It has been nice to have time with family in the northeast before heading up to Maine and the Monteux School. For the first week (after the two day drive), Liv and I went camping with my parents, which is something neither of us has done in almost 15 years. It was nice - especially the opportunity to spend some real time with my parents. We stayed on Lake Eaton, which is just to the north east of Long Lake and pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It was really relaxing - got a lot of reading, card playing, and canoeing accomplished. We also took a dy trip to Lake Placid, which was a normal haunt for me when I was studying in Potsdam. Despite not being there for over 10 years, it hasn't changed much at all - we even ate lunch at the Lake Placid Brewery (a microbrewery I absolutely adore). For this week (up until Sunday) we're at the in-laws house, spending time with her family as well as her best friend (who still lives in town). Sunday, we'll drive up to Maine, and we start rehearsals on Monday.