Mega May!

May flew by! But wow, what a fun month! We started the month with a celebration of the Green Phantoms and a fantastic soccer season! Following the last game we headed to Maudie's at the Triangle for brunch and fun!

Coach Daddy gave out a little gift, a trophy and said some words about each kid. Jake was the fastest and admittedly his favorite! 

Cheers to the "Soccer Sisters" for a great season as well!

Our little Diva! At the park in the Triangle.

That night our friend Ana and her little people, Alex and Brooke came over for an impromptu night in. 

After several weeks of not seeing Hailey we were in serious need for some BFF time. Brother's Jake and Baby Ryan came along too as we explored a new park. 

Just hanging out in a tree!

Jake has been taking a basketball class after school. Alex was out of town but Bubba and I went to the last class. 

I must say, I wasn't expecting parent participation but I actually made a basket. Still can't believe it! 

We headed up Friday to Dallas to celebrate Philip's 50th birthday but made some kid-friendly stops along the way! We started off with lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Wow...what a scene that place is. The kids were mesmerized!

 Next stop: Legoland!

Making there own Lego block

In Duplo Village

Right or wrong, there is a Princess Village in Legoland. Pink legos and karaoke...what?

I guess at Legoland 6 is just as good as 16 when it comes to driving! I couldn't believe we were watching Jake drive! He was awesome!

Once we got to Plano and the Vivier's house we headed out to Shabbat dinner at Jodi's house. 

Just hanging in the ball pit!

Jake wasn't feeling good so we sent him to Dr. Papa. He slept through dinner and thankfully woke up a new kid the next day!

Morning cuddles with Talia!

Allie made herself right at home!

Josh gives Jake a lift!

The sweetest godfather-goddaughter dance ever! The perfect way to start Pipi's 50th birthday celebration!

Loved capturing this moment

Alex holding court with a little late night Cards Against Humanity 

This is our third Mother's Day in a row spent with the Brenna and I couldn't think of a better mom to share the day with. We had brunch at the house and this year was even better being able to celebrate with so many wonderful moms including Noonie, Sharlene, and Jodi who was celebrating her first Mother's Day.

Jodi and Allie having deep conversation about "Sofia the First"

Little Cousin Love! Jake and Allie wanted to hold Baby Juliette and Juliette wanted to pull Allie's hair. It was love nonetheless! 

With hugs and kisses we headed home! The main highway between Austin & Dallas is I-35 and it is undergoing tons of construction, someday it will be wonderful but I fear that is a long way from now! About 1 hour from home Allie got sick all over the car. It was clearly not a good Mother's Day gift. Thankfully she was fine afterwards and perhaps chocolate cake for breakfast wasn't my best parenting decision, but her Mother's Day card from school made up for it! 

The Turtle class got together the following Sunday for an adorable as usual playdate!

 Allie's been asking for a big girl bed for quite some time now. Jake climbed out of his bed at 18 months so I swore that the next one would stay in the crib for as long as possible but it was time. I converted the crib to the bed while she was napping in Jake's bed. And no, it could not be anymore pink! 

My helpers

Checking out her new bed!

The first night was rough (especially on my back) but night two was a full night of sleep! 

For the Memorial Day weekend we took a few days off ahead of the holiday weekend and headed out to San Francisco for two very exciting reasons! We had an early flight out on Thursday morning but our little travelers were ready to go!

Thanks to new headphones, a splitter, JetBlue's DirectTV and Frozen on my iPad we had a lovely flight.

Jake's ready to take on SF

Our first stop was to meet up with Libby and baby Hannah. Libby is one of my favorites, we were roommates in DC and she's Jake's God-mommy. We had a great lunch on the water and in the sunshine. Hannah slept through most of lunch until she woke up to cuddle with Auntie Becca. 

I swear there is a baby under that hat!

After lunch we headed to the Exploratorium with Libby & Hannah! It's probably ideal for a slightly older kid but even so Jake and Allie loved it and found plenty of things to do!

After the museum Libby and the baby went home for a bit and we headed to Ghirardelli Square for some chocolate and sight seeing! 

The weather was spectacular, Allie napped through the whole outing, Jake got chocolate and we found a tasting room! Everyone wins!

Jake asked for water at the tasting room. Of course they only had wine glasses! 

After we checked in to our hotel and had some silliness we met Hannah and her parents for dinner!

Jake was OUT!

Friday morning we got to meet up with Auntie Rachel for some cable car fun and then to head out to part 2 of our trip...Off to Camp! 

