Girls Staycation, Great Friends & Graduation!

Once again, I’m a bit delinquent in writing the post for June. I’m not sure how it happens, but I always have good intentions to get these posted in the first two weeks of each month, but then life flies by. I just need to embrace it, I guess. I’ve been writing monthly posts diligently for over 10 years without missing one, so I’d say that’s pretty damn good.

Trent enjoyed his annual guys’ canoe trip in early June where they float down the New River. It’s awesome to see how we have both maintained such great friendships with our crews from college, and this trip is no different. I think it is around the ninth year or so that they’ve done this and every year there are hilarious stories (many I probably never hear). While he was on that trip, I took the girls to a Knights’ baseball game where we watched about 1% of it. Baseball is definitely more of a social activity for me than anything else, which is why I understand why so many people get hit in the head with a ball due to not paying attention. I had my second annual girls’ staycation in downtown Charlotte with a great group of girls eating, lying by the pool, eating more, and dancing. Simple, but guaranteed fun. We met another group of girls who had been doing the same thing for 10 years straight! Brayden and Hanleigh wrapped up their school years and are super excited for all their camps this summer!

In keeping with the theme of great friends, eight of us all convened in Asheville to surprise Slim for his 40^th birthday weekend, sans bambinos! Trent and I arrived in Asheville early and galavanted around downtown watching the Friday night drum circle (awesome people watching) and savored a delicious dinner at Salsa’s (dang, that place is yummy!). Slim had no idea what the plans were that weekend and throughout the day, more people came trickling into town. We rented an adorable VRBO home just minutes from downtown where we proceeded to have dance parties on the front porch and all throughout the house with the crew. The owners had a killer record collection (yes, records, as in record player), so we had fun playing DJ and kickin’ it with some old school jams. On Saturday morning, we were the first people at the front gate of Sierra Nevada Brewery for the tour (note: this is the second time we’ve done this and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t been…definitely one of the coolest—and tastiest—places EVER…plus, it’s free). We enjoyed cornhole, gorgeous weather, and a delicious lunch. Then, it was back to some front porch antics, telling embarrassing stories, and more shenanigans. We capped the night off with dinner at Wicked Weed Brewery and then some bar crawling.

The girls began their whirlwind of summer camps including theater, cheer, and gymnastics. We attended a Charlotte Independence soccer game and hosted a Father’s Day luncheon at our house. It was awesome to have four generations of family at the house, celebrating together! I attended a work conference in San Jose, which went really well. I was in good company with some amazing coworkers and we had a great time outside of working the booth. We had a nice family luncheon at GG & Dadaw’s place where we got to reconnect with my second cousin’s parents (my grandfather’s nephew), so that was pretty neat! I redeemed my Mother’s Day gift card at the spa for a relaxing massage and spent some time sunbathing near the 18^th green of the golf course. This was comical because the golfers that were playing weren’t that good and they all tried to ignore the fact that there was a row of girls sunbathing watching them play. Some of them embraced it, though, and just kept staring. It was hilarious! Hanleigh took swim lessons throughout the entire month and really improved her skills.

We capped off the month with Hanleigh’s preschool graduation (joined by GG, Dadaw, and Aunt Patty)! I didn’t know how emotional I would be until I started speaking with her teachers afterward and expressing my gratitude for all they have done for our girls over the past ten years! The amount of knowledge they have gained, the social skills they have developed, and the character traits they have embodied are owed mostly to the fabulous job the school and teachers have done. Even though we technically now have a “raise” from the money we aren’t spending on an expensive preschool, the experience there was priceless. I am eternally grateful for the foundation that was built to carry them through their lives with a good head on their shoulders! Here’s to our next adventure in kindergarten! She is beyond excited to go to a “big girl school”, but I’m not sure how ready I am. Where did the time go?

We left her graduation ceremony and immediately scooped up Kyle and Cooper for what was the beginning of an awesome overnight road trip to Louisville, KY for our annual (very large) family reunion! More on that in next month’s post!

Hanleigh-isms:

• She was in the car with Trent and, unprompted by nothing, starts saying, “We’re not gonna take it. YES, we’re gonna take it!” over and over.
• This one was hilarious, to say the least. And, in the spirit of honesty and capturing all the crazy and totally inappropriate things our kids say, I had to stay true to that and post this one. We were driving to school one morning and out of the blue, she says “So, there’s vaginas and then there are mommy vaginas…and those…are hairy”. Not sure where in the world this came from or who she is hanging around with, but I nearly drove off the road. That child!
• While at the soccer game, I made the comment that “We are here to watch the game” to which she responded, “I’m not here to watch the game. I’m here to eat snacks.” During that same game, I believe she also said, “That’s what soccer is all about, gettin’ dirty!”

View Photos | View Video