Busy Summer!

What can I say other than it's been a whirlwind of a summer? I really haven't been on my computer other than when I've been at work and since our company bought itself back from the French last month it's been pretty crazy around here.

So let me catch you guys up on what's going on with Baby V, because I know that's what everyone cares about - not my nutty job. :) V has continued to blossom into a beautiful little mobile baby these past few months. She's crawling and it's so cute the way she does it. She sticks her entire arm out straight and lifts it almost above her head! When she's not crawling, she's rolling to where ever she wants to go. She most definitely can get around and has to have a keen eye on her at all times. She's amazed by animals - her eyes and smile light up whenever she sees a kitty walk by. Julie and I went down to the beach this past weekend and we went to see a friend that has a really large Yorkie. Virginia just thought that he was the funniest doggie ever - she laughed and cackled at the little dog the entire time we were there. It just makes you wonder what they're thinking and why they are so tickled.

Virginia did her first 5K last month in the Race for the Cure. It actually ended up being more like a 13K when it was all said and done! After we finished the race we went back to get in line for the buses that transported folks from the RBC Center parking to Meredith College and back. The line was literally all the way from the back of Meredith's campus to Hillsborough Street so we decided we'd do the "Race for the Car" rather than waiting in that 3 hour line. Whew, what a day! I had just gotten a new strollometer for V's jogging stroller and it displays the temperature so I was "weatherwoman" all the way to the car....it's 97 degress, 98 degrees, oh - look - shade....87 refreshing degrees! :) I've never been happier to see my car!

She also took another trip to Jim's parents place at Belews Lake last month. My folks joined us and we all had a nice visit. Virginia really enjoys the boat rides. I'm glad to see she's become a water-lover like her parents. We also joined the Seven Oaks Swim and Raquet Club so we're exposing her to water fun as much as possible. I hope that one day she'll follow in her mother's footsteps and join the swim team. They were holding a meet on the day that we joined and it really looks like a great activity for the kids and Seven Oaks has a really awesome team.

My folks offered to watch Virginia overnight for us so that Jim and I could have a little get-away. At Jim's suggestion, we decided to go to Busch Gardens. This surprised me, given that Jim doesn't really ride rollercoasters. It wasn't exactly a romantic get-away, but VERY fun (or at least the first part of the day was....Jim turned into a rollercoaster maniac that evening and literally forced us to RUN from one coaster to another with total disregard to bumping into people or concern for his wife's starvation issues). But all in all it was a fun trip and I wished we could have gone two days in a row but Busch Gardens isn't exactly a cheap date so we just came back the next morning. I'm so proud of Jim for taking on all the coasters and finding out what he's been missing all these years! :)

As I mentioned earlier, Julie and I took Rush and Virginia to the beach this past weekend. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed playing together. We got some really cute pictures of them and Julie and I enjoyed sitting out on the porch just talking after we had put the kids to sleep at night. I learned the first night that I wasn't going to go into the bedroom and knock anything over in the middle of the night and wake little V up....that was a major mistake that took a full hour and a half to "correct". ;) That was really the only incident we had the entire time. The kids were really good and it was so much fun to watch them explore new toys and look in wonder and awe at the ocean. I just have to say though after this past weekend I can't imagine being a single parent. It's a LOT of work and I came home very thankful to have Daddy to take over for a few hours!