in the past 30 days: last but not least...the zoo!

This was yesterday's adventure, and it brings me up to date on the blog: hurrah! One of our summer "bucket list" items was to spend a day at the zoo. We are most familiar with the Baltimore zoo, as it is close and we had a membership there for a year or two, but it had been 5 or 6 years since I last went to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., which is part of the Smithsonian. It was a photographer's dream. It was also HOT. The forcast was for 87 F, but the car read 95 when we got back to it about 3 pm. And the humidity. We narrowly avoided the three of us melting into one big puddle. Thank goodness for airconditioned exhibit buildings! Here's my view of our day:

wildlife up close and personal: a praying mantis on the lion exhibit railing!

in the past 30 days: long island trip

Summer has FLOWN by! We have been so busy but it has all been wonderful, wonderful fun. And I just haven't been here on the blog. But I do want to update with all the wonderful fun that has been going on, with some specific posts of trips and adventures, and a few miscellaneous posts of a mish mash of fun. So here is the first of several: near the end of July, the kids, my mom and I took a two night trip up to see my sister-in-law and my niece and nephews where they were spending the month in Cutchogue, on Long Island, NY.  Because my brother is in the Navy, we often see them only once or twice a year while they are stationed far away (currently San Diego). So it was a joy to spend this bit of time with them, to let my kids know their cousins a bit, to be with family.  My niece just turned 1, her brothers are 2 1/2 and 4 1/2.  Here are the highlights (yes, there are a lot of photos!):

the faces crack me up!

happy cousins!

lake days

We spent much of the past two weeks at Kerr Lake, in NC, where we vacation with hubby's family every year. This year was the wettest that I can remember, with more rain and higher lake levels than I can remember. (The lake's level can go up/down by about 30 feet in elevation, regulated by the corps of engineers, but it usually stays within a foot or two in the summer). The state park beaches were underwater, and the point where our dock is was mostly under water too. Soggy mud bogs along our golf-cart path required some creative detours as well!

Despite this, we were able to enjoy the overcast days and find quite a bit of sun by the end of our 10 days there. The kids had a wonderful time learning to waterski on the boom that hubby made (similar to a barefoot ski bar) and they were so proud of this tough accomplishment. They also had fun swimming and letting daddy haul them around on the tube. Because this mommy took so many pictures, I'm putting the waterskiing, tubing and boating pictures in a separate post!

Our first night there, James and I biked to a west-facing overlook for a view of the gorgeous sunset. It was the only pretty sunset all week!

 

We had calmer water than I can remember, too! The lake looked like glass most of the week. I guess "still waters really do run deep"! 

 

 

My handsome, crazy husband--love this guy so much!

The kids wanted to be IN the lake every waking moment!

T.J. really wanted to keep the rocks he found high and dry...they were underwater again the next day! He also wanted to build a sand castle, but settled for a "mud castle" instead!

 

Family portraits, lake style:

 My handsome boy:

 My beautiful girl:

 And silly mommy teaching her some synchronized swimming (which I did one year in college). Here are our "ballet legs". Life jackets make this much easier!

 Hubby even captured a nice picture of me:

 So there you have it. Lots and lots of family pictures! With more (the boating ones! stay tuned!) to come. We love being at, in, and on the lake!