Today, the town had a 4th of July celebration at the Grove (complete with guy in colonial garb showing up to read the declaration of independence and the town band - average age 75 if it's a day - playing a patriotic medley that was actually pretty peppy) and it was great. There were games for kids - old school potato sack and relay races, a parachute, and water balloon toss - and of course, the lake for swimming. Almost all of the kids' school friends and their families were there. We ended up having an impromptu potluck lunch/party with several other Housatonic Child Care Center families who are also associated with Hotchkiss. A good time was had by all. True story: I said to one of the other women there "I thought Lakeville was just AWFUL all year, until memorial day. Now I think it's totally great! It's such a great place to spend the summer!" She replied "well, that IS why most people don't live here year round." Ba dum, ching. Right. Of course.
Anyway, The past few weeks have hatched a different Cox family long-game. Sure, we still want to move back to civilization in a few years. But we want to try and do so in a way that lets us keep the house. If that means renting instead of buying for our next move, it might be worth it if we don't have to sell what we hope will someday just be our vacation house. I'd like to spend quite a few more summers at the grove.
Some photos from the day:
and this one, just because it's funny. It's an action shot of Owen throwing a water balloon - it's just the way the photo came out but this kid looks like he as a killer gym-chiseled physique in this shot, does he not? when I first saw it I thought "who is that teenager wearing Owen's star wars swim trunks?" (Immediately after, I thought "why the heck didn't I notice he was wearing his socks? Did he swim in those?"
