Oh-Bla-Di

We’re off on one of our family trips this summer.  We flew, rather than drove, to Kansas this year, so we prepared for the trip a little differently.  A couple of iPods, a few episodes of Little Einsteins, and a digital copy of Star Trek, and we were in shape.

This was such a great traveling experience, in spite of the illness that took over our house in the couple of days leading up to it. We had plenty of layover time to enjoy a casual lunch at Chili’s in the airport and a cooperative toddler the whole time.  Keeping our fingers crossed that our adventures in Kansas keep Ava busy enough to be tired and cooperative on the way home too. 

More about our adventures coming soon!

Earlier this spring, we got to go see Sesame Street Live.  Such a very fun family outing and Ava absolutely loved it!  It was fun to watch her see some of her favorite TV characters come to life.  Though I don’t often use the word, this was truly magical for her.

We started our evening with a yummy pizza dinner near the UNLV campus and then headed over to the Cox Pavilion for the show.  Ava was really impatient to get going to the show and wasn’t really all about waiting on dinnertime to be over.  All she really wanted was to go see “Ava’s Big Bird.”

The show we saw was called 1,2,3 Imagine and was all about using one’s imagination to visit all the places you’d like to see.  Ava loved seeing Big Bird and, surprisingly, Grover.  At the intermission of the show, a vendor came out to sell Elmo balloons.  I think it would have required massive feats of parenting to keep from buying her one of those balloons.  For the second half of the show, all the parents juggled toddlers and giant Elmo heads to keep both out of the way of the show’s spotlights.  Awesome.

On the way home, I attempted to get a debrief from Ava about the show while it was a fresh memory.  Please excuse the giant balloon interloper…

Overall, we had an awesome time at Sesame Street Live.  It was great to do something as a family that was such a treat and will be a wonderful memory for all of us.  Oh, and that balloon?  It stuck around for a month – scaring the bejesus out of me every time it popped around a corner late in the evening.  Wonderful, wonderful memories. 

On Saturday, Matt turned 30.  He’s been working his tail off these last couple of weeks, so a celebration of such a momentous event was definitely in order.

Ava and I had a small little celebration for Matt on Saturday morning, complete with homemade artwork, breakfast to order and presents.

Matt’s birthday is also Ava’s unbirthday so, naturally, she had a small present waiting for her in the morning, too.  She and Daddy took time to read her new book before moving on to other play.

Later that evening, Sarah and I ran a super-covert op (I had to fake a headache and tell boldfaced lies to bring it to conclusion) and managed to throw our guys (Dave’s birthday was Friday) a surprise party at our place.  It was a low-key gathering, but just what these hard-working guys really needed.  We had a nice little group of people over to celebrate and enjoyed some great conversation and plenty of good food and drinks.

Happy 30th, Matt!  Here’s hoping the next 30 (or 50 or 60) are just as fun!  LYS!

We enjoyed a wonderful visit from both sets of our parents during graduation week, which meant that Whoozy went on grandparent overload for nearly a week.  We sure do treasure these visits since they’re not an everyday occurrence.  We didn’t do a whole lot except the graduation festivities, but it was some great downtime to get to let Ava and the grandparentals play.

Matt & I even got a chance to get away with our parents for a nice, adults-only evening out to celebrate all the wonderful things happening that week.  With graduation, Mother’s Day, and our whole families in one place, we certainly had a lot to celebrate.

Visits like these, in the context of the crazy, globe-trotting lives we lead, make me treasure pictures like this one.  Here’s hoping they’re not rare pictures as the years go on.  Truly, we are very lucky.

A big shout out to Matt’s brother, Michael, who graduated from Ranger school three weeks ago.  After a very long and challenging journey, he managed to time it just right to graduate on his very own birthday.  What a super-special day!

Congratulations, Michael!  We’re really proud of you!