Fatti Maschii, Parole Femine

Interesting post title, huh?  Answer will be revealed at the end!

The weather has been absolutely positively fabulous the last couple of days!  The service opened our pool on Wednesday and we had a ton of rain basically all day Thursday and Friday morning.  Cosmo put the pool heater on and by 12 noon on Saturday KJ was swimming (it wouldn't matter if the heater was on or not; she'll swim in anything!  If there is a body of water nearby, that kid will be in it).  And she had the dog in the pool with her.  It's so funny to watch!  Trixie jumps in and can swim from one end of the pool to the other.  Her little legs go a mile a minute and she looks like a little wind-up bath toy.

First weekend we didn't have volleyball and we were able to get so much done around the house.  We cleaned all the patio furniture, Cosmo put some mulch down around the pool and the patio and surprised me with several hibiscus potted plants and gerbera daisy pots to put around the pool deck.  We're having company Memorial Day weekend so I got all of my pretty plastic plates and serving pieces out of storage and washed them to get ready for some al fresco dining!  I also put away my "Spring Shabby Chic Parisian Flea Market" tablescape and my dining room and entrance way are full-on "Summer Beach House" mode.

Saturday night we decided to drive to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis to see the Bayhawks play the new Florida Launch.  We got to see Coach's buddy PT play.  They met at a lax camp they did together and have been friends ever since.  Always great to see great players such as Queener, Kevin Crowley, Polanco, and Mikey Powell.  The weather was perfect, we had great seats and KJ had a lot of fun.  She forgot to bring a ball with her so she didn't get any autographs this time.  MLL games are so fun because the players are so accessible.  No egos.  Most, if not all, of the guys also have regular day jobs and several of them also coach youth leagues.

Looks like we're going to have a busy, fun summer!  My bro and his fam will be here for Memorial Day as well as some friends from Alabama.  June 6 is KJ's 8th grade formal and apparently everyone's coming to our house for photos.  June 13 is 8th grade graduation and there's a weekend at the end of June that we will get to see our friends from Cincy as well as some Bama friends.  My cousin's wedding reception is mid-June, too.  After that we transition to full-on pageant mode and will have some free time mid-July to mid-August.

Post Translation:  

(Manly Deeds, Womanly Words)

http://www.netstate.com/states/mottoes/md_motto.htm

A Quickie

Had a nice quick visit w/ my parents this weekend.  They got here around 7 PM Saturday after going to Mr. B's football game and lunch.  After church Sunday we originally set our sights on Annapolis but detoured and made a stop in DC. 

 

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, unseasonably warm.  For obvious reasons, DC was not crowded and we had no problem driving around or finding parking.  We went to the WWII Memorial and wish we could have spent more time.  It was kind of a weird situation...it was barricaded but yet the park rangers were not stopping anyone from crossing the barricade.  As a matter of fact, they offered to help me climb over the fence and opened the barricades to help many of the veterans.  

 

How about these photos, huh??  Dang!  My camera takes amazing pictures!  Looks like a bunch of postcards!  

Just a Bill

Ed & Gins are coming for a quick visit this weekend.  The weather is supposed to be pretty good (unseasonable warm, in the high 80's) and I would have loved to go into DC but with the shut down and now with today's incident on Capital Hill (I always think of "I'm Just a Bill" from Schoolhouse Rock every time someone says "Capital Hill), that's not going to happen.  Maybe we'll go into Baltimore or Annapolis (I haven't been back to Annapolis since we left the first time!). 

There is a local Octoberfest on Saturday so we might be able to hit that depending on what time they get here.  I haven't done any of my Fall / Halloween decorating yet so maybe my mom can help me with that.  There's also a nice orchard nearby that is supposed to have a great pumpkin festival (as opposed to a Great Pumpkin festival a la The Peanuts).   http://www.butlersorchard.com/

I've had a touch of insomnia the last couple of days and end up watching mindless garbage on TV.  If I read, I can read all night and that's worse.  Mindless TV makes me drowsy and I end up falling asleep on the couch.  The last couple of nights I've watched a show called Life Below Zero on the National Geographic channel.  http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/life-below-zero/  This show is CRAZY!  I totally get folks wanting to living off the grid, etc. but I'm not a big red meat eater and don't think that I could survive.  Instead of seal meat or bear meat, I'd be craving a salad. 

The Cos Fam is On the Move !!!

This family doesn't sit still, I swear!  KJ barely unpacked from Cincinnati and turned around and flew out to Baltimore last night, hit DC running this morning and tomorrow she'll be nestled in Happy Valley at volleyball camp. 

She had a fairly non-eventful flight last night.  It was delayed about 20 minutes but no big deal. We sat at the gate and laughed because she said she felt like one of those kids from a divorced family who is visiting her dad for two weeks in the summer.  So weird to put watch her board the plane by herself.  She and Cosmo went to Annapolis last night for dinner at Buddy's.  We used to go there ALL the time with T-bone when she was little.  It's located right on Ego Alley and we used to watch the boats come in.  Today they went into DC and toured some monuments, went to the Museum of Natural History, had lunch in Georgetown and went to Georgetown Cupcake for dessert.  She can now cross it off her bucket list.  Cosmo said the line wasn't too bad, about 45 minutes. 

I'm Crabby

Yes, I'm crabby.  But it's really a good thing!  KJ and Coach had an AMAZING time in Baltimore this past weekend and brought me back some cute pajamas pants with crabs all over them and the saying "I'm Crabby."  Pretty funny.

They flew up Friday afternoon and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe at the Inner Harbor.  Saturday morning they met Brye for breakfast and then toured the Naval Academy and walked around Annapolis.  Coach then drove her past our old house in Crofton and they headed to Johns Hopkins for the game.  It was supposed to be a cold, rainy dreary day but they lucked out and had the most magnicient weather!  This was Brye's last game as a senior before he gets his orders.  Coach was so happy to be there and is so incredibly proud of Brye.  After the game the Navy Parents host a big post-game tailgate so Coach and KJ were able to hang out with Brye and his teammates before heading to the Orioles game against the Dodgers at Camden Yards.  Sunday morning they went to the Aquarium and had lunch at Bubba Gump's before heading to the airport. 

I would say they had a pretty successful weekend!