Memorial Day Weekend was wonderful and so much more than a weekend…we had almost a full week to celebrate the kick off of summer, enjoy time with my parents and the Betancourts, and ring in my Dad and Uncle Ed’s 70th birthdays. And celebrate we did! All week, Caroline talked about how Kay Kay and Pa were coming. Each morning she would wake up and ask, “Kay Kay Pa here?” Who could blame her? We were all excited.

Here are Caroline and Vivi dressed to impress in their matching outfits from Miss Bridget. Caroline is sporting the finest look in post-stitches headwear:

Thursday night, my parents arrived after a 3+ hour power failure and the kiddos were already down. I got them from the airport and brought them back home for some burgers outside on the newly decorated patio:

Friday, we spent the day relaxing at home without anywhere to actually be. I wanted my mom to be able to play with Caroline without an agenda and it was fun to take walks through the ‘Secret Garden’ and let those two peas in a pod run up and down the hills out back.

Of course it wouldn’t be a visit with my parents if Mike didn’t have a project to do with my mom–this time it was installing the above-range microwave. I am so grateful for a mom who is good at this kid of stuff! That night (literally moments after the microwave was successfully installed), we had the Betancourts all over for dinner and kept it simple with Moby Dick, while Lee brought over The Best Pie in the World.

Saturday morning was beautiful outside and we gave a great big Happy Birthday to Dad and Eddie! We met up with Lee and Raul and the Robersons in DC to do a Tinkergarten class but that was a bit of a bust. We put Caroline down for a nap and enjoyed time sipping rose and catching up. We also gave Vivi her first taste of solid food–she was a fan!

We also invited ourselves to Lee and Raul’s fantastic backyard, which was perfect for little kid and Kay Kay playtime. In McLean, we enjoyed a delicious BBQ dinner and cake (made by Holly) to honor the twins’s big day. Lee even distributed little airplanes as party favors, which were a big hit with Roman and Caroline!

On Sunday, we spent the morning at the Dulles Udvar-Hazy Museum and it was really incredible. It was my first time going and I loved the airplane part (way more than the space part) and Caroline loved all of the airplanes too. She ran around the facility with her face towards the ceiling, saying “Helicopter?? Airplane!”

Roman spent much of the time (when he wasn’t admiring the airplanes) making sure Vivi was happy:

We came home for naps then off to Ireland’s 4 P’s for an early dinner. Caroline loved her mac n/ cheese and the bread that came with the meal. I think my mom’s favorite part of the night came when the waiter tried to the bread off the table (at the end of the meal, mind you) and Caroline gave him the very dirtiest look you could imagine.

Monday morning, in honor of the holiday, we listened to patriotic songs as we drove to Lee and Raul’s (again!) because they were so sweet and invited us to breakfast at their house. They really do have the very best yard!

Mom got to pose with her little namesake:

And she got to make Caroline and Vivi giggle 🙂

She also played with Roman too, who just gets cuter and cuter (and who looooves to swing!):

These guys had so much fun playing in this beautiful yard!

Caroline loved to harass Wilson and Grover…she is very good at telling dogs what they are NOT allowed to do/eat/lick:

Roman is super into Baby Vivi right now. He always wanted to be near her 🙂

That afternoon, we all ditched the kiddos and the adults headed to the Nationals game. Lee got us some wonderful seats!

At the end of the game, all of the seniors were invited to stroll the bases. Mom, Dad, Ed, and Susan were the most fit ones out there–and Mom made a name for herself sliding into the bases, much to the chagrin of the event organizers!

Even the presidents came out to cheer on the seniors!

Oh boy. Yes, this happened…

Here is the event organizer telling Mom she can’t slide into the base.

“Ma’am…ma’am, you can’t do that…you really need to get up and move along ma’am…”

Mom: “NEAL DID YOU GET THE PICTURE??”

After we collected our seniors, we ran into the remailing POTUSes and got a group shot. Mom then said to TJ, “you are the very best first president we ever had!” TJ gave his “perplexed” look and and we all laughed. As we walked out, Eddie said to mom, “You know that was Jefferson, right?” They do all look similar!

We got home that night and crashed…Kay Kay on Caroline’s floor! Gotta love Finny here. Nigh-night!

Tuesday, I brought Mom and Dad to the airport. SO hard to say good bye, especially after such a fun wonderful Memorial Day!!