Thank You!

The Mermaid Sand Sculpture made by Rob, Erol, and Danielle ... such troopers!



We would like to send a special thank you to Danielle and Erol for having us at their beautiful house last week. The beach was fantastic. The girls loved it, and even napped 2 times ON THE BEACH! We found a really beautiful cove that had low tide for hours and we could literally walk to one of the islands ... if we had enough gusto in us! It was easy and wonderful.

It was also so nice to have some real leisure time together, just doing typical day kind of things ... making yummy food and packing up for the beach. We learned so much too just by watching Danielle, she's so conscientious of the environment and has really found good ways to "lessen the carbon footprint". I absolutely realized I was doing alot more wasting than I had considered. So bravo to my friend for all of her great effort to be more mindful and less wasteful.

I hope we didn't scare them too much from having a family, especially since they got to see just how trying it can be to have 2 little ones running around with you... how when you want to head out for the beach it doesn't take 10 minutes, but about 40 minutes because of sunscreen applications, shoe decisions, combing the snarls out of beachy hair, packing up the van, then of course a diaper change just as you are about to put the littlest one into the car seat ... and then bam "I'm hungry, I want a cup of milk" Yup, it's a juggling act ... and somedays it's a great relief to have the built in DVD player to allow the adults a moment of quiet time too! he he he! I think they enjoyed it and the whiny afternoons will be a distant memory because much of the day we were all smiling and enjoying the time as a bigger family! :)

Danielle and I, of course, got out for a night of Thelma & Louise antics ... we kept it fairly tame but we always have a good story to share :) I will try to post a picture to shed light on that adventure.

Good times

Sometimes you just need pictures.

This weekend we had a blast with just a simple visit with great friends. The girls loved Marblehead, Emma said "Mommy can I just stay with Auntie D and Erol" ... Mommy said "I am sorry honey, you live with us".

Below is a video of Julia enjoying the Atlantic Ocean with Daddy, Emma and Uncle Erol!

Girls Weekend

This weekend marked our 2nd Annual Girls Weekend, it all began out of the idea that with life moving full steam ahead it is very rare that we get to turn off from responsibilities and just catch up over good food and a few glasses of wine (ok, a few is an understatement). It is a time where we check responsibility at the door (except for that once daily check in with the significant other, crossing your fingers that everything is indeed ok because really what the heck could we do about it over the phone anyway??!!) and just be friends ... We share in the cooking, cleaning, and advice giving and we also share our favorite things.

It began with a sunny afternoon on the beach drinking amazingly delicious yet extremely economically sound Vino Verde (Portuguese White Wine) while letting the ocean breeze blow through our hair. All of us quickly got into place:

Me - Black and White polka dot Tankini under beach dress, sunhat, 50+SPF and wine glass full

Michelle - Navy Blue Bikini, Sunglasses, Hair beach wavy tousled yet pulled up, and a moderate 18 SPF all over with an application of 30 SPF in the "high exposure zones", water bottle full

Danielle - Black Bikini, flip flops flying off as soon as a granule of sand touches her toe, silky shiny hair flowing in the breeze, sunglasses, and wine glass full

Dianna - Chocolate Brown Tankini, Sunglasses, hair pulled up neatly, jewelry off to avoid ANY tan lines, grinning ear to ear because today she is NOT wearing sunscreen!

And from there our "Women's conference" began. Discussions around every topic a woman could conjecture; there were tears, there were giggles, there were pee your pants moments like "keep your blouse on b*tch" comments from an enraged Masshole driver (Our front seat wouldn't agree but the backseat says the comment was probably warranted!); our discussions are thorough and frank all at the same time. It's an amazing blend of 4 friendships and something that I can now never imagine my life with out.