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Sooooo.... I am always hearing, "Oh yeah. I saw that on your blog." So, if you follow my blog, let me know by clicking the "Follow" on the left sidebar. I'd love to know who reads.

Longwood Gardens

As part of our family reunion, we visited Longwood Gardens. Longwood is a huge garden that was developed by the duPonts. It is absolutely fabulous. It has a conservatory, an open air theatre, tons of fountains. Eliza's favorite part was the ballroom and the children's gardens. She called the ballroom the "princess party room."

Here are the pictures:

Vintage Me

While I was in the East I scanned some pics of myself. Here I am just a little older than Eliza.

The doll is Katrina. She's awesome. I know. She now lives in Eliza's room. Eliza doesn't have any love for her yet though. The boy is my brother, Tony, who passed away.

Catch-up: Scott's Awesome Birthday Party

After our Memorial Day BBQ, Scott was hanging out, and we were all playing Dr. Mario (Man, do I love Dr. Mario!). Anyway, Scott mentioned that his birthday was coming up and that he was sure it was going to be super lame. So, I asked him what his ultimate birthday would be like. Surprisingly, he said that he would love to have a party with a bouncy house and a pinata.

The weeks past, and I decided to give Scott his party but to make it a SURPRISE. So, I invited friends, made a menu, ordered the bouncy house, made a cake and picked up the pinata. Lisa and I collaborated to get Scott to our house and man, was he surprised!

The bouncy house was SO MUCH FUN! If you ever see a bouncy house for sale, call me! I think the big kids loved it more than the babies. Beating the pinata was fun, but the adults didn't really want the candy. I made Scott a lemon cake with strawberries, cream cheese filling and a vanilla buttercream icing. He happily decorated his own cake wreck.

It was a great day. Here are the pics:

Catch-up: Eliza's Broken Collarbone

So, I never elaborated. On Memorial Day, we gave an awesome BBQ with Claron's lab mate, Scott. Eliza LOVES her "Scotty." When bedtime came around, she did NOT want to go, which is unusual for Eliza. She is usually an easy sleeper. Regardless, we put her in her crib. About 3 minutes later, we hear a loud thud followed by a cry. We go upstairs, and she is on the floor. She had been climbing out of her crib successfully for months, and this was her first fall. I knew something was wrong because she cried for more than two minutes. Being Memorial Day, Claron didn't want to take her to the hospital because it was surely full of crazy drunks. We took her to the doctor the next day. The doctor didn't think was broken but sent us for an x-ray anyway. We don't have that x-ray, but here it is after healing for two weeks.

The doctors can't do anything for a two year old with a broken collar bone. They told us to give her motrin and try to keep her still and from climbing anything. The main goal was to not rebreak it while it was healing. Eliza actually enjoyed her confinement. She got to watch movie after movie. She loved it. The crazy thing is that now you can't even feel where it was broken.

Here she is that day after she broke it.

Amazing, huh!?

Catch-up: The Getty

This is a catch up post. We did this earlier in the summer when Claron's dad was visiting.

If you live in LA, around LA or are visiting LA, you MUST visit the J. Paul Getty museum. We have seen the museum from the 405 for years and never stopped in. The tram and the modern buildings are clearly visible from the freeway. This museum is amazing!! I only have two regrets. 1) That I hadn't visited earlier; and 2) That Eliza was not into it. Lilly and I are going to go back together sans children. It is not that the museum is not child friendly, it is that 2 year olds do not dig fine art. She loved the children's museum and the tram though. Anyway, we had a fabulous time. The art is amazing. The architecture is just awesome, and it has breath taking views of the city. Oh, and did I mention that it is FREE?! You have the pay for parking, but big deal!

Maybe we could organize a girlfriend trip?!

Here are the pictures:

Cousins

Growing up, everyone in my family had a cousin the same age. My same aged cousin, Melissa, and I were inseparable growing up. While Melissa and I don't see each other as much anymore, I still appreciate my "hockey puck sister." Looks like Eliza may have a "hockey puck sister" of her own.

Sam & Eliza

P.S. Sam is actually a year older than Eliza, but they don't seem to care.

DC Temple

While we were East, Claron and I went to the temple with his parents to do some family work. It was quite an interesting drive down. When we left the house, the sun was out, and it was gorgeous. By the time we were going through Laurel, it was raining in sheets. We hit 495, and it was still raining. When we exited 495, it magically stopped. We went into the temple and had a lovely time. I love DC. It was where I was endowed and married. We came out, and it was sunny. We went out to eat. Right before we got into the car, the sky turned black again, and it started pouring. Luckily though, it made for interesting pictures, but the driving was a bit tense.

Why I don't post often

Right now I'm in Maryland/Delaware... and this is some of what we've been up to:

Crabbin'


Tubin'

Jet skiin'


General loungin' on the Bay

Ridin' dirtbikes in corn fields

I've also helped take care of mom after surgery, remodeled two bathrooms, cleaned the garage, painted a kitchen and attended a family reunion...

Kate!

We are in Delaware for Claron's family reunion. My sis-in-law, Chrissee, always gets awesome pictures done of her daughter, Taryn. So, while we were all here, she asked her photographer, Kate to do family photos. Here are some of what she put up. You can find the rest here. She hasn't put them all up yet.