Last Swimming Lesson

We were allowed to be in the pool area for Emma's last swimming lesson, so I thought I'd include some better pictures here.

Owens Family Visit

We've been kind of busy for a couple of weeks and I haven't posted any blogs as a result. My parents; brother, Terry; sister-in-law, Stacy; and nephew, Elijah, all drove in on May 14th. It is a terrifically long drive, but Elijah did fantastic, allowing them to get here a day earlier than expected. And it was a good thing because the first night they were here my mom promptly got really sick with the flu and spent almost the whole day in the hotel. This delay allowed for some much needed down time since they had must spent 17-21 hours in an extended cab pick-up, so Friday was spent around Gaithersburg, walking and such (it was 80+ degrees). Then, on Saturday we were met at Shabbat service by my Uncle Con from PA, and in the evening we left the grandparents to babysit and I, Matt, Terry, and Stacy went out to see "Angels and Demons" (very good...and I read the book, too, also excellent) and ate Thai. Sunday was shopping day for the women, no little girls :) And Monday we spent in D.C., walking from the Capital to the WWII memorial, with a pit stop at the Air and Space Museum to let the kids run around. At the museum was a replica of the USS Enterprise CVN-65 from one of the years that my dad was in the navy, on that ship. Very cool! So, we didn't quite make it all the way to the Lincoln Memorial (its a long walk, especially when trying to complete it after lunch) and then took a detour to see "Obama's house" as Emma likes to call it. She kept asking what he was doing and expecting to go in and see him. Life is so interesting when seen through the eyes of a 3 year old. (A side note: its funny that she sees nothing special about someone being on TV, all her favorite things are on TV, The Backyardigans, Little Einsteins, Dora, Kai Lan, etc., so to her its normal and she thinks that Obama would just sit and chat with her like a normal person!) Needless to say that day was exhausting and in much need of Chinese food to round it out. Terry, Stacy, and Elijah flew home on Tuesday, and mom and dad were going to leave on Wednesday morning, but my dad got sick and couldn't drive...which was a blessing in disguise because I got sick on Wednesday morning, and would not have made it had it not been for my mom being there to watch the girls! Overall it was a successful, fun, and fulfilling week with family!

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day we drove up to New Jersey to surprise Matt's mom. Helene was super surprised and Emma and Siri were equally excited to see their Nana (pronounced Nauw-na, with a Long Island accent.) We spent the day at Aunt Sissy and Uncle Rich's house, and Matt's cousins all came over so we got some great pictures of the great grandkids playing together. It was a nice day and it was nice to see family after being away from everyone for so long.

Photo Shoot

On Monday, April 27 Matt was home from 7 days away, so I went to the MVA (or DMV) to get a Maryland driver's license (its official!) and a much needed hair cut. Then we drove to this great park, had a picnic, and then hopped on over to Brookside Botanical Gardens, which is free, and really beautiful, despite Monday being the last of several scorching days (85+ degrees) during which most of the tulips dried up. I'm trying to really USE my camera. It has like a million features and I really need to get the hang of if so my pictures can be really good! (Like as good as the camera cost...and that was a lot!)