Austin

Mike and I got to take a little trip down to Austin to meet with some friends and explore the city.  Lilly got to stay in Maine with my parents and we got to have a few uninterrupted conversations!  We had some awesome Mexican food (oh, how we've missed it!), some awesome barbecue (Stubb's, The Salt Lick), some awesome margaritas and an overall great time.

Some pictures...

Lilly and I (post-trip) in our UT shirts.  Mike just couldn't get one, too traitorous to CU...

Beautiful early morning view of Town Lake from Mt. Bonnell

Mt. Bonnell self-portrait

Austin!

A beautiful morning, good chai tea and my husband = happy Sarah

Beautiful!

Inside the Capitol

The Texas Capitol

Diving into some awesome barbecue

This is seriously the first rental car they gave us, the only bright yellow one on the lot.  We were able to switch to something slightly more muted :)

Arriving in Austin!

The first of many picture updates

Here are the first of many overdue pictures.  These are from our trip to Europe with my family in the beginning of June.  Sorry that they're totally out of order, but at least they're here :)  On our trip we flew to Barcelona, then went on a Royal Caribbean cruise that stopped in Marseilles, Sardinia, Sicily and then back to Barcelona.  After that we hopped in a van and drove up to Cannes to stay with Mike's Aunt Janis and Uncle Jacques for a few days.  It was an amazing trip!

On the deck of the Navigator of the Seas, preparing for an intense shuffleboard battle.  We must have been the only shuffleboard enthusiasts onboard (or perhaps the only people under the age of 90 wanting to play?) because there was never a wait :)

All of us in the dining room at dinner, before stuffing ourselves silly yet again - my mom, dad, Aunt Janet, Tory, me, Mike

On the red carpet in Cannes

Mike with his Uncle Jacques and Aunt Janis in Cannes

Tory and me wearing our sunglasses in a picture just to drive my dad crazy :)

Tory at the most incredible (and cheap!) tapas restaurant in Barcelona on our last night.  Note the Sangria-induced excitement on her face...

Barcelona at night

There is little that I dislike more than people singing "Happy Birthday" to me in public, but it was very sweet of them to do (notice the pained expression on my face and Tory laughing at me)

Mike and me on my birthday (the lioness hair is due to general frizz and humidity, but also a strong wind)

Our 9 passenger van at Janis and Jacques' beautiful house outside of Cannes

The adorable little guest house that Mike and I got to stay in

Me and Mike in France!

Our first cruise stop in Marseilles

A couple of dorks and the view over Sardinia

Mikey about to enjoy an awesome Italian cappucino

A pretty produce stand in Sicily

At my birthday lunch in Sicily

Potty Training (or, How To Do 50 Loads of Laundry a Day)

We are back home, again, and settling in for a little while now.  I've been home for less than 10 days in the last two months and I think it's started to catch up with me!  I have lots of pictures to post and I promise I'll work on it!  Summer has been flying by...

Now that we're home we decided that it was time to get serious about potty training.  Several people have recommended a program developed by "The Queen of Potty Training" that basically involves three intensive days of non-stop focus on all things potty.  We packed up all of her diapers yesterday and said goodbye to them.  We have to just stay home (close to the potty) for three days.  We're just now starting day 2 and I think we're both tired of being inside so much.

Yesterday we went through 17 pairs of underwear (I'm not exaggerating).  I finally caught on to the fact that Lilly was so enamored of the Elmo and Princesses underwear I'd gotten for her that she was intentionally having accidents so that she could wear all the different pairs.  (Such a little fashionista!)  I outsmarted her by switching to the plain white ones.  This plan also involves full potty training, including nighttime and naps.  When I put Lilly down for her nap yesterday I told her to tell me if she had to go potty and we practiced and I was pretty sure she had it down.  I didn't hear from her while she napped and went to get her up as soon as I heard her stirring.  She saw me come in and proudly said, "Look, wet undies!" as she lay there in a pool of pee.  Oh well.  Last night wasn't too much better as I had to change her and all her bedding three times.  But she's had some great successes and I think it's starting to click.  It's adorable how proud of herself she is when she gets it.  Okay, enough talk of the potty!

Summer

Sorry it's been so long - we've been having a great summer!  

One of the best things about living in Connecticut is that we're so close to Maine - my favorite place in the world.  My family has moved a bit (I'm currently living in the 16th building I've called home), but my grandmother's house in Maine has always been the one constant in my life.  Whenever people tell me to think of a "happy place," for me it's always Maine.  So, needless to say, I've been spending a lot of time there.  The novelty of being able to just get in my car and drive there has still not worn off...

Most of my mom's family got together there for our annual 4th of July clambake, some intense beach volleyball, lots of great desserts and some good wine.  Lilly, Addie and I were there for 9 days and Mike came up for four of them - someone in this family has to work :)  Lilly loved playing on the beach (though her opinion of sand is minute to minute), and Addie loved swimming in the ocean.  I loved getting to spend time with my family and lots of time with my mom, being out of the Connecticut humidity and soaking in the beauty of the ocean and the air and checking out of our everyday life for a little while.

Part of the quaint 4th of July activities in Maine include a 5K race and a children's bike parade.  I ran in the race again this year and thought Mike would be running with me, but he backed out. I'm pretty sure it was because he thought I would beat him :)  Or maybe it was just that he had a huge sausage and egg sandwich for breakfast.  Whatever the reason, my cousin Derek and I were the lone runners.  I had my best time yet - 25:21, an 8:16 average pace.  My "official" time is a little higher, due to the massive backlog at the start of the race.  I got to give Lilly a high five when I ran by, and the family cheering section was out in force.

My cousins convinced me that it's not wierd for a 30 year old with a toddler to join Facebook, so I did and I can't believe how many people I've gotten back in touch with!  It's amazing.  I still feel sort of sheepish when I log on and keep looking over my shoulder to make sure that there are no 18 year olds (or my husband) laughing at me, but it's so much fun to find out what a lot my high school and college friends are up to.

Now we are home in CT for a little while.  Lilly will head back up to Maine to spend some time with my parents for a few days next weekend (wish them luck), while Mike and I get to head out for a fun weekend trip.  We finally caved and bought air conditioners which has restored life in our house.  Being hot makes me cranky and when the indoor humidity is hovering over 80% it makes me very cranky.  Woo hoo air conditioning!

There is sometimes a little gap in my posts, usually because I would love to post pictures and I can't hunt down the cord to upload them, or I don't have time to go through and pick out the good ones.  So, once again, I promise to post some pictures soon.

In lieu of a picture of Lilly, I will share a little anecdote.  Lilly has entered that phase of her life where she is constantly asking questions.  Her recent interest is in music.  She always asks "Who's that?" and "What they singin' bout?"  When we were driving up to Maine last week a John Mayer song came on the radio.  She asked the usual questions and I told her who was singing and that the name of the song was "Say What You Need to Say."  She looked at me for a minute and then said "Say what need say... Need say please."  I guess constantly drilling it into her is starting to sink in...