Summer Fun
So hard to believe that summer is almost over! Didn't it just start!? We certainly didn't waste any of it. We packed it full of sunshine and adventures and made sure to really soak in our last summer with just the 3 of us.
We kicked off the summer with a trip to North Carolina and Virginia to visit Lauren and Jason and to watch Bart race at Virginia International Raceway. What a trip! Gracie and I stayed with L&J in North Carolina and just hung out, visited the local science museum, and spent some long overdue time catching up. On Sunday, G and I drove an hour to Virginia to watch Bart race. As usual, Gracie was very helpful - always making sure Bart's bike was always tuned up and ready to go. Bart did really well and had a blast! I think it was my favorite track trip ever. VIR is such a cool facility and a great spectator track, so it made for a really nice time for us to be able to watch Bart and get some good quality time together.
After we got back, it was time to start Gracie back in her Infant Swim Rescue course. This is the same 6 week intensive course she did last summer and just as before, she rocked it! It's a bit of an exhausting process as we have to get to the pool 20 minutes away by 7:45 every morning for 6 weeks. Definitely a commitment, but so worth it! She finished the course with excellent survival skills and an even deeper love for swimming and playing in the water. June was a busy month for G not only with her swimming lessons but she also started a weekly dance class! My goodness, if that just isn't the cutest thing ever. Seeing a bunch of 2 year old girls in tights and leotards "dancing" around became my favorite hour of the week, and G seemed to really enjoy it as well. It took a couple of weeks for her to warm up to it but she's a seasoned dancer now!
G and I also celebrated our birthdays in June. Since we share a birthday, Bart and I celebrated mine on our actual birthday and then we had Gracie's party a week later. For my celebration, Erica baked us some ADORABLE gender reveal cupcakes to reveal the gender of baby R2! After a fun family day at the pool, Bart and I had a nice dinner at Bonefish Grill and then took our cupcakes across the street down onto the beach and ate them at sunset. While we're still keeping the gender secret, I can tell you that it was SUCH a surreal moment for us both - and so incredibly special. A week later we had a Bob the Builder themed party at our house for Gracie. What a party it was! I couldn't believe how many of our friends came out to celebrate with us. Gracie was her typical loner self, playing alone outside for most of the party. But she seemed to have a good time nonetheless. :)
July was filled with visits from friends and family! First we had big B in town for a few days along with Kristy! Kristy so rarely gets time away so it was really nice to just get to spend quality time together without the distraction of kids - well, except Gracie. We didn't do much, just relaxed, talked, ate, and laughed. It was perfect. Shortly after Kristy left, Bart's brother Matt and his girlfriend Ali came into town. We don't get to see them very often so that was a real treat! They made sure to hit up Universal since it was Ali's birthday, and we did our best to show them around town and give them some quality time with G. We're hoping at some point in time, we can poach them too!
At the end of July, Mom and Dad drove into town to babysit for us so Bart and I could go on our getaway down south. Only the Rogowskis employ babysitters from 3000 miles away! We can't thank them enough for doing so though. We had the best time! We started our trip in Pompano Beach which is a special place for Bart and me. Lots of history for us down in that area. And then it was off to the west coast of Florida to stay in Marco Island for a few days. We had never been over there and Mom and Dad were awesome enough to hook us up with accommodations at an incredible Marriott hotel.We didn't do much on the trip being that I can't scuba dive. But we relaxed - HARD! We played in the ocean, the pool, ate yummy food, talked, and got really, really tan. :-D It was just what the doctor ordered.
When we returned, we had a one day turnaround before Gracie, Mom, Dad, and I hopped in the RV to drive back to California. Whew! Talk about a travel whirlwind. But we got on the road without a hiccup and proceeded to have an incredibly smooth 3.5 day drive from Deland, Florida to San Dimas, California. Gracie was a champ the entire way just eating, playing, watching, movies, and sleeping like a dream. She really is such an excellent traveler - better than me, that's for sure! As much as traveling with her always stresses me out, it never ceases to amaze me how well she does and how unnecessary my worry was (shocker). I recently calculated that she has been on 25 airplanes and been to 15 states. Not bad for 26 months old! We stayed in a different RV park every night of our cross country drive and each one was so different from the other. Gracie enjoyed exploring each one, picking up her rocks and sticks along the way. When we finally arrived in San Dimas, she was just excited to explore our new digs. We spent about a week up in the LA area visiting with friends and family. I had a chance to catch up with many of my Sierra Madre/Pasadena gang and we even spent some time relaxing by the pool at the RV park. We then headed down to Oceanside to spend a few days at the Roblees. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. I always get such a kick out of watching Gracie play with Dane, Ryan, and Alana. We grew up so close to our cousins and I can only hope they all have the same friendships that we did. Alana and Gracie are particularly sweet together - a dangerous little duo!
