Back To School '12

The last first day of high school for Dagny 

and the last year they will be in school together

 The Senior and the Sophomore 

egg-in-a-hole, traditional first day of school breakfast

Go, Giants!

There is nothing better on a summer night than hanging out with your family at the ballpark watching your favorite team.  Well, watching them win would make the night perfect, but just being at the park is pretty great. We love us some Giants, and watching them play live is awesome.  Going to the game means dressing up in orange and black, (Dagny even had orange shoelaces and a custom hair bow, made by me) and having a sign to hold up. This year I made the best sign ever.  I'm not kidding, it was amazing and clever.  I based it on the catch phrase of the Giants announcer, Mike Krukow.  When a batter on the opposing team strikes out, he says, "Grab some pine, meat!"  Meaning, go sit down, you're done.  Even though the Giants didn't win on the night we were there, there is never anything bad about being at AT&T Park.  Go Giants!  

40

Happy Birthday to me! 

Let's all just take a moment and wrap our minds around the fact that I'm 40 years old.  I'm not sure I know how to be 40.  I have always been younger than everyone.  I am the baby of my family, the youngest of my friend group, the youngest parent of all my kids friends...  Obviously I am still all of those things but now I am old, too.  When you reach these milestone ages you can't help but reflect and assess and wonder if you're where should be.  I don't know if I've accomplished enough or if I've wasted too much time or even what I should do next. Forty is very perplexing to me.  I decided long ago that the best way to deal with aging was to embrace it.  I will never lie about my age, it is what it is, and it is way better than the alternative.  I will gladly proclaim that I'm 40 and I will be fabulous about it,  and while I'm doing that I will be figuring out what it means to be 40.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

Vegas, Baby

In all the years Steve and I have been parents (seventeen, to be exact) we have never gotten on a plane and gone somewhere without our kids.  That doesn't mean we've never left them or had a getaway,  we just haven't ever gotten very far away.  In our defense we live within driving distance of some pretty fabulous stuff, but that doesn't mean it wasn't high time for something new. For the momentous occasion of my 40th birthday we decided to get on a plane and go have some grown-up fun.  And there is no better place for good old-fashioned, grown-up fun than in Las Vegas.  

I really love this new, chic, Las Vegas.  We stayed at the fabulous Vdara which was gorgeous and luxurious and smelled heavenly. (it is a non-smoking, non-gaming, hotel.  So nice to stay in a place that smells like a spa and not have to walk through a casino to get to your room) We spent most of our time at the Bellagio and the Aria, which are connected to the Vdara.  We did venture out and see more of the strip, but we found that the best of everything was down near the Vdara in the City Center.  We did a little shopping, (at the Crystals shopping center it was all window shopping) ate utterly amazing food, and spent time at lots of different clubs and lounges.  It was all very posh and romantic.  On my actual birthday we went to a club and danced all night on the rooftop dance floor.  I turned 40 dancing with Steve with the entirety of Las Vegas shining beneath me.  Not a bad way to start a new decade. 

Being in Las Vegas was exciting and exhilarating, and we had a scandalous amount of fun. Steve is the perfect traveling companion, he is adventurous and interesting, generous and patient, and so, so, much fun to be with.   For us, what happened in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas, we brought that feeling of youth and fun and freedom that we found there home with us.  Life is good.  

our hotel

the room

the view from our room

botanical gardens at the Bellagio

    

obligatory fountain viewing 

fantasy shopping at Crystals

oh, the food

the man who makes it all possible

 

taking lots of blurry pictures of ourselves

    

 dancing at the top of the world on my birthday

Puppies!

It is a fact that there is nothing cuter on this planet than French Bulldog puppies.  Not human babies, not kittens, not baby monkeys, not even a baby dressed as a monkey.   The cute all belongs to the Frenchies.  We got to see 7 (!) little Frenchies (4 of which belong to Summer)  and they were not only off-the-charts adorable, they were also perfect in every way.  It's okay to squeal with delight while you look at the pictures, it would be hard not to.