weekend update

this weekend was bittersweet.

much of our family, including jack's aunt megan, whom he has not seen in over a year was in town.

sweet.

for the memorial service honoring mommy's great aunt shirley.

bitter.

but, as the sign on shirley's kitchen door read, "life is uncertain, eat dessert first," we will focus this update on the sweet.


nana and aunt megan arrived friday evening for some playtime before dinner. jack showed off his skills ...

and aunt megan was impressed ...

saturday took us to virginia for the service, and afterward we celebrated a well-lived life. jack and his cousins embodied liveliness, as they ran around the courtyard at shirley's retirement community. we suspect the residents must not have many weekends with six kids running wild below their condo windows.

jack was particularly fond of his third cousin joey ...

though they were born just three days apart, jack decided to "adopt" joey, and ran around hugging and kissing him and calling him, "my baby."

and he was very interested in keeping up with big kids emily, jack s., and allison ...

in fact, he acted as though 5 year-old jack was more his equal than 2 year-old joe!

but the kids had a ball together ... the first time they've all been together in a year and a half (when jack and joe weren't doing very much!) ... and it was a great joy and affirmation for all of the first cousins -- shirley's daughters and nieces -- to see such liveliness.

since jack's aunt megan and great-aunt kathleen were in town, sunday we had a family day.

we took jack to great falls park to feed the ducks. sadly, there were no ducks to be found, but jack had a grand old time anyway, running, climbing and exploring ...

and jack obliged us by quacking like a duck to get pieces of bread fed to him ... so it was *almost* like having ducks to feed ...

despite a sad reason for our reunion, we and our little duckling had a great family weekend and a nice end to the summer.