I think I'm usually pretty good at living in the moment. I get my hands dirty, let the kids destroy the house and get hurt- all to feel it. We go barefoot (when Phil's at work) to be close to the earth. This week I caught myself reaching beyond a few times, though. I longingly watched the "cool moms" at the pool reading a good book in the shade while their kids were swimming on their own. I thought about what it would be like if all my kids were at camp and I had the house to myself. Or waking by the sun without that feeling of terror that the girls were messing with the temperature gauge in the freezer again. And then we watched a few of our family videos. And it brought me right back to this moment. I have a FIVE year old starting kindergarten really soon. I have an idea of how time just disappears. Too fast. I just love those baby snuggles from Abigail. And Marly loves to hold my hand. Elizabeth runs right to me screaming my name when she falls off her bike. It feels so good to be loved. Let me relish! By comparison, this was a quiet week. Monday seems to be our day for adventure since the pool is closed. This time we went to the zoo. It was hot, but where isn't these days. It was a fun day, complete with ice cream on the way home (using their "allowance" money). Tuesday we went to the pool and were the only ones there until the camp kids showed up. Where is everyone this summer? The pools are empty. The river is empty. The zoo was even pretty sparse. I almost feel like we got left behind. I hosted a playdate with the Leens and Suters on Wednesday. I grilled hotdogs and we tagged JNJ items. A working play date really. Suzanne watched the girls for me Thursday morning for a appointment and they had a ball with the cousins! Friday we went to the FYC pool and saw lots of friends. We dipped out, though and headed to story time and then lunch at Whataburger with out reading prizes. I'm still loving the afternoon thunderstorms, and the break from the heat afterwards. I had book club Monday to discuss Cuckoo's Calling. Chrissy came over wine and wedding talk one night. We did Kids Night and swimming at TCC one night and another night just swimming and dinner by the pool. We even made some new friends, which is always nice. Saturday we had a lazy morning with bacon & eggs then took the boat downtown to the Landing for this water festival thing. We got there early but it soon became crowded and we melted. Ellie and I went to Anna Grace's Birthday at Gyminators. So simple, yet so fantastic! We got a last minute sitter and went to dinner with the Vogts Saturday night. This morning we went to Ft. Victor's last mass at Sacred Heart. He's retiring and moving back to India. It will be so weird not having him around at family gatherings! Hopefully, he'll keep up on Facebook! The older girls played tennis with Phil while Abby and I hit up the baby pool. We had lunch then a great nap time. Later we went to the Suter's for swimming and burgers. I'll post some pictures to help me slow down the time.

This was the last week of River Rats. It was sad because the girls have really enjoyed the swim team and I can't get over how much they've learned! Now I'm going to have to go back to planning fun things to do every day instead of just showing up and having our little morning gatherings of mom chat at the baby pool. But it will be nice to get to do some other things that we haven't really had a chance to do since the pool has been calling us every morning. We still have some fun to have this summer. Monday my sister and I drove out to St. Mary's, GA to the Aquatic Center water park. It was such a great day- perfect park for the kids. As I was driving back, eating my ice cream cone I was thinking about what a wonderful life I have. What a wonderful way to spend my summer. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing. It's a great way to live. I hope I can pay it forward- all my blessings. I don't want to paint a picture of perfection here, though. We all have our hang ups- Marly went into my closet at naptime with my sewing scissors and attacked my wedding dress (well, really the box I had it preserved in <so she could see it better>), my jewelry box was also taken down with all the contents riffled through. Another fun thing Marly did at naptime this week was take my deodorant and smear it all over my dresser. Oh, I have my freak out moments. Just ask babysitter, Emily as I practically threw Marly at her when she walked in the door Tuesday night. But you know how those nights out always seem to happen at the perfect time! Tuesday was extra special. Dave Matthews finally came to Jacksonville! Yes, it was the middle of the week- but like I said, the perfect time. Phil's all-time favorite! Seeing him go nuts over Dave is enough to make me get excited, too. Fantastic night that even ended at Krystals. I had another fun night on Thursday- MOPS girls night at Rebecca's. Watching the sunset on the river, so relaxing. Phil and I have been watching lots of nighttime TV- The Wire is our new addiction. In addition to river rats, we threw in a few more play dates and things. Played with Tabby one afternoon, the cousins with story time another afternoon. We went to the Applegates for swimming, BBQ & power hour and then another power hour with the Stevensons and Suters. We took the boat out on Saturday afternoon and did family swimming at TCC. Secretly, I'm enjoying these afternoon thunderstorms. Perfect for a nice, long nap- which we all did a few times this week. Saturday night we celebrated our buddy, Renee's Birthday with a good 'ole house party- complete with flip cup! I love that game. So, we're having a good time. To be continued next week!

