An Embarrassment of Reasons to Celebrate.

May is always a big month for Nieman celebrating. My birthday and Mother's Day are always within the same week, and our anniversary follows a couple weeks later. If I were a fan of presents, this would be a major inconvenience due to the endless double-up possibilities. Luckily, I'm not.

This year, there was a third (smaller, but no less meaningful) occasion to be celebrated: my 20 year anniversary with Uncle Sam. It's hard to believe that 1) I'm now retirement-eligible (?!) and 2) this was almost two decades ago. 

What a wild ride it's been. I definitely don't intend to retire anytime soon, but this does mean that if I find myself on orders to Fort Polk, it's an option.

Since I'm still recovering from the huge soiree- which included a camper and a giant surprise party that Seth threw for my 40th- (and also because it's just been an exhausting year), for the Sunday-Monday-Tuesday trifecta that was all three occasions, we went small and chill. Which was perfect.

Especially since we had also had to celebrate May the Fourth, thanks to Ford's new Star Wars obsession. 

And, let's be honest, Seth's Dave & Buster's habit.

Sunday had just gotten back from another whirlwind trip to NC for a promotion ceremony and party,

and of course a Ryan-Nieman classic sleepover,

(complete with chickens);

and an unplanned birthday party;

so for Mother's Day we decided to sleep in, hang out, play Uno, and pickup takeout from our favorite local BBQ joint to celebrate. 

I also got beautiful flowers and chocolate (served by handsome men in matching shirts), 

and we had a family paddle on the lake. It was a lovely day. Bonus: Seth did all the travel laundry.

I had to work for my birthday, which kind of killed the fun, but allowed me to pronounce it a birthday week- so stay tuned. I did sneak out early, and we went to one of my favorite spots in DC with smuggled-in beverages and red velvet cupcakes to watch the sunset. 

And then, because we were tired and one of us who shall not be named (Finley) was covered in mud, we skipped dinner out and picked up Peruvian chicken. We also fell asleep on the couch. Seemed very "42."

Worn out from all the celebrating, we marked my new retirement-eligibility yesterday with taco Tuesday in PJs. Although we did have a pinata.

All in all, not a bad three-day blowout. And now, I think I'm going to nap until our anniversary.

Photo of the Week, a tradition I've gotten away from, has to be this photo of Finley and Ford in swimsuits at the sketchy hotel they talked me into staying at so they could swim indoors in bad weather, rocking the ridiculous goggles they talked me into buying at DeWayne's.

April Flew, and Handsome Ford is 5.

I'm sitting at home on the couch on Friday night watching "Spy Kids 3," totally unable to breathe after a vicious bout with pollen storm- induced adult allergies, wondering what happened to the month of April.

Cherry blossom season came and went,

and we donned our masks, fought the tourists who persisted even in a pandemic, and found some time to enjoy our town.

Gunnar came to visit, and we got to catch up with friends-who-are-family.

Jayne and Tony came to visit,

and I got away on my first girls' weekend maybe since Ford was born. Michelle and I ran a half marathon in Roanoke, 

and- because we're us- also discovered the stunning D-Day Memorial on a harebrained road trip home.

We had a great time introducing Grandpa to Falls Church,

enjoyed stunningly warm weather at the beach,

and celebrated this handsome beast's fifth birthday

in real style.

Which included lots of Star Wars,

and Ford's favorite fancy dinner spot (Pistone's). And a Grandma original cake with (no kidding) nutella frosting.

Grandma and Grandpa sadly went back to freezing North Dakota, and we consoled ourselves with a trip south to Aunt Bex's beach house, 

and a catch up with the rest of our NC friends

including these hooligans.

We met Seth (who had been fishing south) on our way home, for a Sunday night sunset dinner on one of our favorite river spots

and a toast to our big guy. We can't believe Handsome Ford is 5!

And are fervently wishing everyone a spring with less pollen and fewer breathe right strips.

Several Holidays and an Unlikely Spring Break.

It's been weeks since I wrote. Feels like years. We've had our fair share of observances since the Lunar New Year. Seth took the kids to visit P-K on the anniversary of his death.

And then we made a wild run down to North Carolina to visit our COVID bubble for St. Pat's. It was so good for the kids to get to see friends, and to be reminded that you can go back.

(And that "going back" to Aunt Nat's and Aunt Leah's means vast quantities of cheetos, and obstacle courses.)

