Whidbey Moms Weekend (1st Annual)

While living on Whidbey Island, WA I met some incredible women with whom I hope to remain life long friends. The bond we share is also the reason for our meeting. All seven of us were first time mommies to boys. Since we did only have one child at that time, we all decided to sign up for a mommy and baby swim class when they were just under a year old. After meeting at the Oak Harbor pool, we quickly became friends and started our little weekly playgroup where the boys bonded just as much as we did.

Here is a picture of us at the swim class in 2006.

Amber & Tate, Carrie & Gunner, Stephanie & Calvin, (swim instructor), Holley & Grant, Tracy & Mikie, Lynn & Jack

Over the years, we shared many funny stories and parenting strategies, sampled several delicious recipes, celebrated numerous birthdays and other holidays, enjoyed some girl's nights out/in, and even got to rejoice together as we welcomed baby #2 into most of our lives (Holley, I hope I don't end up jinxing you by writing that). Even though I was falling in love with Whidbey Island, I know that it was because of these amazing women that my two years in WA were some of the best years of my life. Those times are the ones that I reflect back on and long for almost every single day.

After becoming so close, slowly the military families started moving away and the playgroup began to dwindle. With each new good-bye the tears fell a little harder and the heart ache became a little deeper. Carrie & Gunner moved to Virginia, Leah & Ethan moved to Florida, Stephanie & Calvin (& Luke) moved to Texas, Lynn & Jack (& Bradley) moved to Texas as well, and I (along with my two boys) was drug kicking and screaming back to the D.C. area. Only Holley & Grant and Amber & Tate (& Ayden) were spared the torture of leaving their "home" behind because they had married civilian men.

It didn't take long for all of us to realize that we would indeed still be there for each other even though the miles now separated us. So, it only seemed natural for us all to plan a weekend get together and meet in the middle (if you can call Corpus Christi, TX the middle). But it was also so unnatural in the fact that we did NOT have our children in tow. That's right it was truly a GET-AWAY from the kids. All but one of the original seven of us made it for this trip. (We missed you terribly, Leah!)

It began on Thursday when I dropped my boys off with my Virginia friend and neighbor Kim who agreed to watch the boys until Michael got off of work despite getting ready to go to the airport herself that afternoon (Thank you, Kim!!!). This would be the longest I had ever been away from my kids but was so ready for a much needed break. I cannot remember the last time I was able to drive for an hour and listen to my music as opposed to children's songs, or sit at the airport gate and read a book, and don't even get me started on how enjoyable it was to be able to ask the flight attendant for hot tea with two cups of ice (to make my own iced tea of course) without worrying about crunching up ice for two little eager mouths while juggling a hot liquid in a confined space with an octopus boy sitting on my lap. Ahh yes, traveling was EASY again.

All four of us arrived at the Corpus Christi airport within hours of each other and then headed to Steph's house for a delicious BBQ. Later that night we checked into the Port Royal condos and melted our cares away in the resort hot tub.

After a good night's sleep that lasted way past dawn (an unheard of phenomenon once you become a mother) we ate lunch and shopped in the town of Port Aransas.

For our lunch at "Virginia's on the Water," we were accompanied by one of my most favorite 3 year olds in the world! Lynn had her two boys with her until her husband could get off of work later in the afternoon and I was thrilled to listen to Jack's vivid imagination and funny remarks. The first thing he said to me when they picked me up from the airport was "Where's Mikie?" and then he kept asking when he could see Mikie again someday. I'm so glad Lynn will be bringing the boys to this area for a wedding in June. I cannot wait to hear the conversations Mikie and Jack will have and watch Zachary and Bradley play together.

On our shopping adventure, we stumbled across this sign:

The next two pictures are of us in front of beach shops. We each found a souvenir for our kids back home and some of us even did a little shopping for ourselves.

That evening, or I should say night (Since we didn't get to the restaurant until 9:00...which is actually bedtime for a lot of us back home) we got all dolled up and dinned at either Mimi's By the Sea or Johnny D's depending on whether you looked at the sign out front or the sign on the door. We had great food and even better laughs but never did figure out what the place was really called.

The next day was again started after the rooster crowed (or the seagull's cry since we were right on the beach). Here we are having lunch on our balcony before spending the rest of the afternoon baking in the hot Texas sun by the cool of the pool with a frozen fruity drink or two.

Another friend of mine, whom I originally met in Hawaii 5 years ago and then introduced to our playgroup in Whidbey, also moved to Corpus Christi and was able to meet up with us for a few hours. Julie's two girls were so incredibly adorable. It was fun catching up with her and made me long even harder for the daughter I will someday be blessed with.

After frying in the sun all afternoon, we decided the best way to end the night was with some fried Mexican food from La Playa. Ever heard of a deep fried avocado?

Finally, it was back to the hotel where we changed into our pajamas and played board games until the wee hours of the morning.

Holley and Stephanie

Me and Lynn

Sunday came all to0 soon and we were forced to say goodbye once again. However, we did decide that WHIDBEY MOMS WEEKEND would now become an annual event and have already determined Virginia Beach to be next year's destination.

I had one more friend I wanted to see before I left. Michelle and I met in Whidbey through the squadron and our church. She is single handily the most loving example of a Christian mother I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I admire her immensely and pray that her enthusiasm and ability to teach her boys through Christ's words and examples would be a light for all to see (especially me!). I'm thankful that we were able to catch up in such a short time while waiting for my flight to leave.

Cherry Blossom Festival - Take Two

Wouldn't you know that the peak foliage, the festival parade, and the best weather of the season would all occur during the weekend that I was on my girls getaway in Texas (post coming soon). So you know I was disappointed when our second attempt at seeing the cherry blossoms was only slightly warmer and just as cloudy as the first.