Again we started the week at the beach, this time in Crescent Beach. Bunny, one of our MOPS mentor moms invited the whole group down for the day to her condo. The weather was a bit overcast, perfect! Then, Bunny was an extra set of hands to carry stuff, watch kids, hold babies- she even offered us her dryer so we didn't have to drive home with wet stuff! Amazing day! Rebecca and her boys rode with us so we even had extra fun in the car trip. River Rats started back up on Tuesday so that's a for sure fun thing every day. We threw in a few extras, as usual. We did the Cummer that afternoon. I helped mom and SQ with the cousins on Wednesday. We all went to Owen's practice (senior river rats) then to the youngers kids (junior river rats). Thursday afternoon we went to a play date at the Hinkle's. It turned into a huge neighborhood party with the Letcher's and Cower's and then the guys joined us for power hour! Fun night! Friday mom watched the girls for me while I went to the dermatologist about my itchy skin. Turns out the heat/sun/pool is giving me some fun eczema-like goodness. And of course the topical steroid cream won't be ready til Monday. The crazy part is the nurse practitioner who saw me was in my drama class at Forrest back in the day. That's not usually where I run into former classmates! That night we met up with my old work husband from the arena, his wife and 4 boys at Sneakers. The kids ran loose while we caught up. Saturday we went to my friend, Gina's daughter's 1st Birthday. It was a nice blast from the past from my Sacred Heart days. Lots of flash backs this week! It rained all afternoon. Not much naps so it was rough. We finally got out and went to Moon River for pizza then everyone went to bed early. This morning we went to the early service at St. Matthew's. Their nursery is nice. I've been trying to come up with something for Ellie to do in mass to help her follow along. I made a few worksheets with pictures to color corresponding to the readings and Gospel. Then I make her count the altar servers, choir people and color the garments of the priest. I asked around for suggestions on some of my catholic facebook groups but haven't gotten anything. Then, I found this website which did all the work for me. Success! This coupled with a prize donut should keep Ellie from rolling around on the floor during mass! We headed up to TCC for lunch and a swim then came home for nap. I snuck out for a hot stone massage that I had bid on at one of Phil's Rotary events last year. Very relaxing, yet hot. Perfect for a cold winter day. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon, though! Now we're watching the World Cup. Go Germany! Just a few updates on the girls: Abigail is chatting away. She can say hotdog, ball, cookie, cracker, pool, ball, and go! Still working on Marly's bed wetting. Latest bribe: strawberry ice cream and "junk cereal" for breakfast. Ellie has been winning 1st in her Friday swim meets! We're so proud of our girls!

