While our parents are away, WE SHALL PLAY!

As you may have heard already if you've read the other posts (see below!), Mami and Daddy went away for the weekend this weekend. They left Resli and me with Grandma and Granddaddy for the weekend and boy did we have a blast!

I had a special ceremony at school for my "Moving Up" ceremony at the end of the year. (The thing is, since I won't be 3 by the beginning of the school year, I'm not technically allowed to move up yet, so perhaps this was like my dress rehearsal...

Grandma and Granddaddy came to see me and hear me sing and they sat in the front row, which I loved!

After that we all got our "diplomas" - I was first!

You can see in this close-up that I got recognized for being the best story teller. Resli has helped me hone that skill, you can be sure!

Then, after that excitement, Resli and I spent the next three days at Grandma and Granddaddy's house. We did all kinds of neat stuff, like having a popcorn party, 

and going on all kinds of outings and adventures to museums, playgrounds and farms.

When Mami and Daddy came to pick us up we had decorated the house with drawings and pictures and had a little welcome home party for them. Sure, we're excited to see them and all, but this evening when Mami was putting me to bed and she kept telling me how much she missed me, all I kept tell her was how much I miss Grandma!

And they're off!

This past weekend was a very special one for us (that's the Harvey-and-Gillian us). We celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary, it was Memorial Day and thus a long weekend, and it was also the 50th Anniversary of the Young Artists Philharmonic, the youth symphony that I played in growing up. So, contrary to what logic, our budget and all common sense would dictate, we decided to leave R and L with Grandma and Granddaddy (thank you Wards!) and go up to CT for the weekend. We're so glad we did! It was the longest non-work-related trip away we've taken since before we had children and we were pretty excited about the mini-vacation.

Here we are, already giddy right out the front door!

Harvey was pretty psyched by the Gator chairs in the Gainesville airport, so we knew we were off to a good start...

We had an amazingly uneventful and successful flight experience up to NY, got in our rental car, 

and headed to Stamford, where we met up with Melissa (that's Aunt Melissa to you blog fans, also known as the mother of cousin Atticus) and my mom, also known locally as Nana.

Meliss and I spent most of the weekend (literally) in rehearsals, and Harvey and Mom explored NYC and Stamford. I had an absolute blast getting the dust bunnies and the rust of my violin and remembering how to play in a big orchestra, and having flashbacks to high school and Mr. Princiotti's funny analogies ("music is like an orange... you squeeze everything you can out of it"). I got to spend more time with Meliss than I have since I can remember, and don't know when I've giggled that much.

  

We made some new friends and caught up with lots of old ones, including our friend Kristin, who used to play viola in the quartet we had in high school. Our cellist, Reka, couldn't make the reunion, and we thought of her often...

Because we were celebrating our anniversary, Harvey and I got to go out to a nice fancy dinner one night too. 

On Sunday there was a lovely picnic for the alumni and their families, and the weather cooperated beautifully.

It was also a nice chance to catch up a little more with Mr. Princiotti, who looks fabulous and doesn't seem to have aged a bit in the last twenty or so years.

The concert went really well, there were over 100 alumni there playing and showing our appreciation for Mr. P. and the organization.

It was awesome to share a stand with Meliss, something we never did growing up. And it meant the world to me to have Harvey and my Mom there in the audience too. All in all a wonderful weekend!

Yay for corn season!

If there's one food this family can all agree on, it's fresh corn on the cob. Boy, do we all love it!



What's YOUR favorite summer food? Hmmm?

Ladies in red

Today is Pentecost Sunday, so at church we were all supposed to wear red. (I think this is supposed to symbolize the Holy Spirit, but you'll have to double check on that Wikipedia page to be sure...) Resli and Lela looked typically adorable in their white pants and red butterfly shirts! Ms. Kristen at Sunday school was painting flames on the kids' faces, but of course neither of ours would have anything to do with that.

Even better than the red though was the reading about the Tower of Babel, followed by the gospel, in which about 10 people around the church - myself included - all stood up and simultaneously read the passage in different languages, much to the surprise of the folks sitting near us!

Nap time for whom?

It's sometimes hard to predict who is going to get the best rest out of naptime.

Today Daddy won this one, although Resli looks the most comfortable. . .She'll fool you like that, she just never wants to sleep.
(And Lela, for the record, always naps for a good two hours, in her crib. For now.)

Family fun

It's another sunny, summer Saturday day here in Gainesville!
We packed up and headed out to the nature park...

for some exciting exploration,

some perfect picnicing,

and some crazy climbing!

The good times (and the alliteration) never end here! :)

The first pool trip of the season!

It's been hot lately, just like summer, so we decided this afternoon to go for a swim. Then we remembered that everyone has grown since last summer, so we took a quick trip to the store for a swimsuit for Resli, and a quick trip to the back of Resli's closet for a swimsuit for Lela.

(I know, that sounds a little second-child-sad, but believe me, Lela was as excited about her "new" suit as Resli was!)

Then we finally made it over to the pool at Grandma and Granddaddy's apartment complex. We were all a little hesitant at first... 

But the we remembered how much we love the water. We spent an hour or more splashing and kicking and jumping, and Resli got as close as she's gotten to actually swimming: (Click on the image to play the movie!)

After all that, we had two happy but very tired girls on our hands!

Cedar Key

On a whim, this afternoon we took a drive over to Cedar Key. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to see the ocean and the pelicans and maybe some dolphins... Smell the saltwater, eat good seafood, watch the sun set... And most importantly, enjoy the gulf before, perhaps, the oil reaches the shore and does damage that may be irreparable, at least in our lifetimes.



It was a great afternoon/evening and a fun dinner. The girls ate grouper and loved pretending to fish off the piers. They're still a little confused about the whole pelican beak thing, but they had a good time and are exhausted now.
The irony of the whole trip is this: The only gas station we could find when we needed to fill the car up? A BP station.

A farewell to arbors

As you may know, in light of recent events, we are having to remove several trees from our yard, which will take place in the next couple of days. So we spent some time outside this morning in the beautiful weather saying our goodbyes to our leafy friends, each in our own way.
Some of us had fond things to say to our trees.

 

Some of us had some scolding to do.

Others of us had some more, um, negative words. ("Good riddance, you leafy bast***s" may have been overheard...)

But regardless, we all have some fond memories out here.

 

It is a beautiful yard, and it is definitely going to look very different in the future.

We'll keep you posted.

"Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can..."

For the record, we don't normally encourage this kind of behavior. We did this time because we wanted her to repeat for the camera what we caught the tail end of just before breakfast. Normally, of course we'd discourage such a thing. But then again, you've met Lela, right? Would YOU want to get between her and her Cheerios?

A couple more school pictures

We had some more photographers at our school lately. They took a lot of us Pre-K kids.

But luckily they let Lela sneak in for some sister shots too.

Good thing we were wearing our matching dresses!