Happy 8th Birthday and First Communion, Crunchy!

Yep.  I call Avery Crunchy.  No idea why, but I do. 

As with every other month of May, the first half is dedicated to planning for and throwing Avery parties.  This year?  We added First Communion to the mix!

Her birthday weekend started off with Opa and Grandma coming into town!  I picked them up at Logan and we had some time to kill before Avery would be done with dance, so Josh and Alex met us at the Boathouse for a drink on the water.  It was a great way to start the weekend...

Avery's birthday was on Sunday this year, which also happened to be Mother's Day.  We typically would have had her "kid party" on Saturday, but instead, we celebrated her First Communion!  She did a great job and looked beautiful.  After the ceremony, they had a reception at the school and then we all went to lunch at the Mooring in Newport.  The service was terrible, but the company and the food were good.  I think that Avery had a good day and enjoyed everyone being there to celebrate.

The next day was her actual birthday and Mother's Day!  To celebrate both, we were having the whole family to our house later that afternoon, so I had to spend most of the day prepping for that.  Which was fine, because that gave me and Grandma some time to hang out and prep, just the two of us while Josh and Opa took both kids mini-golfing and out to lunch. 

The party was great.  BBQ Chicken and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake were on the menu, per Avery's request....all of which turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Grandma and Opa stayed for a few more days after Avery's bday, which gave us time to head to Rockport, MA for the day!  Unfortunately, the weather wasn't all that great - a bit cold and rainy, but luckily the rain held off while we walked around and went to the beach to look (and find!) seaglass.  As always, it was a fun trip going to see the spot where Opa grew up going to visit his grandparents.

We had Avery's friend party the following weekend at the place where she does Gymnastics.  Nearly all of the girls in 2nd grade were there and I think that everyone had a good time.  It took a bit for Avery to come down off of the high and to believe us when we said that not every month of the year would be devoted to her.  I'm pretty certain she still doesn't 100% agree with that theory, but we're working on it...

 

Overall, I'd say that between Opa and Grandma's visit, First Communion, Rockport and 2 birthday parties, this girl had a rather successful and social week....

Florida

This last trip to Florida was possibly better than the rest  - primarily because work wasn't busy (more on that later), so I was able to stay the entire time, which was great.

We got in on Tuesday night.  Unfortunately, the flight was delayed, so we didn't get in until around dinner time, but we promised the kids that we would go to the pool on the first day, so we did.  It actually turned out well.  We were able to order dinner at the poolside café place and the kids (and Josh) could go swimming while mama sat on the side and watched (and had a glass of wine).

 

A-Man couldn't deal with the flash, so we turned it off for Avery...

As is the case whenever we go on a trip, I started looking at the weather as soon as I could and it said rain every day that we were going to be there.  And, as is the case whenever I look at the weather that early, Josh (who as we all know is NOT the optimistic one out of the two of us) says to me, Whitney - it is 10 days away.  It will be fine.

Well, it was...for the most part.  Wednesday, we started off in the pool, but then decided to call it quits when it started to drizzle and it didn't look like it was going to let up any time soon.  So, figuring we would have plenty of pool/sun time, we decided to go out to lunch and then to hit the zoo.  Of course, ask me when the sun came out...yep.  Right when we sat down for lunch.  And, when did it disappear again?  Yep...right when we got back to the hotel to go into the pool.  Whatever.  We had a good time at the zoo....

Grammy and Grampy joined us late that night and the next 3 days were spent between the beach and the pool and of course, eating and drinking at great restaurants.  This year, Grampy really wanted to take the kids to the Breakers, which if you haven't heard of it, is an unbelievably nice hotel in Palm Beach.  Like, celebrity-level.  Unlike anything I've ever seen.   Obviously, this was not a place that we were going to stay at as a family, but they did have a very nice steak restaurant there (pretty certain my meal cost the equivalent of one-night's stay at a normal hotel), so we went there and then walked around to show the kids how the fancy people live.  :) 

One small-world thing that happened...one day at the pool, there were two moms and their daughters who invited Avery and Alex to play Marco Polo with them. Of course, you know the Holland children...it took a bit of coaxing, but we finally got them to join in the fun.  So, eventually, I start to talk to one of the moms and as it turns out, they only live about 25 mins from us and are the neighbors of some good friends of ours.  Too funny.  The kids had a great time with theirs and of course, we did the whole "we should totally get together when we get back" and haven't.  But, maybe some day! 

Overall, it was yet another great trip. Definitely one that we look forward to every year!