Late last year, Olof’s sister, Anna, and her family — who had been our two-houses-down neighbors for more than ten years — moved to a town three hours away. They come back to visit relatively often, but obviously we don’t see them as much as we used to. Our kids are roughly the same ages (in fact, there were a couple of years, before Olof and I got carried away, that we had matching girl-boy-girl sets), and they’ve all grown up used to spending quite a bit of time together. The new arrangement has been tough for them, particularly for Tage, who has always been close to his cousin, Alex, who’s a year older and, it must be said, a pretty cool guy.

With summer upon us, Alex’s family is spending some time on their old stomping grounds, and last night Alex stayed overnight. He and Tage pitched a tent out in the front yard and set up camp at bedtime. I’m not sure they got much sleep, if the talking and laughter I heard when I went out at two in the morning is any indication, but hey, they’re on vacation after all.