On Sunday of that week we popped over to the Heublein's to celebrate the August birthdays, especially Moggy's 95! What a party! Kids and people EVERYWHERE. Great food, great fellowship, and lots and lots of noise. I think Moggy must have posed for 100 different pictures with grandkids and great grandkids and all of the various family members and friends that were present. I recently looked at photos from Moggy's 90th birthday party and I swear she looks younger now than she did then! I was so grateful we could be there for this milestone birthday. We love you so much, Mog!
After leaving the Heublein's, we spent one more day at the Roblee house and then it was back up to LA to prepare for our trip home. Gracie and I flew home and had an absolutely seamless day of travel back to Bart and back to real life. It was such a jam packed trip and we arrived home physically exhausted, mentally rested, and ready to take on the end of summer. Thank you mom and dad for "hosting" us in your beautiful RV home for 2 solid weeks. I know it's not easy to have a Kimmy AND a toddler in such a small space for so long, but I hope Gracie's cuteness made it worth it!
Since being home, things haven't really slowed much. Bart is continuing his CCS racing season. He's currently up in Georgia where, last I heard, he's returning with a few medals! We'll also all be heading up to VIR again in a couple of weeks to watch him race. Gracie starts "school" tomorrow, dance class later in the week, and soon we'll have another little one in the house. I'm so tired already!
Well, as usual I overdid it on the pictures but there are some real gems in this bunch. Hope everyone had a wonderful summer!
16 Weeks
We kicked off the summer with a trip to North Carolina and Virginia to visit Lauren and Jason and to watch Bart race at Virginia International Raceway. What a trip! Gracie and I stayed with L&J in North Carolina and just hung out, visited the local science museum, and spent some long overdue time catching up. On Sunday, G and I drove an hour to Virginia to watch Bart race. As usual, Gracie was very helpful - always making sure Bart's bike was always tuned up and ready to go. Bart did really well and had a blast! I think it was my favorite track trip ever. VIR is such a cool facility and a great spectator track, so it made for a really nice time for us to be able to watch Bart and get some good quality time together.
After we got back, it was time to start Gracie back in her Infant Swim Rescue course. This is the same 6 week intensive course she did last summer and just as before, she rocked it! It's a bit of an exhausting process as we have to get to the pool 20 minutes away by 7:45 every morning for 6 weeks. Definitely a commitment, but so worth it! She finished the course with excellent survival skills and an even deeper love for swimming and playing in the water. June was a busy month for G not only with her swimming lessons but she also started a weekly dance class! My goodness, if that just isn't the cutest thing ever. Seeing a bunch of 2 year old girls in tights and leotards "dancing" around became my favorite hour of the week, and G seemed to really enjoy it as well. It took a couple of weeks for her to warm up to it but she's a seasoned dancer now!
G and I also celebrated our birthdays in June. Since we share a birthday, Bart and I celebrated mine on our actual birthday and then we had Gracie's party a week later. For my celebration, Erica baked us some ADORABLE gender reveal cupcakes to reveal the gender of baby R2! After a fun family day at the pool, Bart and I had a nice dinner at Bonefish Grill and then took our cupcakes across the street down onto the beach and ate them at sunset. While we're still keeping the gender secret, I can tell you that it was SUCH a surreal moment for us both - and so incredibly special. A week later we had a Bob the Builder themed party at our house for Gracie. What a party it was! I couldn't believe how many of our friends came out to celebrate with us. Gracie was her typical loner self, playing alone outside for most of the party. But she seemed to have a good time nonetheless. :)
July was filled with visits from friends and family! First we had big B in town for a few days along with Kristy! Kristy so rarely gets time away so it was really nice to just get to spend quality time together without the distraction of kids - well, except Gracie. We didn't do much, just relaxed, talked, ate, and laughed. It was perfect. Shortly after Kristy left, Bart's brother Matt and his girlfriend Ali came into town. We don't get to see them very often so that was a real treat! They made sure to hit up Universal since it was Ali's birthday, and we did our best to show them around town and give them some quality time with G. We're hoping at some point in time, we can poach them too!
At the end of July, Mom and Dad drove into town to babysit for us so Bart and I could go on our getaway down south. Only the Rogowskis employ babysitters from 3000 miles away! We can't thank them enough for doing so though. We had the best time! We started our trip in Pompano Beach which is a special place for Bart and me. Lots of history for us down in that area. And then it was off to the west coast of Florida to stay in Marco Island for a few days. We had never been over there and Mom and Dad were awesome enough to hook us up with accommodations at an incredible Marriott hotel.We didn't do much on the trip being that I can't scuba dive. But we relaxed - HARD! We played in the ocean, the pool, ate yummy food, talked, and got really, really tan. :-D It was just what the doctor ordered.
