Memorial Day 2016

We  travelled south to Las Fagis on Friday.  Summer has officially started.  I packed up my classroom on Friday morning and we departed for Lake Norris around 3 p.m.

That drive is quite unfun, but it is well worth it. The lake is beautiful and it is so relaxing.  We went straight to bed upon arrival.  T opted to sleep solo while I received swift kicks to the kidneys on the hour whilst sharing a bed with my child.

The weather was nice and we went down to the deck on Saturday morning.  

Charlotte carried the snack bag, which Genevieve stuck close to most of the morning.  

Tim took us out on the pontoon boat.  G was a bit dismayed that it didn't go faster.  

Trinity and Genevieve did some floating.  

Charlotte was most helpful with Li'l G.  They wore matching life vests.  

Genevieve and Liam puzzled.  They also hugged.

A lot.

Lots of hugging.  

On Sunday we took the fast boat out on the water.  

I went tubing.  I developed a bit of a phobia from an early age.  My friend Gina once took me boating.  Her father liked to see if he could dump us in the drink.

Bellyflopping at 25 mph as an 8 year old wasn't really my scene.

Tim was much more cautious with G on board.

He topped off at 15 mph after much encouragement from G to go faster.  

I did the stand up paddle board a couple of times.

It takes a lot of balance.

I'm not sure I'll be signing up for any SUP yoga classes.  

G was completely pooped after boating and floating.

I can't remember the last time she fell asleep on my lap.

We had a lovely time with Robeghan, Tim, Jamie, and their trio of precious kiddos.  

Reciting and Holiday World

On Saturday we had to get up early so I could do my best Truvy Jones impression and paint/style my toddler for her recital rehearsal.  

My ability to do my own hair and makeup is somewhat questionable.

I did my best.

G lined up to hit the stage with her fellow tip tappers!  

Her hair may require a professional.

This profile shot shows my shoddy work.  

This picture was taken seconds before the chorus line went down like a load of dominos.  

My kid escaped the fray.

Not because she is graceful but rather she was not hanging on anyone else.

That rebel.

Those tap shoes on tile are lethal.  

There were signs posted everywhere that said "Do not run in tap shoes.  You will fall."  

Correction:

"Don't move in tap shoes.  Let your mother bubble wrap your feet so you don't break your neck."

G is the youngest in her class.

The older girls are 5.

Check out that mascara!

After her tap number we had to presto-chango for her ballet dance.  I now know what backstage at Miss America must look like.

Minus the cleavage tape.

At this point I enlisted another mother to help with G's hair.  

We had a slight wardrobe malfunction as these two cuties tangled up their tutus.  

This photo below was taken right after G had a near breakdown on the stage.  You see, Genevieve claimed someone else was standing on her house.  She stands on a little pink house made of masking tape which is her mark on stage.  

She couldn't find her house so she assumed someone was standing on it.  

Uh, no, honey child.

You skipped right over your prime piece of real estate and you have no one to blame but yourself!  

After a private tutorial with her teacher, she admitted that she missed her house and stopped blaming Brynley.

I will keep my fingers crossed that she remembers where that damn house is when the curtain goes up.

I may make a mock pink house and play John Mellencamp so we can practice finding little pink houses for you and me. 

We left rehearsal and drove for an overnight with Sister Katie and Caroline.  Chip, Robby, Trinity, and Steve were camping on Saturday night so we had a slumber party with just girls.

Bestie Nicole came over with Madelyn and Li'l Caroline.  

YaYa was there.  

She's in the background.

You know you see that white hair and red sweater.  

I woke up early and snuggled with the world's largest dog.  Frankie makes me feel like one of the Starks with my very own dire wolf.  You know I love a good Game of Thrones reference.   I would be Sansa because I truly loathe Arya, or should I say "the girl?"  

Lame.   

On Sunday morning I cranked up Holiday Road and we rolled Griswold style to Holiday World.  

G loves a carousel.  

Katie took this cute picture of the cousins.  

All smiles.  

Zoom in.

