March at Mach 5, and Spring Break in Peru!

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we sure do pack a lot in to a month...! I cannot for the life of me figure out where March went. I do know it was action-packed. We dressed like book characters and played hooky for a trip to the Spy Museum,

enjoyed both winter and spring weather,

got haircuts;

saw Riverdance at the Kennedy Center with friends;

and celebrated St. Pat's, cherry blossoms,

and the birthdays of some of our faves.

And then we fled the country.

I had been devastated when I found out I had to work over the kids' spring break, and then decided to pull them out of school early for a last minute trip to Peru for Lehua's 10th birthday. Best. Decision. Ever. Even if the FCPS truancy office is less than thrilled, judging by the number of voicemails they have left us.

I took one million photos, and they can be found here for the really dedicated. The highlight reel is epic on its own: Lehua's fabulous lakeside birthday party,

Lehua's fabulous family celebrations,

and Lehua's fabulous spa birthday getaway.

I am never going to be able to throw F+F a a 10th birthday party after this one (thanks, Bustamantes)...!

Besides the birthday extravaganza (and because there is basically nothing better than vacationing with top-of-their-field travel professionals), there was also rafting and riding,

waterfalls (some of us in undies due to a suitcase swaparoo) and death marches (a real Walters family tradition),

and way too much wildlife for my taste (although the alpacas were a real hit with the kids.)

With such idyllic-looking photos, I would be remiss if I didn't also confess to bathroom disasters resulting in hasty new outfits, and restaurant meltdowns.

Peru is always magical (even though we missed the rest of the family madly). By far the most special parts of our whirlwind South American adventure, though, were the opportunities to spend time with our (extended!) Peruvian family, party with Lehua for her Big Ten celebration, and see and be part of the fantastic life and profession that Sara and Daniel have created for themselves. We even got to be the first to tour the beautiful lakeside land they bought for construction of their dream house.

Oh, and Picky Ford ate street vendor pork rinds. It was a real moment.

February in Review.

Man, thank God for google photos. If you had asked me about the furious and fleeting month of February, I would have called it exhausting, work-filled (world events not really helping out with the work-life balance these days), and stressful. (Although I don't know if even Pentagon crises could reach the level of exhaustion attained by these boys after two early morning hours at a trampoline park.)

But when I scroll through my photos on a rare "down" evening, I run across snaps like these 

that remind me that life with F+F (largely thanks to a Grandma Jayne who makes a whole lot of dinners and sews character costumes) brought a whole lot of belly laughs and a fair amount of joy, too.

Apparently (according to google photos), this month we also found time for date night (Marc Cohn at the Birchmere, which was incredible) and jousting,

game night and conning little brothers into playing Polly Pocket,

and celebrations for everything from Chinese New Year's to Valentine's Day

to Mardi Gras.

Birthday parties came back with a vengeance

and we enjoyed every second.

The most important of which was, of course, the big guy's 39th. Which included, per usual, an impromptu celebration with DJ & crew, 

and also an amazing getaway to beautiful Smith Mountain Lake with the entire menagerie

for fishing and swimming,

hiking and 1980s arcade games,

Bert Kreischer and, randomly, alpacas.

We wrapped a whirlwind couple weeks with a Teacher Workday I managed to get off work, which we spent finally checking out the International Spy Museum (it was awesome and totally worth another trip, hint hint Lisa),

and eating our way through the DC Waterfront.

Who knows what March will bring? We are bracing ourselves and finding joy everywhere we can. The world is a crazy place these days. 

Even so, cheers to February, and a happy Valentine's Day/ 39 to the guy who keeps us in giant steaks and big laughs.

Oh, and also this, courtesy of Thrasher's Rum but basically also, everybody.