One of Tony's clients is a vendor there and always gives us free passes. Although we've been going to the festival for years, I have to confess it's not one of my favorite places to go.
Years ago...the Renaissance Festival was just that...a Renaissance Festival. Anymore...well let's just say that I view the festival much differently through my "Mother Lens". Some of the costumes...it's just so unsettling. I mean, when did bondage become a part of the Renaissance???
All that aside, Lily had a WONDERFUL time. A mermaid "tattoo", riding an elephant, and a pony...all and all a red letter day for our little sweetie!
Okay, so I was supposed to be going through Lily's closet and dresser to pack up most of her summer clothes. Instead it turned into a hilarious fashion show.
Have I mentioned lately how fun it is to be Lily's mother?
Yesterday, was the Mid-Autumn Festival. One of the most important Chinese holidays.
In China, businesses and schools are closed so that families can spend the holiday together. I have seen the Mid-Autumn Festival compared to how we celebrate Thanksgiving...family...and food! To learn more about the holiday click here.
To celebrate we had dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant and Dad Dad joined us.
Traditionally, as part of the holiday mooncakes are eaten. I've got to be honest, Tony, Lily, and I are not big fans.
I had planned to try my hand at making a very Americanized version of mooncakes. Unfortunately, yesterday turned out to be a lot busier than I expected.
Not to worry...I went totally American and bought Moon Pies!! Lame...I know. You want to know the sad truth??? Tony, Lily, and I don't like Moon Pies either!!! Oh well. There's always next year!
Friday was Lily's first official day of 4 year old preschool. Wow! What a difference a year makes!!!
To put it mildly, last year's preschool experience was painful for both Lily and I. Friday was a different story altogether!
Lily was so happy to go to school. At drop off Lily scampered off happily. Then, as she was walking through the gate, she stopped in her tracks and said in a kind of panicky voice, "Wait. Mommy!?!"
I'm not going to lie to you, my heart sank. But then Lily turned, looked at me, smiled, gave me the I Love You sign, and off she went. It was very sweet.
Friday is Show-and-tell day at school so Lily was able to bring Kentucky with her. Kentucky is a bear that Tony bought Lily several years ago when he was on a business trip to...you guessed it...Kentucky.
Lily really doesn't have a lovey. You know, that one special blanket, toy, whatever that a child is really attached to. The closest thing Lily has to a lovey is Kentucky. I think it really helped to have Kentucky along for the first day.
At pick up Lily was all smiles and bursting with things to tell me. It was a good, good day!
Well, it's official. Camp TJ is closed for the summer...and I'm more than a little sad about it.
Yesterday Lily and I attended preschool orientation...today ballet started...and tomorrow is Lily's first official day of 4 year old preschool. Sure sounds like summer's over...and boy am I going to miss it!
No, it's not the 100 degree heat and 100% percent humidity I'll miss. It's just spending countless hours doing anything, everything, or nothing with Lily that I'll miss.
We've had such a wonderful summer. Each night Tony would teasingly ask me, "So, what did you do at Camp TJ today?" Let me tell you, I've been a camp director before and being Lily's mother is SO MUCH more fun!!!
I know I've mentioned this countless times, but Lily is a ridiculously easy child to parent. She is literally a joy to be with. All. The. Time.
It doesn't matter if we spend the day running errands, cleaning the house, or just laying in the backyard watching the clouds we have fun.
Lily has an amazing ability to just go with the flow and enjoy whatever it is she is doing.
Eat at a fancy restaurant? Sure! No problem. Eat at the local pizza joint? Sure! No problem. Spend the day at the playground? Absolutely! Spend the day at a museum? Absolutely! Help Mommy fold laundry? Sounds like fun! Help Mommy cook dinner? Sound like fun!
You get the idea...and no...I'm not exaggerating! She really is that special!!
Yes, I realize that Lily will only be at school at total of 7 1/2 hours a week. I also know that it's completely our choice to send Lily to school at all.
I really do think it's important for Lily and I to spend some time apart. It just doesn't mean that I have to like it!!
Growing up Don and I shared many birthday dinners. Don's birthday is November 3rd, mine is November 10th...made sense to combine them. In fact, Dad's birthday is on October 26th so more times than not we celebrated all three birthdays together.
I have memories of Don and I honing our negotiating skills working out what the dessert should be for our birthday dinner. The conversations went something like this, "TJ, you can't put candles in an apple pie!"...or..."A marble cake without icing??? Are you kidding me????" You get the idea.
If only we had thought of this...
Separate desserts! Ingenious!
Now, why didn't we think of that?!?!?
From the picture above I guess it's obvious that Don and I are not the only siblings that have birthdays close to each other.
Happy birthday Maggie and Charlie!! We love you both!!!
These are the exact words that came out of my daughter's mouth this afternoon.
So, you might be wondering what has lead Lily to develop this Messiah Complex. Why...bladder control...of course!
We were out running errands and I needed to make a pit stop. My darling daughter was lamenting Mommy's frequent need for potty stops. Yes, you read that correctly. My need...not Lily's.
Lily explained to me how if she needs to go to the bathroom...and there isn't a bathroom near by...she just thinks about something else and forgets all about having to go to the potty...until the next time there happens to be a potty near by.
I didn't bore Lily with the fact that that might work just fine with a 4 year old bladder, but perhaps not so well with an almost 45 year old bladder!
After a brief minute of silence Lily made the divine proclamation above. I still don't know how I didn't crack up laughing...or crash the car. It's just that she was so darn serious.
Lily went on to explain that being able to control your pee pee like that seems like something only God could be able to do. Right? Doesn't it??
My oh my this child definitely keeps me on my toes!
Check out this little clip of one of the polar bears doing the backstroke at the zoo the other day. He was just so darn cute Lily and Tony practically had to pull me away.
By the way, if you happen to know that polar bears only do this because they're going stir crazy in captivity...please don't tell me. I keep having this delusion that he was having the time of his life and was hoping I would come in and join him.
That's just a short list of some of the things we did during our "relaxing" family vacation. While it's true we didn't do much relaxing...we did have a lot of fun!
We rode trains...
We visited parks...
We went bowling and to the state fair...
We visited with Tony's mom and Aunt Mary...
...and Lily even gave Daddy a tour of the zoo.
Most important, no matter where we were we had fun family time!
We spent most of the last week in the mountains of Western Maryland. It was beautiful, relaxing, and so much fun. I have lots to post about, but right now all I can think about is sleeping in my own bed!
For now, here's a collage of our funny little sweetie having fun wearing Mommy's sun hat in the hotel room.
There was a time I wondered how I would make it through the next 8 minutes, 8 hours, 8 days without my mother. I did...and now...somehow...8 years have passed.
Not a day goes by that I don't think about Mom. But now, instead of wondering how I'll make it through a day without her, I spend my time being grateful for all the days I had with her.