Now that is a very enthusiastic photo bomber.

What in the world?  

Hysterical!  

I rode some kiddie drop ride that scared me.

I screamed from fear.

Seriously.

I cannot ride anything!

We finished the day with lots of selfies.  

Good times!  

Mother's Day and The Zoo!

Genevieve had a spring trip to visit YaYa last weekend.  She spent one night with my mom and dad.  

She reunited with our beloved Kashmir.  I don't think our old kitty likes my child any more than she did when she lived with us.  Kashmir just had another birthday.  She's 17 now.  I expect 3 a.m. phone calls from my mother about how she has slipped out of the house to go drinking with her fellow teenaged kitties.  

G had her first overnight adventure with Caroline, Chip, and Katie.  Sadly, my computer won't download those pictures.  I'll try to update that later.  We all joined together at the Country Club for Mother's Day brunch. 

Genevieve spent most of the time loving on Chip's mother, Gari.  Genevieve also calls her Nana, even though she is not her Nana.  We had an embarrassing moment when Genevieve touched Nana inappropriately and told her she liked her "meatballs."  I have no earthly idea where my child heard this word to refer to a female's chest, but it has become part of her vocabulary.  Now normally this isn't much of an issue since her Momma does not really have meatballs worthy of discussion.

Nana's meatballs were a different story.    

As usual, Gari handled herself with grace.  Genevieve and I had a talk about not groping others.  

This is yet another aspect of motherhood that I did not anticipate!  

Mother was happy to have her 3 children home to love.  

Katie continues to morph into my mother and Robby and I continue our reign as Irish twins.  

On Friday I took my 24 babies to the Indianapolis Zoo.

Grab the Klonopin.  

Tending to other people's bundles of joy in a highly crowded public place gives me a bit of anxiety.  My kids were excited, but they listened and hung close!  

I was totally relaxed.

Plus I had this secret weapon-

The silver haired retiree.

Since we are both roughly the size of baby giraffes, the children could spot us easily.  

Mother was very helpful.

Except for when she left my precious Hannah in the bathroom.  It was fine!  My mother will kill me for oversharing.  Hannah was lost for exactly 22 seconds.  It was enough to send my mother into panic and for Hannah to start wailing. 

I just followed her cries to the correct stall.

All was fine.

Here's a photo of most of my babies.  We have 9 more days and I'm going to miss them terribly!   

Spring Fun

The last few weeks have not been that busy.  I just can't seem to sit down to write anything on here, so I'll give a quick recap of our latest activities.  

Lady G had her dance photos taken recently.  

We are in the final countdown of her first year of dance.  I'm not sure that there will be a year 2.  

It's a lot to pay for a child who typically spends at least 5 minutes of class eating a granola bar. This occurs after I finally break down  from about 6 runs over to me whining for a snack.   

She was very excited about her time in front of the camera.  

We spent some time swinging at the park one day.  

We have eaten quite a few dinners al fresco.  

The whole gang came together to celebrate the fact that Dad is old.  We had a fabulous brunch at Trader's Point Creamery and my child refused to cooperate.

Shocking.  

Dad sat with his two grand girls.  

We went for a little nature stroll and G loved on YaYa.    

G had a heavenly afternoon with Charlotte, Liam, and Georgia.  

She just settled right in and pretended that she was the 4th child of the family.  She always does that with them. 

I took a personal day on Friday for an appointment and some Betsy time.  Of course that involved yoga and cake.  I figure they sort of balance each other out.  

Start your engines!  

It's May in Indy, which is the best month of the year.  I loved the checkered flag on my black and white cake.  The entire piece was consumed while sitting in my car like some sort of hermit outside of The Cake Bake Shop. 

Trinity and I played miniature golf at the new course exhibit at the IMA.  

My favorite hold was #2 featuring Li'l Bub, a rainbow, and a somewhat questionably shaped putting green (purple).   

I had not played mini golf in decades and it showed.  I was terrible.

Trinity was not much better.  

It was a beautiful day and quite a quirky adventure.