On the morning of her birthday she did a scavenger hunt to find all 11 (!) of her birthday presents. The final present was monkey bars that Dave had made to attach to the swing set that we have in the backyard. She also got a hoverboard, which she rode on for most of the day (thank goodness we had good weather).
And for dinner we had (of course) pizza from Tony Roni’s. The Sharps came over for pizza and cake and a movie.
The big 8 year old!
on her new hoverboard
new monkey bars!
She picked out the cake and I made it – a three layered chocolate malted cake with toasted marshmallow “icing.”
This amazing, hilarious, active girls has brought so much joy to our lives over the last 8 years!
Our planned August vacation this year was supposed to be Alaska, but since that couldn’t happen, we decided to do another week on the boat on the Chesapeake. We didn’t travel quite as far as we did the first go round, but did stay in a new spot each night. This time we also met up with our friends the Townsends, who were supposed to be in St. Maarten the same week, but obviously couldn’t go. They chartered a boat out of Rock Hall and we met up 4 of our 7 nights out. At one point we also met up with a family we had met down in Tangier the last time we were on the boat. A dad and twin 7 year olds who have been on their boat nonstop since the spring.
We spent a few days with the Sharps in Rock Hall before heading out.
The girls with Mom Mom and Pop Pop on a beautiful night in Rock Hall
We always travel with sea kayaks, which are the best way to get around into little coves and shallow rivers. The Townsends up the game with inflatable standing paddle boards, which were pretty cool. Sophie in particular loved them and was really good getting around on it.
Sophie & Crystal
Bella paddle board dancing
A boat of 7 year olds
Sophie taking one of the twins out for a ride
The Townsends also brought along a huge pink blowup unicorn, which was of course a hit with all the girls.
5 girls getting ready to set sail on their pink flying unicorn Dave and the girls using the seine. Dinner with a view Bella with an ice cream face in Havre de Grace. Ice cream was a destination in each place we stopped and this place was by far the best.
The girls usually spend one week of the summer down in Charlottesville with my family. Since I’m working from anywhere these days, I went down with them and stayed the week. We hadn’t seen everyone in-person since Sophie’s birthday back in March, so it was really nice to finally give real hugs. The week was pretty low key. Most of the activities that the girls do while down there are closed this summer, or we just weren’t comfortable doing them, so we spent a lot of time at the house and just took a couple of trips out.
One day Becky and I took the girls to Sugar Hollow, which is a beautiful hiking spot where I spent a lot of time in high school.
On a rock in Sugar Hollow
Another day we went to a lake that was open for swimming.
One afternoon we met up with my friend Sarah and her daughter Lexi, who is 2 weeks younger than Sophie. We typically see them once or twice a year. The girls have totally different personalities, but get along pretty well. This time they bonded over Tic Toc (if I could find an eye roll emoji I would insert it here).
Sophie & Lexi (looking at Tic Toc together). Also pictured, adorable Caleb, who is just a year.
And the rest of the time we spent at the house – playing in the yard, fishing, and just hanging out.
Sophie and Penny fishing at the lake.
Lauren lost a tooth while we were down there – her 8th tooth, and third to lose while we’re with my family. Must be a tooth fairy preferred location.
Holding up her 8th lost tooth.
We of course travel with all of the animals, which right now just included Lauren’s tortoise, Jewels, and Sophie’s parakeets, Princess and Zebra. Jewels had an opportunity to meet Vahid, and she was not thrilled about it. She kept her head in the shell the entire time.
Jewels and Vahid meet.
Lauren and Ari are pretty inseparable, and spent nearly the entire time together. At times it makes it tough for Soph because she feels left out. She and Ari also play together, but their personalities are very similar, which usually means it leads to fighting pretty quickly.
Mom also wanted to recreate a picture that she took of Dad, Becky and I about 30 years ago when we had Hannah, who is a doppelganger of Penny. Penny wasn’t super into taking direction, and we’re all a lot bigger than we were 30 years ago!
1992 vs. 2020 The whole fam on our last night there.
Since Lauren’s birthday falls during the holiday break, her first grade class had a celebration for her the last day of school for the year, which also happened to be pajama day – bonus!
Dave and I came in and read a story to the class and she gave out pencils to everyone.
Lauren and her friend Janney
With her teacher, Ms. Gorodesky
Her actual birthday was the Saturday after Christmas and this year we did an American Ninja Warrior party at a gym in West Chester that has trained actual competitors who have been on the show. Obviously they adjusted the course for 7 year olds. She invited her entire class, of which about half came, and everyone had a great time!
