looking at retiring in 10 years or so, one must think about affording mortgage payments at that point in time.
Anyway, that's what's on the agenda. We will just have to walk it out.
I hope you all have a wonderful summer!