Tubing!

The temperature is HOT! And, I mean HOT! It has been above 100* for the past 4 days and we are melting!! What better way to spend a hot day than tubing on the James for the afternoon. Brad, Cy and I blew up the tubes and Cy's little boat and hit the river. The water temperature is fabulous and we had a blast!!! It took us about 3 hours to float down from Hugenot Flats to Pony Pasture and Cy did great...it was in the middle of nap time and I forgot snacks (duh!) so he got a little whiny towards the end but he loved it. At the end, there were a few mellow rapids so I took the tubes through and Brad maneuvered the boat with Cy in it. Cy was holding on, white knuckled, in the front but true to Cy's form, as soon as he was through he asked to go again! He is a daredevil. My stomach was in my throat but he did great and I was worried unnecessarily, again:)

On Saturday, Hailey and Katie came up to stay with Doc & Jill for the weekend. We've had a few bad storms in Richmond the past couple days and Doc & Jill had lost power...so, when it's over 100* and you have no air, where to go?! The RIVER. We blew the tubes up again and headed down the river;) This time, since we had 3 kids, we just floated out to a big cluster of rocks in the middle and pulled the tubes out and let the kids swim and play. I think everyone had a good time the past few days!

Summer Of Fun

Cy and I have such a summer of FUN planned this year. I am so excited because he is old enough to do some great things with me and hopefully start to remember all these memories that we are making!! Brad starts summer school tomorrow for the month of July so Cy and I will be on our own in the mornings and through nap time. Here is a bit of what we have planned so far:

July 2 - Cobblestone Water Park
July 3 - Bowtie Cinema at 10:00am, Free showing of Yogi Bear the Movie
          - Fireworks on the James, 6 - 10pm
July 4 - Olde Fashioned 4th, 1 - 5pm at Meadow Farm OR Williamsburg, VA
July 5 - Story Time at 10:30 at the Barnes & Noble in Short Pump
July 7 - Pirate Day from 9-1 at My Manakin Market (68 Broad Street)
July 10 - Bowtie Cinema, 10am: Happy Feet
July 11 - Willow Lawn "Mad Science" from 10 - 1130
            - Dinosaurs from 10 - 11 at 3 Lakes Nature Center
            - Muppets Movie at 1:30 at S. Providence Methodist Church
July 12 - Meet the Critters from 1230 - 330 at Meadow Farm
July 16 - Richmond Zoo
July 17 - Amtrak Train Ride
July 18 - The Smurfs move at Providence Methodist Church, 1:30
July 19 - Lewis Ginter Butterflies Live exhibit

After July 19th, we'll be out of town until August 11th:( I have to go to Wise for a MOM project, then to Boston for a conference, then to Banner Elk, NC and then to Lake Keowee SC...whew!

Happy Anniversary!

Brad and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary today:) It's funny, and I'm sure it's like this for everyone, but we both feel like we've been together forever and only for the blink of an eye at the same time. This is actually our 7th year together and I can honestly say this is my longest relationship by a long shot and we are still going strong. I love this man. We certainly have our moments as we are both pretty headstrong and opinionated and not willing to back down when we feel that we are right (which is always for both of us) but we are learning to maneuver each other and work together as partners and as friends. Cy has taught us a lot about each other and I think we see each other differently now that we view one another as mom & dad. Brad is a great Dad. He is exactly the kind of man I envisioned for the father of my children. He is so hands on and always has been. He doesn't hesitate to get on the floor to wrestle and play but he's also always willing to read and snuggle or give Cy a bath or make him food. There are really no distinct things that I do for Cy that Brad won't and that makes my life so easy and Cy's life so wonderful. For all the things that he does that have the tendency to drive me a little crazy, this makes up for it in a big way!
For our anniversary, we wanted to go to Buckheads. It is one of my favorite restaurants in Richmond but we only go once every blue moon because it's so expensive. So, we were hoping Jill could watch Cy for the night but they already had plans. So, we had Plan B which was to go to the Cheesecake Factory as a family of 3:) It was DELICIOUS! I had the Wasabi Encrusted Ahi Tuna, Brad had this amazing looking Turkey Burger and Cy had a quesadilla (surprise:)). I also enjoyed a Cosmopolitan and a glass of Malbec.  We were so stuffed that we didn't even have room for one of their delicious desserts:(

