Coming Home

After spending a full day at Magic Kingdom on Friday, Brian and I put the girls in their jammies, handed them their blankies and dolls and drove the 7 and 1/2 haul to Atlanta, GA. We rolled in to my brother David's house at about 1:30am. We were absolutely exhausted, but is was worth it to spend the day with the Caylors.

David and Janene are fantastic hosts--they feed you well and always make you feel comfortable in their home. David made one of his famous cheesecakes (some of which I transported from Georgia and is calling my name from the refrigerator), which he makes most times we come to visit. Believe me, it is true incentive. We also loved admiring all the work they've done on their home--painting, tons of new trim work and new furniture. David has become quite the woodmaster.

And it was of course another girl fest as the cousins played the day away together.

After we left Atlanta, and were headed home, the car was quiet and I was thinking about the closeness I share with my three siblings. I thought about their many talents and the goodness that they radiate. They have truly been my life partners.

Our final stop was to pay homage to Brian's graduate alma mater. He even wore the appropriate shirt for the occasion. We strolled through the campus, which is lovely. Brian has fond memories of this three years there, and the place holds meaning for me too, since we dated the last two years he was there.

We enjoyed reminiscing about the many drives between Durham and DC, his friends, and mostly, Elmo's. There has never been a diner as great as Elmo's, mostly because it serves the best veggie burger ever. It is a must every time we pass through.

During our drive home I thought about how college and graduate school were such defining life experiences for me (we did a lot of driving--there was lots of time to think) and how in the distant future, I will enjoy watching my own children go through them. You feel an immense sense of freedom and excitement about what life will bring next, but that time also provides a comforting shelter from the world. I relish those years, but surprisingly, don't know that I'd want to go back to them. I suppose I'm happy where I am.

We're glad to be home, though today was an adjustment as we dove back into real life again. Fortunately, I have the month of October to look forward to, which holds birthday, anniversary and Halloween celebrations. I adore the Fall, and it was nice to come home to crisp fall air and leaves just starting to turn. Which is definitely one thing Florida will never be able to match.

Lots More Disney

Our week was a wonderful success. We arrived home this evening and tucked the girls into their own beds. They were sound asleep in 30 seconds, exhausted from a week of much driving, walking, swimming, riding, playing, and late bedtimes. We packed as much as we could into the week and were glad for the uninterrupted, purely fun week together. There are gobs of pictures and adventures to report, but here are some of the highlights:

Animal Kingdom
The attraction was of course, the animals--we saw all kinds on the Safari
and Samantha had a particular fondness for the monkeys.

Ella chose the Rainforest Rainbow face paint, and was tickled when meeting Pocahontas, she mentioned her face had "all the colors of the wind."

More rides

More character meetings

and a precarious encounter where Samantha tried to give her pacifier to a duck. The duck behind the fence in this picture waddled right up to her wanting to be fed. Samantha, who had just woken up from a nap, kindly offered her pacifier to the anxious duck, before I intervened. There would have been much sadness had that duck made off with the pacifier.

Reuniting with good friends

We were delighted to have two sets of friends take time out of their week to come play with us.

Brian's good childhood and college friend, Zy, and his family live about an hour and half outside of Orlando and spent a day with us. I love that with all of our good friends, our kids get along splendidly. It's almost like they already come wired to be friends because their parents are friends. Zy and his wife Jackie have three darling girls, giving us a glimpse of what it will be like to be the parents of three girls.

I love the following picture of Zy and Brian--did they ever envision in their childhood that they'd someday be hanging together in the middle of Florida, as the fathers of all girls?

We took a much needed break away from the parks and ventured over to Fort Wilderness for pony rides

And then to the Disney Boardwalk to ride Surrey bikes.

and then for dinner and setting the girls loose on the boardwalk.

Which brings me to our next day at

Hollywood Studios

where we got to spend time with our good friends Annie and Garrick Infanger, who have randomly relocated to the Tampa area. We would have greatly preferred for them to come back to DC, but at least we have them back on the east coast. It's a start! It was so wonderful to see them and our plans for the arranged marriage of Ella and their son Eli appear to be on track. Despite only seeing each other about once a year, they hit it off each time they're together.

