Goodbye, Jay!

As we bid adieu to Mr. Leno tonight, I am reminded of the day that I went to see his show.... 11 years ago! Here is a copy of my ticket.

The Tonight Show filmed in Chicago for a week or so and we got tickets! I went with my sister, Maret, my best friend from high school, Kelly Evans and her mom. Here we are, outside the Rosemont Theatre waiting to go in.

And here I am, meeting Kevin Eubanks after the show. Good times....

I know this is Johnny's line, but I can't resist..... Thanks for the memories, Jay!

Meeting in St. Louis

For Memorial Day weekend, I, Dave, decided that I needed to get my tennis on. So, I booked a flight to play in the St. Louis Open. This was my first time in the STL so I felt obligated to see the Arch. It was only after seeing this impressive structure that Kerry informed me that it wasn't on the list of 1000 things to do before you die. If you know my wife, you know why I mention this. In fact, the state of Missouri only had one "must see" and it was a BBQ joint in Kansas City. Nonetheless, I'm glad I did get to see the Arch before I die.

I stayed with the great Cardall family. And I have to say that they were great hosts. Every night around 9pm, we were treated to a snack. One night was strawberry shortcake, the other night was homemade guacamole. Speaking of homemade, we also had homemade pizzas one night and a homemade corned beef brisket. What? You've never had that before? Neither had I. When we weren't devouring homemade delicacies, we did our own taste of St. Louis, eating at Pappy's Smokehouse (awesome!) and Ted Drewes Frozen Custard on Rt. 66.

And if I haven't already tempted you to go visit the Cardall family based on their culinary hosting, let me tell you about my digs. I had my own floor to myself, with a very comfortable air mattress, but the best part about my room was the projector screen right at the foot of my bed. What more could one ask for than an entire wall devoted to whatever I wanted to watch? And since we don't have DVR, that option was a nice bonus.

Now, back to the reason I went to STL - the tennis. The first day was a great non-stop, high-quality day of tennis spread throughout the day on three different tennis courts. At the end of day 1, Seth and I were tied 3 sets apiece. Very satisfying first day.

And that's where the story ends. We didn't play on Sunday, and woke up to a torrential downpour on Monday that lasted until about an hour before I was set to leave. Then the sun was out in full force. Ahh, one of life's cruel jokes.

Overall, though, I had a great time staying with Seth and Cari and their cute kids.

Blue Angels

Two women (me and my friend, Kara) and 3 children ages 2 and under, braved these crowds......


To see this


and this


and this


and this! We decided to take advantage of one of the perks of living by the United States Naval Academy during Graduation Week. Amazing!

Tanner's 11-month Update and 1st Haircut

As you can see, Tanner's hair is covering up his ears and needs to be cut. It's been this way for awhile, but I've been way too chicken to cut it myself and yet I refuse to pay somebody to simply trim the hair around his ears, so he remains my shaggy haired little baby. But today, his hair over his ears was really getting to me and I was feeling brave, so I got him occupied in his high chair with plenty of food and then took out my kitchen shears (remind me to wash them before I use them with any food products :) ) and started to trim.

Here is the finished result. Not salon quality, but passable, right?

Yesterday was T's 11-month mark. I love his little scrunched up smile. I fully realize that I am the only person in the world that actually finds any significance in the fact that Tanner is 11 months old, but to me, it was a big mark. It's his last month-mark before turning a year old. In other words, it's his last mark of being a baby before becoming a toddler, by definition, next month. It has flown by and it makes me sad to see his infancy come to an end.

Just for fun stats:

• 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom)
• Goes to bed between 6-6:30pm and (FINALLY!) sleeps through the night
• Wakes up between 6-6:30am and back down for morning nap about 2 hours later
• Morning nap ~8:30-9:30 and afternoon nap ~1:00-2:00 or 2:30
• LOVES to eat. Never turns it down.
• Loves to be held and cuddle
• Crawls all over creation, pulls himself up to a stand and is very mobile
• Favorite toys: toy bus and anything else with wheels
• Has a GREAT smile. Love you, Tanner!
  
  
  

I Love You

Lacey's been a bit of a slow talker. We decided to start her in speech therapy to help her along. The other day, she said "I love you" for the first time. I fully understand that she is only copying what I say and that she doesn't really understand what the phrase means. I don't care -- I love that she says it! Love you, Lacey!!

Counting my Blessings...