Lots more time at the pool and still loving it. I threw in some play dates at the pool, too. One with MOPS and the other with my neighbor, Tiffany. Monday we hit up Hanna Park beach and splash park. Ellie decided she doesn't like sand in her bathing suit. That makes the beach lots of fun! Some MOPS friends joined us. The Leens rode out there with us. The sad part is that when we all got home, they realized their house had been broken into. Very sad. I went to a baby shower this week at Santioni's, more like a sip n see for a friend from CEE who adopted her 5th child. Awesome conversations with all these super Catholic, amazing moms. I feel so enlightened! I also went to a meeting with some moms trying to start a MOPSNext group. That's pretty neat! we've had an extra long weekend since the 4th of July fell on a Friday. We had a fun, family breakfast and got a late start. Phil did some yard work. I read my book, Three Sisters. Then, we took the boat to TCC for the festivities. We had a BBQ buffet then there was a water slide, dunking booth and pool games (bobbing for beer). We stayed for a few hours then came home for nap. We went back for dinner and then watched the fireworks. We set out a blanket and had an awesome view. It was perfect, aside from the part about the older girls wondering off to sit with friends and it was super dark and I couldn't find them and freaked out during the firework show. Of course when the fireworks were over they came running to us. Whew! Saturday we spent the day at my parent's. We went tubing and on their boat. Dad grilled out and we made homemade mango ice cream (the last of the mangoes from Miami). YUM! We rode bikes home and then got ready for mass. It was a super low key night with leftovers and early bedtime. Today was another lazy morning. Phil watched Wimbledon. We took bikes to the Freemans for Jack's Birthday. A super hero shin dig with a HUGE bounce house! They know how to throw a good party. You know we stayed way too long. Now, Phil is playing Frisbee (in the heat) while Abby naps and the older girls and I are watching Aladdin. A nice Sunday afternoon! I hope you're enjoying your Independence weekend!

We spent the week in the pool! Stiff chlorine hair, super tan, red eyes, constant wet suits drying on the porch, pool bag sits by the door, almost out of sunscreen (again)- oh yeah! Jessica had us over on Monday for a MOPS pool playdate at her parent's house. Then, every other day we had river rats. We even tried to go back one night after dinner on kids night, but an afternoon thunderstorm stopped us. We're having a fun summer. I'm proud of all the super swimmers! Elizabeth "won" a few of the races on Friday. The coach compliments Marly on following directions. And Abigail just goes right in, like she really can swim. She does get on her belly and back in (same way she goes down the stairs). She's funny! We've done a few afternoon fun things- visited a new MOPS neighbor and welcomed her to the hood, play date with the Hinkle's, baked some cookies, watched Frozen (turns out it is a great movie- then the girls spent the rest of the night dancing too it). Friday we had an Engaged Encounter enrichment on the Southside. We chatted with a new couple and got the Ventura's to sign up to help with our weekend next month (gotta prep for that!) It'll be fun! Saturday I got to go to the MOPS retreat all day! It was really nice to just show up and not have to plan anything. Tracy did a great job! We laughed a bunch and got lots accomplished. It's going to be a great year. Phil played in a tennis tournament at TCC so my mom helped watch the girls in the morning. When I returned we went to the park and watched Phil play soccer. It was no hot, I don't know how he lasted more than 10min! We did Tijuana again for dinner then everyone went to bed early. Sunday we tried St. Matthews for mass. We had coffee and donuts after with the Freemans. A bit later we had brunch up at TCC with my parents. They loved it! The brunch really is amazing. We swam for a bit then we all went home for a fab family nap. A nice thunderstorm helped us sleep well. Lola's for dinner then Phil took the big girls back to the pool. More swimming!

