OCM 2011

We're home from vacation. We had a great time. Man, we really know how to maximize our vacation time.

We left Saturday, stopped @ the Hagertown outlets, continued to Annapolis for the night. Annapolis is such a cool little city. We didn't even get to explore much of it. Since we were there last year, they built a town center that gets 2 thumbs up from us! We ate supper @ Whole Foods (which was awesome in my book).

Jude's girlfriend @ the Under Armour Store

I've been wanting to get to a Lululemon store for a long time and there was one in the Annapolis Town Center. It was awesome; of course the only thing I could actually afford was a pair of socks and a head band... This is Jude outside the store (where he and Jeremy played cornhole).

Me picking bananas @ Whole Foods. I love this store. I could've spent hours in there. They make the best squash soup (yes, I do realize it's July and the heat index was over 100, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for their squash soup). While we were eating, a couple with their kids came up to us - they saw Jeremy and Jackson's Saint Francis shirts- the guy went to SFU and graduated just a few years ago. That was pretty neat.

SUNDAY:

We're here!

It stormed shortly after we arrived, so it was off to the indoor pool. I know, such a hardship :)

MONDAY:

Off to the beach

And of course, the pools!

And then Hooper's Crab House for supper. We look forward to this meal all. year. long!

Hoop's never lets us down!

Jeremy had crab cakes, Jackson got a seafood spread (crabs, shrimp, corn, chicken, hush puppies), and I got Chesapeake chicken. Jude got a little bit of all of our suppers :)

TUESDAY:

We rented a surrey (family bike) and biked quite a bit of the boardwalk.

Swimming

Mini golf

Evening @ the boardwalk:

games, fun, and ice cream.

I don't know what I'm doing with my face on here, but it's a good shot of the boys with their winnings!

WEDNESDAY:

Breakfast @ Rt 50 Diner

One more quick dip in the pool

Here's to another great vacation!

We had a really good vacation - time went so quickly. I feel like we could've stayed for weeks. I wonder where we'll go next year?

Swimming Lessons

I have become a huge fan of summer (and we are sure getting some hot weather this week). I can remember spending the majority of my childhood days parked @ the Cresson Lions Club pool with my buddy, Amy K. We would swim all day. We hated when it was break time or closing time. If anyone got their use out of their season pass to the pool, it was us.

I must've passed the love of water on to my boys because they love to be in the pool too! We just finished up swimming lessons @ Saint Francis University. They both did so well. Jackson was in Goldfish and did great. This was Jude's first swimming lesson, so he was in Minnows. They got report cards yesterday promoting them both to the next level :) Jackson will move onto Super Goldfish and Jude will go to Jellyfish.

I am excited that we go right from swimming lessons to vacation where we can continue to practice what they learned.

Jackson said that he likes swimming best of all the activities he does (except maybe his iPod). I'd love to nurture that interest - I might look into a swim club/team for him.

Most of these photos are of Jude but the finale is of Jackson jumping into the 9-ft end of the pool.



Golden Birthday

Tomorrow is Jude's Golden Birthday - 4 on the 4th. We'll be celebrating by heading out early to a race of mine (read more about that here ) and then who knows what! Hopefully fireworks will finish out the day.

Here are some photos from Jude's birthday party (from last weekend).

Party Tomorrow

We're celebrating Jude's 4th birthday tomorrow with a little picnic. If you read between the line there, you've translated it as, "Jeremy and I are going crazy cleaning, inside and out, to get ready for a party."

Jude doesn't turn 4 until July 4th, but we've discovered, after 3 years of planning his party, the 4th of July weekend is a crazy weekend to find a time when everyone can come here for a party, so we're having it 1 week earlier this year. Hope it works out well.

It's supposed to be nice out tomorrow, so I'm hoping to take a lot of pictures (and then post them, of course).

Happy Birthday to my soon-to-be 4 year old buddy :)

Welcome Summer

When I was a kid, I liked summer, but Fall was always my favorite season.

For some reason, summer is now my favorite time of year, so I'm excited to officially welcome summer today! It was warm, humid, sunny, rainy and all around just great :)

I am in the 4th week of a 6-week summer semester @ work and it's just crazy-busy (which is good because busy keeps me out of trouble). It's so beautiful on campus, so lunchtime walks and early morning runs are becoming routine for me.

Evenings have been filled with swinging, digging in the dirt, and plenty of quality time on the paddle boat. The boys and I go out almost everyday looking for wildlife - here's some of the great things we've found (missing from this line of photos is the huge water spider that commuted around the lake with us this evening - eeeek).

A water snake in all its glory

The frogs are our faves

We even try rescuing bugs

My next post will be about our nest......

We Are Family

It doesn't get any better than this!

Camp Silver Pines

My cousins invited us to spend the weekend @ their family camp that's located in, well, kinda the middle of nowhere -about 1hour, 20 minutes from our house. We planned to go Friday night and stay over, but Jackson wasn't feeling well, so we just did a day trip yesterday. We had sooooo much fun - need proof? Check it out:

Me and my boys (Jerm's taking the photo) in front of Silver Pines camp



We went on an adventure ride through the woods - oh my goodness did we have fun!

The boys had a ton of fun riding on all the little ride-ons - the Gator, the 4-wheelers, the paddle boat...

Throwing sticks from the bridge - this was my cousin's dog, Max. He would jump from the bridge to chase sticks. I think we totally wore him out doing this. I wish we could have taken Gert with us, she would have had a blast.

Jude and his cousin, Xavier. These two are like 2 peas in a pod. They'll be playing soccer together this fall, so get prepared to see more picture of these 2 together.

If this weekend is any indication of our summer, it sure will be one filled with fun, adventure, love and friendship.

Onto the next adventure - Memorial Day picnic @ our house tomorrow. I'm sure many more adorable photos to post!