Mother's Day is a wonderful time to reflect on the blessings and examples of women in your life, in whatever capicity. I called my grandmother yesterday. She is the only living grandparent I have and the only living great-grandparent that my children have. She is the mother of my dad and I love her. She turns 90 this year and has a very difficult time getting around. Living in Medford, Oregon, it has been hard for us to visit her and as a result, we haven't seen her since our wedding day, nearly 4 years ago. She's never met my children. My gift to myself is that I purchased a plane ticket to go visit her in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, it's too expensive for all of us to go, but I will bring Tanner with me since he is still free. I can't wait to see her again and introduce her to my baby.
I also want to acknowledge my own mother. She has conquered breast cancer, not once, but twice. She is happy and optimistic. She loves her family and is a great example to me. I love you, Mom!

And last, but certainly not least, I am so very grateful for these two little blessings. I didn't become a mother until I was 30, but I have loved every second (well, almost!) of it since. I hope that one day my little Lacey and Tanner will think of me in the light that I think of my own mother. That will be the greatest blessing I could ever ask for.

To all the women of the world, Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Birthday, Dave!

For Dave's 31st Birthday, I surprised him with a little weekend getaway. When he got home from work on Friday, we hopped in the car to "go out to dinner." Instead, we drove to Wilmington, Deleware where we spent the night and then went to Winterthur Museum in the Brandywine Valley the next day. The gardens, the home (175-room mansion owned by Henry DuPont) and the weather were beautiful. We then played a set of tennis before heading home. This was the first time Dave and I have ever played together and the first time I have played since completing my tennis lessons. At the end of our set, Dave responded "You weren't as bad as I thought you were going to be." I'll take that as a compliment, I suppose.

Once we got home, we bathed the kids to get ready for the family birthday party. We decided to have a little fun with Tanner's hair.

Happy Birthday, Dave!

Womancation 2009

Okay, this is lame, but I can't figure out how to rearrange my pictures. This posting actually "starts" three pictures down, so keep scrolling and then come back up to this picture. Sorry!

Anyway, on our day in Nassau, armed with my Fodor's book, we found Potter's Cay, located under the bridge that leads to Paradise Island. They sell fresh conch here. It was so cool. We watched them take it out of the water and place it on their counter (you can see their dark bodies still the shell here). Once you order a conch salad, you can watch them pull the conch out and then make it into a salad for you. I'm all for trying new experiences when I travel, but I couldn't quite get myself to find enjoyment in seeing them kill this little animal and then eat it about 2 minutes later, so I passed and considered it experience enough just to wander this little area.

Dolphin Cay at Atlantis.

After Potter's Cay, we walked over the bridge to Paradise Island, home of Atlantis. We spent the afternoon walking all around and exploring this massive resort and the grounds.

And last, but not least, a big thanks to Dave! He was a trooper, especially since both our kids had colds the entire time I was gone (4 1/2 days).

Last year, Dave went to the US Open in NYC with my cousin (and one of his best friends), Seth. A week later, he joined Seth in Las Vegas where they spent the week playing tennis, sitting by the pool and going out to eat. We dubbed it his "Mancation." He came home telling me that he owed me one and that if I ever wanted to do something similar, he would stay home with the kids. Hmmm....... I honestly didn't think I'd ever follow through with the offer (nor did Dave!), but I was talking to my friend Mindy one day, and next thing I knew, we were planning Wo-mancation 2009! Mindy is one of my good friends from my Huntington Beach days, although she has since moved to Seattle. We both had annual passes to Disneyland while we lived in HB, so we decided to be nostalgic and fly to Florida to go to Disneyworld, where another friend met us. I got some flak for going to Disneyworld without my kids, and I'll admit, I felt a little guilty whenever I saw a little girl dressed up as her favorite princess. However, I quickly got over it whenever I saw a small child throwing a tantrum. Besides, as 2 and 10 months, my kids just aren't "Disney age." In 2-3 years, check back for pictures of me at Disney with kids in tow!

My favorite hotel, the Grand Floridian. I stayed here as a teenager, when I came here with my friend and her family. We didn't stay here this time, but we did take a "Magic Kingdom break" and walked the grounds -- Beautiful!

After a day at Disney, Mindy and I hopped on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Monarch of the Seas. We enjoyed a 3-day cruise that went to Nassau and Royal Caribbean's private island, Cococay. It was delightful!

I love this picture.