You've got to have friends

Paul's good buddy, Evan, is spending spring break in England where his cousins live, but Paul hasn't had time to miss him yet since we've been having so much fun catching up with other friends, both near and far.

Paul's cousin, Amanda, and her family (my brother) who came to town from Ohio. They look a bit shy together here, don't they? That didn't last long. They soon renewed their friendship and were off playing together.



Later there was a Easter egg party and at Grandma's house. Aunt Jean and her daughter, Jennifer, came to visit with Jennifer's five children. There was egg-dying and hunting and lots of pizza.

After Amanda left, Paul had a sleepover with his friends Alex and Tommy and the next day the three boys hooked up with their old friends Brian and Robbie who now live in Pennsylvania. All these boys had been day-care pals together back when they were little and still enjoy each other's company. This gang of boys plus a few other friends went up to Baltimore to Port Discovery for the day, where they ran, climbed, fell, slid, jumped, tripped, and crawled their way around the big three-story "tree house." I caught them all for a moment in this photo.





As if all this wasn't enough, Paul has caught and befriended another worm snake. Last fall Paul caught a worm snake in the garden and kept him as a pet for several months until he died. We don't usually allow Paul to keep bugs, insects, and animals that he finds in our yard, but this snake was so friendly and cute that we relented. Now Paul has caught another one. It also is friendly and charming, curling up around Paul's fingers and willingly letting Paul play with him.




We've told Paul he can keep him only through the spring break and then he has to let him go. After all, you can't capture and keep a friend, no matter how much you may sometimes want to.