July 23, 2008. Chevy Chase, Md. Dinner.

Andrew and Christina and the three girls came to dinner tonight. Usually, we take dinner over to their home once a week, but this week, we suggested they come to our place. Their house is for sale, and it is easier to keep the house neat and tidy if they get out of the house, so over they came. The baby is crawling. She really moves quickly across the floor, when she spots something she likes. It is interesting how watching a seven month old baby engages your intellect. She is an eager beaver. The older girls have their favorite building materials from the closet in the Library, so they are busy as bees making houses and barns. I brought out the picture takes at our 40Th Anniversary celebration of the two cousins playing in the grass. Such a change in ten years. One granddaughter is five feet five inches tall, and the Texas girl is not far behind. Soon after their return from Nova Scotia, they will make a move to Jackson, Mississippi, so our time of dinners together will end. We plan to visit them in Jackson. This weekend we will all be together at the farm.

It was simple but effective. We kept two lower cabinets full of age appropriate toys, in the Library, which we changed regularly. When they were little, the first thing they headed for was their own cabinet, as something new had been added. Now that they are older, they prefer the old and tried construction toys, so we stopped buying new toys. Now they help to set the table and fill the water glasses, and clear the table, and generally are very helpful. Hide and seek is a favorite game in the apartment, as the hiding spots are new and unusual. It is certainly true that we will miss them living so close to us, but we have been fortunate to watch those little girls grow up inch by inch. Now we will see them less often, but with the modern world of communications at our finger tips, I will hear them and see them on a regular basis. Yes we will.