Happy Memorial Day

This past Memorial day weekend, we did the typical things: lots of hanging out with family and friends, good food, and lots of good times. I did make sure to have a talk with Ava about why we celebrate Memorial Day so she would understand it's not just a free day off!

After celebrating our anniversary Saturday, we spent Sunday morning doing some yard work while the kids were still at Memaw and Pepaw's. That afternoon we headed to David and Jenny's for a cookout that has kind of become an annual tradition. We had some awesome grillin' out food while the kids got to play in the "water park":
I love how Aidan is shooting his water gun as he goes down the slide:
While Ava thought it would be a better idea to use her water gun to water the flowers:
They almost kind of look like a Mom and Dad watching their kids play:
Another pair in the making? Katie and Aidan have been spending more and more time together lately:
David is making sure the fire's nice and hot for some good old...
...toasted marshmallows...
(the beer is Sean's, I promise........)
...and s'mores!
The kids of course went bonkers and decided to burn off some more energy:
******************************************************************
Monday morning, we headed to opening weekend at our local sprinkler park. Ava specifically wanted to go to that park, but doesn't appear she got wet:
Oh wait - I stand corrected. She did manage to get her toes a little wet - girlfriend does not like to be splashed...especially in her face:
The boy, on the other hand, is definitely our little fish:
While Ava prefers to tiptoe around the outside of the sprinklers, Aidan prefers to fully submerge himself in sprinkler goodness:
After some fun in the sprinklers, the kids got in some playground time:
Then on Monday afternoon, my parents came over for a visit - complete with my mom's homemade lasagna.

WHEW!!!!!!!!!!! What a weekend...makes me tired just to blog about it :)

A Night on the Town!

This past Memorial Day weekend, Sean and I celebrated our 8th anniversary.

Back when we were planning our wedding and picking a date, it hadn't dawned on me that May 31st (our actual anniversary) would sometimes fall on Memorial Day weekend. For most people that isn't a huge deal, but when you live in the state where the "biggest spectacle in racing" is Memorial Day weekend, it's sometimes hard to get dinner reservations. Knowing that, we got on it two months ago to get a reservation at The Oceanaire Seafood Room.

Many of you know that I cannot STAND fish or seafood (besides an occasional nibble off of Sean's dish - ONLY if at a good restaurant). I had been there before, and I knew they made a pretty good steak, so I took one for the team so Sean could indulge in his seafood fantasies.

When we got to the table, we were greeted with a hand-signed anniversary card from the staff, and our menus had a special message printed on them too:
Sean enjoying his (gross) sashimi-grade tuna (that means raw, if you didn't notice):
The surprises didn't stop at the card and menu. After dinner, our server brought us their dessert specialty - Baked Alaska. Neither of us had ever had it before, but it was quite tasty! Think of a fruity sorbet / ice cream / chocolate cake wrapped inside a toasted marshmallow:

One happy girl:
After dinner, we headed back up towards home to hang out at a local tavern where an excellent cover band was playing. It was so much fun to go to a bar - we don't get to do that much anymore!

Hangin' with Uncle Ross & Aunt Ashley

Last weekend we were invited to Ross and Ashley's for dinner and a visit. We grilled shish-ka-bobs and eggplant, I made au gratin potatoes, we had rolls and I made Oreo balls for dessert. It was fun to just kick back with some great food, a couple drinks, and good company.

Aidan and Aunt Ashley hanging out:
Ava had to get in on the action:
Uncle Ross and Aidan catching some "Toy Story 3":
And Sean and 2 of the 3 dogs. The little one is Latte, and the big one between Sean's legs is Mable. This may be very hard to believe, but Mable isn't their biggest dog - they also have Sully (an English Mastiff...look it up) who is as tall as Sean standing on his hind legs and weighs almost as much. Thankfully, Ross is an excellent trainer of his dogs and they are always very gentle (and if not, they're out in the yard or in their kennel):
Thanks for a great visit - looking forward to more!

Ava's End of Year Program

We capped off Ava's last year of preschool with the annual End of Year Program. Ava had been practicing her songs at home for months, and as always, it was too stinkin' cute for words! She tends to get a touch of stage fright with all the other mommies and daddies, but she handled it like a pro.

To celebrate Ava's big "graduation", Sean and I gave Ava a little silver bracelet with a heart charm and pink sapphire on it. As luck would have it, the bauble was delivered before the program, so we were able to present it to her so she could wear it.
Love the look on her face!
Little Miss modeling her new accessory:
Not only did Ava sing, but she even participated in (most) of the choreography:
After the program, I picked her up in her classroom and presented the little star with a bouquet of flowers - she was so surprised:
Ian was there to support his little brother Logan, so of course, the little couple had to get some PDA:
Ava and her teachers. These ladies are sooo wonderful, and we will miss them terribly! Not just her classroom teachers, but the entire staff is so great - we feel very lucky and blessed that Ava got to learn and grow here:

Hall of Fame

Ok, so let's just say this is awkward! Now that we have that out of the way...

