We hit the road at 10:20 a.m. on Sunday morning - only 20 minutes behind schedule, amazingly enough!!

Tyler brought his trusty pal, "Pandy" along for the ride...






Evan had his fingers.....

and Maddy was asleep before we hit the gas station!!

She slept for the first hour and a half of the trip, which was nice. Unfortunately, the rest of the trip wasn't so pleasant for her.

Check-in seemed to go smoothly, until we actually got to the house. Turned out they had given us the wrong key. And the lockbox where the other two keys were supposed to be was not only not locked, it was empty. So we called immediately, and of course, the office was closed (it was just past 5:00 p.m. on Sunday). We called the "emergency cell phone number" where the message says that calls are answered "within" the hour. So apparently, no one actually keeps this emergency cell phone on their person. Someone finally called me back, about 40 minutes later, and then it was another 40 minutes waiting for him to arrive with the right key.


Here is a shot of the backside of the house.

I haven't taken a picture of the front, because frankly, it's not that impressive. The inside isn't so great either (I admit we've been spoiled in the past by some pretty spectacular houses). I've had lots of time to observe it's lack of greatness since we've been cooped up inside for most of the time so far. The weather has been horrendous with LOTS and LOTS of rain. We are here during possibly the worst week we could have picked out of the entire year.

So there has been lots of indoor activity.

Hanging with grandparents,

looking gorgeous,

eating Uncle Doug's famous french toast,

and sleeping.

We have had a couple of breaks from the rain and were able to hit the beach for some windy weather fun.

Today the boys all got kites.

And there was some chillaxin' in the sand,

and the surf.

And some fishing.

Poor Doug. The first day he went out to fish, a cop came buy and gave him a $160 ticket for not having a license. That's apparently a new thing in the last couple of years. No warning or anything, just BAM! $160 ticket. So today, he got a license. For $10.

Tomorrow is supposed to bring more rain - a couple of inches. Then (fingers crossed!!!!) Thursday-Sunday are supposed to be o.k. We'll see!!!

Farewell Summer!

Sorry for the long break - I've been away on a long solo vacation on an exotic, unchartered island. Just me, some sand, the sun, a few good books, and a vat of Pinot Grigio. Oh wait!! That was just IN MY DREAMS!!!! In reality (good ol' reality!), I've been here at home all summer long. And I suppose, as a family member pointed out, I've been too busy living life to write about it!!

And in keeping with this theme, I started this blog post last Sunday (hence the date at the top), but it is now the following Saturday.



We have had a good summer though. Let's see what I can remember

Of course, the summer started with mom moving in with us at long last.






Early in the summer, we took a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium,





where we found Nemo,

a creepy snake,

some other cool fish,

some wickedly awesome jellies,

and much, much more.

Also this summer, there were swimming lessons.

The lessons took place at the Freedom Aquatic Center, which is part of the George Mason University campus in Manassas. Tyler went mornings for two weeks, and then Evan went for two weeks. I have pics of Evan too, but for some reason I am having tremendous difficulty uploading them.

The boys both did very well with their lessons, and are much more confident in the pool as a result. I will take them again next year, when Tyler can join the 4 year old class, and Evan can join the class that Tyler was in this year.

I enjoyed the one-on-one time with my boys for those four weeks. Perhaps my favorite moment during that time was the morning that Tyler and I were walking up to the center, hand in hand, and he looked down at the shadow being cast on the sidewalk in front of us and said

"Look Mommy - it's a picture of us!" *sigh*

Ok.... what else.....?

There were many trips to the community pool,

there was snuggling,

and vogueing,

and biking







and brawling.



There were visits from family,



as well as creatures great,




and small.




There was a lot of activity on the backyard playset,










and just general sweetness.

I mean, seriously, couldn't you just eat her with a spoon????




And now, summer is over. Tyler has gone back to preschool,

and tomorrow morning we head off for our annual trip to the Outer Banks. Wait a minute... I've been at this for 3+ hours and it IS tomorrow morning! Crap. Guess I'd better finish packing.