I hosted a few parties this week. I didn't mean for it to happen all in one week but that's just the way it falls. Coffee Club was Monday. We had a nice group discuss women and finances while the kids played in the baby pools and then up in the girls rooms. This article from my KKG magazine is what inspired my topic choice. That night Phil had a work thing and the girls and I went to cheer on Owen in his allstar baseball tournament. We watched him hit a home run and make lots of great plays! We had lots of swim team practice. Marly is getting better at using her arms. She even swam a full 25 meters one morning! The coach was even impressed! Ellie was used as an example to show the other kids how to dive and kick. Go Girls! My sister took Ellie one afternoon to give me a break, which was nice! Marly had a play date with her bestie, KK. We played a bunch with the cousins, riding bikes and swimming in Mimi's pool. I was able to celebrate Father's Day with my dad. We had him and mom over for a nice Spanish dinner: gazpacho, paella and chocolate chip pie for dessert. I hosted a MOPS girls night- pizza and beer. I got a bunch of different frozen pizzas, super easy. Moms brought their fav chick beers. Very low key, lots of laughing. The last moms left at 12:30! After all this partying at home, we packed up and headed down to Miami to surprise my father-in-law for his 80th Birthday! I was so scared the girls were going to ruin it, but they did well! We got in late Thursday night. Headed to Key Biscane beach on Friday. Everyone took a nice afternoon nap. Then we sorta did a mad goose chase to get Pops to dress up and ride in the car with us to a "dinner reservation". It was perfect! He truly was surprised! We had a nice dinner, open bar and then lots of dancing. Abigail and Marly passed out. I think Ellie was delirious with her dancing. Showing off her ballet and hula moves until midnight! Great party! On Saturday we all kina slept in. We went to Pinecrest Gardens. The younger two were too tired to enjoy the splash park, but everyone loved walking through the shaded paths and seeing the fish and turtles. Another afternoon nap then we headed to the Reinsteins (Phil's Godmother) for a BBQ & pool party. The girls were not into swimming with Vanessa's dog. But they loved Georgette's cat! After stuffing ourselves with burgers, dogs, ribs and cake we put the girls to bed then Phil and I went out for a hot date. We started in the Grove and hit up a few places-one was an awesome cerviche bar! Yum! Then we went dancing in Brickell. Fun! Fun! But you know this morning was rough. Marly wet one bed Ellie threw up in another. Ellie set off the house alarm and Abigail set off the car alarm. All this before 8am! After a big breakfast and mass we are headed back to Jacksonville! Too much partying maybe? That is how the Bravo's roll...you know that 😜

This week we kept the big girls super busy! They had River Rats in the morning and VBS in the evening. We had lots of temper tantrums and naps in between- summertastic! We had a MOPS play date at the zoo on Monday (no swimming on Mondays). It didn't start out so well. It was one of those super hot days and all the kids were done with the splash park after about 10min. Gara had the great idea to go have lunch inside so we followed her with our picnic lunch and cooled off. We powered through with them and the Nixons and stayed until about 3! We ended with ice cream on the way home. The older girls enjoyed a neat "camp" at Marly's new school and Ellie's old one. It went from 5:30-8:30pm so that meant Phil and I got a date night each night. (Not a real one, Abigail was still with us. But it was neat to just have her.) Sunday night we went easy and Phil picked up McDonalds and we put Abigail to bed early. Monday we went out for sushi. Tuesday we did a double date with the Browns (who also had one baby leftover) for pizza. Wednesday we crashed Meghan Denk's Birthday party at Timuquana. And then Thursday Phil played tennis and I had Abigail's leftovers from Wednesday. The mornings we spent at the pool. I'm so proud of both of my little River Rats! I was a little nervous about Marly because she's the youngest one out there. They call them to swim by age and the coach yells out, "Four year old girls and Marly!" Well, my 3-year old is doing swell! She follows directions and is working real hard. And then Miss Elizabeth is a little fish- zipping through the water and being a good big sister. Cousin Alex is out there, too. The girls get so excited to be with him every day. He spent the day with us on Wednesday while Suzanne worked. They were thrilled! Ellie loved riding bikes with him! And then you know how I like to cram in all sorts of other things. So one day we went to the downtown library between swim and nap for the summer reading kick-off, the next day we went to the Wesconnett library for story & art and one day we had the Freemans join us at the pool. Now the date nights didn't end with VBS. Friday, Phil went to a client's board meeting then we were invited to their family low country boil. I just loved meeting everyone and seeing their family together. Made me wish mine lived closer. After dinner we went out to Riverside to meet up with friends for Carl's Birthday. Not a late night. Saturday morning we had eggs and sausage and hit up the TCC pool. I snuck out and ran home and met up with some friends to have lunch to celebrate Tracy's pending arrival. A few aps and lots of cake: sounds like the perfect ladies lunch to me! I came home early and went with the fam to 5pm mass. We had plans to go to wine night but our babysitter forgot. That's the first time that's happened! I was so mad! When I finally tracked her down, I just told her nevermind. We would have been 2 hours late. It worked out, though. Phil and I stayed in and watched Our Story and had thai take out. Turned out to be a romantic night in. Today is Father's Day! I have to give a shout out to my hero.

