A Happy Father's Day...

We spent Father's Day weekend back camping at Bull Run. The boys spent time snuggling by the campfire with Daddy, swimming at the pool, and riding bikes. We also snuck in a campfire and dessert with Poppy and a yummy Swedish meatball dinner with my dad. The boys had handmade cards to give and extra smiles for the camera. We love all the dads in our lives - grand, in-law, and original - and were happy to have an excuse to celebrate them!

Water table fun...

Grandma cleaned up her water table so Harper has been getting to play with it during visits on the weekend. He just loves it and surprisingly he'll actually play with it by himself for a solid 45-60 minutes - it's hard to find anything that will keep his attention for that long. :)

Kicking off summer vacation at Bull Run...

Adam was so excited that he got to actually attend the last day of school this year - whoops! Each year we've left for vacation on or before the last day of school and while that should be a good enough reason to miss I suppose the last day of school was always a really special day - so you live, you learn. 

He did get out early that day so we immediately scooped up Harper and met daddy at Bull Run for a weekend of camping to kick off summer vacation. Our first stop was the pool and the water slides - what better way to "slide" or "splash" into summer!? (see what I did there). 

The rest of the weekend was spent riding bikes, playing at the park, making new friends, and eating way too many s'mores - is that a thing? Basically your typical camping weekend - only the difference here was Adam knew come Monday the fun would just keep on keeping on. 

Ah summer - how I miss being a kid at summer. Though being a parent to a kid during summer is a close second! :) 

Last day of 3rd grade...

I can hardly believe that Adam finished up his 4th year of elementary school - how is that possible!? Time is flying and this school year was no different. 3rd grade was such an awesome year - I noticed the difference almost immediately when the school year started. The kids were just in such a different rhythm than I'd seen the years prior. It's like they needed those first 3 years to get the kinks out, understand how to sit and listen, and to just be well behaved learners. It was really cool to see. Adam loved his teacher, Mrs. Crittenden. She really was such a great teacher for him - so caring, calm and she was constantly encouraging and positive. Everything we could want for Adam to have. He also had a lot of great friends in his class and he made some new ones as well. Mrs. Crittenden would tell me everytime I saw her that Adam was truly a leader in their class - always helping his group to brainstorm and make decisions. 

They did some really neat things this year and I know his time spent in 3rd grade was not only educational but FUN! 

Here he comes 4th grade!! 

Monopoly at the Creek...

My mom invited me again this year to play in her WGA Member Guest tournament. This year's theme was "Monopoly at the Creek" and once again the planning committee went above and beyond making sure that no detail was missed. It was so fun and clever - as usual! 

Thankfully there was a practice round as I had some rust to get rid of. One of the other guests my mom brought is the mom of a friend I grew up with so it was really fun to catch up with her - plus she and her husband (who used to be my softball coach) have a camper so we had lots to talk about as we rode around the course - Andy even gave me a list of questions he wanted me to ask, lol. We just love fellow campers! 

For tournament day we all dressed in black and white to kind of play the "railroad" theme. There were others that wore jail bird outfits, some were dressed as the "Go to Jail" cop, and some even had mustaches and monocles! Everyone just having so much fun with the theme. We all decorated our carts again - this even really does bring out the kid in all of us. 

The fun didn't stop there - the tee markers were all places on the Monopoly board. They had a "Pile of Cash" game on the par 3 #15 - playing off the cash that would pile up on the middle of the game board. Then they had a little game at the end of each hole and based on what the card said you might win money or lose money - it was super clever. 

We played ok and I was pretty proud of my golf game since I'd only played one other time since last year's tournament. We just missed placing in our flight, but that's ok, it was such a fun day it didn't matter. The luncheon was really fun and of course the table decorations and gifts were all themed perfectly. 

One of the best parts of the weekend was seeing the other "daughters" that were there playing - including one, Olivia, whom I grew up golfing with - a fun little reunion. A fun day for mother's and daughters too! :) 

Thanks Mom! 

Happy Harper...

Just a random post to remind everyone that Harper is just about the happiest little boy there ever was - that smile is everything - and so lucky that he shows it to us very often! :)

Adam bakes...

A slightly more enjoyable activity that Adam participated in this spring was when he helped me bake our annual Memorial Day weekend blueberry pie. He loves watching Food Network shows and I really do need to make more of an effort in getting him involved in the kitchen - it might come as a surprise to some that I have issues giving up control....(lol) 

That said, I really did enjoy watching him roll up his proverbial sleeves and get to work rolling out the dough, cutting out the stars, and then being so proud of his finished product. Way to go Chef Adam - and it tasted as good as it looked! 

Adam's Recorder Concert...

Oh boy - I knew this day was coming when Adam came home from school in the fall and gleefully announced "We get to do recorders in music next semester!!" Le sigh...

I get they have to start somewhere with learning musical instruments so we embraced it and even allowed some practicing in the house (ok, we made him go to the basement). After months of preparation by the entire 3rd grade it was time for them to perform for the 2nd graders and moms and dads. I wasn't 100% sure I was going to be able to make it - but I did and the look on Adam's face when he spotted me in the crowd made it all worth it. Those kiddos put on quite a show, even playing "We Will Rock You." Yeah, that happened.

Bravo Adam and fellow Aldrin Elementary School 3rd graders (& an extra bravo to the music teachers who didn't have the luxury of sending the students to the basement to play their recorders...) ;)

Another beautiful week in Clearwater Beach...

Hard to believe this was my 7th year running this conference and my 12th time attending - wow - time sure does fly while you're having fun. It's always a highlight of the work year and this year definitely did not disappoint. I arrived in the evening and caught the sun starting to set as I descended into the Tampa airport. That landing never gets old. 

My team was all on their a-game and we spent our first day there getting everything set up and ready for our attendees. We also were able to sneak in some pool time - the reward for having everything planned and prepped in advance! 

Once everyone arrived we hit the ground running with amazing education, a great set of exhibitors and lots and lots of networking. Always love seeing familiar faces and then meeting new ones as well. This year we had a keynote from a VP at Amazon - she was awesome - what a job! 

This is Joe - he is a Penguins fan - I FINALLY got to be the one smiling after the Caps won the series - usually the other way around! Woohoo! 

We caught lots of beautiful sunsets and enjoyed yet another fun beach bbq. This year we added in live music which was the perfect extra touch. We played beach games - bocce, corn hole, and jumbo jenga. So fun watching everyone just relax and become kids again - I think having your toes in the sand just does that to you. 

Once we wrapped up the conference I got to spend some time in the spa - courtesy of the Hilton - and enjoyed a 90 minute massage - wow - I hadn't had one of those since I was pregnant with Adam - felt amazing. The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the pool and then a final dinner out with the leadership team where we toasted to yet another awesome Ultrasound World conference - we also ate a lot of sushi! :) 

See you next year Clearwater!