Yesterday I joined Luke and Jaimie and the kids at Jaimie’s shady place in the woods for a morning of pure fun. Mostly we amused ourselves with Noah’s and Ava’s toys, frisking around among race cars and dolls and pretend food. Luke (age 40) was a kid again as he frolicked around with a complicated race car track, occasionally wrestling with Noah and squeezing Ava with a smile. I enjoyed myself mostly by watching and helping – sort of an assistant coach of a having-fun team. Jaimie, meanwhile, slipped outside to finish riding the tractor mower across the flourishing spring grass in the big backyard. It was a morning of simple messing around.

Today we met at the little beach in Stonington for a few hours of fun in the bright May sunshine. Noah caught many tiny crabs and happily showed them to family and strangers alike, and Ava waded into the icy water up to her ankles and called herself a “vewy bwave girl.”