It's a MAD House

S0 we've had a good few weeks. The kids got out of school mid-June and we headed on a 'business trip' (poor BB) to Northern Cal. We celebrated D-man's 5th birthday there but really partied when we got home.
That's probably too many kids to fit in a pool but, miraculously, the water never turned yellow... Santa Cruz


Sometimes, I think there's a lot to be said for peer pressure. Anush probably would have never dared jump off the diving board if she wasn't with her cool and older friend, Ally. Yay Ally! Yay Anush for going for it..
Happy Birthday U.S.A. Our neighborhood likes to party and July 4th (or 3rd in this case) is a great excuse. The kids started the festivities with a bike parade...

Happy Birthday Dawn

First, I'm sorry for ripping this picture off your blog but I realized I don't have a great shot of you (and this is a great shot).

I had such a bad attitude about moving to the suburbs five years ago. If only I could have looked into the very near future and seen the absolutely fabulous people I'd meet, my attitude would have done a 180. And let me just say that if you were the only friend I made out here, it still would have been worth it. So this one's for you :)

Dynamic (and that's a big DUH for anyone that knows her)

Always has something up her sleeve (block parties, pot lucks, Easter Egg hunts, you name it)

Whittney loves you too :)

Never a dull moment

Dane never would have gone to primary without you!

Endless energy (and then some)
No Horcruxes in her house

I ripped off the subtitle of my blog from you

Sunrise - her name so fits...

Everyone wishes they were lucky enough to be adopted by you...

Sum Sum Summertime

Last week, while I started my summer with a rousing rendition of stomach flu (like more violently ill than I have ever been in my life - including pregnancies), BB and the kids spent the day building the biggest Lego tower I've ever seen. It actually lit up in the dark because they put two flashlights in the middle - so cool...

The flu bug swept quickly through our family and luckily didn't seem to last long.

Diggity's last two weeks of pre-school have been one long party. This is him getting ready for backward day. I'd call it Kris Kross day but that would really date me I think. Tomorrow is officially his last day of pre school and I'm feeling strangely nostalgic and sad to see this era in his life (and mine) come to such a quick end.
I love so many things about this picture. I love this kid - he puts my little D-man on his snow board with him to slide down hills at the neighborhood parks. He loves the Yankees. And, I love the initiative of any teenager that will get out and do some work to earn a few bucks. He was power spraying our garbage cans and did such a good job that I really felt sad to put garbage in them after...

Cousins Cousins Cousins...

The guy with the hotdog roaster is my cousin Bill. He's the reason I started playing soccer at the age of seven. Even though he's only a few months older than me, he was my hero as a kid - the person I most wanted to impress. To this day, I feel lucky to know him and be apart of his family.
I really like these two guys too :)...

We got together last night up Big Cottonwood Canyon to roast hot dogs and hang out.

Dirty kids = Good times

btw - Anushka doesn't need the glasses - they are her latest fashion statement...

Random Fun Pics

I'm realizing for about the catrillionth time that catching up a blog is tedious work - much more fun to write up the event while details are fresh in my mind. Since I've been so slack on this in the last ... lot of months, I'll just share a quick overview of life since circa Fall, 2009.

BB and I hit NYC at the beginning of the year - he was speaking at a conference and I was along for the ride. I have really missed spending time in the city (I used to go about every year before I was married - not that I'm knocking marriage :)
Some hilights were:
Wicked - Spectacular
Lower Manhattan/Canal Street - one year I vow to do my Christmas shopping there
Museum of Natural History
This old Swedish cottage that was actually transplanted from Sweden to the U.S. and is now located in Central Park. I'm kind of a sucker for all things Sweden:
We saw the new Yankee Stadium (and maybe shed a tear at the sight of the original being torn down):

Thanks to the generosity of our dear friends Mike and Dixie, I made two trips (one with just the girls and one with couples) down to the Bryce Canyon area and got to go snow shoeing in Bryce as well as Kodachrome Canyon.

I highly recommend their spectacular inn if you're ever in the area!

The kids are becoming quite the skiers. Diggity got a lot of notice because he was so small cutting a trail down the slope.

BB and Anushka went to a Daddy-Daughter Valentines Dance.

Our little Diggity had to have his tonsils out. Here he is pre-surgery:

And post-op (still a little stoned):

Anushka's birthday had a St. Patrick's theme this year...

Here she is showing off her birthday outfit:

Easter outfits before Easter. We actually spent Easter weekend in San Jose.

