Girl Time

This weekend I got in some much anticipated girl time with my JMU girls.  Mary, P, Kristin, Carrie, me, and Heather all lived together during our years at JMU.  We have such fun memories of those four years, but the best part is that we’re all still good friends all these years later.  Heather was visiting from Texas, so the others of us came in from PA, NJ, and VA to meet up at Kristin’s mom’s house in MD.

Along for the ride on Friday were most of the little ones – Nina, Jack (Kristin), Lyla, Avery (Kristin), Abby (Paula), Natalie (Carrie) and Danny (Carrie).

We all had such a good time together.  For us girls, it seems like no time ever passes when we all get together.  We just pick up right where we left off the last time, and there is an always tons of talking and laughing. Even the little ones all got along great. Nina and Natalie were the oldest of the group, so they labeled themselves the “babysitters” then Avery and Lyla are almost exactly the same age (born 2 weeks apart), Danny is 2, and Jack and Abby are just over a year and were actually born on the same day.

We’re already planning our next girls’ trip. Heather and her family are moving to Las Vegas at the end of the year, so the next trip is off to Vegas.  I’m thinking we’ll leave the kids behind for that one!!!!

Sister Update

Even though the first day of summer wasn’t officially until yesterday, we’ve been enjoying “summer” for the past three weeks. . We visit the pool a lot as Nina loves to swim now, and Lyla is enjoying the pool more this summer.  Just today, she was kicking around the whole pool with her head down in the water, her floaties on, her bottom in the air, and her arms behind her.  Nina and I were cracking up because it looked so cute, but Lyla was so proud of herself. For most parts of most days, the girls play really well together and are good buddies.  There are times, of course, when they get on each other’s nerves, but it’s been really cute to watch them role play in their imagine world together.  Summers always seem to go by too fast for me, so we’re going to do our best to enjoy each day!

A Father’s Day Journey

FYI…this might take awhile.

When I was just about nine, and Shen was almost 11, we moved from Herndon to Haymarket.  We moved from a street with about twenty kids to a gravel road with no kids.  Actually, there were two girls that lived down the gravel road, but try as we may (or not) to be friends, it just wasn’t going to happen.  So, we had to find ways to keep ourselves busy.  Mine came in the form of this Honda Spree.  Shen and I had been saving our money for ages, and I remember the day my parents took us to the Manassas Honda shop, and we bought these scooters.  We each had one.  Shen rode hers, but I have to say, I crushed her in miles ridden.  The odometer says over 3,000 miles.  That’s more miles than riding from Los Angeles to Washington D.C.  We weren’t allowed to ride the scooters on the road, so I rode up and down the gravel driveways and through our grass fields.  I had a whole imaginary world I travelled in as I rode around all day.  At a recent visit to my parents’ house, we went down to the barn, and I saw the scooter.  It brought back lots of memories – a lot of journeys. 

To say that we’ve been on a journey the past six months would be an understatement.  It’s been a roller coaster of ups and downs, excitement and trials.  Most who read this blog know that Mark finished the 2010 year with DC United then embarked on a journey to transition to coaching in college soccer.  While the transition would seem to be a fairly easy one, it’s been a tremendously challenging road.  While we would have thought that years of experience at a high level would be an attractive thing to prospective coaches and athletic directors, apparently it is not.  If I went into the details of all of that, I’d be typing for hours and now is not the time for that.  Maybe down the road, when things become clear, we’ll be able to articulate better what all this has looked like.  At times it’s been frustrating and consuming, and at other times, we just focus on the day at hand, enjoy life for what it is right now, and trust that the Lord has a plan.

So, you might be wondering, where’s the Father’s Day connection?  These thoughts just really filled my head today as I thought about what today is all about.  For a friend so near and dear to my heart, today signifies a journey has ended.  She was there with her dad as he battled in the last weeks and days of his life, and their journey came to an end just a couple months ago.  Today is her first Father’s Day without her dad.  For another dear friend, he’s celebrating his first Father’s Day.  After years of a journey though the process to adopt, he finally has his boys.  He’s a dad for the first time this Father’s Day.  

For me, the journey we’ve been on the past six months has given me a deeper appreciation for the burden of a father.  I’ve seen my husband stand strong in the face of (what I think is) unfair opposition, and I’ve seen him struggle under the challenge to pursue a passion and still provide for his family.  Our girls have gone from being used to dropping daddy off at the airport on a regular basis to asking multiple times where daddy has gone even if he’s just gone for a few hours.  The journey has meant the day to day of trying to stay patient with the process, patient with the kids, patient with ambition, and patient on the Lord.  Some days the road is easy riding, some days the road seems full of potholes.  It’s a journey.  I’ve seen my own dad come along side my husband in a way that has meant the world to me.  Through regular weekly coffee talks, my husband has been listened to, prayed for,and encouraged in a way that only a caring father with a lot more life experience could provide.  The job of being a father doesn’t end when the kids grow up. 

Lastly, I’ve been on a journey with my heavenly father.   I’ve asked a lot of questions.  I’ve had trouble getting on board with potential opportunities, and I’ve battled in my mind to try to understand where this past six months is taking us.  I’ve asked for Him to be more gentle on our confidence level.  I’ve asked for him to help us understand where we need to go.  I’ve asked for a lot of patience and a lot of peace…those requests sometimes come on the hour.  Even though things haven’t all worked themselves out yet, and even though I wish God and I could think more alike on one opportunity in particular, I know that He loves me, He cares for me, and He’ll give us what we need.  It’s a bonus that He controls the whole universe, so these things won’t be a problem for Him.  Like the correction of a father, it doesn’t mean that things are going to work out the way I want, and it doesn’t mean that I’m necessarily going to be happy with the outcome (at least in the short term), but it does come with the guarantee that it all will be worked out for good – His good.  On another day and in another time, when this journey has come to some form of a destination, I will be sure to share what that is.  But for right now, today is about the journey, and I’m glad I’ve got some good fathers in my life to do the journey with.

