Monday, August 25, 2014

Summer waning

These last days of summer. We've met with friends at Shoe's, got a front row view of the 9/11 motorcycle parade (accidentally but a great sight to see!), gone to girl scout camp, soccer tournaments! And more is ahead - peach picking today and Watermelon Park Wednesday. So more pictures :-)





A public high school's turf field for Tate's festival soccer game

Just sitting around in a sari

The dreaded (although quite cute) Girl Scout SWAPS

Rocking the tutu

Taters doing flag duty at camp

Love her expression


Tiny snakes in our lodge - pretty sure we came upon a nest, as we removed several before we found these guys!

Smith wrapping up another aide before the aide parade. Leave it to the boys to wait until the last minute and then use toilet paper

After soccer ice cream visit

Dog cuddles...

...and smiles

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Bike goal, MET!

One of our goals this summer was to ride our bikes to a town 10 miles away and have some ice cream. Today, we DID IT!!! We trained some (especially Tate and I did) and decided today was the day to do it. Weather was great - warm and somewhat cloudy with a great breeze. Really proud of our day and our goal met. This was something we wanted to do for the last 3 years but never made the time for it.




Covered in Klondike. Sweet Frog wasn't open yet, so we hit Harris Teeter and got a 6 pack of Klondike bars. Girl has some trouble with melting ice cream!

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Hilton Head, 2014

I left a day early from the Baltimore meeting and grabbed the kids from my parents house. They typically go with my parents to HHI while we are away, so I hadn't been there in a few years.

This year, though, just the 3 of us drove off to Hilton Head! I think the reason I enjoyed this so much this year is because I always feel like I ignore them during my pre-meeting time. I feel like I got a better handle on it this year (in conjunction with them/Tate being older and easier to deal with during deadlines). Being away with them, and in the car with them for 10 hours, I felt like we got back on track. We had a lot of fun just going to the beach, riding bikes EVERYWHERE, eating at the special places that they love and that I remember from my, now, 33 years going to the Island. Wow.

Starting out the road trip with Sheetz, as always!

Oddest rest stop ever - they had a bunch of taxidermy-ed animals there, somewhere in NC, like a boar, jaguar, mountain lion, etc. Very strange.

10 hours later, in the water! We met some family friends at the beach so Tate and their 8 year old could hang out together for the only overlap of the trip. 


Frog! (Toad?)


Tate made us lunch!

Smiley cheeseface

Harbour Town



I think this is my favorite picture.

The loggerhead sea turtle nest that my parents sponsor for the kids - theirs was at the beach club - in the middle of everything!


Tiny crab - can you spot it?

SHARK! Caught feet from where we were swimming. Reef shark, I believe, a young one.


Skink with a blue tail!

Creepy crab on the house. We thought it was a spider at first, which was somehow freakier. My dad saw the picture and thinks it's a tree crab, which he was all excited about, as they are hard to find. *shudder.*



July

Whoa - it's AUGUST already. I had my work meeting in mid-July, and while away, Smith went to a UVA soccer camp, same one as last year. This year, though, it was him and 8 other kids from his team, 1 of whom is one of his best buddies. They had a blast. Our meeting was in Baltimore, so it was close but different enough to feel like we got away. Here are some photos of our early to mid-July.

Music at the Courthouse

Tate, sad/mad about me not having a chair for her

Goofball at the Adidas store - she kept running around things and peeking at me.


Tate's note to Smith because she wasn't joining us on our UVA drop off. She had gymnastics later that evening. She even gave him a lollipop! Giving candy away is a big deal for her.

Obligatory lunch in Charlottesville.



Good times - my meeting starting, at our bag stuffing "party." 


Job perk!

Looks gross, but was DELICIOUS - a soft pretzel with crab meat and some sort of cheese sauce.

Watching the World Cup while "working."







Followers