My dad raises expectations of what a father should be like. I never thought I'd live down the street- yet here I am and loving it! This guy has taught me so much about how to live and how to love- through example. I think I am a lot like him, personality-wise. He once told me, "The best parties are the ones you throw yourself. It has all the people you want, the food you want, the music you want." He's a true family man. And the most amazing thing, he puts my mom first. Quite a lesson of love. I'm so blessed to have him in my life. Thank you for all you do and have done for me. Happy Father's, Day!

And we can't leave out this guy. There's something super cool about watching your husband be a good dad. His girls adore him! It's a sight to see! Happy Father's Day, Hottie Phil!

We started the day with a morning boat ride. Phil played chess with the older girls while Abby napped. Then we headed up to TCC for an amazing brunch. (I'm still full). We swam. Phil stayed to work out and run home while I took the girls home for a nap. He went back to the pool with the older girls while Abby and I took a bike ride to check on Raja. We had dinner a Tina-wanta-flats (Marly's fav). Hopefully, I'll get to celebrate Father's Day with my dad this week! Cheers to all the great dads out there!

It's official! We have a 2-wheel-rider!

We're off to some fun adventures already this summer! Now that we have some bike riders in the family- Elizabeth is rocking her bike sans training wheels and Marlyn is pedaling hers like a champ- we are filling our hot summer days with lots of riding, swimming and play dates. Ellie's been asking about the Hands on Children's Museum so we did that on Monday. We got in a quick trip to Disney before we're blacked out for the summer. The girls and I left at 5:30 on Wed morning. I packed snacks and PB & J's, a cup of coffee and headed out. Every now and then I get a burst of energy and feel the need to test my guts. Don't think this is a regular thing. But after my trip to DC, I feel super mom-ish. (I don't usually tell you about the afternoons we watch the Disney channel and eat popcorn 'til Phil comes home). We had our fair share of melt downs. Ellie gets tired of walking and was sad we couldn't do some roller coasters. (Our trip was limited since there's only so much I can do- I can't leave a stroller of little kids while Ellie and I do Thunder Mountain for example). Marly had a few canker sores in her mouth and cried every time she ate anything and moaned most of the other times. Good thing we went to the Happiest Place on Earth! Ellie helped me pick out the fast passes in advance so we did quite a bit. By 2pm we had done everything we could (we even pushed it doing the train on the way out) so we headed out and checked into our hotel. We took a break in the room for a bit then headed out to the pool. The girls loved the water slide and Abigail got brave in the splash park- cracking up while walking and then falling into the water! My cousin, Natalie met up with us and the girls had a ball with their cousins, Emily and Robby. It was nice to catch up with my cuz and have a good dinner out by the pool. The next morning we checked out and headed to Animal Kingdom. To me it feels like a glorified zoo. I think the Lion King show was their favorite and Ellie is still talking about the safari. Marly and Abigail took a little snooze while Ellie and I had ice cream and walked through to see more animals. Again, we were out of there by 3 and headed back to Jax. At this point, Marly was really crabby because of her mouth. She was happy with a milk shake for dinner! We went to TCC for dinner and an evening swim. Phil was glad to have us home! Friday we took it easy. Ellie went to Kids Park while the younger girls and I went to the doctor for Marly's mouth. Turns out the whole family had a virus. That must have been Phil's food poisoning last weekend. Seems like he and Marly got the worst of it. That night we went to La Nap with the Suter's. Not a great plan. Lots of screaming and yelling and a mad dash out of there leaving Phil to pay the bill. Luckily, Saturday was a nice day. Marly helped me make chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast (maybe that's what made her mouth feel better!) We took the boat to TCC. Phil and the older girls played tennis while Abigail and I crashed a Birthday party and played in the baby pool. Later, Phil and the girls joined us in the pool and then we took the boat back. We had subs for lunch then a family nap time (well, Ellie played pbskids.org). That night we went to the Suter's for power hour and pizza. This morning we went to mass now the younger ones are napping and Phil is watching the French Open. Just a lazy afternoon. Tonight the older girls have Vacation Bible school at Marly's new school for next year! Happy Summer to you!

