I’m continuing on with my endeavor to catch up on all the posts I missed last year (currently writing this one in January of 2025!), so I’ll wrap up July with a quick list of highlights. There were times that were pretty stressful, but we had a lot of fun, too.
Speaking of stressful….
Sometime in July I discovered we had mice in our basement at home. IT WAS AWFUL. And my own fault; in my rush to pack up everything back in February, I tossed a bunch of unopened food down there, thinking we’d only be gone a few months and that it would be fine. I was more concerned about things going bad than I was about mice. Mice weren’t even on my radar. (Why, I do not know.)
All our kitchen items were on some chrome shelves in cardboard boxes, plastic bins or just out, like stacks of pots and pans. Turns out we fed the mice pretty well (!!!) and the mess they made was epic. At one point I had to do a major clean-up in our basement while we were still living at my in-laws’, and I brought all the bins and containers back to be washed. Here they are, drying in the sun.
Maelle participated in the recreation department’s Pee-Wee soccer and baseball programs again this summer, as well as swim lessons at the local pool. She passed Level 1 in the first session, which was quite the accomplishment since she *technically* wasn’t even old enough to be IN a level yet. My swimmer heart was so pleased.
We also attended a couple Sunset at the Stables events, which are always so fun and family-friendly. Good food and beer, lots of kids running around for Maelle and grown-up friends for us. Oh, and there’s music, too.
We also got to attend the Murray Brothers‘ annual party, to which we’ve been invited for many years but always coincides with Maelle’s birthday party. This year it didn’t, and we are so glad we went! Murray Brothers is a local nursery and landscaping business, and after using them to help me with our backyard all those years ago, I made friends with John, who began coming to run group. We are a match made in running-and-landscaping heaven, and I can’t wait to work with him again for the front yard of our house!
We joined Andrew on a trip to DC in late July, and–believe it or not–ordered a pizza along the way for dinner. They gave us paper plates and napkins, and it worked out surprisingly well. Not a veggie in sight, but oh well.
After having been to Old Town so many times, my girl and I have our favorite spots. Maelle’s favorite is pad Thai, so we always hit Thai Signature while we’re in town.
She also loves ice cream, and I couldn’t not share this photo of our girl and Daddy:
We left Old Town and headed to my parents’ house, where we celebrated Maelle’s birthday and picked up the boat to take on our upcoming vacation with the Layers. We all went out for a ride so Andrew could learn how to drive it.
Up next: our vacation at Deep Creek Lake!
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