Summer of 2018 was just so much fun. It was a perfect balance of seeing friends & family, having sunny hot days that begged for water play, and late afternoon summer storms that rolled in during family nap time and granted permission to snuggle up with books. We took advantage of our FONZ membership, great Arlington splashgrounds, nature centers, local library, live music outdoor concerts, and amazing playgrounds, all in the name of having new adventures with our little Sugar Bear.

The state of Idaho launched a campaign called 18 Summers, with the idea being that you get 18 summers with your kids. Only 18. So embrace them fully! Summer is such a magical time in childhood, and a great excuse for fun-loving parents to play, too. I plan on fully maxing out each and every summer that Sugar Bear will tolerate her overly-enthusiastic, summer-loving mom.

Something tells me this won’t be a problem 😉 I mean, just look at that sly smile:

Highlights of summer 2018 include but were not limited to the following…

In JUNE:

On a work day, I got to take in an afternoon Nationals game AND meet up with Uncle Ed, who was there with his retired buddies! The Nats blew the Tampa Bay Rays outta the water–10-1, I think:

Then Joy rang in her big 3-8 by celebrating at Wolf Trap with a picnic dinner, cake, and a great show with all the ladies. We all marveled at how wonderful it was to NOT sit on the lawn, but in REAL chairs, for the show. Why has it taken us until age 38 to realize this?!? It was a gorgeous night, one of the few you get in this area, with no humidity, lightning bugs out and about, and cicadas singing to you.

Next up, we got to have Courtney, Bobby, and their kids Campbell (age 6) and Greyson (age 5) stay for the weekend. We had a ball and their kids were just so sweet. They played so well with Caroline, held a profitable lemonade stand in our yard, and enjoyed chasing Caroline around our splash pad:

And what’s a summer without Popsicles outside (in your birthday suit,  cause Mama’s no fool?!?):

I got to sneak out during a work from home day to have lunch at Whitlows with Joy, where we showed off our bumps (her at 37 weeks, me at 15 weeks):

We received the most thoughtful, hilarious thank you gift from the WAIFWYP crew, for hosting them all during Greer and Meg’s Ruby Jubilee in late June. It’s a giant blanket featuring a massive Sugar Bear in the center and around her, each of them snuggled up with Pooh Bear in different positions.

In JULY:

We got a wonderful surprise visit of Lisa and Joseph for a quick few days and they snapped this pic of Mike and me at Pi Pizza one Friday after they biked allllll over the city:

We set up our own little pool, where clothing was optional but mosquitoes were not ;):

We enjoyed our water table on the patio and eating dinner (and our very favorite summer food…watermelon!) al fresco with sweet neighbors stopping by:

As well as many trips to the neighborhood park in our super sweet pink and purple push car! Note that Cornelius is coming along for this particular trip:

We also made many visits to pat Diane and Larry’s cement lions (how did this ever become a THING and how long will it last??)

And we learned how to feed Finnegan…depending on the day, he gets 4 giant scoops of food or 3 pieces of kibble…I figured it all evens out, right?

Caroline was determined to look grown up in her fancy school dress (complete with backpack):

And enjoyed visiting the Arlington Nature Centers with Mike’s dad, who came down for a visit:

Caroline wore this lovely get up (which she pulled from her closet herself and insisted on wearing) to Clyde’s for dinner with Mike’s dad, where she devoured an entire kiddie helping of mac n’ cheese, a fruit cup, a cup of milk, and still begged for bites of my ice cream dessert. Hey, if you’re gonna eat like a horse, at least dress like a lady, right??

We went for Baby #2 checkup at 20 weeks (the anatomy scan) and got a picture of Little Peanut waving to us!

In AUGUST:

We “beat the heat” at our local splashpad and another cool one in Alexandria called Chessie’s Big Backyard–which also has 2 playgrounds and walking trails through the woods!

We had some delightful snuggles during afternoon rainstorms. I know I will miss these days!

We also enjoyed Fashion Show with some of our new summer favorites…don’t you think the pacifier makes the outfit?

And in her fancy romper from our fashion-forward friend Courtney…this is Caroline’s “it’s so hard being a model” face:

We also enjoyed time with our good friend Meg post-Guapo’s on a night where the lighting was just so pretty:

These two are deep in conversation, I tell you that.

And because we didn’t get enough of Meg that night, we spent the entire next day with her (and Greg) at their pool, and Caroline even got to have a mini-sleepover with them when they saved us (after our babysitter cancelled and Mike and I had Date Night plans in the city). God bless good friends! Who tolerate/enjoy your children!

You want me to fit in that blue boat? No problem:

We also made sure to enjoy pool time with the Betancourts, who invited us to their pool (Highlands) in McLean,  which was a perfect spot for little people:

Roman and Caroline exchanged lots of kisses goodbye after such a lovely afternoon. Is he not the cutest?

And to wrap up August, none other than Ms. Jackie Vorhauer trotted her cute little pregnant self on over to the East Coast to pay us a visit and meet Caroline for the first time (and also to tell her Mom in person that she was pregnant!)

We had to compare baby bumps…while enjoying mocktails in fancy glasses. She is 3 weeks behind me, due December 26th:

I took her to see the Obama portraits at the Portrait Gallery and we had to stop and visit these ladies as well:

Thank goodness for Jackie’s timely visit, which was not only delightful, but she was a godsend as I frantically scrambled to pack for our Maine trip after an unexpected kerfuffle with our flight time on Saturday morning. She even took Caroline and me to the airport!

Check out these best buddies:

Oh, and one more bump shot…because how often are you and one of your very best friends pregnant at the same time??

There we go.

Thank you, Summer 2018! You were delightful!