Our Second Day of Magic Kingdom

Not only did we get to meet Aladdin and Princess Jasmine

but we got to see Astronaut Buzz Aldrin! Ella was most likely the only 6-year old at Disney World who knew who he was. She had just finished a book about the first landing on the moon, and when we walked into the park and saw a sign that Buzz Aldrin was there that day, Ella was delighted. We had ambitions of going to his book signing, but seeing him in the parade turned out to be sufficient.

And Uncle Andrew Munk joined us...he currently lives in Tampa and took the day off of work to play with us. We had a fun time on rides with him, and he was more than a good sport with the girls. Given that he works nights, he sacrificed a good deal of sleep to be with us, and even carried hot and tired little girls around the park. Thanks for being with us, Andrew!

What an exciting week we had--there is more to report about our drive home, which will hopefully be added in the next day or two, but two-thumbs up to Disney!

Making Up for Lost Time

With Brian gone from the beginning of May until the end of August, there was no doubt that a family get-away was in order. And granted there isn't really anything that can compensate for our main man being gone that long, but for Ella and Samantha, Disney World has so far proved to be a close second. After Day 1 in the Magic Kingdom, the girls agree that the two-day drive might have actually been worth it. Have 2 girls ever had so much fun in one day?


The girls seem to be rather unphased by the lines (which haven't been too bad, considering it's off-season), and Ella is working diligently on collecting all the characters' autographs.

We met most of the princesses today, and the awe and fascination with them is really fun to watch as a parent. Samantha wanted absolutely nothing to do with Mickey and Minnie, perhaps their big plastic heads were a little disconcerting. But a princess? She siddled right up next to each of them. And when Belle saw Ella and Sam's dark hair and eyes, and asked if she could be sisters with them, I thought Ella's little heart melted right there on the spot.

And when Ella told Cinderella her name, and Cinderella responded that they had the same name, I thought Ella's little face would never stop smiling. The last thing Disney needs is more endorsement, but "magical" really is the adjective needed to describe the girls' princess experience.

The classic rides: teacups, Dumbo, It's a Small World, were all thrilling.

And then Ella was cast as Lumiere in Belle's Story Time.

She played the part brilliantly.

Samantha cooled off in Ariel's grotto, while

Ella visited with Ariel. This is Ella's favorite princess, and poor thing was too overcome with adoration that she couldn't manage to get a word out. Ariel was so sweet to Ella, and as we left, she called out "I hope you find your voice!"

And I thought I'd never get Sam to part with the "neighs" (horses). She would have spent the night on that horse if we'd let her.

There is much more fun to be had over the next five days: much more Disney magic to partake of, friends to reunite with (we got takers on our offer to come play!) , and uncles and cousins to play with. We will undoubtedly have some very tired girls at the end of the week, but we can only hope they'll sleep it off during the two-day drive home.

Belated Birthday Posting

In recounting the past couple of months, a birthday post is needed for our 2-year old Samantha. August 24th was her big day, though we celebrated a day early to accommodate our party guests' schedule. The beautiful thing is she didn't know the difference.

Samantha has had a case of the terrible twos for the past year, so I'm glad she's finally two. Given that Brian and I are both fairly mild-mannered, never did we expect to have such a curly-haired fireball. The girl has spunk. She dances to the music in restaurants with her two little pointer fingers as her drum sticks, attempts to dive over pews in church, spins in the middle of the room until she falls down from dizziness, climbs the highest monkey bars and slides down the biggest slide she can find, eats fruits and vegetables like candy (a novelty in our house) and physically intimidates her older sister.

(As a side note: I took Sam to my ultrasound today. She sat in her stroller, beneath the large tv screen that shows the scans of the baby. For the entire 15 minutes of the ultrasound she clutched her baby doll to her chest and covered her hands with her eyes. I kept asking her if she was okay, and she wouldn't respond. Perhaps she is sensing what is about to knock her world upside down in about three months. Very funny.)

