Vacation Update

While Brendan has been hard at work in DC we have been enjoying ourselves here in Mass. We have tried to make the best of what little nice weather we have had and went to Tufts one morning and the beach yesterday. We walked around the Tufts campus, saw Jumbo: and bought some t-shirts: We even got to see my sorority house (Chi Omega): and Brendan's fraternity house (Delta Upsilon): They are right next to each other and they both looked like they were in pretty rough shape!
Yesterday we went to the beach at Plum Island. It was really nice - not too hot and the tide was going out - great with little kids!Here's Gramma with Emmy!Emmy loved the sand - she loved eating it and getting sand all over herself!The water was cold but warm enough to go in for a little while!

My Parents' New House

Here are two pictures of my parents' new house. It's really nice - lots of room for the kids to play and enough bedrooms for all of us!

We Are in Massachusetts!

Hi everyone! We are in Massachusetts! We came up here on Friday to throw Brendan's parents a surprise 35th anniversary party. It was a lot of fun to see everyone. The kids and I are staying with my parents until the 4th when Brendan is flying back up. We'll all drive back down together on the 7th.
Here are a few pictures from the pool before we left.

Aidan taking the plunge
Daddy and Emmy underwater

Aidan's New Haircut

Here is Aidan's new haircut and a few pictures of him jumping on the trampoline at home before we left. We are having a great time in Mass - hopefully I will get some pictures off of my camera and onto the blog!

Ugly Plant

We have the ugliest plant growing right next to the front door of our house. It looks like a huge swamp weed and it grows like crazy. Last year I cut it down to the ground a few times and tried to dig it out once. I hadn't gotten around to cutting it out this year although every time I looked at it - it drove me crazy. Yesterday I went outside and this is what I found:The most beautiful pink calla lilies I have ever seen are growing out of that horrible plant. I guess you really shouldn't judge a book by it's cover - or a plant by it's leaves...

Emmy is 1!

Emmy turned one yesterday but we had her party today. It was so much fun - I did it all in pink and green and made the cake to match!! The only bad part is that I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted - but I still got some good ones! She wore the Lilly Pulitzer dress that Brendan bought when we found out that we were having a girl. It is so cute and perfect - just short enough that she can still crawl - unfortunately it has buttercream icing all over it!!

Here is Emmy pre-cake:

Here she is during the song - not too sure about it!

Diggin' in!

This is awesome!

Here's the cake - I think it turned out really well! I made the butterflies out of royal icing and used fresh flowers.

Nature Camp

Aidan started his first week of Nature Camp at his school yesterday. It is in the mornings from 9-12, Monday through Friday. He is going this week and the second week in July. He loves it - more than school or so he says :) It has been really hot these past two days - in the upper 90's and even 100 in the afternoon. The humidity has been horrible as well. He seems to bounce back just fine after some water and a snack on the way home. He does look pretty tired in this picture - and it's only the second day!!

At the Pool

Two days ago we went to the pool after lunch - it doesn't open until noon so we try to get there right at 12. Aidan and Emmy had a great time - especially in the beginning when there were very few kids there! Last night we had a few big storms roll through the area. We lost power for about 8 hours - from 4 to about midnight. Aidan, Emmy and I went out to dinner since we had no power to cook, I couldn't grill because it was raining and it was pretty dark in the dining room! It was the first time that I took both of them out to a restaurant all by myself. I was pretty worried - especially about Aidan's behavior - but it turned out just fine! I guess when you have low expectations the only place to go is up! Aidan was pretty scared of going to bed in the complete dark so I had to leave a candle burning on his dresser. It was a Yankee Candle in a glass jar but I was still really scared and checked on him about every 20 minutes. He was fine but couldn't get to sleep because I kept coming in :) It is pretty funny trying to explain to a 3 year old what does and doesn't work when the power goes out! He got the lights but was having trouble understanding that the doors still worked!

Summer Fun

It's been a nice few days. Sorry I haven't posted anything recently - it seems that things got busy for a little while. Everything seems to have calmed down. Here are a few pictures from our picnic with Aidan's friend Will and his mom and sister.Here is Aidan's favorite part of the River Farm - digging!! Will planted Aidan - they thought it was hysterical.Yesterday we had to go to Ft. Belvoir to pick up a hat for Brendan. Aidan wanted a dress blues hat - which looks kind of like the hat a communist dictator would wear. We compromised on this boonie hat - he thought it would be OK because he could wear it to the pool. It looks just adorable! Brendan officially started his new job as General Byrne's Aide yesterday. The hours are rough - he leaves the house at 5:30 am and got home last night around 7pm. He is going to get to do some really cool stuff and meet some really important people. He's going to the Russian Embassy this week for a party - how cool is that?? Don't worry about me - I'll be folding laundry or doing something else equally stimulating :)