Tea Party In NYC

Life is full a wonderful things. One of them is the friends you meet along the way.

Last week Ruby and I headed to New York for the day to see our friends Mireille and daughters Jasmine, and Juliet and finally meet another blogger family - Wendy, Lily, and Becky.

Such a nice afternoon. We met up at Alice's Tea cup on the upper East side and it did not disappoint.

Cute shot of all our Thai princesses. I have to laugh at Ruby sipping her "tea" here. There wasn't anything in it yet!

Such a little lady. She was all excited to go to the "big city" today and dress up.

Great pic of Jasmine and Ruby that Mireille took

Another sweet group shot...by Mireille

Ruby gives Mireille some love

The whole group after tea 

After tea, Rubes and decided to stick around. It was sooo hot, but we were there...so what the heck! I figured we might as well walk around a bit. So we wondered over to Central Park and spent a few hours. Above, we stopped to hear a local musician. We love to hear music whenever possible!

Turned a corner and what did we see but a carnival going on! Of course, we HAD to go!

This swing thing was her favorite. Rode it 4 times!

And now for one of my fav shots of the day...

My lil angel posing in front of a big rock. Afterwards, she proceeded to climb up it in her white dress. LOL, I didn't care about the dress, but I was concerned about her climbing it so there are no pictures of that! It was just me scuttling up the rock (also in the wrong shoes/clothes) after her. Haha - I love her sense of adventure though!

A very hot, but fun day in the city! Thanks Wendy and Mireille for meeting up with us! So glad to have you as friends!

Arts, Crafts, and Silly Days

The above title pretty much sums our days in between beach trips. Been awhile since we did anything creative so we pulled out the paint this week and got messy! Little miss painted for some time then we did puzzles and crafts together. Nice to get back to simple stuff like that.

Earlier this summer we tried something new - sidewalk chalk paint. A clever idea I stole from the supermom over at Salsa in China blog. (I just LOVE all her ideas!)

Silly girl having a ball.

Another fun project we worked on earlier this summer and I forgot to post. Hoping to do something else like this b4 summer is out.

No I didn't cut her hair. One day the lil bug said something about short hair so I tied it up to show her what it would look like.

Adorable (actually reminds me of when she was little) but there is no way I'm cutting her gorgeous long hair! Luckily, she likes it better long, too!

Hope your summer days are lazy, silly, artsy, crafty, or just plain fun!

I've Got A Band!

So excited! Lately I have been scouring the pages of Craigslist in search of opportunity. Itching to sing again, I checked for someone looking for a singer. All the great players I know and have worked with are in center city Philly, Atlantic City, and/or Bangkok. Not really easy to do a local gig. Well, one night I looked and there was a guy looking to form a jazz trio or quartet. I took a chance and asked if he needed a singer. We hit it off right away and made a plan. Within days the whole band came together and we had our first rehearsal tonight. So thrilled! To jam with some great musicians again was just fantastic. Think we are gonna get some great gigs...and have a lot of fun, too!

The Absentee Blogger/Beach Bum

I am quite the bad blogger these days. Truly, I don't know how many of you out there still read this. I myself haven't had a whole lot of time to blog or read blogs lately. When I do post something it's easier to just put it on Face Book.  So if you don't see an update here, check FB! Hopefully, I will back in the swing of things as fall gets closer. On this organizing and purging kick right now. Started with Ruby's crib - sold it to make room for big girl bed (twin) from upstairs. She is now (knock on wood) sleeping in her own bed again in her own room BY HERSELF. Woo hoo! A few early morning night-mares and wake-ups, but we are getting there. Let's call it progress!

Been a beach bum most of the summer and it's been GREAT. Two beach trips, a couple family trips, 2 day trips in NYC and Sesame Place in between. Life is good, my friends. HOT, but good. Summer is going by soooo quickly! Guess that's what happens when your having fun! Many pics and posts to catch up on so look for an onslaught here in the next couple days.

Latest happenings...