It really is summertime! School is out, afternoon thunderstorms, Florida sauna/oven heat, and now it's June! Lovin' it so far! This was a special week because it was packed with recitals. I know it seems crazy that Ellie was in 2 dance classes. Tuesdays were intense for her with a ballet class in the morning and then dance again after school. It just happened to work out that way with that new Yacht Club class starting this spring. What was she going to do? Just sit and watch while Marly did a dance class? That seems silly. So, I think it worked out. Was she a little danced out? Perhaps. Will she be okay? I'm sure. Professional ballerina? We shall see. So, Tuesday morning was the girls FIRST dance recital. There are 3 girls in the class (2 of them are mine). I've never been on this side of a recital so I didn't really know how to do this thing. I was so proud of my ballerina buns- with real hair gel, bobby pins and body glitter (clubbing days come in handy)! I didn't think about flowers! Do you get your 3 and 5 year old flowers for a 15min ballet recital? Everyone else did! My mom picked roses from her garden. The teacher gave them a bouquet, a little friend who came to watch gave them a bouquet and the other girl in the class (Kinley) gave them a bouquet! So now we have quite a floral household! How nice! I'll post some video soon, I promise. The pictures are below in the meantime. We did a fun lunch at chick-fil-a afterwards and took their friend, Anna Grace home with us to play with Ellie during naptime. That night I had a girls dinner with my ole pals: Anna, Lauren, Kat & Regan. I loved catching up with them! It'd been too long! We went to Hawkers (again). Wednesday was a very exciting day. We had a MOPS play date at a fellow mom pal's grandmother's beach house. Have beach house, will travel! Tracy & Tabby rode with us and we headed to S. Ponte Vedra for a super fun day. I even was able to put Abigail down for a good nap. We got too much sun, I tried to keep the girls lathered up- but we were out there until 3pm! What a ball! We made it home in time for Ellie's last dance class! After we went to dinner (kids night) at TCC. I was really impressed with the food! Thursday was the girls last ballet class at FYC. Then, we went to get fitted for my bridesmaids dress for Chrissy's wedding. The girls loved looking at all the dresses. The ladies in the shop were super helpful! I promised the girls ice cream and then a hellish Target trip. Friday we had coffee club at the Freeman's. I was a little too ambitious and had both older girls ride their bikes while I ran with Abby. Marly's pretty good on her bike- just needs a push every once in a while. Ellie can ride her two-wheeler but doesn't have a whole lot of confidence. I ended up running wind sprints! Holding Ellie and running with her before letting go, then sprinting back to get Abigail and catch up with her and Marly. Luckily, Gara was running with her two so she helped by taking Marly for me. I was wiped out by the time we arrived. But, so proud of the girls! I can't get a picture of Ellie riding. I need to get someone to take it for us. So cool! Coffee club was intense. The topic was the Common Core. The conversation went to many other places- abortion and race to name a few. Wow! That night we went to TCC for swimming and dinner. We sat out on the river with the Owens and Napoleons- it was nice! Saturday, Phil made us a nice breakfast (although, he got mad I bought turkey bacon and not the real stuff). He took Ellie to her dress rehearsal. I took the younger two to TCC to watch Owen's swim meet and to sneak in the baby pool. I snuck out at nap to have a pre-baby lunch date with my friend Meghan. Then we went and got pedicures. Phil got some sort of food poisoning- or maybe from the pool Friday night? But was out of commission for a while. I took the girls to a little elementary school reunion. My friend Jeremy came in town from DC and another friend, Sandy hosted a little play date for Sacred Heart and High School friends. It was so neat catching up with everyone! This morning I took the girls to mass (front row with Ellie) then did lunch and nap. Then, we had Ellie's dance recital! Of course we had some issues with a scratchy costume! She had 3 routines: tap, ballet and hula! I was really impressed. Afterward, Phil asked if she had fun and she said, "not really". Woops! Well, it was a long week of dancing! The day got much better after we arrived at the Nixons for dinner. Ribs, fries and wine! Hurray! I told Jessica that counted as her community service for the week!

