Las Vegas

That's right, friends.  This frumpy, LL Bean-wearing, mother of two actually visited Las Vegas last weekend to help celebrate this lovely lady:

Eileen, one of my best friends from college, is getting married in December in Barcelona and I can't go (still in mourning over that!).  But her work colleagues threw her a spectacular bachelorette party in Las Vegas and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to help her celebrate.

It was my first time in Sin City and although it's not my cup of tea it has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember.  The hotels are spectacular:

The view of the Paris hotel (where we stayed) from the Bellagio during one of its famous fountain shows.

Inside the Bellagio's garden room that they change seasonally.  The autumn fairyland was amazing - Frances and George would have loved it.  

The Venetian's famous gondolas.

Saturday night, the girls went on a pub crawl to various hot spots (I bowed out after the first spot so I could catch up on some sleep).  Sunday, Eileen and I walked up and down the strip, ducking into those famous landmarks to catch a glimpse of what everyone talks about.

Sunday evening, we went to the "Jubilee" show and to an incredible Thai restaurant for dinner (no one can deny Vegas has some of the best food out there).

Jubilee - headdresses and 1950s-era songs.  Classic Las Vegas.

And Monday was spent on the very long journey home.

A four-hour layover in Atlanta meant I walked the underground tunnel.  Twice.

Thank you, Eileen, for including me!  And an even bigger thank you for letting me sleep a little more than the rest of you.

My last view of the strip - as the plane was taking off.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Our annual trip to the River

Last week, we headed to Cowpasture River for a much-too-quick long weekend with Nana and Pop.

George on the iconic swinging bridge that crosses the river.

While we don't intend to go only once a summer, it has turned out that way these past few years (vacations, jobs, trips to Italy (my parents, not us), and life in general tend to get in the way, darn it).  So we make the most of it while we're there.

I will never tire of that view.

It was on the chilly side (thus the hoodies),

But my little fish still managed to swim every day and even went off the rope swing for the second year in a row.

A screenshot of the video, which I can't seem to upload on the blog.

And that would be my third child also enjoying the water.

The kids painted about a million rocks nearly all of which made it back to Richmond as part of Grandma's birthday present (sorry, GM!)

And, probably my favorite part, nap time certainly happened every afternoon.

Tired kids; tired parents.

Tired grandparents.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Our weekend at The Homestead

This was our first and will very likely be our last five-star weekend with the kids (at least at these ages):

So we made the most of it.

The Virginia Bar Association has their annual summer meeting at The Homestead, but we had never taken the leap to enjoy it until this year.  Years ago, my parents would take us snow skiing at The Homestead and every so often we'd make a summer day trip to stroll through the shops when we were at the river; but I had no memory of how kid-friendly it was, so I was never inclined to schlepp the family through the mountains in July so Will and I could attend meetings.  But I am SO glad we decided to try it out this year.

We swam.

This picture does not do the three (yes, three) pools justice - they were incredible, including a lazy river with tubes.

We played mini-golf.

The game was as scattered as this picture suggests.  George took it upon himself to be in charge of the flags at each hole and Frances made at least two holes-in-one.  Everyone beat me.

Frances had her nails done.

This is a picture of a little girl in complete bliss.

Will and I took advantage of the half-day kids camp for ages 3 and up (!!) and went on an adult-only morning hike.  Heaven.

We ate way too much of far too rich food--and didn't feel a bit guilty about it.

And we are all completely exhausted.  

I think one of us got a little too used to the Homestead lifestyle.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Crickets

I know I've been the worst stay-at-home blogging mother this summer.  And crickets is pretty much all you get when you look out for one of my posts.  Nada.  Nothing.  I have no excuse except that the very beloved little creatures that I so enjoy writing about and taking pictures of are taking up all of my writing/picture taking time.  Alanis Morissette would have a field day with that little bit of irony.  

We are back from a wonderful (but MUCH too short) beach weekend in Pawleys Island and we are off tomorrow for another long weekend at The Homestead--I know; we are slumming it this season, aren't we?  So it looks like it will be another few days before I can/might get my act together and tell you about our trips and just our day-to-day life.  But until then, you'll have to watch Will's latest video montage that he made of one of our beach activities--the treasure hunt!

The handsome man in the middle was not only our host with the most for our weekend (beachfront house that slept all 12 of us comfortably!), but put on an incredible treasure hunt activity for the kids.  If you are in Atlanta and need a party planner, Fleming is your man!  And without further ado, Will's interpretation of the treasure hunt extraordinaire:

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Life's a beach!

And we'll soon be walking on it.

Sadly, I think Tropical Storm Chantal will have us under more clouds (and maybe rain, but really, really, really hope not!) this trip, but we're going to make the best of it.  Or at least I know Will will make the best of it because he is so good about that and I may be traveling 1 1/2 hours to the nearest Bikram yoga studio to relieve my rainy beach stress.  Either way, we are very excited to spend a long weekend on the South Carolina shores, smelling that beach air and listening to the waves crashing on the sand.  The human soul was meant to be near water, wasn't it?  It never fails to slow your breath, relax your muscles, and help you appreciate what an incredible planet we live on.

