The Orange Family

Orange is very popular in our part of town...



Here's Lauren rockin' the orange at her very first lacrosse game.

Kristen spent the time sucking the juice from about 30 orange slices that were left over from the halftime snack. She maintains that she does NOT like orange juice in a glass.

Roar like a Lion, shine like a Comet

We had a beautiful weekend and were able to kick off our soccer season.


Kristen's team, the Lions, love to play "Shoot the Alien". Here, Kristen fires off a shot at the "alien" a.k.a. Coach Mom.


Lauren's team, the Comets, had their first game of the spring. Here, Lauren celebrates teammate Maggie's goal.


Lauren and Coach Dad share a halftime moment. Lauren and her fellow Comets had a great match.

Father-Daughter Dance

Bill and Lauren attended the Girl Scouts' Father-Daughter Dance on Friday night.

Kristen was not about to be left out of the photo.

Happy Spring

Spring is coming!

Our weeping cherry promises.

Fun and Sun on Difficult Run

The girls and I hiked a portion of Difficult Run yesterday. The rock bridge is the highlight of this section of trail. Once I convinced the girls that there were no sharks in the 4 inch deep "run", my little adventurers crossed the bridge with hardly any assistance. Lauren danced across several times.

Retro Spring Break

Lauren and Kristen experienced rollerskating for the first time on Tuesday. A group of about 16 of us took over the rollerrink and tried to see how many bruises we could create in a single session. I think we broke the world record. Incidentally, Lauren's front teeth were missing before we started rollerskating.

Kristen never stopped long enough to be photographed but thanks to Stephanie W., Lauren and I were captured along with our friend Hannah. The girls LOVED it and want to go every Tuesday.

Escape #6

The stats don't lie, but we are honestly trying to keep Astro from escaping. I think he was embarrassed by his low escape numbers in 2008 and has kicked it into high gear. Fortunately, no dog bath was required.

On a different note...I attempted to take the girls to Mount Vernon today.
Lesson #1: buy tickets online beforehand
Lesson #2: 5 and under are free for a reason! Kristen was not impressed, except for the goats and sheep.
Lesson #3: plan to spend the day. a couple of hours is just a tease.
Lesson #4: There are no horses at "The Stable". Lauren was VERY upset by this. Saddles and carriages did not cut it.

It is definitely worth the trip and I plan to take them again when we can spend more time checking out the estate and gardens.

And, in case you were wondering, we did not take Astro to Mount Vernon.

Out of the fog...

Last week is a bit of a blur. I had the flu, it was the final week of Odyssey of the Mind and the big performance, my mom's b-day, Bill's mom's b-day, Astro escaped again, girl scout cookie deliveries, a swim meet, etc. The craziest thing of all...I lost my desire to drink diet coke. I think I went a whole week without taking more than a few sips. I kept thinking I'd want one and then open it only to discover it repulsive. I'm still not too interested in drinking it but old habits are hard to break.