hello may

helllllooooo may. you got here way sooner than i thought you would. you will be filled to tippity top of the brim. you are gonna be kinda bananas. bananas like this one shown here that will often serve as "dinner" when combined with a cheese stick and cheeze-its on our way to a game, practice or appointment. it may not always be pretty. some days are gonna kick are booties.  most will be fun...but FULL.  but with the promise of summer, i know we'll be just fine. 

thankful tuesday, 4/26

my recent thankful tuesday post was inspired by a heroic save 

of the meal swap / new baby meals from the grips of gus the dog.

tonight's post is inspired by the not so heroic destruction

of my son's brand new team baseball hat by the same gus the dog.

rather, that bennett's coach thankfully has an extra hat

saving us from a complete and utter bennett melt-down.

thanks coach.
no thanks gus.

a few days in our nation's capital

our country

our history

our heritage

vaca moto "experience, appreciate, remember"

razor scooters for tired feet

stroller naps

car snacks

toilet paper tissues

friends who hurt and love deeply together

an afternoon with the russell girls

baby photo shoot moments
news of a new baby long prayed for

first garden sprouts peeking through

counting steps with betsy

that my mother-in-law is cleared to start walking...and rocking it

wes' first bbq brisket in the smoker

friends and family to share it with

cutie cousins

bare feet in the backyard

matchmaking

gum and 4th grade girls

opening day celebrations
calendars and car pools for all these schedules and games

here's to gratitude and how it
turns everything into enough.

dc bits

 

a few bits from our impromptu adventure to 

our nation's capital over april break.  

a road "trip" that was really smooth, once jane finally realized 

we were on our "trip" and not getting on a "ship."

jane got her fill of "ships" with our first visit,

the air and space museum.

it took some convincing, but finally think the escalator ride 

at the museum satisfied her quest

in between museums we loved resting under
a shady tree along the mall.
a little ice cream, people watching and even some karate practicing.

then we tackled the natural history museum

for a look at the animals, dinosaurs and all the amazing stones & gems.

the gems were most definitely a museum favorite for our crew.

a friend suggested we pack the kids' razor scooters.

this was huge.

a big help during the day, but were even more fun for the kids

at night, which is when we visited most of the major monuments.  

scooters, presidents, memories.

day 2 brought smiles 

and cherry blossoms.

it also brought 80 degrees, which was wonderful!

our first stop on day 2 was the american history museum.

to see the original star spangled banner.

learn a bit about how electricity, travel and money came to be.

a culinary salute to julia child.

and of course time with all the presidents and first ladies.

after the museum we took a nice "hop" over to the white house.

(ella loved jumping the walls!)

and jane...well she kinda fell apart towards the end of day 2.

she had her moment, but she most certainly rallied like a star!

for dinner both nights we scooted over to georgetown.

a nice change of pace and easy access to yummy eats.

jane grabbed a nap, snuggled under a dinner napkin.

and we took in the sunset by patomac bay.

day 2 ended with another night time scooter ride around the monuments.

again, the absolute best way to take in the sites.

another happy start to our day.

more cherry blossoms and an outing to the zoo.

pandas, peacocks and elephants made our day!

then it was onward to pay our respects to dr. martin luther king, 

franklin d roosevelt, eleanor and their puppy too.

during our trip we had a little motto to keep our focus...

"experience, appreciate, remember."

our time with the roosevelt and dr. king made this motto our forever thing.

our last stop was a mix of business and pleasure with a visit to the renwick gallery.

my next conference is kicking off at the gallery in just over a month,

a great opportunity to meet with my team to solidify plans along with a side of knocking the socks off my kids with the uber cool "wonder" exhibit.

and that was it...before a sunset ride back to ma next to my handsome pilot.

experience. appreciate. remember.

that was our motto.

that's what we did.

happy family.

happy memories.