Last weekend, I was inducted into my hometown's athletic hall of fame. I asked Sean to do this post, but it's been nearly a week and...NOTHING.

I've never been one to make a huge deal of my athletic accomplishments, in fact, I rarely feel like it's a big deal. Example: When Sean and I first met, we were talking about the sports we participated in. When he asked if I was good at volleyball, I said I was "OK".

I was 1 of 15 local athletes inducted, and there was this very large VERY LONG ceremony that we attended. I must say, it was kind of nice to be recognized for some accomplishments that I have always been very proud of. The kids were troopers during the FOUR HOUR LONG CEREMONY!

One day, my kids might think I was pretty cool...

With my maiden name, I have always been used to going last. When we were announced...I was last:
PRETTY girl and her handsome Daddy:
As good as the kids were, they did get a bit frustrated with the length of the event:
Our happy family celebrating Mommy:
It's always hard to get a pic of me and Sean (mainly because I'm the one taking pictures), but we we managed to sneak one in:

Our First (and probably Julie's only) Half-Marathon

This year, Sean and I completed our first half-marathon. We had been training for quite a while, so it exciting to see how it would pay off.

I, of course, am not a distance runner - never have been, so I didn't have very high expectations except to finish and maybe run the whole thing. Sean on the other hand, used to run cross country in high school (mainly to condition for other sports), but he has run really long distances before and kind of knew more of what to expect.

In the end, I ended up running all the way to 9.5 miles before I had to walk a bit. Some jerk on the track came to a complete stop right in front of me at a water station and I had to slam on the brakes to avoid running him over - this threw my stride off quite a bit. I ran/walked from 9.5 to about 11.5, then ran the rest of the way. Although I couldn't run the whole way, I was still bursting with pride that I had run way farther than I ever had my entire life!! What a rush :)

Sean was a champ and ran the whole way (potentially with a torn meniscus - more to come later) and he finished right at 2 hours, which was right around where he was hoping to be. He was killing it on the first 15k with a 7:30 minute pace (very good for someone of his frame) and sort of hit a wall but toughed it out and ran it all the way.

Miles 6-8.5 are run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track. There were cameras at the track's finish line to capture participants crossing the "yard of bricks". Here is Sean crossing (third from left):
After all the years I have been living in Indiana, I had never been to the track - not a racing fan in the least. Not only did I complete my first half-marathon, but I also got to see the track for the first time (I am in the orange on the right side of pic):
Two very exhausted participants happy to find each other in all the chaos at the post-race party. Please don't judge my heinous appearance - I mean, I did just run 13.1 miles!
And this would be why I said it was probably my only half. I didn't anticipate huge, puffy blisters! At no time during my training did I experience blisters, so it was a huge surprise when I peeled off my socks when we got home to see this:
I think I'm just too delicate and fragile for this ;) Sean's still on the fence if he wants to complete another. I'll probably just stick to 5k - 10ks (3.1 - 6.2 miles). GOOD JOB HONEY!! So proud of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Breakfast With My Buddy

A couple days ago, I got to go to Aidan's school and eat a special Mother's Day breakfast with him.

I was so glad to be able to spend some time with Aidan at his school for a special event - this is really the first time that he's old enough to have these special days. It was very sweet and I hated to have to leave him to get to work. However, when I picked him up that afternoon, he presented me with a Mother's Day gift of some seeds he planted which lifted my spirits!

Momma and her little man - that stinkin' cute smile:
Love you buddy! Looking forward to more special days with you :)

Love Letter

Last Saturday, David, Jenny, Ian, Logan, and Katie took a bike ride to our house for a visit. Unfortunately, we were out visiting some other friends and didn't get to see them.

But, they made sure to let us know they were there. They helped Ian spell out a message to Ava using our mulch:
The next day, Sean noticed he had a text from David where he was telling us about the note. He wanted to be sure we weren't freaked out or thinking Ava had a stalker...

Friends and Food

Last weekend we spent a nice evening with our good friends Nick and Sarah and their girls in their brand new house. The weather was finally warm enough - and most importantly, dry enough - for us to have a nice night outside.

The kids had lots of fun running around the backyard barefoot, playing on their fancy new play set, and tooling around the house in the power wheels, while the adults enjoyed watching and sipping cocktails.

That sassy look:

BFFs:
Claire joined the festivities:
Cute kiddos pausing ever so briefly for some food:

If you're happy and you know it...

Vegas, Baby!

If you take a look at the latest ticker, you will see we have an upcoming Vegas trip this summer!

Sean won the trip at work, so we get a (mostly) all expenses paid trip to Vegas where we'll be staying at Caesar's Palace. It's pretty exciting because Sean hasn't been to Vegas since he was 16 and I haven't been since I was about 10. Pretty sure it's going to look a bit different from the last time I was there!

Neither one of us are huge gamblers, but I think being in Vegas kind of requires you participate. We'll probably spend most of our time hanging around the really loaded guys in Sean's company and drink while they gamble :)

Should be a good time - just as long as we don't wake up with a tiger in the bathroom or a crazy naked Chinese guy jumping out of our trunk...