When we returned, we had a one day turnaround before Gracie, Mom, Dad, and I hopped in the RV to drive back to California. Whew! Talk about a travel whirlwind. But we got on the road without a hiccup and proceeded to have an incredibly smooth 3.5 day drive from Deland, Florida to San Dimas, California. Gracie was a champ the entire way just eating, playing, watching, movies, and sleeping like a dream. She really is such an excellent traveler - better than me, that's for sure! As much as traveling with her always stresses me out, it never ceases to amaze me how well she does and how unnecessary my worry was (shocker). I recently calculated that she has been on 25 airplanes and been to 15 states. Not bad for 26 months old! We stayed in a different RV park every night of our cross country drive and each one was so different from the other. Gracie enjoyed exploring each one, picking up her rocks and sticks along the way. When we finally arrived in San Dimas, she was just excited to explore our new digs. We spent about a week up in the LA area visiting with friends and family. I had a chance to catch up with many of my Sierra Madre/Pasadena gang and we even spent some time relaxing by the pool at the RV park. We then headed down to Oceanside to spend a few days at the Roblees. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. I always get such a kick out of watching Gracie play with Dane, Ryan, and Alana. We grew up so close to our cousins and I can only hope they all have the same friendships that we did. Alana and Gracie are particularly sweet together - a dangerous little duo!
On Sunday of that week we popped over to the Heublein's to celebrate the August birthdays, especially Moggy's 95! What a party! Kids and people EVERYWHERE. Great food, great fellowship, and lots and lots of noise. I think Moggy must have posed for 100 different pictures with grandkids and great grandkids and all of the various family members and friends that were present. I recently looked at photos from Moggy's 90th birthday party and I swear she looks younger now than she did then! I was so grateful we could be there for this milestone birthday. We love you so much, Mog!
After leaving the Heublein's, we spent one more day at the Roblee house and then it was back up to LA to prepare for our trip home. Gracie and I flew home and had an absolutely seamless day of travel back to Bart and back to real life. It was such a jam packed trip and we arrived home physically exhausted, mentally rested, and ready to take on the end of summer. Thank you mom and dad for "hosting" us in your beautiful RV home for 2 solid weeks. I know it's not easy to have a Kimmy AND a toddler in such a small space for so long, but I hope Gracie's cuteness made it worth it!
Since being home, things haven't really slowed much. Bart is continuing his CCS racing season. He's currently up in Georgia where, last I heard, he's returning with a few medals! We'll also all be heading up to VIR again in a couple of weeks to watch him race. Gracie starts "school" tomorrow, dance class later in the week, and soon we'll have another little one in the house. I'm so tired already!
Well, as usual I overdid it on the pictures but there are some real gems in this bunch. Hope everyone had a wonderful summer!
Ready to board the plane to North Carolina!
Gracie was not a fan of the butterfly exhibit at the science center.
We had lots of family beach days this summer.
Baby Rogowski #2. AKA Skeletor
...and lots of fishing on the dock!
Ready for her first dance class!
Our adorable gender reveal cupcakes. Thank you, Erica!
Helping Daddy hang stuff at Erica's apartment.
Taking over TST.
Beach day with friends!
"Elbows" are part of her bedtime handshake.
Dinner at our fave restaurant in Meizner Park.
The view from our hotel in Marco Island.
Lounging in hotel robes! Probably my favorite part of the trip.
The largest veal parm EVER.
Giving Daddy hugs before taking off.
Gracie slept very well in the RV master bathroom.
Our first morning on the road - Alabama.
Night 2 - Oklahoma
This was the view in the monitor whenever Gracie would wake up. She made sure I knew she was up!
Night 3 - Winslow, Arizona
Mom and Dad's home base in San Dimas. Not bad!
I managed to get my workouts in even on the road. Every RV park offered a different view!
Service at PazNaz.
We stayed a night at an RV park in Playa Del Rey so that I could spend some time with one of my closest friends, Amanda and her daughter Quinn. We had such a nice day at the beach!
The RV park in San Dimas overlooks a small airport. G spent a lot of time waving at the planes!
An interesting way to sleep...
G's first time bowling. She actually bowled a strike, which ended up making her angry since she didn't get a second turn. HA!
Dane received the "most outstanding" award in his junior lifeguard course this summer!
Gracie spent many hours quietly sitting in the copilot's chair alongside Gampa.
Moggy with 13 of her 14 great grandchildren!
This picture cracks me up. The ONLY one of Gracie smiling, and the rest of us....well.....
Just the boys giving a little piano recital...
Breakfast in the Delta lounge before flying home.
Morning snuggles with Daddy after 2 long weeks away.
Toddler time at the local gymnastics gym.
Toddler time at the trampoline park.
19 Weeks
20 Weeks
21 Weeks
24 Weeks
26 Weeks
Comments
Post a Comment