Ack! It's almost September?

What happened to the summer? It seems to have completely missed me by this year. Must be working too much. Or at least too many hours, if not actually working too much. Even with all the rush of days this year, we did get to squeak in some really good memories.

Back in May, I was able to take a week to visit the parental units in their new Texan mansion. I slept in my own wing of the estate. (Dad points out that indeed, it has its own Air Conditioning 'zone') I think the whole state of Texas is just crazy because of all the land they have available. Who really needs that much sprawling space? Ok, so I'm a little jealous. I flew out in time for Mother's day. It was a whole Mom-themed week too! Not only did I get to hang out with my own mom, but with my sister Kate and all her motherly existence.

I even was able to attend one of Lily's ballet classes. She was most definitely the most adorable, smart and energetic of everyone. I can tell that by the fact that she was running all over the room, and nobody got upset that she wasn't paying attention to what they rest of them were doing. Obviously, someone so adorable knows they can get away with that kind of thing.


Of course she was also 9 months pregnant. At least for most of the visit. The last two days, she was actually not pregnant any longer. Instead, I got to meet our new niece Penny! Yay babies! Although, to be honest, it looks more like an alien for our family. Who ever heard of one of our family members being so non-Scottish looking? It's like my sister married an Italian or something. Dark curly hair and cute little dimples. It also may have something to do with the fact that this is the first relative, at least to my knowledge, to be born in the foreign country of TX. Yes, Penny was born at the Smith and Wesson hospital, in Temple. Or something like that.

So now the two cutest and adorable kids live in Texas. Sisters. I am going to see if we can't at least get them to wear the same kind of clothes, so people actually believe that they are related. Except for it may backfire, because little Penny is just too cute to believe, and she looks more like Lily's baby-doll, dressed in matching clothes.


We also were able to spend time with the most coolest of our nieces. Hannah came for a visit this month and we took a stay-cation in the DC area. We had an excellent time up in Baltimore, toured a submarine, then ate a Peking Duck. In DC we went to the Smithsonians, then she ate a Banana Split. Afterwards we saw a great Thai film "Tears of the Black Tiger" and then she had some Panang Chicken. We also drove down to visit Lurray Caverns, and then had an ice cream Sunday at Giffords. Monday, Dan & I actually had to appear at work for a few hours, so she was able to hang out and play Fallout 3 mostly, after which I took her out to our favorite Pho spot. All in all, we've discovered that not only is our niece Hannah smart, good looking, and fun to be with, but she also is a teenager. And eats like one. I needed to go back to food rehab afterwards. We had a great time though.

Also sometime this summer we fit in a visit from my parents, and went Blackberry picking. *Yummy Blackberry Cobbler!


AND we gained yet another niece! Our nephew Josh got married in June to Sarah. Sarah is now the newest, yet oldest of all our four nieces. Welcome to the family Sarah! Congratulations to All!