Saturday, July 30, 2011

Lyla and Dylan



Lyla has been having a blast with big cousin Dylan. We were at Dylan's house a few weeks ago and the girls went wild playing dress up.



They were just like teenagers, fighting over shoes and accessories.








And just last week, we all met up for a spontaneous walk around the Seaport and dinner on Peck Slip. The girls kept each other occupied and couldn't resist a little dancing.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Time With Grandma

Say Cheeeeese

Boating in Central Park



A couple of weeks ago, we took Lyla rowboating in Central Park. It was a fun way to see the park and I think Lyla enjoyed it, despite the skeptical look she is giving in the top photo.

Has anyone ever looked cuter in a life jacket?




She wanted to row, and while that is just fine and dandy, we weren't getting anywhere when she was rowing. So Mark took over. Tears ensued.








This looked so charming. It made me want a parasol.










In case you didn't notice, the water was absolutely disgusting. It looked like there was green latex paint floating on top.

Post-rowboat drinks at the Boat House.


Thursday, July 28, 2011

Scooter

A quick video of Lyla on her scooter. I think we are almost ready to take it to the streets.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

True Love



Is this love or what? We haven't seen Nicolas and Christopher as much this summer and it is killing me. I'm impatiently waiting for the weekend to get some beach time with my favorite boys. Looking at my photos, I'm realizing there is so much I did not write about. Call it the lazy days of summer.

The only "patriotic" shot we got from 4th of July weekend.


Except for this food shot, inspired by my new obsession, Pinterest.


We've been splitting our weekends between Long Beach and staying in the city.

Long Beach weekends = lots of beach and pool time.










If we time it just right, Lyla will fall asleep on our walk to the beach, giving Mark and I an hour or so of reading time. Genius.



City weekends = park hopping, brunching and rooftop lounging











{No diaper!}





Friday, July 22, 2011

Friday, July 15, 2011

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Emotions

We like to play a game where Lyla acts out her emotions. It started as a technique to distract her when she was whining about something - I would ask her to see a happy face instead of a sad face.  But now she loves to act  out her different expressions and tries to think up new ones.

From the top left:  happy, embarrassed, mad, scared, shy, surprised, thinking (she came up with that one) and silly.


Monday, July 11, 2011

Bethany Beach 2011



One of the unintended consequences of always being delinquent with my posts is that I get to relive the best moments of our lives days or weeks later, after the sheer joy of the moment has passed and life has moved on. That is totally the case right now, as I am recounting a delightfully lazy week at Bethany Beach back at the end of June.



To be honest, there isn't a ton to say about our trip. We were utterly lazy, but it was just what we needed. We needed to relax, relinquish our schedules and unplug. Mark and I didn't send each other Outlook calendar appointments for anything all week. If I had to summarize the theme of our trip, it would be "beach, bbq, repeat."


But there were definitely some memorable moments.

The trip actually started off a little rocky...rain in the forecast all week. Our first full day was a total washout. We were housebound for the majority of the day. I went through every. single. craft. toy. book. I had brought to keep Lyla occupied in the event of rain. By 10:45 I think I officially declared it the longest day of my life.







On Father's Day, I took my father-in-law to a gay bar. Yup, that's right. I found a restaurant in Rehobeth that sounded great, so we made a reservation for Father's Day. When I walked up to the restaurant, I saw that there were all men at the bar. Mark is looking at me with a smirk as I'm thinking, "is this...", then a man with no shirt and leather shorts walks right past me, and I say to myself, "yes, this is." The food was amazing, as was the live entertainment (just ask Bammie).









We ate a lot of ice cream.






Cupcakes for breakfast? Totally legit on vacation.


One morning, Lyla and I were up before everyone else so we took a walk down to the beach at around 6:30 am. Me, my girl and an empty beach = perfection. One woman did walk by and told me it was a beautiful picture to see us standing there together. She told me she did the same thing when her children, now college graduates, were Lyla's age.







We made a bunch of really delicious meals together and ate as we watched the most glorious sunsets.


















Can we talk for a minute about these two?



I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Kelly is so amazing with Lyla. They were buddies the entire week (Kelly really had no choice...Lyla followed her around like crazy). I love watching them play together. The other day, I asked Lyla if she had a best friend. I expected her to say Dahlia or her new friend London (or maybe Lighting McQueen), but she immediately said Kelly. How cute is that?












I am laughing because it was nearly impossible to get a picture of me and Lyla. The one time she was willing to sit on my lap, she wouldn't put that bag of animal crackers down for a picture.


Nothing beats sandy beach kisses.





But like I said, mostly we just relaxed.




















See you next year, Bethany.