Wrapping up the School Year

It was a great school year! Lauren's first in the Toddler House and Sophie's last as a pre-schooler. Lauren loves her class - I'm so happy she'll have the same teachers again next year.

Water transfer

Cutting cheese and giving the stink eye to anyone even thinking about taking it

With a friend

Sister love in the hallway. One of the teachers caught this cute scene.

End of year ice cream social

I volunteered to be a parent helper for Earth Day (actually, Dave volunteered, and then and to travel, so I took his place. Although I knew worms were involved, I agreed anyway). We did a lot of planting in the courtyard. 

Sophie with her posse: Liora, Claire, Beatrice and Else.

And the 3 Amigos: Sophie, Liora & Claire

I also volunteered to be a chaperone for Sophie's class trip to City Hall. 

All 28 kids and 6 adults took the City Bus to get there. I will tell you that not everyone on board was so happy about this. But the kids had a blast. 

Once we got there we got to go all the way to the top of the Tower, which is something they only recently started letting people do. The elevator to get up there, and the space to observe is small, so each parent went with just 5 kids. It was a pretty cool view. 

Potty Training

Lauren is 2.5 and that means potty training! Actually, her teachers told us she's been showing interest for a while, so she was ready. And she was. This kid had it down within less than a week. After the struggle that we had with Sophie I was expecting some long weeks ahead, but it's been smooth sailing. Her only request: purple underwear. Done. 

The Summer so Far

Unbelievably we're almost half way through the summer. We've packed it with a lot of trips and friends and tried to enjoy every last second.

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed to The Sharps' house in MD with friends John, Crystal & Bella and Pete, Leslie & Hudson.

Here's he crew picking' crabs.

And of course there was sailing. Here Sophie is helping John steer. 

The first weekend in June we headed down to DC to meet John, Crystal and Bella again. 

 

Here we are in front of the White House. This is as close as they would let us get. But we did see Obama come in on his helicopter, flanked with two others, and land on the lawn. He had just given the eulogy at Bo Biden's funeral in Delaware. 

Dave and Sophie also spent a week together on the boat sailing around Maryland with our friend Carl and his daughter Gianna.  

Sophie and Gianna. 

We've spent a lot of time down in Maryland. The Sharp's house is only a 2 hour drive from our house, and Rock Hall is a town that the whole family loves. Lots of time on and in the water, bike riding, and of course crabs! 

We have two kayaks down there, and Sophie loves to go out for a spin the bay.

The girls acting goofy on the beach.

Benson has been getting a little braver with the water. He'll wade in about chest deep - but still prefers to sleep on a towel on the beach. 

Dave and the girls. 

Aleen also came for a long weekend visit. We went to Morris Arboretum which was in full bloom and beautiful. 

Selfie

 And when we can't make it to Maryland, there's always the baby pool in the back yard. Hardly a substitute, but the girls love it anyway. 

The girls and our neighbor Maya.

And we just got back from our annual 4th of July week in Ocean City, NJ. This year the extended family was there as part of the year long celebration of Nana's 90th birthday. 

All of the July birthdays: me (36), Maithili (30), Addison (16), Mom (60), Becky (33), Graeme (33), Vicki (51). And Lauren, who would not let me put her down.

Quinn and Sophie. 

Cousins

The girls on the beach after our family picture 

Some of the crew on the beach house steps. Uncle Dick was there, so of course there were balloon hats.

San Diego Vacation

Last week I had a conference in San Diego. We decided to make a vacation out of it, and Dave came out on Wednesday (no kids!). What an amazing city and what a wonderful vacation. We were there for 3 full days after the conference and we packed them with activities, but the mentality there is so chill, it didn't feel like we were rushing to do anything. 

On our first full day there we did two hikes, one along the Sunset Cliffs, and one call Ho Chi Mon trail, which is really a path carved by surfers, beginning in a very fancy neighborhood in La Jolla and ending right at the beach. It was no joke. Pictures cannot fully capture how steep and uneven the path was. It was all made of sandstone, so occasionally crumbled under our feet. At one point we had to walk across a very thin plank and at the end it was so steep that the surfers tied a rope to shimmy down on to the beach. 

Here's a shot of how narrow it was in some places

While we slowly meandered down, tripping and slipping, we were passed several times by agile surfers in bare feet, wet suits and surf boards. It was a little embarrassing. I also think they were a little surprised to see us on their turf. But it's San Diego, so of course they were very laid back about it.

That afternoon we rented sea kayaks and went out into the ocean. No pics for fear of getting wet, which was wise because both Dave and I flipped over. Loss of sunglasses, but luckily no phones or cameras. We got up close with some sea lions, which was really cool. 

The next day we rented a sail boat and went out into the San Diego Bay. It was windy and Dave had a blast. I was admiddely nervous. It's been a while since I've been sailing on anything but cushy, pleasure sail boats...

That night we went to a fancy dinner atop one of their highest buildings in the downtown area. The highlight was watching the sunset. It was lovely. 

On our last day we went to the famed zoo and saw this guy. He was very happily munching on some bamboo and was not interested in turning around to smile for the camera. But cool all the same. I've never seen a panda before.