Mommy's Beach Vacation

This past weekend, I was the luckiest mommy on earth: I got to enjoy a mommy's beach vacation! Jodi, Nina, Becca, and I headed to Bethany Beach for a spectacularly relaxing weekend. We ate, we drank, we sat on the beach, we read, we played Scrabble, and we got pedicures. We did not have to take anyone to the potty, cut anyone's food, forget to drink our coffee, eat our food cold, or have to wake up in the middle of the night to help someone go back to sleep. My only worry was whether the tide was going to reach my chair. I enjoyed every minute of it, and the time away made my heart grow even fonder of my two darling children and wonderfully supportive husband. I'm a lucky gal!

Doing Papa's Hair

When Lorraine and I were little, we loved to "do" my dad's hair. I don't know how it came to be, but we had an understanding: if we were quiet while dad watched football, we could do his hair. We would comb it, put in barrettes, put in little pony tails - the possibilities were endless! I'm pleased to announce that the tradition of doing hair has continued to the next generation. Check out this picture of Sydney doing Mustache Papa's hair! Unfortunately, he has much less hair now than when I was little, but she still got to do some serious combing.

Best Daddy Ever

We celebrated all the wonderful dads in our lives on Father's Day! Sydney was especially excited to help her daddy celebrate. She made him a special card and got him a gift card to Best Buy. Cole contributed by letting daddy take him for a dip in the pool. Even Mustache Papa got in on the Father's Day action with a poolside nap. I'm not sure, but I think Big Papa celebrated by sneaking a real beer! We love all our dads - thank you so much for all you do and for being there when we need you most.

The Nuttalls Are Coming! The Nuttalls Are Coming!

We always have a great time when the Nuttalls visit. A couple weekends ago, we were lucky enough to have Alex and Stacie and the kids and Aunt Alice. Aunt Alice (Alex's Aunt) is *the* Aunt Alice that hosts Tom and Alex in New Hampshire each year for their snowmobiling adventures. Anyway, it was great to be able to return the favor for once. Somehow, Aunt Alice escaped my camera, but I will catch her in action next time. As always, the kids had a blast swimming!

Cheers!

Wait a second... What exactly is Cole doing? Waving - of course!

Herndon Festival

I grew up in downtown Herndon. So - for years - the Herndon Festival was a huge event in our family. As I got older, it turned into a weekend-long party. Anyway, it's been a while since we've made to the Herndon Festival, but this year we did. In fact, we parked near my childhood home, threw the kids in the stroller, and enjoyed the festival family style. It was an overcast day, which was good because it was hot! And - I managed to catch some cute pictures of Tom and Syd. It was fun to see all the vendors and ride the rides. A good time was had by all.

Catching Up...

Wow. It's been a while since my last post. We've been really busy between work, the end of school, swimming lessons, and the beginning of summer. Here's quick recap:

We celebrated mother's day with a Bergemuda-style pool party. It was too cold to actually swim, but the day was perfect for playing at the water table, enjoying a good barbecue, and relaxing. The moms were lavished with wonderful gifts, and I even got a kid-free shopping spree!

We've been lucky enough to be invited to some really fun birthday parties. At this one, Sydney got to jump off some energy in the bounce house and get her face painted like a butterfly.

Sydney finished the first year of school the Thursday before Memorial Day. I'm so thankful for her wonderful teachers and the great staff at her school. She really learned a lot over the last year and is becoming quite the character!

The kids and I spent half of memorial day weekend at the beach with the Chabots. Although I ended up getting sick, and we had to come home, we had one really awesome day at the beach. The Chabots were fabulous hosts - as usual - and went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable and the kids were having fun. We are so very lucky to have such a wonderful relationship with the Chabots. I have a feeling Jessie would be thrilled.

Roller Derby

Somehow, I've become a roller derby girl. It all happened so quickly, and before I knew it, I was wearing knee socks. A while back, my friend Misty, who I originally met through mommies' group, suggested I do roller derby. At first, I had mixed feelings, I thought it would be fun, but a little scary too. Then, it turned out that Loudoun County was getting their very own team, and the first "meet and greet" was in Leesburg. How convenient. It couldn't hurt to just go watch... right? I showed up in flip flips and khakis. Within minutes, I was loaned socks, skates, a helmet, and pads and was shown to the rink to start skating. What? Wait a second... And that was all she wrote!

I've been going to practice twice a week for two hours each time since then. People who know me know that I did not skate when I was growing up. All my time was spent in the gym doing gymnastics. Anyway, it's been extremely challenging. I believe everyone else on the team did some amount of skating growing up or had previously belonged to another roller derby team. Anyway, the girls have been very welcoming and patient with me. I've learned to skate, do crossovers, walk on my toe stops, stop, and fall correctly. I've eaten pavement more than once. But - on the bright side, I get to wear knee socks, short skirts, and hot pants - an awesome departure from my mommy-of-two-under-the-age-of-three lifestyle. And - the practices are brutal, so I'm getting in two great workouts a week! What could be better?

This weekend, Jodi, Bret, and I took the kids to see roller derby in person at the DC Armory. It was actually a lot of fun. It wasn't nearly as violent as I thought it would be. And I could see myself participating at some point in the future. For now, I need to practice staying on my feet and off my hiney!

Oh yeah - one last thing... my roller derby name and number:

Mary Lou Wreck'em, 10.0