the house is spotless, and just about everything on my ten page "to do around the house" list is done. Including the nice-to-haves like picture framing and carpet cleaning. Seth and I even squeezed in a quick date night in Philadelphia, and I set up the office for my first-ever telework coming up.
And then May rolled around. A month so chock full of holidays that Jayne and I were obligated to purchase our own mimosa tower so we could celebrate properly.
We continued the very-Maryland water theme for Jayne's birthday,
and cheers-ed ourselves for Mother's Day, since Tony had to go home and Seth inexplicably spent the weekend hog hunting. (Allegedly, the money saved on the sausage I don't eat having made the venture worthwhile.)
With new jobs, big poker tournaments, cross country road trips, and "Grandma camp" in North Dakota, we are up to our eyebrows and summer-ing hard. But first, we spring-ed.
Which included Ford's 7th birthday,
a really terrific baseball season with the Arden crew
(featuring a very visible batting-practice injury to longsuffering Grandma),
some seriously rainy lacrosse and epic board-breaking,
and valued time spent catching up all over the Eastern Seaboard
with lifelong friends.
The only thing Ford asked for for his birthday was to celebrate it with his cousins, so to Colorado we went, as soon as we could all find a free weekend.
And the cousin time was, as always, simply magical.
My birthday kicked it off with a lovely mid-week bash including an after-work scavenger hunt, mini golf, and sunset drinks on the water.
Marriage is a whole situation. In "time flies" news, May marked our 10th anniversary. So naturally we packed up the whole family (including dogs), and trekked back to the Scene of the Crime, southwest Maine, where we rented a beautiful mountainview cabin with an even more gorgeous (if chilly) pool for Memorial Day weekend.
We made a pilgrimage to the Bear Mountain Inn, where we got married;
and had a wonderful time canoeing and beaching and drinking craft beer.
Not to mention being devoured whole by black flies.
June brought the end of school, which Ford and I celebrated camping with friends while Finley enjoyed her first big girl sleepover;
Father's Day, with baseball and good friends and grilled meats;
and swimming holes and frog catching.
We spent hot days at the pool and a rainy one watching our first 3D movie ("The Little Mermaid"),
and made an always-epic trip to Great Wolf Lodge with friends.
I am just delighted that F+F are big enough to go on water slides by themselves but are not too big for the wolf ears. It's a real sweet spot.
And then, before we literally even blinked our eyes, it was July. Bringing Orioles games,
a road trip which included the Lake Michigan car ferry and a detour to thumbs-down Lambeau Field
(oh, and this super creepy Badger),
and an epic fourth weekend spent with good friends on the water in Ohio
and Michigan. We loved every second.
July, and the start of a few weeks of kid time in North Dakota, also brought the long-awaited, Grandma-promised, trip to Nickelodeon Universe-- my personal version of Dante's ninth circle. Although I got to see Handsome Ford ride his first upside-down roller coaster. Twice. And likely have the whiplash to show for it.
Now, as summer hurdles by, I'm trying to summon this crazy guy's attitude and enjoy what I can (while juggling the start of War College and a Fellowship, work travel, and registration for-gulp- upcoming fall sports.) We hope everyone can do the same, and had a great fourth of July and start of summer.
Ideally while clothed in as much red, white, & blue as the Lake George cowboy.
