The “BGE”

My mother gave us the idea of a girls’ weekend.  And the BGE (Busch Gardens Extravaganza) was born sometime in March.  Of course we were not expecting it to be the same temperature as the Equator here in Richmond, but we made the best of the heat and would not let it stop our fun.  I was beyond giddy to pick up Katie, Mel and Maeve at the airport on Friday night.  We had such a great weekend.  Saturday we spent the day at Busch Gardens.  I don’t think I have ever been so disgusting in my entire life-literally I repulsed myself, but still all in all we looked better than 98% of the population at the amusement park.  You know when you watch the Idol tryouts and you say to yourself, “These people cannot be real.” Well then you go to an amusement park.  And you see the girl in 150 degree heat wearing a tube top (and she should not be), that is cropped, with denim daisy dukes and heels.  And then you understand that there are really those people in the world.  Nothing like a trip to an amusement park to give you that ego boost you were looking for.  Let’s get to the pics!

Here are all the girls before the adventure.

PaPa and Pres ready to tackle the coasters!

Now, Mel and I frequented BG a few times in high school back when we thought we were super cool (as opposed to now when we know we are super cool). I so wish I could locate the pictures, but alas, I believe they are in my attic with the boxes to go to the new house.  Here is our very cool “listening leg” pose.

Katie, Maeve and Preston get in the famous barrels!

Mel and Pres on the elephant roller coaster!

My little man going on rides all by himself! Such a big boy!  He begged me to take him on the big roller coaster and hold him in my lap.  He has no fear!

Katie showing her true feelings on the closing and taking down of the legendary Big Bad Wolf ride.  It was such an awesome coaster:

As I said last year I have become a tad wimpy in my later years with roller coasters.  For some reason this one freaks me out and I don’t know why.

 

That’s not even 90 degrees.  I think it bends inward! Maeve bowed out as did I, (and this was the only coaster I did not ride) although Mel only finds room in her heart to mock me.  Mel and my dad went in the third row-see it the one that does not dangle.  My crazy sister was in the front row on the very last seat on the side that is hovering in mid air---not even on the track. And she did not even HOLD ON! The issue with Griffon is that it suspends you there. For like 10 seconds before the dropping.  The part of the coasters that freak me the most is going up so staying up I think is the problem. I also think that the safety harness will give and I will die a horrendous death that will caught by some camera phone only to be replayed on YouTube 9 million times.  Needless to say the mocking of me wimping out has even come through my work e-mails. I will conquer Griffon.  I will. 

And here are Maeve and Pres in the Land of the Dragons.  He even conquered the rope bridge on his own.  He is actually cooler than his own mother who is completely afraid of heights.

Oh and why did a ride get held up that Pres was riding?  Because Preston told the ride operator that the boy behind him was not strapped in properly.  Seriously, how much is this child my son? And lastly here is Pres and Aunt Tinka doing Lite Brite yesterday.  We also browsed the bookstore, hit up Sonic, saw the model at my new development, made Katie and Mel watch Glee and ate a lot of good food!

It was such a fun weekend.  Miss all the girls already!!! I hope we can make this a tradition!

Happy Father’s Day PaPa!

Our Father’s Day was very nice.  The recipient-my dad.  We started off the day at the Jefferson Hotel for brunch.  That was my gift to my dad! 

It’s such a beautiful hotel.  My sister is totally jealous that she was not there for this magnificent feast!  She was a big fan of the Jefferson brunch.  Maybe next time Kate.  We definitely enjoyed our champagne-which went into the oj for a nice mimosa!

Here is dad hitting up the pastry/dessert table.

Those chocolate mousses in the little cups, bottom right….to die for!  I love that brunch! Later in the dad Preston gave PaPa his gifts. A Williams Sonoma bag of goodies, including the below grill pan which apparently is a hot ticket item-(thanks to my mom for suggesting it)!  Notice how red Pres is under the nose and it was at this point in the dad when I was feeling even worse-a prelude for Monday.

Happy Father’s Day to the best Dad and PaPa in the world. 

Monday brought with it double strep diagnoses for Pres and I, double antibiotic scripts and then-yes…DOUBLE flat tires.  I don’t really want to relive the experience especially since by that point I felt like I was going to die-I was dizzy, my throat was raw and I was even getting chills and body aches-and did I mention it’s like 110 degrees here every day all of a sudden?  But my son and his Parent’s Doctor’s kit healed me.  He removed a splinter, cut a hangnail, gave me three doses of medicine, took my blood pressure, heard my heart and then gave me oxygen.  All with his trusty kit.  Thank goodness for the oxygen or you guys would have lost me.Today-wow the drugs work fast!  I feel so much better and Pres is still bouncing off the walls!  I leave you with two adorable pics of the dude.