I also should apologize for my pathetically short and boring blog posts this summer.  I am still trying to figure out a good schedule for writing (in part because I miss it so much!) and can't seem to find one that works for me.  I have a feeling I won't get there until school starts in the fall, so until then I will do my best to keep up with things as much as possible.

A quick "Bon Voyage" to my parents who leave for Italy today (lucky ducks!).  And a "GOOD LUCK!" to one of my dearest friends on the planet, Brooke, who is set to have her second baby (a little girl!) on Friday.  I am beyond excited to hear the news from both adventures!

Happy Wednesday, everyone.  I'll be back next week!

Disney World 2013

I’ve been dying to comb through our 200+ pictures and sort out the wonderful (and some not-so-wonderful) adventures we took on our Disney trip so I could  post them up for you all to see in one comprehensive, lucid blog post.  The reality?  The Homiller house is in summer survival mode—barely able to keep up with the laundry (seriously?  How much laundry can two tiny people create??), the organizing (ha!), the cleaning (ha!ha!) and maybe able to hold on to a thread of sanity while I’m at it.  That  being said, I am going to start this post without a clue as to whether I will actually finish writing it before the kids' “nap time” is over and my second shift begins.

My first picture of the trip – waiting at the airport gate for our plane to begin boarding.  And now is the time to tell you that the tall, thin, and devilishly handsome man checking email on his iPhone is the entire reason our Disney trip was so successful.  Will researched all-things Disney for months before we left; he had memorized the park’s layout; and, in what would turn out to be his best decision perhaps of his life (I exaggerate, but only a little), he booked our trip through AAA.  This was key because Disney contacted AAA looking for individuals traveling to their park during the exact dates we would be there willing to test out their pilot program:

The Disney magic bands!

These babies allowed us to skip every single line at the park.  We waltzed onto the most popular attractions ahead of everyone else (similar to “Fast Passes” for those of you who know Disney-speak; except the bands use “Fast Pass Plus.”  Thereby ends my knowledge of Fast Pass anything).  We had our picture taken many times by park officials because we were the first family to test out the program (keep your eye out for sweaty Homillers in future Disney literature : )).  In short, it was incredible.

And even with these magical bands, it was still a grueling, hot, exhausting and sometimes nauseating (George!) trip in the June Florida heat.  But it was completely and totally worth it.

My little sweatball

We stayed at the Contemporary Hotel (another brilliant decision by Will), allowing us to walk to the Magic Kingdom or take a quick monorail ride to our doorstep.  This was particularly helpful our last night when we stayed late to watch the fireworks show and could beat the crowd heading for the buses, boats and train and just walk right to the hotel.

The view from our room!  George still talks about the "Mickey pool."

I know, I know – enough about the boring logistics of the trip, right?  Let’s get on to the attractions!

[Warning: this part is very picture-heavy!]

We met some friends:

Our first big sighting - Princess Jasmine and Aladdin rode the Magic Carpet ride right in front of us.

Minnie!

Lightning McQueen and Mater (George was in shock)

One of the green army men from "Toy Story."  (Gotta love those shoes!)

Jake signing George's autograph book.

Handy Manny

The ant from "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."

Mickey!!  We never did get to take a picture with him, but we still got pretty close.  And just so you know, even a thirty-six-year-old mother of two tears up when you see this guy - there's just something special about him.

Chip and Dale

Daisy!

Rode some rides:

Frances in 11 years.  Be afraid - she was a terrible driver!

Ready for Mickey's Philharmagic, an impressive 3D movie.

Frances and me on the Ariel ride.  It was amazing!

Daddy and George on the classic Dumbo ride.

The Jungle Cruise

George's latest fascination is maps, so he helped Will navigate the park (very well, I might add).

George and I had a private showing at the Tiki Room.

And this is what Will and Frances (back row) were doing while George and I were listening to the macaws sing.  This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.
Disney World really does bring out the kid in all of us.

Snacked a bit:

And if there was any question, our princess met some other princesses:

Snow White.

Sleeping Beauty

The stunning and sweet Ariel, Frances's favorite (again, I definitely cried at this one!)

Jasmine

Belle in her beautiful gown.

We also met and took a picture with Cinderella, but I haven't yet scanned in that picture (it was taken by Disney).  

George was not as impressed.

Although he fell head-over-heels in love with Belle.  Smart, literate, a wee-bit older--I think he picked a good one!

It was a truly spectacular trip.  Disney doesn’t just do a good job; they do the best job—the rides are realistic, the special effects are breathtaking, the park employees are all (ALL) friendly, helpful, and called Frances “princess” at every turn.  Yeah, she didn’t like that at all.

Coloring books saved the day when we had to wait for the park to open.

We had a few temper tantrums (it was about 1,000 degrees in the shade) and George threw up after the teacup ride (can you blame him?).  It’s also never ideal to have four bodies in one hotel room.  But those few things aside, our trip could not have gone any better.

Thank you for the memories, Disney World!  See you soon.  But not too soon.