Project 52: Weeks 28-52

Ok, so maybe 2012's Project 52 turned into more of a Project 27, but I'm gonna look at this glass of blog as being more than half full.  If I remember correctly, I spent the last few weeks of summer enjoying the surf, sand, and my sweets way too much to be bound to a computer for any length of time:

We had the East party of five come stay with us for a long weekend, and the cuteness scale measured off the charts during their visit:

Dayna came to visit...TWICE!!!  Once on a solo mission, and another time with Michel:

We celebrated Camryn's 3rd birthday, as if this kid needed any more reasons to be a wackadoodle:

We celebrated the impending arrival of a new little man, whose name was yet to be made public at the time of Meghan's baby shower:

We drove a solid 1200 miles round trip to celebrate the blessed union of Sir Timothy and Lady Haylie in great state of Rhode Island (which is neither a road nor an island...discuss):

We even got to spend some more time with the Easts and sneak in a visit to Playland on the way home from Rhode Island:

The end of summer was mourned with a race a swore I'd never do...

...and I think I passed the half marathon bug along to Ryan in the process.  Training through the heat of the summer was brutal (although not as brutal as abstaining from alcohol the night before my long runs!), but I'm so glad I did it.  I was pleased with my time on that dreadfully hot and humid morning, and I can cross that race off my list.

The fall brought Brynn's first day of kindergarten and Camryn's first day of preschool (and a tearful day for Mommy!):

We enjoyed a Psimas family picnic, supporting Aunt Elizabeth as she ran for a seat on the City Council in Portsmouth (which she won, duh):

We did a little storm chasing as Superstorm Sandy brushed past us:

We finally got to meet the girls' newest cousin, Jude:

We celebrated Brynn's 6th birthday with a visit from the Cox family:

Brynn and I now wear matching boots:

Brynn has shown an outstanding adjustment to her new school, and earned herself the first Star Student of the Week in her class (shortly after she lost her first tooth!):

I was very. Very. Fancy:

I started 2012 in piss-poor shape, but finished strong with my best race to date:

Last but not least, we spent Week 52 of 2012 with the greatest staycation this family has ever seen (mainly because we've never let ourselves do this before!).  We celebrated an early Christmas with the Rafterys, followed by Christmas Eve with the Psimases (and Rafterys, and Murphys, and McIntyres!), followed by seven days of being on the No-Plans Plan.  We followed no schedule.  We stuck to no bedtimes.  We played games and watched movies and drank good beer by a roaring fire almost nightly.  The girls played with their dollhouse, cars, teddies, and Dream Lites by day, and had sleepovers in each other's rooms by night (putting both mattresses on Brynn's bedroom floor was a HUGE hit).  They had our undivided attention all week, and it felt so good to be a "yes" mom instead of a "hang on, mommy just has to do a zillion things first" mom.  If we didn't make time to see you, our sincere apologies...we blew off people and parties to do absolutely nothing, and it was just what we all needed. 

I haven't yet decided if there will be another installment of Project 52 in 2013, as I'd hate to set myself up for failure, but I look forward to starting this new year refreshed and energized instead of ragged and exhausted. Cheers to health, happiness, and a whole lotta Fancy in 2013!

Project 52: Weeks 25, 26, and 27

Sorry folks, if given the choice between blogging or a 20 minute catnap while Yo Gabba Gabba is on, the catnap wins.  Every time.  It's been a busy summer, and I'm pretty sure I'm more worn out than my girls are by the end of the day.  I've been fortunate enough to be very Fancy over the last few weeks, so blogging (and cleaning my house...there, I said it) has assumed a very low rank on my list of priorities.  But I've missed writing, so I'm making it a priority this evening.  Take that, housekeeping!  So here's what we've been up to:

Beach time.  Duh.  And lots of it.  You can tell by the blonde in our hair and the freckles on our faces that we've been spending plenty of time in the sea, surf, and sand.  All three Psimas girls are making great progress in the Ryan Psimas Pschool of Psurfing...I can even catch my own waves now!  I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks, and I love that my daughters are watching me be adventurous and try something new.  Not nearly as much as I love cheering for them from the shore though!

