Weekend in Instagram

The Waiting

They were waiting for me when I exited the train station.
'Stop being a pansy and take the stairs,' Matt texted to me while I waited a solid 5 minutes for the elevator to creep it way back up to me.  No way dude, these are BlogHer bags. They weigh a ton.

Grace refused to nap, despite the fact that Matt had taken them on a three hour tour of Fort McHenry. She focused on her American flag trinkets, counting the moments until I emerged again. I was greeted with 'I Love You's,' 'I Missed You's' and the inevitable, 'Why did you go on vacation without me Mama?'.

I whispered stories of my walks all over NYC. I saw her statue. I touched a bull. I sat on a motorcycle.
She whispered back with stories of feeding cows, singing our anthem and eating cupcakes with friends.
We both had grand weekends.

Then she remembered the empty suitcase I left with, and it's promise to be full upon return.

After emptying the suitcase, she looked at me and said, 'Mama, I like it when you go on vacation.'

On Occasion

Last fall I questioned the decision not to purchase a new winter cover for our pool.

Naw, he told me, it'll be fine, just a bit more work to clean up in the spring.

But then we didn't start the spring clean up until mid-June.  

And things didn't go well.

Hundreds of dollars were spent.  Days were spent cleaning. Dozens of trips were made to the pool store for analyzation.

It was still green.

It was now mid-June.  We'd seen 7 100+ degree days.  An unimaginable amout of 90 degree days with crazy high humidity.

So we had a brilliant idea. Maybe pool water is like a fish tank? It was just old and nasty, so we should empty the sicker and start over.

We didn't know that was a cardinal no-no of above ground pool ownership. When you empty it of water, the liner starts to contract, crack and peel away from the side of the pool. We were lucky the whole thing didn't collapse.

But, on the bright side, after another $300 spent on a new liner and an un-godly water bill to come our way in the future, we now have a crystal clear pool.

For a week or two anyway.

And we will not  be discussing the swarm of wasps we found nesting in the pool
toy storage box when we tried to get swimmies for the girls.

Because, things are fine sitting out for the winter if you are willing to spend a little more time cleaning them up come spring summer.

The Fish

She paints me.

This vivid little girl.

Clare is blossoming, exploding!, right before our eyes. Sentences are coming together. Thoughts and phrases we don't expect to be coming from her. Sometimes, when I am on the receiving end of phone calls, I can't tell the girls apart.

Clare hugs and giggles with such passion. She narrows her eyes and deliberates. She is busting out toddler jigsaw puzzles like a champ. And she is enthralled with art.

She paints me with her imagination, literally, from head to toe. She names body parts on her journey: hair, eyes, neck, elbow, button, knee, toes.

Her artists pallet? Why a wooden fish and soy sauce of course.

To the OBX and Back

We've been there and back.

Grace has developed a taste for salt water and ocean waves. Clare has sun bleached her locks to near white. I won't go so far as to say the vacation was great. There were moments that I will hold with me for a long time.

Alright.  Maybe it wasn't so bad.

Four: a cardinal number, three plus one

This space is my outlet.

This space is my everything and my nothing.

This space is random.

This space is mine.

Happy four years of blogging to me!

Salted Air

I am on vacation. Right now. But have had such a fantastic day I need to capture it.

I am going to start with the end though, with the ME. I  am sitting on the deck of our hotel room, listening to the ocean sounds and drinking Pedroncelli Mother Clone. (If you don't know Mama Clone as we like to call her, you are missing out.) Anyway, I am blissful.

This is my view.

This is my sea salt.

I love it.
It is crusted onto the balcony which is hosting my glass of Zinfandel.

Anyway, this isn't what I was supposed to be be writing about. I wanted to talk about this:

HOLY GUACAMOLE Y'ALL.

Grace is standing in a real pool all by herself. Sure, it is the shallow end, but that officially makes her 3ft and 1 entire head. Which is official BIG GIRL territory.

And while I blurred out her pretty little face so you can't really see it, you should have seen her smile. The realization that she has met some sort of metric milestone. That she could be in the water and still be in control.

The realization that she was BIG.

After that moment, she asked me to carry her to the fountain in the deep end.
As we swam, I told her that she would always be my Baby.....
And then brought her back to the shallow to tell her she would always be my Love, my Baby, even when when she was BIG.

Summer Thrills

Our town has a carnival that comes this time every year.

It is a week long extravaganza hosted by the fire department, with a firework conclusion. And really, how do you refuse that? Knowing that some portion of the vast amount of money you just bled into the summer night goes to help support the neighbors that protect you. How do you not to drop an extra $5 into the boot at the hot dog stand?
(I may or may not be a little biased on this one.)

So we marched into the sweltering heat to meet with the family of one of Gracie's besties, and bought the all-you-can-ride wrist band. Grace rode with abandon: carousel, train, dragon roller coaster, tilt-a-whirl.

Clare watched with eager eyes, but didn't get to join in on the fun. Until we got to the ferris wheel.
Me go? Mine Mama? Mine, me?

And we went. She and I tucked neatly into a capsule.
It was the beginning of the end.
Now she knew she was allowed to go to, and so she went on her first carnival  ride with Grace.

Quickly followed by a ride all by herself.

I don't think I've seen her that happy in quite awhile.
Well, except for when I make popcorn.

Days to Remember

We adventured today.
We tromped.
We smiled.
We laughed.
We hugged.
We had fun.

It was the first day in a long time that the yelling was limited and the melt downs were non-existent.

Happy Father's Day Matt. I'm glad you got the afternoon that you deserve.

Girls Night Out

So I told her we got a present* in the mail. Something just for her and me. Something special.

She was so excited, we went in the rain. Part of me wanted to cancel, but the allure of time alone with me, combined with the magic of baseball was too much for her. We have to go Mama, she told me, the Bird will be sooo sad not to see us.

And it was true.

The O's hosted a wonderful tour of the park, with behind the scenes perks that I had never dreamed of. Our tour guide showed us the playground, touting its child friendliness. But none of that mattered, because we were already fans. Already in love with the ballpark.

What we got that night that I will always keep with me is this.

Time alone with my girl, made possible by the love of baseball.

*Our tickets, tour and snacks were provided to us free of cost from the Baltimore Orioles, but my words and opinions are 100% my own.