August 2019

We’ve passed the midway point of summer, and even though people are already lamenting the end of summer and talking about back to school, we’ve still got time!! We’ve been fitting as much as possible into our weekends to make them all feel like mini vacations.

A few weeks ago we did a weekend in Rock Hall with the Townsends. We had originally planned on spending the whole weekend on the new boat, but it was ungodly hot, so we stayed at the house and just went out for an afternoon sail/swim. It was a ton of fun, as it always is with that crew.

Bella & Lauren
Lauren
Dave and John doing what they do best
Bella, Sophie & Lauren at our favorite Rock Hall spot – the Harbor Shack
Lauren doing the hard work while I relaxed 😉

The next weekend we took the girls to their first real concert – Jojo Siwa. It was a glitter, rainbow, unicorn explosion and they loved every minute of it. We had bought the tickets for Sophie’s birthday, so she was allowed to bring a friend, so she choose to bring her friend Dior.

This past weekend Dave sailed in a regatta called The Governor’s Cup, which is a 70 mile overnight race from Annapolis to St. Mary’s College. The crew left Annapolis on Walt’s boat at 3pm on Friday and arrived at St. Mary’s at 1:30 on Saturday. They were completely exhausted and totally spent, but had a good time (I think) and ended up placing 2nd in their class! Here’s the crew, with and without kids, and their 2nd place trophy.

And finally, we’ve begun construction on our new kitchen!! We’ve been planning since January and demo finally started last week. Our contractor thinks it will take him a month, so in theory we’ll have a spanking new kitchen by the time school starts. Fingers crossed that actually happens! Here are shots after the first day of demo.

It’s official. I’m 40. While I competed in the last two triathlons in the 40-44 age group, I knew I was still in my 30s! (despite what was written on the back of my calf). Alas, it’s no longer true.

Because I believe birthdays should be a weeks long celebration, that’s exactly what I did!

My birthday present from Dave was a violin. I’ve been renting one since I started taking lessons about three years ago. It’s pretty cheap and I since I think I’m going to stick with it, I wanted to get a nicer one. My teacher recommended a violinmaker in Philly and that’s where I went. His typical clients are definitely more along the lines of professional musicians, so I think he was a little surprised to see me, but also super nice and helpful. His name is Christopher Germain and here he is putting the finishing touches on my violin!

Later in the week Doug and Vicki hosted a big family birthday party at their house. It was a combined birthday celebration because Dick and Joan both turned 70 recently, and then there are the slo of July birthdays. In addition to me, Mom, Becky, Vicki and Maithili all have birthdays in July.

This is 40!! Which naturally calls for a tiara.
Becky and me
Joan & Dick both turned 70 recently

After the party Mom, Dad, Becky, Arian, Doug, Vicki, Quinn, Carley, and me and the girls all went to Eagle Rock in the mountains of PA. It was really pretty and relaxing. Here are a few shots from our stay there. It’s the first time I’ve ever tried the paddle board and it was super fun.

We were also there for mom’s actual birthday. She turned 64.

My actual birthday was pretty low key, which is exactly how I wanted it. Dave and the girls turned our dining room into a French Bistro and they made a delicious dinner. Here’s the menu. It was all delicious and capped off an excellent few weeks of birthday celebrations!