Meaning?

We still don't have a subletter secured for our apartment. That means, we still might need to pack up our entire apartment, find a storage unit, and move everything.

Our Visas still haven't arrived. That means, if they don't get here by Tuesday we'll have to rebook our flight at a cost of $2000+. Eek!

We still need to do lots of cleaning and packing, and temperatures are supposed to go back up to the mid-90's. That means, our apartment will also be in the mid-90's, and that means don't come over unannounced because we will be doing chores in our underwear.

We still need to feed, entertain, and carry on some semblance of normalcy for our toddler. That means, life is crazy.

We leave for South Africa on Wednesday (pending Visas). That means, we're sort of giddy with excitement for the new adventure that awaits us.

Reunited

...AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!

A couple of weeks ago our little family went separate ways: the girls headed west and the man went south. Justin left first. He spent 4 days in Washington DC putting on a conference his company has been working on for months. While he was away, I continuously found Miss You notes around the house.

(Yes, we are those kind of people.)

Bryn and I left for California before Justin got back from Washington. I was nervous about/totally dreading the (5 hour flight+1 hour layover+2 hour flight+1.5 hour drive) day of traveling it was going to take to get us to CA. Overall it went pretty well, minus the tiff I got into with one of our flight attendants regarding traveling with a toddler. In spite of her face-to-face lecture, her lecture to me made public over the airplane PA system, and countless dirty looks shot from her eyes to mine, we exited the aircraft without tears, without juice covered clothing, and with the other passengers still smiling and commenting on Bryn's cuteness. I deem that a success. And I attribute much of that success to my magical bag of airplane entertainment. I was prepared with books, stickers, spinning tops, mardi gras necklaces, crayons, DVDs (of which Bryn will watch 20 minutes before she's ready to be doing something else...those blessed 20 minutes of down time allowed me to recoup and be r-r-r-roaring to go again when it was over, thank you Baby Einstein!), a roll of scotch tape, post it notes, lots of snacks, and a box of kleenex (what toddler doesn't love pulling kleenex out of the box one-by-one?). We also sang lots of songs. I'm sure the passengers around us were impressed with my lovely singing voice, but they must've all been too shy to throw out a compliment. :)

So, we made it to California. Then it only took about 6 of our 8 days there for Bryn to get over her majorly intense stranger anxiety, as demonstrated by, but not limited to: not allowing anyone to hold her; bursting into tears after a friendly look from Kim and a "Good morning, Bryn" from Mark; avoiding eye contact with my mom at all costs; and becoming hysterical if ever I was out of her sight. There were two exceptions to the stranger anxiety: 7 year old Aunt Kari, and the beloved Ginger. Kari's attention provided me with a couple of solo bathroom trips and sweet Ginger was laid on, hugged, had her tail pulled, had her jowls pulled, eyes poked, ears yanked, etc. and endured it all with the utmost passivity. Maybe it was because of all the food Bryn shared with her?

Smiles started to make more frequent appearances around day 6. Here's one while playing in a little pool at Grandma's house:

Unfortunately that's the only one I have documented because it's pretty much the only picture I took while we were there. Lame, I know. It really was great to see cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents before venturing to Africa. I love you all! And deep down Bryn loves you too, I think.

During our layover on the way home:

Bryn got her first scraped knee in CA...didn't even shed a tear.

Happy to be unpacked in our home sweet home

Little People, Big Friendships

Meet Andrew.

He is one of Bryn's very best friends. They love to play at the park, go to the zoo, visit the aquarium, and do pretty much anything else that allows them to wander and explore. I appreciate Bryn having a friend so close to her age because it gives her lots of opportunities to learn how to 'be kind' and 'share'.

These two are too cute together.

The Hamptons

We decided to go somewhere that we had never been before for Memorial Day. Wainscott Beach in the Hamptons was the lucky winner. We had a great time stolling downtown, beach bumming (our coastal living is aiding our expertise in this field), gawking at the posh mansions in the area, and quoting scenes from the Seinfeld episode when they visit the Hamptons ("I was in the pool!").

Can I please spend everyday leisurely strolling with these two??

Somehow she pulls off cute even from behind!

Freshly made ice cream...mmmm

Bryn spent most our time at the beach wanting to cuddle with me, while Justin built a sand structure (he clarified that it was not a castle, but a piece of architecture). Notice my ghost white legs? I know, they're blinding. Justin is pretty sure I have the whitest legs in the Bronx.

From Now On...

We're just going to leave our car doors unlocked so that when someone wants to break in to steal all of the non-existent expensive stuff we keep in our car, they can just open the door rather than break our window, costing us a repair fee that we would have much rather spent on...well, pretty much anything else.

Doors & Hair, not band related

One of Bryn's newest past times is opening and shutting doors. Luckily we haven't had any smashed fingers yet, only smiles. Lots of adorable, irresistible, contagious, hakuna matata type SMILES.

We've done pigtails a few times now. I can't tell if they're cute because I'm seeing them through my mom-eyes or if they're actually cute? It doesn't really matter though because my mom-eyes can't get enough of them. I just scrolled through the above pictures and can't wait another minute to go kiss those cheeks. Muah!

Twenty-something

Last week we celebrated Justin's birthday. Well, I celebrated, Justin mourned his fading youth. "Too close to 30 for celebrating," says he. Blah. Keeping birthday references to a minimum, we were still able to have a fun day.

He awoke to a personalized cross-word puzzle. The 28 Years of Justin Malden puzzle included clues and answers ranging from birth to present-day. Making a giant cross-word for the hubs probably makes me a big nerd, but he said it was fun to fill out and I had fun watching him try to figure out some of the tough ones, so I'll embrace my nerd-hood.

We spent the afternoon flying a kite at the beach. The kite flying didn't work out so well, but we aced beach bumming.

No matter the age of this sexy stud, I'll take him!

Bryn's gift to Justin was her first piece of water-color artwork. Lovely, don't you think? She contributed best to the splashing of the water to rinse the paintbrush in and attempts to eat the paint. The other parts of her art received a bit of assistance from Momma.

For dinner we headed into Manhattan for some Indian cuisine. We think one of the best parts about living in a big city is the vast selection of food from all over the world, mm hmm. Our trip to the city was brought to a close with a phone call from the Best Babysitter Ever informing us that Bryn was sick and in need of a little parental lovin'. We hurried home and snuggled our little one for the remainder of the night.

All in all, a good birthday, I'd say. But what do I know? I'm not nearly as close to 30 as Justin is. :)