With her friend Norah from Bala House
The birthday gang
striking a ninja pose
Rainbow unicorn cake, of course
That night we had a second family party at the house. The cake was huge so we threw another candle on it and sang happy birthday again. It was actually the same cake that Sophie had on her 7th birthday. Lauren saw a picture of it recently and insisted she get one too. Good choice, it’s delicious!
At 7, Lauren is always the first to offer help if someone needs it, whether it’s carrying something from the car or cleaning up a mess, even if it’s not hers. She loves her Mr. Benson and always has snuggles for him, even though he’s the smelliest dog in the world. She love to tell jokes and make others laugh. She’s also such a monkey, running and climbing on everything. Which is why the trampoline you see in the background was the perfect birthday present 😉 Happy Birthday to this amazing, kind, funny kid!
Summer is almost here! The girls are wrapping up their school year activities with end of the year celebrations.
Lauren took her last kindergarten field trip to the Japanese House in Fairmount. Each month the kindergarteners took a different trip and this one was sort of the culmination. They learned all about Japan for about two weeks and then experienced it for themselves at the House.
Sophie had an art show of the different works that she did at the Narberth Handwork Studio. She took a fiber arts course where she sewed some pillows and a sewing machine class where she made a skirt. She loved that one so much she’ll be heading to a fashion camp this summer.
And Sophie also had her first Girl Scouts camping trip. Her troop went to a camp ground about an hour from our house where they earned badges hiking, learning how to use a compass, cooking dinner, and learning about nature. Dave was a chaperone… and Lauren and I slept wonderfully in our beds at home 😉
Sophie also did a program called Girls on the Run this spring, where, for two days each week for an hour and a half each day, she learned to run as well as did a lot of girl empowerment activities. The culmination was a 5K in May. She needed to have a running buddy with her so that was me. It was a hot day and she was tired, but we did it in 48 minutes. She was really proud of herself when it was done, and so were we. We can also definitely say she is not the runner in this family – at least not at the moment.
A few days later I ran in the Philly Broad Street Run, which is a 10 mile race. This was the 6th time I’ve done it and I got a personal best time, with a time of 1:22:55! It rained the whole race, but wasn’t that cold, so not so bad.
And finally Dave and I got dressed up for a black tie fundraiser for Temple University Trauma Center. We were invited as guests of the Gift of Life Family House, a board that I sit on.
Still up – Lauren’s spring ballet recital and Sophie’s spring choir concert – which are of course are at the exact same time in just a few weeks. We’re going to have to draw straws to decide who goes to which.
It’s pumpkin season and one of my favorite times of year!
A few weekends ago we went out to Milky Way Farm to pick pumpkins with Dan, Maithili, Kishore, and Ashwini. The farm also makes their own ice cream, which is amazing, so we waiting in a seriously long line afterward as our reward. It was worth it.
The kid crew at the pumpkin patch.
Sophie and Kishore decided to go to a part of the pumpkin patch where no one else was – to find the perfect pumpkins of course. They held hands the entire walk, it was really sweet. They also came back with arms overflowing with pumpkins, so I guess it was worth the walk.
Afterward we headed back to our place to do some carving.
Serious work here.
Sophie also got some good quality time in with Kish and Ash.
Second cousin snuggles and story hour.
I should have taken a picture of our pumpkins when they were all finished, but forgot, and now it’s too late because the stupid squirrels in our neighborhood ate them down to their stems! I couldn’t believe it. They were decimated in about two days. Next year we’ll keep the real ones inside and get some indestructible ones for outdoor decorating.
On Sunday we celebrated my Nana’s 93rd birthday with a party at Doug and Vicki’s house. Nana just got back from a two month trip to Scotland, Sicily, and Greece. Not too shabby for a 93-year-old. Doug and Vicki were with her in Scotland, and then Diane and Richard were with her in Sicily and Greece. She doesn’t fly any more, so she took the Queen Mary II back and forth between New York and London.
Here’s the birthday lady. Looking dapper coming right from church to the party.
Becky, mom, and me with Nana.
She had a little help from the grandkids to blow out the candles.
Ari, Nana, Sophie, Lauren, Kishore, and Ashwini. What a cute crew!
More pics from the day – Becky and me, and mom with her grandkids
Earlier in the day we also went and visited Pappap’s grave at Valley Forge Park. He was buried there eight years ago, but never had a headstone. The kids and grandkids all chipped in and had one made, and it was just placed last weekend, so we all went to see it.
Although it took a while, it was really good to see and felt like good closure for everyone.
Last weekend the Coughlin clan was up for a visit and on Saturday aunts, uncles and cousins also came in for a quick hello. Lauren and Sophie loved the attention 🙂
Becky & Lauren
Maithili is a natural…
Dan too
With Nana & Pap Pap
Quinn entertained us all with a reading of the Pout Pout Fish… in an English accent of course.