Speaking of old dogs, I celebrated a birthday a couple of weeks ago.  It's only a big one in the sense that it's my last year in this particular age bracket when it comes to races.  I like to think of it as my senior year, and I'm hoping to go out with a bang.  I've been training for the Rock n Roll half marathon, which is a race I swore up and down I never wanted to do.  But beast mode has taken over, and I'm hoping all this hard work (and abstinence from alcohol on Friday nights before long, hot Saturday runs) pays off with a great race.  I'm pleased with how I started off my next trip around the sun:

We also celebrated America's birthday in grand Psimas fashion.  We followed a great beach day with a nap:

...a bike ride to the oceanfront:

...and some fireworks:

My bestest bud came to visit a few days after that, and while we started her visit with a glorious beach day, the rest of the week's weather was crap and we resorted to having lots of indoor fun.  Like going to the movies:

 Little nugget is still too tiny for movie theater seats.  The last night of Dayna's visit, we went out for dinner and drinks with my VB friend Ali.  I will tell you that this night was epic, and why I didn't have someone take a photo of this perfect evening is something I'll live to regret for the rest of my life.  Maybe that's a little dramatic, but to have my worlds collide in such a fashion was magnificent, and I only hope we can do it again sooner rather than later.  I sleep well at night knowing I have excellent taste in friends.

This week has been a blank canvas, and we've been making up our fun as we go along.  I let Brynn choose our activity yesterday, and she decided we should take a bike ride to a park.  With temps in the mid 90s, I packed up lots of water and we rode to the park with the most shade.  We had the park all to ourselves for almost two hours, and we enjoyed every minute of it:

After riding home, we ate some lunch, ran a couple of errands, and waited for the call from Ali saying come on over for a swim.  While we were waiting, the girls were playing nicely with legos, so I took the opportunity to put my feet up and close my eyes for a tick.  I was soon joined by Brynn, who wanted some snuggle time with Mommy.  After maybe 15 minutes, I woke up to this:

My 5 year old, asleep on my chest.  Heaven!!!  We finished up the day with some fun in the pool and on bikes, scooters, and Power Wheels jeeps with the Smith girls.  I must have worn Brynn and Camryn out so much yesterday that they had no fight left in them today...they've gotten along better than they have in months, and it's been so fun to watch and listen to them play.  So while we've been anything but lazy this summer, I'm trying my best to keep the pace slow and breathe in these little blondes the best I can.  And if my next Project 52 post is another three weeks condensed into one, so be it!  

Project 52: Week 24 - Happy Campers

Since May's weekends were jam packed with events and activities, we had no choice but to plan our first camping trip of 2012 during the month of June.  What better way to honor my baby daddy than to go to the very campground he spent so many weekends during his bachelor days? Father's Day in Rodanthe...done!

Ryan was able to use some comp time and get out of work a little early on Friday, so we packed up the tents, snacks, boards, and beers and headed south on Highway 12.  It's such a beautiful drive, and it was really cool to see how the landscape of Hatteras Island has changed since Irene pummeled its shores last August.  The girls slept for a good chunk of the trip, so they were well rested and ready for Lisa's Pizzeria and ghost stories by the time we arrived and set up camp.  

Waiting for some grub 

 Mmmmm, pizza!

We watched a gorgeous sunset on the sound after dinner, then we all hit the hay pretty early in anticipation of a windy night's sleep in our tents.

For some reason, this tent came with a doggy door.  Brynn is a bit obsessed with it. 

This kid is not right. 

So excited to camp! 

Camryn's photo of Mommy and Daddy.  It's all you get of Ryan, who does not wish to be seen on the internet.  Phooey.

The next morning came around rather quickly, thanks to my tent-mate waking up at 5:45.  The wind was still whipping, and temps were only in the low 70s, so we drove south to Frisco, where we'd have some shelter from the wind.  We had picture perfect blue skies and turquoise seas:

Frisco Pier could use a little help

Applesauce...don't leave home without it!

After spending the better part of the day at the beach, we headed back up to the camp house, as Camryn called the campground, to try to get a little kayaking in before they put the boats away for the evening.  Camryn fell asleep in the car, and I certainly wasn't about to wake her, so Brynn and Ryan got some Daddy-daughter time out on the water together:

While they kayaked, I sat in the car with Camryn and finished my book.  Sadly, I completely missed Ryan taking Brynn out on a jet ski...rats!  We'll just have to go back again soon.

That evening, we grilled some hot dogs and made s'mores...s'mores make the Psimas girls smile:

After a better (and longer) night's sleep, we hit the beach in the morning before heading back to VB.  Some of our best buds came down to OBX for the day and joined us in Rodanthe for some playtime:

Someone's missing... 

Oh, here she comes! 

Cuz we're the four best friends that anyone could have!

If you ask me, Ryan and Trip couldn't have asked for a better Father's Day...on the beach with six beautiful ladies!  Lucky men.  Luckier ladies.

To cap off my enjoyment of the weekend, I got to catch the Dave Matthews Band concert when we got back to VB.  

Great seats, terrible picture.

Dave never disappoints, and I think even my unborn nephew had a good time:

 Rock on, little Raf.

The next day proved to be rather brutal, but my girls were on their best behavior as Mommy recovered from a fantastic weekend.  Thank goodness!