Such a sentimental week! First a quick update: Marly is doing awesome with the night time potty training! I don't think it's 100%, though. She's woken up a few times in different clothes (but I can't find the accident...that's really fun). Monday morning we went blueberry picking at Veterans Farm with our MOPS friends. We raced Ellie to school and did our last nap time routine, which didn't work so well so we made blueberry cookies instead. Tuesday was a busy day. We began with a pediatrician appointment for the girls: Ellie's 5 year, Marly's 3 year and Abigail's 15 month. Of course I forgot to write down all their stats so I don't have that to report. But everyone is healthy and doing well- lolly pops all around. Next we went to the Leens for a pizza play date- those are so much fun! Then, Ellie had her last day of pre-school! We all went up to the school for her graduation. I'll post those videos at some point, but wow! I am so proud of my first angel! She sang her heart out all sorts of patriotic songs- even naming all the states in the US! All week she's been singing the "Kindergarten here I come" song. Someone said to me this week, "The days drag on but the years fly by." So true! So now we're working on re-vamping our naptime routine. No need to work to get the younger girls down by 12:30 anymore. This combined with all the swimming we've been doing= exhausted/crabby girls (me included)! And I'm back to trying to figure out what to do with Ellie during nap time. So far we've got blueberry cupcakes and work out videos. We've had dance at the Yacht club on Wed & Thurs and we stayed after on Thursday to swim. We also did a play date at Leo's and with the Zinn's at the park. Friday we went to Alex's preschool graduation. We spent the day in Mandarin, complete with breakfast at Krispy Kreme! Mom took Marly one afternoon and Suzanne took Ellie for another afternoon so it was nice to have a bit of a break. I did lots of grilling: ribs and salmon. Friday night we got a sitter and went to a new restaurant, Hawkers with the Vogts then to the McArthur's for a game of Cards Against Humanity. I laughed so hard my jaw hurt! I got to talk to my brother, Matt. It's a crazy thought that there was once a time when we were inseparable and spent every waking moment together. And now he's so far away and I feel like I don't even know him. It was nice to get in a good chat and catch up- doesn't happen too often sadly. Saturday, Phil made us breakfast and we took it easy. We headed up to TCC for our first family pool adventure as members! I was amazed at how empty it was. Although it was nice to have the place to ourselves. We had lunch with the Napoleons. A nice afternoon. Later we went to the Thoresens for more swimming and smoked chicken and brisket. Sunday, I made blueberry pancakes from scratch. We went to mass then Phil took Ellie on the boat to TCC while I stayed with the napping younger two. Then, I ran up with them to meet for lunch and swimming. We all took the boat back and visited my parents on the way home. We went to the Napoleons for pulled pork with a pseudo wine club event. It even ended with Cardinal Puff. Today is Memorial Day. Phil got up early for golf. I took the girls to my parents for a swim. Marly rode her bike over! We came back for naps, a down pour and turkey burgers on the grill. Green-lighted by Mark Nixon, taking cover from the storm. The sun came out and we headed back up to TCC for the water slide and more swimming. Then, we went to the Applegates for ribs and yet more swimming and guess what....s'mores! Such a great way to spend a weekend while thinking of all those brave people who died for our country. And my cousin, Parker made me also think about all those veterans who feel forgotten. I'd like to remember them, too. Happy Memorial Day to you and your family. I hope you were able to relax and count your blessings!