Well, I Did Whine About the Snow….

And my punishment is weather that fries you the second you walk out the door! It’s ok though, any time when flip flops are the shoes of choice, I will deal. Here are some of the things we have been up to this week: One of Pres’ haute cuisine choices here in the suburbs outside Richmond is Cheeburger Cheeburger. I don’t know what a chee is, but Pres loves that he gets his grilled cheese in a paper classic car box.

Mommy completely messed up-I thought summer camp started this past Monday, but it begins on the 21st. I even picked out an appropriate shirt for the faux first day.

I’m including this picture because I loved this new t-shirt my mother found in Target because my Pres loves any t-shirts with food on them (naturally). And then he went to school and stained it. Rats. But I did get a really cute picture and will retire the shirt to his school cubby for extra play clothes. (Emily-my partner in crime with clothes-the stain is not visible to 99.99% of the population, but you understand why it has been taken out of the rotation right)?

Just like Trish has been showing us that Caden is loving helping around the house, Pres’ favorite activity is vacuuming with the little portable vacuum. I guess we should milk these involuntary chores for as long as possible!

Yesterday Pres and I went to Maymont Park in Richmond with my friend Tara and her two kids. Tara and I met on Long Island when she worked in the bank I banked in. We became fast friends and then we found out we are related by marriage. Yes. While sitting waiting for Tara to walk down the aisle my father realized that the groom’s mother and he were long lost cousins. So technically our children are cousins! Tara and Chris relocated to the Richmond area years before me and through Facebook we reconnected!

One lady stopped me at the children’s farm and asked me how old Preston was. I said, "four." She said. "are you sure?" (Ummm...pretty sure... I mean I was there.) She followed up with, "because he speaks like he is much older." Because my son was reprimanding…that’s right, reprimanding the goats to get off the fence and be patient while he was trying to feed them. It was really funny because only Preston would tell farm animals to behave and listen (perhaps on the listening angle he can reprimand himself LOL). After Maymont and a long needed haircut, we had a visit from old friends, the Pesatures. These were long life friends and the youngest daughter Katie is my mother’s goddaughter. It was as if time never passed! Another Facebook reunion!

We all went out to dinner and Preston took on the role of waiter, of course, I think to get the attention of the majority of the restaurant. He was more entertaining that the poor waiters doing the hibachi grill. Oh and in true Preston fashion he also informed our waiter that he needed to be careful with the fire and make sure to note the hoses in the hoods above the grill.

Today we are having company for dinner and mom is making baked ziti! Preston already tried a meatball to go with his extra mozzarella and happily proclaimed, “Grandma, you make the best meatballs.” And she does. On that note, I am off to help prepare!

Memorial Day & A Luau

We had such a great time last weekend and the fun continued when we came home from Lancaster.  First Preston was presented with these funny new glasses from Grandma:

We had a few of our neighbors over for a Memorial Day BBQ last Monday.  It’s been beyond hot here in Virginia for late May/early June. It feels more like August already.  Here are some pictures from Memorial Day.

We were all drinking my father’s fab pina coladas and Preston wanted to dazzle up his lemonade with a fancy umbrella and straw.  My mother made her homemade macaroni salad.  While cutting up the olives she asked Preston if he would like to try one, to which he retorted, “Nah Grandma. I’m not really a big fan of olives.”  Seriously is this kid four or eighty?

Due to the ridiculous humidity the past week we have had some unbelievable thunderstorms.  Here is Pres on the porch watching the rain come down.

This past Friday marked the end of the school year and the summer program begins tomorrow.  The school put on their end of year luau.  Before the festivities the Montessori class performed a bunch of numbers, The Continents Song, Going on a Rocket Ship, counting in Spanish, the Planets and the Mathematics Macarena.  This was so cute although Pres was not super into doing the actual Macarena.  I told him I knew the Macarena and when I proceeded to do it at home he looked embarrassed for me.  In any event here is a video. I have no idea what my nosey son is looking at to the right of him-someone I believe had a video camera!

Each kid also won an award and Preston won best smile!

After that it was outside for the luau!

Yes.  That’s right folks! Preston has won for the THIRD time in the history of the day care doing raffles-the Nabisco food basket.  When the director pulled his name she literally said, “I cannot believe it!”  I did buy a lot of tickets but what are the odds?  Even the teachers that morning kept saying how strange it would be if he won again.  I really need to get this child to play Mega Millions.

Yesterday was Maddy’s second birthday party!  How cute are Preston and Maddy?  Jordana and Sam put on an awesome party with tons of food!  Have a great week everyone!