Thursday, September 26, 2013

What we did this summer...besides move

This summer went by in a blur!  Since it's officially fall now, I figured what better time than this week to recap our summer.  Besides the move, and traveling all over the country for work, we managed to squeeze a bunch of fun things over the last few months.

 In June, I took our annual trip up to an Orioles game with a great group of friends.


In between work trips to Boston (for me) and Dallas (for M), we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!  Time sure flies.  We had dinner downtown at a fantastic, relatively new restaurant called Mintwood Place, and used a free rewards night to stay downtown at the Park Hyatt.  Cady was still at Camp Grandma's from having the house on the market, so it worked out nicely!  


For the 4th of July, we went over to Ocean City for a couple of days at my cousin's condo.  While we didn't make it to the beach, we had a great time splashing around in the pool and ate some delicious food.  We also went to M.R. Ducks and 3 of the 4 of us participated in their Chug-a-Duck tradition.


On the way home from OC, we stopped and met the newest member of our family, beautiful baby boy Ryder!  He was only 8 days when we met him.  


Despite a tropical storm on the original date of the Elon golf tournament, we were able to reschedule - and got the round in despite more rain on the make up date!  It was awesome to have Coach Swepson, Coach Hill, and Jon come up from campus for the annual event. 



With only one summer weekend that worked for all 3 of us, LR, CC and I were able to continue our tradition of a girls summer get together.  This year, we meet in Charlotte - we shopped, ate, drank, laughed, and had a great time!



Dave came to town again this summer, and we were jamming in the pit at the show.



I was on the softball team again this summer - not sure you can call what I do playing - and the tournament did not disappoint.  This year, we were lucky that we had perfect weather both days, and the Elon team was out in full force. 



My work travel has taken me all over the country this summer - Denver, Boston twice, Kansas City, Houston, LA twice, San Francisco, NYC a few times, and Chicago.  Luckily in a few cities, I was able to enjoy the surroundings a bit.  In Newport, we rented a little dingy boat for an hour cruise of the harbor - it was just beautiful!


In Boston (on both trips!) I was able to catch up with old roommate Kimbo.  It's been a few years since we've seen each other, so it was great fun to reconnect...and on this night, my coworkers and I saved her from a looser date!  Glad we could be of assistance!


In August, both M and I celebrated our birthdays.  With the house and all of the new house purchases we're making, they were both pretty low key.  We did have dinner with 3 of our favorite DC couples one night, and on separate weekends our parents visited - I think more to see the new house than to celebrate our birthdays :)  


While my parents were up, we all went across the bay to Kent Island for another baby cousin visit!  It was a great afternoon, it was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone without the chaos that is the holidays, when we usually visit.


Over Labor Day weekend, I think I had the surprise of my life.  I knew M's best friend KT was coming up from Alabama to visit for the weekend...what I didn't know was that MY best friend Lola was on her way too!  The three of us were checking in with the hostess at a restaurant on Friday night, and she asked if we still had 4....confused a bit, I said no, three, and turned around to confirm with M.  Walking in the door right behind me was Lola!!  She had planned this trip with M back in July, and left her 2 small children and husband back in Miami for a surprise weekend in DC.  Rumor has it I screamed really loud when I saw her, but I think they're exaggerating a bit... :) 


It was great to have the 2 of them in town with us for the weekend.  On Saturday, the boys went out to Catoctin Creek and Lost Rhino, while we went to an Elon game watch party.  Then we met up with some other friends to watch football, and Sunday we drug them around couch shopping with us, and fed them a big, delicious brunch at Ted's before we took them back to the airport.  


What a fantastic end to a great summer!