Here is one huge reason why we moved to the 'burbs. This is a representation of the kids covering about 5 streets. They are getting ready for the neighborhood Easter egg hunt which has become an annual tradition:

D-man with his buddy Isaac - seriously, two peas in a pod...
And they'll be in the same Kindergarten class in a few weeks (yikes)

Here are a couple shots from the Easter trip we took to San Jose. Once again it was a business trip for BB and we came along. This was at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium:

BB having a wheel chair race at the San Jose Tech museum. They also got to experience how an actual earthquake feels. It was a hit...

I also hooked up with one of my best friends from childhood and her kids...

Our kids hit it off. Seriously - 'Heidi and Liz...The Next Generation'

We hung out in Santa Cruz while poor Daddy had to go to work every day... We would have rather had him with us.

And finally, our new family pet... j/k... He wandered into the back yard while we were weeding.

Diggity was broken hearted when he flew away after being fed almost an entire loaf of bread.

Farewell

I always feel a little melancholy when a show that I have been particularly fond of ends - like it's the end of an era in my life (which, in some ways, it is). I never had any intention of watching Lost. I could tell it would be the kind of show I would be addicted to (24 is another) and I was right. But, only a couple episodes after the show started, I turned on the tv to watch Alias and caught the last 15 or so minutes of Lost - that was all it took. I was usually baffled but never not interested. I thought the finale was pretty good - no way could they answer all the questions posed during the last six years but I felt ok with it. I always like it when the characters I'm rooting for end up together - even if it's after they're dead.
So, in honor of Lost, I'm looking back at my most addictive of all television shows...
For anyone who knows me, this is a big duh... The X-Files made our house (my roommates and I) the place to be for Sunday nights. It's a little nerdy but we even taped a big 'X' in our window and shined a light on it for the beginning of each season. Loved Mulder... Loved Scully...Hated the Cigarette Smoking Man aka Black Lunged Bastard. Unfortunately, I think they dragged it on a little too long and so the end of the series lost a little of its kick. Still - in my opinion, one of the greatest shows of all time. Daph - remember the fat sucking episode?? ugh
Everyone who has never watched 'Buffy' mocks me for this one and before I watched it myself I was right there with ya... (Buffy??? Seriously??!!) Plus I heard the movie was crap. It was my friend Andrea who persisted with me. Her taste in movies/books most closely mirrors mine and she kept on saying, 'you gotta watch this.' I finally took her seriously when, one day, she said "I even like it better than the X-Files." After I scraped my jaw off the floor, I decided to give it a try - and never looked back. ADDICTED - and hands down, the most tightly wrapped series I've ever seen - all potentials are now Slayers, Spike gets a soul and saves the world, good stuff...

Remember when 'Top Gun' came out and guys started enlisting in naval aviation at about 10X the normal rate? I'm guessing that is what happened with women deciding to join the CIA when Alias was on. I'm not gonna lie - I had a fantasy or two about having Sydney Bristow's kick boxing skills and traveling the globe to fight crime...
Sadly, besides The Office, I don't have a show I'm following these days. Any suggestions?

Migraines and Blog Surfing

I feel like this a journal entry more than a blog entry because I'm pretty sure by now I've lost the readers who were humoring me last year. BB is out of town for the week and I've been up since about 2:30 with a migraine (it has now subsided to a dull headache)...

Note to self: Do not quiz 7-year-olds on their math when suffering from lack of sleep and a migraine... does not go well...

I have felt a fair amount of 'guilt' for not blogging in the last... long time, and keep promising myself I'll get back on the wagon. The blogging world has kept me more involved with people that are really important to me and I've let that slip lately. You know who you are and I'm sorry (if you're reading).

I started to gripe about some of the less fun things that have been going on lately (using the word 'sucks' way too often) and then remembered said 'blog surfing'. First, if Dawn ever reads this, she'll get annoyed with me for complaining; and second, there are amazing friends out there whose perspective reminds me to get over it. They'd switch issues with me in a heartbeat. So I deleted the gripe session.

Here are some quick thoughts on the last few months:

New York City does NOT suck

'Wicked' the musical 'blew my mind' (shout out to Leta:)

The kids are awesome and I have many pictures to eventually post.

The man I married is the greatest guy I know and has been spoiling me with all of his kindness and hard work (photos of the basement are coming MB - I PROMISE!)

Monkey bars in the basement rock!

It was LAME that Nate and Sina were here and we took NO pictures (duh). I'll make sure to include pics of the kids in their fabulous Sri Lankan attire soon.

We've had some great times with friends this winter.
Love great friends!
I really need to post more - if only to remind myself how great life is!

Tomorrow is May?!