And so the three New York Shepards sadly packed up the cottage; said goodbye to Beverly, Dana, and Steve; and motored back to Natick to join up with Stella. Lisa and I kept looking at each other in disbelief as we prepared to head home. How did the summer go so fast? Even Marni seemed a little confused by it all. I have to say that the summer in Old Orchard is the highlight of my year. It's what I look forward to most in the year. And to have it slip away so fast is devastating.
Although the idea of staying at the beach for a whole month seems heavenly to some, it is really quite an undertaking for Lisa. She has the kids 24/7, and is running a virtual bed and breakfast most of the month. She did a fantastic job as the head of the household, but next year we may have to make some changes in order to reduce her stress.
Just before we headed home from Maine, we added a set of super-cool bike roof racks to the mini van. This will make it a lot easier and a lot less stressful to carry our bikes all over the place.
After a 24 hour visit with Nana and Papa Shepard, we found a few square feet of extra space in the Odyssey to shove in Stella, and headed back to Brooklyn. Stella slept part of the way. Marni didn't sleep at all and never shut up for one second!
Brooklyn was just as we left it. The girls were happy to be home and were thrilled to be reunited with the toys they left behind. Soon the apartment was in shambles.
That night Marni work up crying at about 12:30. That's a bit unusual, but I guess she wasn't quite use to her bedroom yet. After I got Marni back to sleep, Stella came up to sleep with us. This marks the one year anniversary of the beddy-buddy truce (when I decided not to fight with Stella if she wants to come up and sleep with us).
Today we took a walk with Stella (and Marni) to see her new school. Then we biked to Prospect Park and had a picnic. The girls are now asleep and tomorrow is Stella's first day of public school! Marni starts back at Raindrops on Wednesday.
I've been asked by a lot of people if the constant commuting between New York City and Maine in August is disorienting. Not really. The most disorienting event is the end of the summer when we all come back from Maine into the city. I feel completely lost. It will probably take a week or two to get back into the regular flow of life. But for right now... things are just strange.