NC magnanimously let us bring some warm weather home with us, and we had a brief but wonderful stint of almost-beach weather to kick off Spring Break. Which even half-a$$ed home schoolers celebrate in the Nieman household, thankyouverymuch.

Naturally, we began our vacation at the impound lot, attempting to retrieve our stolen car. It's a long story, but apropos. I guess.

It didn't go as expected, so we hit the road in a rented Jeep. We got back in vacation mode with a "yes" day at a Wal Mart in Tennessee (note previously off-limits otter pops and other packaged goods) and a- this is a real thing- fish weigh-in at the Bass Tournament. 

We also partied like this at the campsite, which was an awesome one at Pickwick Landing. It was good to be back in family camping mode (even if it involved a lot of cheating at lawn darts.)

Seth was fishing a tournament on the Mississippi/ Tennessee/ Alabama border, 

and we had agreed to Spring Break there while he did. It hadn't been the top of my list, but we made the most of our first vacation in over a year. (This is the Coon Dog Cemetery we discovered on an Alabama backroad, and Finley's reaction to having been served butter WITH her fajitas in a Florence "cantina.")

F+F never met a roadside attraction they didn't love. A particular hit in the tri-state area was the amazing Jesse Owens museum, at which they got to measure their long jumps, watch never-seen footage of Hitler observing the gold medal wins, and check out his sharecropper parents' cabin.

We also visited the lions at the University of North Alabama, who were disappointingly lethargic in the stunning spring weather,

visited the birth places of both W.C. Handy and Helen Keller (the latter homestead at which we accidentally signed up for a Very Personal Tour,  but also got to see the Real Water Pump where she had the break-through),

and had the pleasure of enjoying spring, doing camping laundry at a laundromat, and sheltering from a tornado in the electronics section of a Wal Mart. Woohoo Spring Break!

We also discovered that Tuscumbia, AL is killing it, with this incredible park

at which there is a real tank (?), a gorgeous waterfall, and country music blaring. Oddly and wonderfully.

I really didn't expect to be this impressed, and I admit we lucked out with- other than tornadoes- the most beautiful weather of the year... but the Florence area turned out to be a real adventure. We discovered the "Roots" plantation ruins, and the famous shoals.

Also the ridiculously cool FAME music studio in Muscle Shoals. Of, yes, "Sweet Home Alabama" fame.

We made a trip to Memphis, one of our favorite towns, to pay a visit to the Peabody ducks and Beale Street,

and pay homage at the National Civil Rights Museum. Which is truly incredible.

Also, we spent the night at Aunt Jackie's and- as expected- wound up in very few clothes in a creek. Good to know some things never change.

On the way back, we wandered through Corinth, MS, which had a terrific old soda fountain, no apparent belief in masks or COVID, yet another Confederate statue to honor appropriately,

and, incongruously, a lovely addendum to the Shiloh battlefield- which we had visited earlier- a tribute to the Contraband Camp through which 6,000 slaves made their way to freedom.

It wasn't easy to say goodbye to our footloose-and-fancy-free tour of the south, but Seth had one more day to fish and I had to work Monday. The kids and I took off in awful weather Saturday night, and hit worse weather in Tennessee- before an awful incident being run off the road by a semi in the middle of a hailstorm in the middle of the night. Airbag injuries and a wrecked rental Jeep notwithstanding, we eventually found ourselves recovering in a Red Roof Inn in Marion, VA. It was not ideal, although I will never stop being impressed by the resilience of kids. (They were excited I let them have flan at a truck stop Mexican joint.)

Jenn, 1.5 hours away, rescued us, and we got one more blissful day of vacation out of it, escaping to Trap Hill and old friends and hoverboards not worrying about the headache of insurance and back-to-work.

Seth rescued us after the tournament, camper in tow, and we made it back home after quite a vacation. We've been recovering all week (having both received our 2nd COVID vaccines, so we're chalking some of our sluggishness up to that + work + quite a "vacation.") Today I finally had the energy to take F+F to an Easter egg hunt at a local farm.

Which included pig races, hay rides, and v. creepy rabbits.

We made it home in time for the worst of all holiday traditions:

So Happy Easter to everyone, and hope your Spring Breaks involved fewer car incidents and tornadoes than ours- but lots of the love, laughter, and adventure we experienced, in the unlikeliest of places.