Too much pork bbq...

Andy smoked a humongous pork shoulder on Sunday leaving us with just too much pork bbq for our little family to devour, so we called in reinforcements. 

Greg, Erica and Blake arrived with empty bellies, a green salad and ready to assist.  Such good friends they are! :)

While Blake didn't help with eating the bbq, she did help to keep us entertained, though mostly it was Adam's attention that the caught.  We were all witness to not only their first, but their second and possibly even their third kiss.  We all watched speechless, not sure whether to cheer, laugh, cry or separate the two...I'm mostly wondering what Greg was thinking.  Ah, young love.

Thanks for a fun night G&E&B, though we still have about three pounds of bbq leftover...sigh. 

Planes, trains, and automobiles...and so much more!

Friday night we surprised Adam when we picked him up from school by having "Wally boat" with us!  He was so excited when we walked outside and he saw the boat hitched to the truck.  We then told him we were going for an evening boat ride and that we were going to have dinner on the boat.  His response, "Ooooh, Wally boat, dinner!" 

We launched from the air force base, putting us in the Potomac across from National Airport.  We hadn't taken Adam on a boat ride up the Potomac yet and we knew he was in for a treat.  We were lucky to have the planes landing from the city side, so Andy drove the boat around to get us right under their landing path.  Adam was in airplane heaven (so was Andy!)  It really is amazing how close the planes get, you can even smell the burnt rubber from the runways.  Pretty awesome.

After we watched a few planes land we took a ride up the Potomac towards Georgetown.  We went under four bridges and saw tons of cars, a few metro trains, and lots of sail boats, crew teams, and kayaks out on the water.  Adam was now in transportation heaven! 

 

As an added bonus we had a courtesy stop by a harbor policeman who did a routine safety check on us and our boat.  Adam loved the flashing blue lights and just kept saying "cops! cops!"  The policeman even gave Adam a "Junior Policeman" badge.  Fortunately we passed our safety check with flying colors (good job Captain Andy) and we were back on our way, with Adam waving and saying "Bye Cops!" as we rode off. 

On our ride back down the river we took in the great views of the monuments and The Kennedy Center, it's always so great seeing the city from the water.  Then we rode back past the airport to Old Town where we tied up at a dock and enjoyed our "Wally boat dinner." 

The weather was gorgeous, the views were amazing, the milk and wine were cold, and our little buddy was one happy boy!  Andy and I were in parenting heaven! ;)

Sushi!

We took Adam out for his first sushi dinner the other night.  We ordered him some shrimp and avocado rolls and then got our regular order.  We let him nibble on some goldfish as an appetizer (what?? It's a sushi place, we let him eat fish...) but he also enjoyed a few bites of our salads. 

Once the sushi came we gave him a set of kiddie chop sticks and let him go to town.  He did very well picking up his sushi with the chop sticks and seemed to enjoy it.  We also gave him a few bites of our salmon and tuna (which he loved and kept asking for "more chicken?" ha).  He also very much enjoyed the orange slices they brought for dessert. 

All in all it was a great success, though having another sushi lover in the family could prove to be expensive! Yikes! :)

Evening boat ride...

A week or so ago, Mother Nature blessed us with some low humidity, mid 80's temperatures which made for the perfect weather to head out for an evening boat ride. 

Since Adam has been doing so well on the boat we decided it was time to let Liddy tag along.  We packed up some dinner for Adam and picked up sushi on the way to the marina for Andy and I and then we proceeded to have an awesome sunset cruise. 

After we finished our picnic, it was time to swim off our meals.  Liddy, of course, was in heaven.  She would have swam all night if we'd let her.  Adam was just mesmerized by watching Liddy, but it wasn't long before he was asking to get in, at which point he was the one in charge of throwing the ball to Liddy. 

It was so fun to watch my family splashing around and after I took a few pictures, I sat back on the bow of the boat, closed my eyes, listened to my family laughing and swimming, and just couldn't help but be thankful for this awesome life. 

Happy 4th of July!

Hard to believe that the 4th has already come and gone...where is this summer going!?  But, never the less, we did have a wonder holiday weekend. 

Poor Andy had to work, so Adam and I got out of his hair and headed up to Wintergreen with the rest of my family (as we so often do) to celebrate the holiday.  We had a great time swimming and playing and just spending time together.

Adam and Olivia continue to be great playmates and we caught them in several hide-and-seek moments (Adam must have learned a few tricks from his dad, the king of finding hiding spaces, and even moved a hall table to hide behind!) and even sat together a few times, including a nice outdoor dinner on the deck. 

Since the 4th was a Monday, Wintergreen held their fireworks on Sunday night, which was perfect since we needed to head home on Monday morning. So after a great BBQ dinner we put the little kids to bed and with the Grandparents on duty, the big kids headed up to watch what is always the most spectacular fireworks display!

Hope everyone enjoyed being with family and friends for the 4th of July and as always, a special thanks goes out to all those who are serving this awesome country that we are so fortunate to call home!

Happy Birthday Greggers!

We had a great BBQ on Friday night to celebrate Greg's birthday.  Erica whipped up some awesome side salads and the birthday boy grilled up some "Aloha Burgers" (terriyaki marinated burgers topped with grilled pineapple, bacon and cheese...yeah, those were good). 

The weather was perfect so we spent most of the time outdoors.  Adam had fun exploring their patio and Blake was giving out smiles and giggles left and right!  Blake even showed Adam her new bookcase in her room, but don't worry, Erica and I were chaperoning the entire time.  (Oh, and it should be noted that Adam is only shirtless due to an overwhelming amount of ketchup that found its way from the plate to face/shirt/hair/hands...awesome). 
 

I was commissioned to make the cake and knowing Greg is a big fan of ice cream cakes (remember this) I decided to go all out and made a Nutter Butter crust, with chocolate/peanut butter ice cream that I folded chopped peanut butter cups into, then layered hot fudge throughout.  Greg was a happy.
 

 

So happy birthday Greggers, we love ya buddy!
 

Beer Can Chicken

For Father's Day, Andy's sister Bebe gave him a beer can chicken holder, a can of beer, and a homemade spice rub to season up the bird.  It was such a clever and thoughtful gift and boy did it make an awesome chicken!  We have done beer can chicken in the past, but having the holder made it so much easier and less messy!  We enjoyed the chicken for dinner and used it the next night on salads and used the rest to make chicken salad sandwiches for lunch.  The meal and gift that keeps on giving! :)  Thanks Bebe!