Trip to the Zoo

Today we decided to take a trip to the National Zoo.  We wanted to go before the weather got too hot and before all the local schools let out for the year, so today was a perfect day for both of those things.

We started off at the Big Cats exhibit and got to see some cool lions (although we were disappointed not to see any tigers out).

Both girls really liked the Reptile House.  Nina couldn’t get over the size of this blue iguana, and Lyla really liked the turtles.  We also saw some very cool snakes, and Nina got up close and personal with another lizard that the zookeeper had out.

We enjoyed getting a good look at the elephants!

After re-energizing with a good lunch, we were back out to see the rest of the zoo. 

Nina, in particular, was very excited to see the panda.  By chance, we came across an overlook that wasn’t crowded and got a great view of the panda.

After the panda exhibit, we started making our way back to the car.  We were excited that the prairie dogs were out of their tunnels when we passed by them a second time.  The girls loved the prairie dogs, and it was fun to see them so close.

It ended up being a great trip to the zoo, and we even got home before getting stuck in rush hour traffic, so it was a good day!

Saturday on the River

Today we decided to take a little impromptu visit to the Potomac River.  Mark had the idea this morning, and since we didn’t have anything else planned, we packed up the canoe, our river stuff, and some food and set out for the river. 

We paddled up river to a small island where we could set out our blanket, the girls could play in the shallow water around the island, and Mark could fish a little.

Right away, the girls busied themselves with rocks and interesting things in the water.  Lyla loves rocks.  She gathered all the biggest rocks she could find and put them in the tire circle she found on the ground.  Nina started off looking for neat shells.

After a little looking, Nina discovered small snails in the water.  She and Lyla spent quite awhile looking for, and finding, tiny snails attached to rocks in the shallow water.

Mark spent some time fishing while the girls played.

It was a beautiful day, but it did get quite hot, so the girls took the opportunity to cool each other down!

After getting cooled off again, Nina want back to snail hunting, and Lyla returned to her favorite activity – throwing rocks.  She loves to just chuck rocks into the water – the bigger the rocks, the better.

One creature happy to see us get back into our canoe and head back down the river was this killdeer.  She is camouflaged very well, so you can click on the picture to make it bigger and see her.  She is in the very center of the photo.  The minute we arrived at the island, I figured we had come into her nest territory.  She hopped over to a few feet away from us and started squawking, bobbing her head, and basically didn’t stop squawking the entire time we were there.  We saw the area that her nest was in, so we were careful to not even go on that half of the island.  Still, she was not happy that we were there, even staying on our side of the island, and she made sure we knew it!

It ended up being a great way to spend part of the day, and all of us enjoyed the beautiful day outdoors.

Art Lesson and More

As a part of Nina’s birthday, my mom is giving her watercolor painting lessons each week.  Tonight we went out to Haymarket for her second lesson.  After she finished painting, Poppy took the girls on the mower for turns helping him mow the back field.  Nina hopped on right away so I had to borrow my mom’s camera and snap a few pictures.

Lyla watched for a little while and then was sure she wanted to take a turn also.

I have to tell a little story to explain this picture.  After the last art lesson at my mom and dad’s house, my mom offered to take us to Pickle Bob’s for ice cream.  It’s basically an outdoor ice cream stand with little tables, etc. not too far from their house.  Well, on the way out there for the art lesson today, the girls started asking if we could ask to go back to Pickle Bob’s again this time.  I told them that it’s better manners not to ask for Mousey to take us again, but if she offers, then certainly we could go.  I was just trying to get them to understand not to expect to go to the ice cream stand, but if offered, then appreciate the chance to go.  It took a lot of conversation back and forth, but by the time we arrived for the art lesson, I thought things were pretty clear.  Anyway, we weren’t in my mom and dad’s house even five minutes when Nina walked up to Mouse, put her hand on her arm, and said in the sweetest little voice, “Mousey, have you thought of any ideas for dessert yet tonight?”  I just had to stand there and shake my head.  Of course, my mom picked up on the hint, and of course, she volunteered to take the girls back to Pickle Bob’s for ice cream, but I just had to marvel at the ingenuity of a five year old when ice cream is on the line.  She didn’t come out and ask to go to the ice cream stand, but she did manage a way to get her point across without breaking the rules.  So, here is a little picture from my camera of us enjoying some Pickle Bob ice cream.

Date Night

Last night was date night for Nina and I. The weather was beautiful, so after using some of her birthday money to get a new purse (which she is VERY excited about), we grabbed some dinner to take over to Reston Town Center.  We ate our dinner while chatting and people watching at the fountain park.  We’re starting to get Lyla into the date night concept as well, so after our dinner, Mark and Lyla met us at the town center for some ice cream and to hear an outdoor concert.  The band playing last night was a Beatles cover band, so the highlight of the concert was watching Nina and Lyla dancing to Twist and Shout.  While I obviously know the Beatles’ version, I was telling Mark that I can’t hear that song and not think of that classic scene in Ferris Beuller’s Day Off which is definitely much more my generation than the Beatles.  It was a great evening to spend some time with just Nina, then to enjoy the last part of the night out together as a family.

Last Day

On Tuesday, Nina had her last day of preschool.  She has enjoyed it so much this year, so I know she was sad to see it come to an end.  The end of the last day was an ice cream party that families were invited to.  Even though she’ll be sad not to see her buddies three days a week, we plan on getting together with some of the special ones over the summer to keep in touch.  It’s hard to believe we’ll have a Kindergartener next year!