Part three: Wolf Trap

Sunday morning, I slept in. It was glorious. If I could give my college self one piece of advice, it would be to sleep in more. Opportunities to sleep past eight are few and far between in my post-collegiete life!

Once I finally woke up, I joined the DeFazio family for a day full of activities. We took advantage of the beautiful (but hot!) weather with a hike, a baseball game, and an outdoor concert to celebrate the holiday.



The Gill side of the family (although nobody here has the last name Gill!)





This bike path runs right behind Aunt Lynn and Uncle AJ's house. So lucky!



Cousinly love



One of three Aunt/neice combos in our group!



Slurpees: a NOVA delicacy



John at his game! I need to figure out how to take pictures from behind a fence...



Uncle AJ in his element



Aunt Lynn and Katherine!



Wolf Trap- such a cool place



We were there to see the Marine Core Band...



...along with most of the rest of Northern Virginia/DC/Maryland.



DeFazio siblings



Justin and Darla



Matchy-matchy sisters and spouses!



We were playing an intense game of Crazy 8's



The Marine Core Band- we enjoyed about an hour of their concert before...



....the monsoon sent us running for our cars! We were soaked!

 

After we changed into dry clothes, John, Katherine, and I hung out and watched a movie. I always love getting to spend time with the DeFazios and I'm so glad I got to visit DC! Hopefully I'll be back before summer is over...

Part two: Lindsay + Dave

Lindsay and Dave were married in a beautiful ceremony at the Daughters of the American Revoution building in the heart of Washington, DC.

The reception was held outside on the Portico, which offered great views of the Washington Monument.

Lindsay was a beautiful bride. She and Dave looked like they were having the best time all night- they were all smiles during the ceremony, only had eyes for each other during their first dance, and laughed their way through the Horah.

It was fun to spend time with the Widles, the Klinepeters, and the Givners!

Paige and Amy: besties since birth!

the new Mr. and Mrs. Perkins- aren't they a handsome couple?

Klinepeters, Givners, and Chris

Emily with her adorable nephew, Reid

the dads

Paige made a friend!

another for our collection

the Klinepeter ladies

the Givners

Mr. Widle was a remarkable sport for someone marrying off their third daughter. He said he couldn't be sad because he was so happy for Lindsay and Dave.

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Gorman!

Part one: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Here's a quick timeline of the beginning of my Memorial Day Weekend: 

Late Friday night: the boy gives me my birthday/Christmas/every holiday for the next several years present (my words, not his- this was an incredibly generous gift!). A new camera! I'm so excited!

Early Saturday morning: I wake up to drive up to DC for Lindsay and Dave's wedding and to spend some time with Katherine and Aunt Lynn. 

Roughly five and a half hours separated those two events, the bulk of which I spent sleeping, so I didn't get any time to play with my new toy. Thank goodness for a weekend chock full of photo opportunities! I spent all weekend taking pictures...over four hundred pictures, to be exact! I'm splitting the story telling into several parts, so enjoy a week full of a my weekend recaps!

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Aunt Lynn, Katherine, Aunt Sue, her husband Mark, and I all headed into DC Saturday afternoon to see the new Martin Luther King, Jr, Memorial. 

I really enjoyed the memorial. It was crowded, but I kind of loved that- it's always fun to see people in DC out enjoying the monuments! 

I thought the theme of the MLK Jr. Memorial was so neat. I liked the way the quote- "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope"- became the theme for the entire sculpture. I also liked reading all of the different MLK Jr. quotes along the walls. It's interesting to read about the vision behind the memorial design. I love learning about the history and meaning of things!

It was a beautiful day on the Tidal Basin. I love Washington!

Speaking of beautiful, Katherine and Aunt Lynn made perfect picture subjects!

Aren't they pretty?! It's a shame the cherry blossoms already bloomed- they would have fit right in with the natural color scheme!

I'm not in any of my own pictures. Whoops! That's probably for the best, since I dressed very early in the morning with the goal of being comfortable for the road trip. It wasn't until I got to Aunt Lynn's that I realized my "great breasts are worth fighting for" shirt probably wasn't super appropriate. We don't need photographic evidence of that particular outfit fail.

I'll be back tomorrow with Saturday night's main event:  the Gorman wedding!

I'll be back...

I got a new camera! 

I went to DC this weekend! 

I took 454 pictures with my new camera!

Yeah...it's going to take awhile to sort through all of the pictures and create some sort of cohesive recap of the weekend.

I'll be back sometime soon, hopefully!

anticipation

Today is the last day of normal classes for the 2011-2012 school year.

And really, it's not a normal day at all: the day before a long weekend, a Friday, Senior Awards Day...there is a palapable feeling of excitement in the air. 

Summer is almost here. The kids can feel it. The teachers can feel it.

Do you remember the "end of school" feeling? In elementary school, end of the year meant cleaning out desks, field days, and movies. In high school, it meant cleaning out your locker, signing yearbooks, and cramming for exams. As a teacher, it means cleaning out your classroom, collecting textbooks, and frantically grading exams. At any stage, it's a wonderful feeling.

I'm not just anticipating the end of the school year. I'm looking forward to a European adventure, a visit to Colorado to see Gram and Pap, lots of fun pool time with the Neelon girls, dressing Charlotte in all of her fun summer outfits, taking Booth for long walks, and all of the other summer excitement I have planned.

Sadly, summer is almost but not quite here...which means there is quite a bit of work to complete before I can start the official celebration. I have to completely pack up and move out of my classroom (more on that later), administer and grade my student's exams, and pack for Europe.

Phew. I'm kind of overwhelmed just thinking about it.

Hopefully my anticipation will make the work go by faster!

midweek confessions: nieces and nephews edition

I love being an aunt- obviously, since all of my most recent blog posts are about my nieces and nephews...promise this is the last one for awhile! But I'd be lying if I said there weren't times when I fail to achieve "aunt extraordinaire" status. My confessions:

- I love my nieces and nephews and I'm so glad my siblings have experienced the miracle of childbirth, but...the actual birthing of a child part makes me focus on one thing:  adoption. 

-Charlotte pooped on me last night. And as much as I love gushing about her "rolls, and lips, and smushy little cheeks," it's still disgusting when she uses the bathroom. The bottom line: babies are adorable, but kind of gross, too.

-Mase has these beautiful big blue eyes that he got from his daddy. I happen to have the same blue eyes (funny how genetics work- our parents both have dark brown eyes, but my brother and I have baby blues!). I caught myself yesterday staring at him and thinking, "Look! He has my eyes!" I'm not sure Ry and Mer would agree...

-Yesterday T-Swizzle and I were playing on his playset in the backyard. He has one of those gliders where two people can sit and push each other back and forth. I helped him up them hopped on the other side...only to have him tell me to get off. "No, Aunt Shell. You can't do this. You're too big! You'll break it!" Nothing like a dose of reality administered by a two and half year old.

-I taught T-Swizzle how to sing "Call Me Maybe." His mom asked me not to...but I did anyways. In my defense, it was stuck in my head, so it wasn't so much an active teaching as it was just singing it on repeat around him. But, I do have to admit that I find it kind of cute.

Ok, well, now you know that I don't like babies' bodily functions, am grossed out by childbirth, take credit for traits that aren't mine, and teach children songs with potentially inappropriate lyrics. Oh, and I ignore specific requests from their parents.

It's kind of a miracle they ever let me around their kids...

afternoons with "Chah-lotte"

T-Swizzle, in his adorable southern drawl, is in love with "Chah-lotte."

So are the rest of us!

The Crews family is reunited at home...which means that we have Charlotte's full closet at our disposal! Woo-hoo!