Kumquats and such

When we moved from NC to VA, we were lucky enough to know a wonderful family who was also moving to the area! Reagan loves to play with older kids, so the fact that Paige and Susanna are 4 & 6 is perfect and so much fun for her! The other day, we went to their house for a play date and some lunch. We had a great time and they are such good examples for Reagan. We look forward to more fun times with the Miller's!!!

Last week we went down to Woodbridge to visit Grandma and Papa and to go to the pool. Papa and I sat with her while she "swam" in the kiddie pool. She absolutely loved it! Then we got her to go over to the big pool so she could jump in with her float (I shamed her into doing it by making her watch a video of Max jumping into a pool repeatedly without help:). She got very brave and did it a few times. Here she is counting down to jump to Papa!

Every once in a while, I spend an evening surfing Pinterest and deciding which crazy new ideas I want to try. A couple weeks ago, our friend Chris was coming over for dinner, so while looking at Pinterest, I found a recipe (on my friend Kelley's page) for frozen s'mores and decided it would be the perfect dessert + give Reagan and I something to do together in the kitchen.  We started out by putting graham crackers in the food processor. Then we added some butter to the graham cracker crumbs. I spooned a bit of the crumb mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup and Reagan used her cup to press it down into place. Next up, melting dark chocolate discs with a little heavy cream...YUM! I placed it into a sandwich bag, cut the tip off, and squirted a bit of the "ganache" (for lack of a better term) in the center of each muffin cup. Reagan followed up with the marshmallows. She was supposed to put 10 into each cup... But I caught her eat...

As the day grew to a close, we loaded up the Sienna and headed north to Corolla to a spot that Jason and his family used to go to when he was younger to watch the fireworks. We got there at the perfect time and there were just a couple families set up, so we managed to get great seats! The sunset was absolutely gorgeous (so naturally I took way too many pictures!). We enjoyed some wine that Glenna's dad provided and relaxed for a bit before it was dark enough to start the show... This is one of my favorite pictures to date! I'm not a sentimental girl, but how sweet is this? Her feet will never be this small again! Glenna was such a sweetheart and she grabbed my camera to take a few shots of our family:) Not exactly how you eat sunflower seeds, but what a silly girl! This was an accidental silhouette shot that Jason took...I love it:) A little blurry, but how cute is this?! Oh yeah, and there were some pretty great...

On Independence Day, Reagan hopped in the Bob and headed to the town parade with Daddy, Tommy and me. When we were about 3/4 of the way there, we ran into Papa (on a bike) and Gary Mike (he drove) and were told to TURN AROUND! The parade route was crowded and it wasn't nearly as close as we originally thought. Instead of listening, we handed Tommy off and kept walking toward the parade. Reagan was miserably hot before the parade even started, but she did her best to be patriotic:)  Yes, that sunburn is Mommy's fault:( It was quite possibly the most boring parade in the history of parades. This guy below as probably the highlight! But Daddy tried to keep Reagan interested! We made the 2 mile walk home. Reagan napped and I tried not to go into labor:)  That afternoon, Uncle Geoffrey tried to show Reagan how to fly a kite on the top deck.  Until it got stuck on the roof of the house next door. Then the real entertainment began.....

One morning, Jason, Gary Mike, Papa and Great Papa headed out to play golf. Reagan really wanted to play mini-golf, but time got away from us, or we spent too much time at the beach, so we didn't get to go. Instead, Daddy and I took her to play the next day!! On the way, Jason pointed out this osprey's nest:  Grandma used to take Uncle Geoffrey to this mini-golf place and said wonderful things about it, but it was even better than she described! We got there at about 10:30, paid, and hopped on the "train" that took us to the starting hole. Reagan was super excited about the whole thing! She started off strong...trying to hit the ball every time... But it was REALLY, REALLY HOT outside, so then she got a little tired of the game... Daddy tried to help keep her focused... Seriously, look at this place! And who could resist a trip to DQ after spending a very warm 45 minutes playing mini-golf?! These are the ...