T3 is 7. And Dancing in Parking Lots.

Sometimes, you wish you were back in the land of cotton.

Mostly, when it's T3's birthday, and it's a family tradition, and you heard there was a limo involved. But I digress.

After a week that included swimming ribbons,

"leaf identification" homeschool days spent at Sugarloaf,

(where we finally saw glimpses of fall),

and decorating for Halloween;

we fled for warmer climes.

T3's birthday, albeit smaller than usual due to the pandemic, was still the extravaganza we remembered. 

Which had become an annual event, complete with VIP trampoline park access and the aforementioned limo ride. Plus-- an aspirationally-themed fall fire pit and the resurrection of Run Club.

We're never sorry we made the trip. Especially when the weather allows for October pool and park time.

My fave photos of the week have to be this preview of Chief Brody's Halloween costume,

and this sweet photo of F+F dancing in the Target parking lot. 

Because sometimes you try to kill each other with whatever you find in the car... and sometimes you say "shall we dance?" "we shall." Weirdos.

(They totally talked me into ice cream afterwards, for being sweet. I was happy to oblige.)

Hope everyone has a great week!

Columbus Was Lost (And We Still Enjoyed Our Long Weekend)

It's apparently fall here. Although you wouldn't know it from my morning runs,

or from our evenings at the lake. As much as I love hot chocolate and sweater weather, every warm day is a gift, and we're grateful.

Our week also included date night (pedicures and a socially-distanced screening of Jaws, respectively),

and outdoor checkers in the Mosaic District before everybody got ribbons at swim school. 

The highlight, though, was teaching the kids about Columbus Day with a little help from Missy and this spectacular song, and celebrating with a road trip along the Eastern Shore.

I had always wanted to check out Rehoboth and the surrounding beaches. Some of them were really gorgeous,

although I had forgotten to note the Cape May to Lewes ferry, which meant that it was also effectively the Jersey shore. I found this incredibly off-putting, but- lovers of tacky sh*t since day 1- the kids adored it.

They reveled in hot tubs and breweries,

played Jaws and discovered the hilariously real "Delaware First Shark,"

posed in front of lighthouses and engaged in the opposite of skinny dipping,

and discovered this incredible restaurant.

And we capped off the long weekend with our long awaited "Girls Gone Wild (Horses) Camping Trip" to Assateague Island with Kelly and H+H.

It was idyllic- the ponies really did scamper on the beach and wander through our campsite- and everyone enjoyed hobo packets and s'mores and ghost stories...

until Tropical Storm Delta hit with torrential downpours and gale force winds, and we all finished the night in our cars with broken tent poles and soggy sleeping bags. 

The veteran of an infamous Walters Family camping trip windstorm in the badlands (decades ago) (Missy and I traded texts about this at like 2am), I remain a believer that this builds character. 

Plus, unlike our parents- who threw granola bars at us and told us to suck it up- Kelly and I atoned with a warm breakfast at the nearest diner.

 And highly coveted junior Ranger badges.

 

We have now-finally- recovered. The copious loads of wet camping laundry have been- finally- put away. Which meant time to relive childhood memories and look for fall foliage at Sugarloaf,

shop for Halloween costumes (this may be my fave of the week),

and cheer for the Dodgers.

Happy fall, y'all. But more importantly (to quote our Columbus Day song), "[s]o tell me who discovered what? Columbus was lost, the Caribs were not/ they were already here." Indeed. And to quote Finley, "but we still get the day off, right?"