Hey baby, it's the fourth of July

Er, well it was the fourth last weekend when the kids and I trekked to:

• The woods of South Sutton NH to visit my gorgeous girlfriend Anne and her picture perfect family
• Sweet little Lake Wicwas in Meredith NH to spend the day swimming with my fabulous brother and sister-in-law, cool niece and one of their favorite family friends
• The trails of Woodstock VT to go camping with AWESOME college friends including my beautiful dancer girlfriend Melissa from Brooklyn

After reassuring Son #2 that the bears in these parts were vegetarian, we all kicked back and relaxed.

Among the many festivities, we enjoyed (?) a pancake breakfast at the American Legion in Warren NH, went nuts with boxes and boxes of sparklers from the in-laws, relaxed by the bonfires, watched movies outside on a giant screen tacked to Bill’s barn, dined alfresco surrounded by tiki torches, enjoyed fresh mojitos and champagne, played croquet, hiked, swam in Silver Lake VT, shopped in Woodstock, and – best of all – just hung out with friends.

My friend Bill and his wife Elizabeth would make Martha Stewart proud. Their farmhouse is beautifully decorated, their meals (spicy shrimp, smoked ribs, fresh berries, oatmeal cookies) were better than the food served in the best restaurants (hence the boys’ moniker “delish kabobs”), their baby boy (Alistair) was just gorgeous, and – even though they have entertaining down to a science – there was no pressure whatsoever. The entire weekend was unbelievably low key. And Bill took the kids under his wing to play wiffle ball and later encouraged Son #1 to be his sous chef which made him beam (and buy a VT cookbook for himself the next day).

The two comments that sealed the weekend for me were:

Son #1: “I want to come back next weekend”

Son #2: “I don’t ever want to leave”

If only the drive wasn’t so painfully long!