After a much needed vacation in the hot Texas sun, I arrived home and crawled into bed at 12:30 Sunday night. Six thirty a.m. came extremely early (especially after getting used to sleeping in till 9:00 for the past 3 days without my boys as my alarm clock). I awoke excited to start our busy day, see another dear friend of mine, and get some good pictures with pink cherry blossoms. My plans for the day were completely turned upside down when I looked out the window to see the rain falling steadily outside. Nonetheless, I packed a picnic lunch and headed out the door at 9:30 to take the boys to gymnastics class. After gymnastics, Rebecca and Leah (former neighbors who have since moved 1 1/2 hours away) accompanied us to our next event: the egg hunt which had to be relocated indoors due to the rain (see previous post: egg-citing). Plan A was to eat a picnic lunch in a park and let the kids play before heading to DC. Plan B ended up being lunch at Chick-fil-a and the kids playing in the playland. While the children were busy climbing and sliding, Rebecca and I mulled over Plan C: take the kids bowling or Plan D: Go back to my house or Plan E: Drive south to Richmond and go to the children's museum or Plan F: Go to a museum in DC or Plan G: Take the umbrellas and stick with the original agenda of seeing the Cherry Blossoms. If you read the title of this post then you already know that we opted for Plan G! Which was entirely based on Mikie's begging to take Leah on the metro!

The metro: my boys' idea of a great day in DC

Part of Plan A was to have Michael meet us at the Cherry Blossom Festival since he was leaving that evening on a NAVY trip for 2 days. However, with the rain delay we didn't arrive in DC until 3:30 which happened to be the time that he needed to be at the airport. So alas, after living here for almost 2 years I was finally forced into navigating the metro and the streets of DC on my own. I'm happy to report that there were no incidents to document and we returned that evening with the correct number of children in tow. Of course, it helped immensely that I had just been on this same route the week before at our first festival attempt (previous post).

Before reaching the cherry blossoms, we took the same detour through the dogwood garden behind the Smithsonian. Most of the pink blossoms had already fallen on the ground, but that just made it all the more fun for Leah and Mikie. In the video below, I felt as though I was watching their courtship as they would hide from each other behind the tree:

Leah & Rebecca Does that weeping cherry tree look familiar? Yes it's the same one we posed in front of from my last post.

The kids made us pay a pretend toll before we could go through. Apparently Rebecca and I got off cheap with our pretend fee, but the gentleman behind us shelled out 26 cents to the little entrepreneurs.

When we got close to the Washington Monument Leah exclaimed "That's the biggest pencil I've ever seen."

The only picture I have where the sun was actually shinning for a brief 5 minutes. Can you tell it was blustery that day?

After much walking, stopping, carrying, rearranging, picture posing, port-a-potty visiting, and playing musical stroller seats, we finally arrived at the water's edge around 5:00. This made it too late to walk around the entire perimeter so we settled for a short walk across the bridge where the kids could throw petals into the water and watch the ducks swim by.

Despite the short amount of time we had to enjoy the blossoms and all the changes in plans (many, many, many times) I'm so glad we went. I always enjoy my time with Rebecca (albeit too few and far between) and the kids obviously had fun as evident by the video above. Oh, and the PB&J sandwiches from my picnic lunch did get eaten by the kids on the way back to the metro. When the boys and I finally arrived home at 8:30 that night, my jetlag had finally caught up to me and my "Boagie Genes" could hold out no longer. Perhaps next year the weather and timing will work out so we can stick with Plan A.

Cherry Blossom Festival- Take One

The weather and our timing did not coincide this year for the Cherry Blossom Festival. We woke up on the day of the opening ceremonies and looked outside. It was not only dreary, but cold as well. We decide to go ahead and drive to DC anyway because they were having children's activities inside the National Building Museum and thought the boys might enjoy it.



At the Target booth, the boys each made a mini-kite and Mikie colored the Target Dog hat which he will never wear. We watched a dance group perform to Japanese music and got free flowers to plant from the Home Depot booth.



Since the cherry blossoms weren't even close to peak color and the weather was nasty, we decided to take the boys to look at the trains in the National History Museum. Of course, they had a great time seeing which train they would find next.

Here we are in front of "Henry". Mikie didn't want his picture taken.

Here is "Flora"


On the way back to the metro, Michael took us through a little park behind the Smithsonian. I was pleasantly surprised to see PINK trees! Apparently, the dogwood trees were at their peak bloom and we were able to get some really cute pictures. (If you can look past the winter coats and think about Spring)

There was one weeping cherry tree that was the hot spot for photographs that day. Mikie was in a very ornery mood as you can see.

Brothers are the best! Zachary adores Mikie and is always copying everything he does.

A short video that sums up the day perfectly.

Egg-citing

I liked this activity much better when I only had one child AND when it was done at Boagie's house AND when I was the one snapping the pictures/running the video camera. Before scrolling through all the pictures, be sure to watch the video of how the event started out:










Not too promising, right? Well, Zachary did end up having fun (I've included another video as evidence) and Mikie was very well behaved through the whole thing. In the end, we ended up with a dozen eggs to hang on our Easter tree, 1/2 a dozen hard boiled ones to eat, and 3 sets of very colorful hands.

They started out using the spoons....

Zachary is learning a new technique from his brother.....

And quickly decides this is the way to do it!

I now have children with Smurf hands.

Hanging the eggs on the tree.

The egg hunt for preschoolers got rained out so we ended up hunting eggs inside of the building.

Zachary, Lily, Kaitlyn, Mikie, Leah

The kids showing their full baskets.

Meeting the Easter Bunny.

Rebecca & Leah came to spend the day with us.

(Look for a future post about our adventures at the Cherry Blossom Festival)