We had a quick stop at Uncle Warren's office where we the kids got all sorts of Wordpress swag and candy! They think he's the coolest!

And then we headed out towards Camp! For many years, Camp Young Judaea West rented out a camp from a YMCA camp in Loma Mar, California. It was just over an hour drive from the city with trees, ocean and beautiful views.  

Being back at camp was a trip and even more amazing was being there with my family! We stayed in the cabins (which Allie called Cabinets) with the Samek's which was appropriate since Kim was a friend from my first year at CYJ West and the Lawson-Shereck family was right next door. We were in the area of camp where the younger kids were and I was there as a counselor. The cabins are in a circle around the flagpole.

Of course they loved the bunk beds!

Our view

Friday night after everyone arrived we had dinner and took a little walk around camp with old memories popping up at just about every step! Then we went to the amphitheater for a campfire and smores! You can imagine what Jake and Allie thought about the smores!

Kim reads Gigi and Allie a bedtime story

After the kids were asleep we sat out side the cabin for awhile just catching up and then Alex and I headed to the dining room and hung out for a bit. 

On Saturday morning after breakfast we hiked (walked up hill) to the chapel where we had morning services. When I was at CYJ West the Rabbi at camp was my Rabbi at home and also the dad of a good friend and fellow camper. For some reason I thought about him a lot during the service. It was our tradition at West to present the Torah portion with puppets, known as The Torah Zone...nah nah nah nah. It was actually the portion from my bat mitzvah and my bat mitzvah twin, Evan Shereck.

After lunch there was arts & crafts, sports, archery and down time to just hang out! After tie-dying with Auntie Rachel, Allie & Gigi did some exploring. The cuteness was off the charts!

For Jake the absolutely most exciting thing was Gaga! Gaga is essentially Israeli Dodgeball played in an enclosed octagon like cage or "pit" as it is known in the game. They have a Gaga Pit at the JCC in Austin and Jake has become obsessed with it. When I told him that there was Gaga at camp he got super excited. 

I just loved seeing Jake at camp and feeling good about letting him run off with the other kids to play Gaga or just explore knowing he was in a safe place. Jake and I went to the archery class and even though he was on the younger side of those participated he tried and kept at it and figured it out. It was very cool.

Later that afternoon we did the Young Judaea favorite "Israel out of Ice Cream" activity. Once again you can imagine that Jake & Allie liked this too!

Allie thinks that Israel is very tasty!

After dinner we sang camp songs, did havdalah and indulged the kids with a second round of smores! This weekend was definitely not dentist approved!

Saturday night once the littles went to bed we hung out in the dining hall, had some drinks, hung out and played some Cards Against Humanity which is always fun! 

Packing up Sunday morning reminded me of packing up after 3+ weeks! How did we have so much stuff for one weekend? A few photos before we left! 

So fun to have Auntie Rachel with us at camp!

Two of my oldest & dearest friends

Very thankful to have made this trip and to have introduced the kids and Alex to this special place to me. I'm also very thankful to Alex for pushing us to make this trip. Apparently I must have mentioned it a number of times until he said we're going to the reunion! Thanks to those who planned the event and I can't wait for next year!

We had a fairly uneventful trip home and were very happy to have Memorial Day to recover from the trip! 

This school year has gone so crazy fast and I couldn't believe it when we got an invitation for Kindergarten year-end presentation. They sang, danced and did a cute review of the school year.   

Very proud Mommy & Daddy!

 Jake with Ms. Weinberg

To end a mega month, we packed a lot of fun into the last weekend of May! 

Some of our favorite new friends are from Allie's class. Allie has made sure that we're very clear that Hailey is her best friend but her best friend at school is Penelope. So Friday night we went to Penny's house (and mom Clara, dad Edward and baby Charlie) for a Friday happy hour which ended up lasting way past HH! The girls were adorable together, taking their dinner outside and quickly ended up naked running around the yard!

Some how we managed to drag ourselves out of bed the next morning and get moving for brunch with the O'Driscoll family! Afterwards the kiddos found the near by splash pad, got naked and had a blast! 

Love a kids only table!

It took some effort but when we finally got Allie back in clothes I realized she was definitely channeling her godmommy with this outfit! She just needs taller shoes!

Sunday we joined the Menfi's at the Lakeway Spa & Resprt for some pool and catch up time with them. Within moments Jake was dragging Alex down the water slide. 

This girl is ridiculous!

See you next month!