Last Summer Fling

We decided Monday afternoon to accompany Ryan to D.C. on an overnight business trip. We had a lot going on here that had to be juggled around, but when we can jump in the car with Ryan (no air travel involved) and stay in his hotel room (in this case the Ritz-Carlton!), without interrupting a school schedule - we do it!
The hotel was wonderful - literally white glove service. The girls said they felt like Eloise at the Plaza. We checked in around 9:30 pm. Ryan had to speak and attend a conference until lunch time, so we hung out in the morning and waited for him. Then we enjoyed a half day of museum fun and dinner in Georgetown before returning to our car and heading home.
We would have made it home by 10:30 if Lila's hadn't thrown up! She went from happy, sweet chatter to, "Mom, I think I'm gonna throw up." "Really?!" "Yes - (hurling noise)." That made for some fun clean up on the side of 95 in MD!

Enjoying some posh robes..

Daddy and his girls

A bit blurry, but - the real Kermit
(When we told Lila it was the real Kermit, she said, "He's dead?!?!" much to the entertainment of the woman in front of us.)

Very proud that a butterfly chose her arm to land on!

Lila took this one of her sister at dinner.

Sunday Ritual

We have dinner at Gappy and Grammy's house almost every Sunday with my family. Lila's favorite part of the day is when Gappy walks her over to "Mr. Harry's pond" across the street to feed the ducks and fish. It's such an overdone, routine, aspect of our lives that I rarely bother to capture the memories with a picture. But it's such a huge part of my kids' childhood that, last Sunday I brought the camera:

Gappy, Lila, Aunt Bec, Emma, and a host of ducks

Big fish in a small pond

"Organized Chaos" Visits "Royal Cuties"

I'm not picking on her with that title, that's actually the name of my dear friend, Melynie's, blog. She, her husband, and 4 little girls came to visit for the weekend. Truth be told, with six girls ranging in age from 5 months to 9 years, there was plenty of chaos, but not much organization. :)

We had a super time with our friends even if our agenda didn't go as planned. We were supposed to celebrate Mckenna's sixth birthday by going to the beach on Saturday, but Hurricane Bill had other plans. So we met Katie's family at the International Sports Center for some roller-skating, moon-bouncing, net-climbing good times instead. When the weather broke for a short while, we stopped for slushies at Sonic and then crashed our friends' pool. Jul's family came over for birthday cake Saturday night. Sunday, we took Bertucci's by storm - 11 adults and 13 children for an after-church lunch.

We're so thankful for these relationships. We all had a wonderful time and the kids cried saying good-bye to each other. They are truly family to us and we love them and wish Brad would get stationed here just one more time - or maybe for good.

The "after-storm, wet wood, patio party"

The promised s'mores...

I call this one, "Of Course..."

Jacob and Emma

Trying...

Lila and Brooke lovin' each otherSonic!

Mckenna's Cupcake cake

Cha-cha line in the rain

Bertucci's will never be the same!

Wet Weekend Activities

Sandy kids

Lila boogie-boarding

Emma slip 'n' sliding

What a Grin!

After one very wiggly day, this morning Lila asked Emma if she would pull her tooth out for her. No problem, apparently. There wasn't even any blood!

But She's My Baby!!

We enjoyed some delicious Primo hoagies after church today. About halfway through, Lila went to the bathroom. When she took longer than expected, I called, "Are you OK, hon?"

"I went potty ..... and .... I think my tooth is loose!"

I found her sitting on the toilet with a horrified wide-open-mouthed look on her face. Sure enough, the really good roll the sandwich was on must have loosened her tooth right up. It's really loose! And she's only four!! I cheered her on and told her how cool it was to lose teeth, but she's still a bit rattled by the idea, poor thing.

She did get her first tooth really early - I think before she was four months old. I just didn't think she'd be starting Pre-K missing a cute little baby tooth. My baby must be turning into a big girl!

Two weeks + Three Cameras = Lots of Pictures!

Here are just a few pictures from our vacation with Ryan's family. We had a fantastic time! Since I can't caption every one, here's a list of some of the fun:

hanging with cousins,

huge family reunion,

magic show where the magician sniffed Ryan's armpit,

trip to Canada with hot and cold springs,

dinners,

animals,

log splitting /tree cutting,

camping,

kids building creek dams,

cheering on our triathlete cousin,

sewing lessons with Gramma,

riding in fun vehicles