The party in pictures.

The cake. The candles and the singing were apparently sensory overload and she stuck her little fingers in her ears. In the bustle of party preparations, I somehow neglected buying candles. An emergency phone call to our next door neighbor fortunately produced two--the only ones they could find...their Hanukah candles. It did nicely. Yom Huledet Same'ach.


Once the singing ceased, Brian did get her to blow a little. And I tried a new recipe, which didn't turn out so well. I guess better to save those experiments for non-birthday events.

The guests. Well, as many as I got in one picture.

Opening presents.

Enjoying the boxes more than the presents.

And the mystery present for the girls as a combined gift for both of them (Ella's birthday is in October)....

Minnie Mouse ears to inform them of their trip to Disney World the end of this month. If you care to join us at the "Happiest Place on Earth", I have a feeling we're going to need some companionship to bring us some true happiness. Think about it, seriously. I'll send you the dates.

And I better not forget...it was Brian's birthday bash, too. Poor guy spent his birthday in Idaho and so we delayed festivities and combined them with Sam's--and then the celebration was of course overshadowed by the two-year old. He did get a new briefcase, though! Would I have been such a good sport had it been my supposed birthday festivities? Probably not.

In any event, Happy Birthday Brian and Samantha. You're both irreplaceable.

A New Rhythm

I’ve been told when keeping a family record, that the easiest place to start is present day and work your way backward. It seems less daunting that way. I feel that I have a summer’s worth of documenting to do, and so the only thing that is making me sit down and start writing is to start at the here and now.

September quite often feels like it’s the beginning of the year. Maybe the Jews have the whole New Year thing right. The onset of fall and the beginning of school offers me a fresh start at routines and goal-setting. Finding a new daily rhythm, if you will. And this past week was certainly a fresh start. We’ve had two weeks in between our trip out West and school starting…and boy did they drag. I lost the motivation to plan fun outings, well, because I couldn’t think of any more to do. The girls were sick of each other. I was beyond antsy to be done with my single-mother status (Brian returned PERMANENTLY from Idaho on August 20, which deserves a post of it’s own.) It was hot.

I was a mother truly done with summer.

I love my Ella to pieces, but it was time to get that girl into school. Any anxiety or trepidation I might have felt about sending my first-born to Kindergarten was tempered by how much I wanted summer to be over. Sure, Brian and I had a moment together, of “can’t believe we have a Kindergartener”, but we were done with that in about 1 minute. We tried to make her send-off as special as possible. Sunday dinner was her choice, Monday breakfast hers as well. A new outfit. A new backpack. And as we walked out the door Monday morning, so did her two little friends on either side of us, also starting Kindergarten.

They’re not in the same class together, but it has been sweet to see them beg to walk to and from school together, figuring out how they can see each other at lunch, and playing on the playground together after school because they missed each other.

Dad came along for days 1 and 2. Day 1 we were allowed to accompany her into the school to her classroom. Day 2 we had to say our good-byes at the front door of the school and let her navigate her way to her room.

Lined up outside her classroom on Day 1.

Week 1 has brought smiles all around. Ella smiling for making new friends, liking her teacher and feeling grown up to find her classroom by herself. Samantha smiling for free reign of Ella’s room during the day and more 1-on-1 time with me. Mom smiling for nice walks to and from school every day, a quiet house while Sam is napping, having Ella occupied for 6+ hours a day and the enjoyment of watching Ella become more independent. And Dad smiling…because the rest of us are smiling.

A Roll of the Dice

It's an understatement to say an update is needed. Currently, the girls and I are in St. George, Utah, over half-way into our Western adventure. It will take me awhile to catch up on documenting our summer adventures, but I figure a significant announcement is needed before you see pictures that reveal my changing figure.

Another kiddie will be gracing our family the beginning of December.

So we've rolled the dice another time, and...

Three of a kind.

Baby girl #3, you're going to love this family. Your sisters are all set up for you with all the pink, ruffles and lip gloss you'll ever need. Ella already adorns you with hugs, and Samantha bounces on you daily. We know you're going to be great.