Party Van

My darling, wonderful, beautiful, amazing (ok, this could go on and on.  I'll just leave it with...) AWESOME in-laws took the kids to the lake for a week.  Yesterday I.  did.  nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I collapsed in a pile of exhaustion - and it was beautiful.  Today I was a little more motivated.  I started doing some long-overdue organizing.  But, first I had to deal with the mess left behind before the kids went on vacation.  And, this is what I found:

I will have it known that this is not the kind of driving safety that we condone at the Johnson's.  And, for goodness' sake, Barbie, what in the world are you smiling at?  I should not think this is the kind of situation in which you should be proud to be caught.  It is downright scandalous.  You better hope Mattel doesn't catch wind of this.  You could lose your endorsement deals.  I would also like it to be noted that this debauchery led to some kind of destruction of a brick structure as evidenced by the detritus laying about the ground.  I am horrified.  And, a little bit scared to continue on with the organization...

A Passing Wave to Our Anniversary

Our eleven year anniversary was Saturday, June 5th.  Here's how the week looked: 

• We returned home from our family reunion vacation (I promise I have pictures to show you from that!) on Tuesday evening.
• Wednesday I did a whole lot of laundry and Shawn and I both had meetings at church.
• Thursday evening the kids had their final swim lessons.
• Friday Lulu had her dress rehearsal for her dance recital (I promise, promise I have some darling pictures to show you from that one!).
• Saturday was the dance recital complete with two, count 'em, two performances - the last one at 9:00 in the evening.  Yes, you're remembering correctly, she's not even four yet.  (But, she did love every minute of it, so I didn't feel too much like a Toddlers & Tiaras mother - yet.)
• Sunday morning Shawn left town somewhere around the six o'clock hour (I gotta be honest and say I didn't smile and wave him out the door.  I did roll over and grunt a goodbye to him, though - that's something, right?)  He'll be back Wednesday evening. (Yes, I know.  I just did it again.  Do not come murder me while Shawn is away - I have an alarm and a gun.)

All this to say, this may have been our most pathetic attempt at celebrating an anniversary in all these eleven years.  But, in a way - it wasn't.  Eleven years ago was the day our family was created.  And this year we were completely surrounded and involved with our family of four.  Our kids are more cool than we ever could have imagined.  They bring us immeasurable joy and happiness.  Loving them and raising them together has done nothing but bring us closer.

And we love each other more today than we could have even dreamed possible eleven years ago.  We are each other's best friends.  The rest of the world could disappear (although we wouldn't want it to - our friends and family bring beauty to our lives), but as long as we've got each other, we'll be just fine.  My hurts are his hurts, my victories his.  And visa versa.

So, although this anniversary was less than glamorous, Shawn; and, although you're half a continent away... I wouldn't have our life any other way than exactly how it is.  I love you.

"I mean this is like a blog post all its own"

So, we've been back from our family vacation for a couple of days now and life has taken off like a shot - there has been laundry, Vacation Bible School meetings, final swim lessons, more laundry...  I've got a lot to tell you of the fun we had with our cousins, aunts, uncles, Nanny, Pop and two babysitters at Lost Pines, but it'll have to wait til I'm not quite so tired.  Also, Lulu has a dance recital coming up, so keep an eye out for those sure-to-be-darling pictures.  Our little ham is super excited about that - although, I can't promise that she really understands exactly what it is.

In the meantime, you'll have to tide yourself over with this little tidbit from our first night of vacation:

Brandy and I decided to leave the family gathering to go check out the pool situation for the next day.  Little did we know the pool bar would actually be open (at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it).  We walked up, placed our orders... and got carded.  Oh.  Ha ha.  Cute bartender trying to make the old ladies feel good about themselves.  No really.  No really?!  After a completely failed attempt to use my crows' feet as identification and Brandy demanding, "January 26, 1972!", we walked away with our heads hung like the most dejected, busted 20-year olds you have ever seen.  But, we've never been girls who give up very easily.  So, we quickly found a bar inside (clearly, it was one with better lighting) and got what we were after!  We debated going back to the pool bartender and having our Pretty Woman moment, "Remember us?  You wouldn't serve us?  Big mistake.  Huge!"  But, we took the high road.  We're so mature.

It was twilight as we headed back to join the rest of the family and we saw something on the sidewalk in front of us.  As we got closer, we realized it was a snake slowly slithering its way across our path.  It was at this point that Brandy said, "Geez.  We get carded.  We see a snake.  I mean this is like a blog post all its own."  We wondered if maybe we were dreaming, the night was taking such a surreal turn.  But, we looked down, and we were not, indeed, naked so we felt like it all must really be happening.

So there, you go.  That was our first night of vacation.  And, that story has nothing on "The Attack of the Territorial Horsefly".