Latest beach trip - this time with my family. Amazing time! 5 days in Wildwood, NJ. Love that beach. Reminds me of family trips when I was a kid. Long, flat beach. Great for the long walks we all took every day - the whole lot of us. So fun. The waves were calm. The water was nice. Spending time with my cousins was incredible. The kids had a ball. Need I say more?

Sweet Nina carrying Ruby

Rubes with her cousin Nina. These two were inseparable the whole trip. Really sweet.

Water baby would have stayed in the pool all day and night if I let her. She learned to do the doggie paddle this week and swim all by herself without a tube! Hooray!

Dreamy girl in her favorite princess night gown

Cutie pies Rubes and Ryan snuggled up watching a movie

Ruby and Nina looking for dolphins

Cute cousins! Ryan, Mikey, Dommy, Alessia, Ruby & Nina

Another fun beach day!

Quick (blurry) shot of our group headed to the boardwalk

Last night on the boardwalk

Lil bug poses for me in Cape May. We stopped there the last morning b4 heading home.

Picked up a new friend...a cute little ostrich marionette that Ruby walked the whole way back to the car.

Back at home and dressing up the cat. Who was strangely willing...go figure???

Pure Silliness

Giddy

Silly

Spunky

Sweet

These pics are so indicative of Ruby's personality. This was just an ordinary afternoon turned to magic by one silly sassy 4 year old. Here's a little video I took of her silliness. Amused for the longest time playing with her stool. Of course, she loves to jump off anything and any time possible. Funny lil girl. I'm so glad she is mine. :-)

Pirate Adventure!

This post could also be called Bethany Beach Part 3. Mirielle, Jeff, & I headed to Ocean City, MD for a little pirate adventure one day. Very cute. All the little pirate girls seemed to enjoy it.

Very excited with her new cap and eye patch

Pretty lil pirates

Nice afternoon, followed by a yummy lunch with the crew at Harpoon Hannas, followed by a little crabbing and hanging out back at the family beach house.

Jasmine and Juliet were really into it and Rubes kinda hung and watched and joined in a little.

Here Jeff got one out of the net for them to all see. Love this shot and how they look like they are posing although they didn't even see me at this point. They were all too engrossed with the crab! Very cute.

Another great day at the beach spent with wonderful new friends! We miss them already!

Tomorrow we are off on another adventure...a beach trip to Wildwood, NJ to spend time with my brother, nephew and cousins. Should be an awesome time!

Bethany Beach Part 2

Date night for me and the hubs! Woo hoo! That's makes exactly 3 dates in almost 2 years. Uh, I think we need to kick that up a notch! Jeff's parents watched Ruby this night so we headed into Ocean City, MD (just 20 mins down the road) and had a FAB dinner at Liquid Assets. It's both a wine bar and wine/liquor store and looks like you are in the cask room of a winery. Very cool and great food. But more than that, it was a much needed night out with the hubs.

I feel like my blog is more like a pictorial these days with just a few comments here and there. Life - and summer in particular - is moving by at lightening speed. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. We are having fun, seeing friends and family, and are enjoying summer more than we have in a long time. After Ruby's ceremony in Phila, we headed straight back down to the beach for another week of fun and sun.

Ladies in pink 

Lounging at Planet X restaurant in Rehobeth

Jumping for joy because we said she could have ice cream. As if that wasn't a daily occurrence lately!

Pretty and pink and quite happy with her choc ice cream with sprinkles

After dinner and ice cream, we were off to the boardwalk.

Lil miss likes her rides FAST. Good thing Daddy has the stomach for it!

Hanging out in her pint sized pool the next day.

Looking so grown up in the back yard chasing bubbles. Pappy was putting out some HUGE bubbles and Rubes had a ball running to try and catch them. Sometimes it really is the simple things that give so much joy. Rubes really had a great time with Grammy & Pappy this week.

Cracking up at this pose

Almost got one!

Oooo, here it comes!!!!

Silly pirate

More beach pics to follow!