Here's the Diehl

Julia's preschool spent a morning at a suburb "pumpkin patch". Why in quotations you ask? Well, this suburb was not very suburban and the pumpkin patch was really just a garden center. So, no real patch of pumpkins, but rather a parking lot full of them. And a giant playground for kids to run around and spend all their energy on. That part was great. The mud, however, was not. We had the nicest day to visit, but it happened to be after a week of rain. Needless to say, we were not alone at the patch. Fortunately, there were lots of horses to ride, slides to climb and haunted forest hayrides. Lots of fun. But, man, was I exhausted afterwards. Julia fell asleep in the car about 5 minutes after we got going again. That's Julia's good buddy, Kailyn, next to her in the first photo. And I won't talk too much about the strange carnival-type rides that you see at the entrances to places like Walmart and Babies R Us...but the slot where you put your money in is broken. ...

Our friends, Bridget and Sam Kerr, braved the Zoo for Boo at the Zoo. So many treats and kids, it was utter mayhem. But the tots seemed to have fun and Julia enjoyed her time with Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Maybe next year the treats will make it into our bags instead of directly into our belly. Thanks for playing Bridgie and Sam!

Wanna vacation with us? This is what we do at the beach. Every day.  

Does anyone know what this plant is? It's a shrub that was at the beach and it smells so good. There is a hedge of these shrubs along the walkway to the beach and you just smell this sweet floral scent. It's great. Let me know if you know what it is!

From sunrise (first photo) to sunsets, we had a great time at the beach. Lots of sun, sand and surf. Kite flying. Pink horse petting. Shopping. And swinging on the playground. It was exhausting, but so fun. We scored some great deals at the outlets and ate lots of great food. We can't wait to go down there again. Tempting as it was, we resisted the idea of buying ourselves a beach house. Someday, maybe. You can tell that we didn't get much sleep by this great morning expression. Needless to say, Julia is at that point where she just doesn't want to  miss anything. Having a big girl bed definitely makes that easy at bedtime. Even idle threats to take away all her toys and not go to the beach the next day didn't keep her from coming out of her room every hour asking "what you guys doing?".  Bella escaped to some peace and quiet in the sun in the afternoons. It was really sunny late in the week, as you can se...

Brian put me to shame this weekend and ran a half marathon. As if that is not challenging enough, he did it without training for it. AT ALL. And he still ran faster than we did in March. I'm glad he got his PR, but am secretly jealous of his mental toughness. Granted, he was unable to move his legs for about 5 days, but he still has a new, faster time. Way to go! We met Brian at the finish line, with DeeDee and PopPop and cheered him on as he ran into National Harbor. The rain stopped long enough for us to see a rainbow and kept the runners dry.

One of Jules' favorite hobbies is taking photos. She loves to play with the camera. I think it's because of the digital technology and the screen which allows you to view images after pressing the shutter. I'm tempted to get a small film camera to test her and she if she still likes it as much. Maybe once we figure out how to focus on subjects. She's not quite an Elliott Erwitt yet, but she'll get there. She definitely likes Bella as her subject matter.