update from molly ryan:

hello family. once i made a book for my mom that was about all the things she taught me to love. i feel like i should do the same for the mund women. my desk is covered with photos of the cabin. i have a post-it not with the dates "June 29-July 8th" written on it just to the right of my computer screen. i am dating a boy who cooks food family style and i need peoplelovepeoplelove until I need quiet time to think and listen. everyday i realize more and more what a product of you i am. here are a few images of things that i love today, that you might too:

last week a friend of mine asked me if she could come visit me at the cabin this summer (she lives in Wisconsin and I have not seen her in a year), I responded "YES YES YES, but, before you sign in blood I must warn you: the cabin is nothing fancy and always a bit quirky...so how do I explain this....my love of crafts and family dinners? 100% product of the cabin. My free spirit and head out the window on nighttime drives? 100% product of the cabin. My inability to wash dishes in a timely manor? 100% a product of the cabin. See what I am trying to say? 20 people in a 4 bedroom tiny tiny cabin...it can get crazy during those weeks in July. When noone is there it is the most secluded, serene place I have ever been, which I love, but in July it is CRAZY-AWESOME-WONDERFUL-SILLY-PACKED-OHMYGODIHATEYOU-SIXGROWNWOMENYELLING-LOVELOVELOVE, which I also love. Imagine 6 or so more of me + 5 college boys + 6 or so small children....:)"

Love.

Our family is...

Loud, yes.  Close, yes.  Complicated, yes.  And interesting, and talented, and intelligent and brave and adventurous.

If I was on the outside looking in, I would wonder how this group got it all done.  I would wonder how we learned it all.  I would wonder what would happen next, or what adventure I would be dragged to next.

Favorite memories lately:

Molly as a tour guide in NYC
All of us (Ryans, Mulloneys, Grahams, Ruths, and Shanika!) walking in the woods in Galena
Picking up Pete and Jessica at the train station in Cleveland at 3:30 AM on December 31, 2011.

What's next?