Tigger: Come on, Rabbit. Let’s you and me bounce, huh?
Rabbit: Good heavens! M-m-m-me bounce?
Tigger: Why, certainly! And look, you’ve got the feet for it.
Rabbit: I have?
Tigger: Sure! Come on, try it! It makes ya feel just grrreat!
Our Everyday
Sharing our stories, big and small.
“Here
In my place and time
And here in my own skin
I can finally begin
Let the century pass me by
Standing under night sky
Tomorrow means nothing
Summer is not complete without a visit to the National Zoo. No pandas or cougars were to be seen but the gorillas put on a great show, thumping their chests and eating kale.
Histor (noun) learned, wise man
Hot air balloons
Our preschool, LANK, has a wonderful art summer camp called Gallery LANK. This year’s theme was Art in Motion. Penny, our docent, greeted us at the door and led us on a tour as she highlighted her work.
This was our first year fully participating on the Pinecrest swim team with Lucas swimming in the 8 and under group and Penny and Oliver swimming in the Pee Wees program. We started the season unsure if Lucas could even swim a full 25 meters and ended with him learning all strokes and even winning a heat! The best win was having one child fully independent in the swimming pool.
The Lollipop Meet is a non-competitive swim meet dedicated to just the 8 and unders, including the Pee Wees. Every swimmer receives a lollipop after each event.
Penny did free stroke, back stroke and kickboard relay.
The formula of parenthood is:
T = CPV
C = child’s reaction to sibling snatching or sibling teasing, non-serious injury, or not getting the right color plate or whatever it is he/she must have at that exact moment
P = your mood
V = a variable to capture all variables such as the weather, traffic, the passive aggressive remark your neighbor, boss, or mother-in-law said that morning
T = your tantrum. You will start with words, maybe even some profanity because honestly the child will not comprehend anything you are saying, that will be spoken with increasing volume which will devolve into hand gestures, vein popping, foot stamping and door slamming. You will blame all external factors (V) that has led to this moment, blame your husband and his role in raising this hell-spawn child, attempt to comprehend why a child cannot comprehend, curse your child because at this point he/she is no longer a child but an adult with purposeful intentions, then berate yourself for cursing your child and being a terrible parent.
Strength and severity of T will vary. Who says math is an exact science?
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is an international exposition of living cultural heritage. Initiated in 1967, the Festival has become a national and international model of a research-based presentation of contemporary living cultural traditions. Over the years, it has brought more than twenty-three thousand musicians, artists, performers, craftspeople, workers, cooks, storytellers, and others to the National Mall to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and aesthetics that embody the creative vitality of community-based traditions.
Usually divided into programs featuring a nation, region, state, or theme, the Festival has featured exemplary tradition bearers from more than ninety nations, every region of the United States, scores of ethnic communities, more than a hundred American Indian groups, and some seventy different occupations.
This is our second year vacationing in Kiawah Island. We return because there are many things we love…
The calm, warm waters
My words are not profound, every photographer, perhaps every Mother feels this way: we take photos to capture the moment so that we can remember. Experiences are fleeting and as our lives continue to fill with more fantastic and ordinary moments everything becomes a jumble, a blur, and it is hard to recall what you had for breakfast much less how you felt as you watched your kid playing on the beach. Everyone loves a nice portrait, everyone smiling, posed and looking at the camera. But it’s the unplanned shot, the little moments, that take me back to that place in an instant. I take photos to fill in the blanks, retell the story and to travel through time.
Our recent family vacation to Kiawah Island, South Carolina was a beautiful trip. Less than a month has passed but those subsequent three weeks, filled with work, swim team, camps and thunderstorms, have taken me far away. So I rely on my photos; these are some of my favorites that take me right back.
Yes, I over-shop for Penny. To reconcile this I take photos to capture these outfits. So with adorable cover-up and sunglasses on we hit the beach in the morning before the bright sun looms and the kids get distracted. Always my unwilling model, she posed facing away from me because that was the way the breeze was blowing. In a brief moment I got her to look at me and snapped. She looks like she is smiling but she’s actually on the verge of complaining that her hair is in her face.
Our Everyday 
