slowing down and catching up

since moving in to the new house, we've been able to slow down a bit and enjoy some time with family and friends. the first week we were here, in fact, we got to see both alan and cara and mike and jessie, good friends on east/west and north/south travels of different sorts.

alan, cara, noah and an awesome car lineup in the living room.

alan and cara spent the night with us on their way back east to lexington, massachusetts, at the conclusion of a cross-country adventure. it was great to catch up with but also very handy to have them around right after moving in. alan rewired the dryer and cara scrubbed our kitchen sink, and together they made us a delicious home-cooked meal. alan and aaron also had a friendly race to build some new chairs from ikea, which can be witnessed below.

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the next night we got to catch up with mike and jessie, who left seattle in may for a summer of travels and are now headed south to teach and work at the oregon extension in ashland, oregon for the fall. we are very excited for them (and jealous!) and are hoping to make it south sometime this fall to visit.

here's jessie attempting to read a tintin book to noah. (i don't even bother. when noah asks me to read one, i just tell him that daddy will read it when he gets home!)