On Friday, Doc & Jill were able to watch Cy for us so we made it to Buckheads. Yum! We decided to just do drinks and appetizers since they have so many wonderful appetizers on the menu. We started with the calamari and the Sauteed mushrooms. The mushrooms were amazing, sauteed in white wine, butter, and lemon with oyster mushrooms, portabella, and shitake mushrooms. Brad wanted to order the scallops as well even though I was stuffed:) I'm not a huge fan of scallops but they came sauteed in butter and absolutely melted in my mouth. They were paired with potato gnocchi...yum! Brad enjoyed a delicious (apparently, not by my standards) bourbon called Dimple Pincher and a couple beers. I had a couple delicious glasses of red wine - heaven:) It was a great weekend of good food and lots of love!!

It seems all the photos we took for our anniversary involved drinking...hmmm....:)

Daddy's Home!!!

Brad FINALLY made it home from Turkey!!! Unfortunately, Cy and I were not home to greet him:( Somehow I screwed up the dates of his arrival into Richmond and planned our trip to Florida accordingly. So, he arrived on Sunday evening about 6:00 in DC and got on the bus to Richmond shortly after making it through customs.  He arrived in Richmond about 10pm and apparently crashed big time. Cy and I left for Richmond on Sunday afternoon but stayed halfway in Florence, SC again. It was a good thing as the weather was HORRENDOUS for us on the drive. It took nearly 9 hours to get to Florence and my little man was worn out. He was pretty fussy and over it for the last hour but did a good job of being as patient as a 2 year old can be. We woke up at 6am, went to Waffle House, and then got on the road home. We arrived around 12:30 to an excited husband/daddy. It was so great to see Brad again after all that time. He had some wonderful presents waiting for us! He got us some delicious hand pressed olive oil, a beautiful pashmina, an authentic crocheted necklace, a hand carved backgammon game with Mother Of Pearl inlay, some Turkish Delight sweets which really aren't that sweet, and some turkish booze which I didn't like very much:) He was so thoughtful while abroad! We are so happy to have him home again.

The Hard Shell

Jill & Doc came back from the Lake on Monday, Brad got home from Turkey on Sunday, and Cy and I returned from Florida on Monday and we all wanted to get together to catch up on our respective trips and to celebrate my birthday (one more time!). It was my choice for the restaurant and having just been in Florida I was feeling like some delicious fish should be on the menu, so I decided on Bone Fish Grille. We thought we had heard that a new one opened in the South Side and decided to go try that one rather than drive all the way out to Short Pump. When we arrived, we found that it was a restaurant called, The Hard Shell, and not actually Bone Fish. Sounded good to me, I'm glad we tried it out as it was delicious! I had a tuna steak lightly seared on the outside, broccolini, and asparagus. The Cooke's all had oysters in some form or another, not my cup of tea but they said they were delicious. They gave us a chocolate chip brownie with ice cream as a complimentary birthday dessert...delicious!

Florida Fun

Cy and I had the most wonderful time in Florida for our 10 day get away this year. I posted about the triathlon and our time in St. Augustine but didn't post much about our time at The Villages. It was wonderful, as always. We swam and played, Cy rode the golf cart with Pap, Mom and I shopped and strolled around the square, I got to see where she works (and got tons of new beautiful jewelry), we ate out, we ate in, we went to pilates (which started my newest obsession...I can't get enough of it, I've been going like 4 times a week since I returned to Richmond), we went to Downtown Disney for Cy (and Pap:)), and we just hung out and enjoyed each other. Here are some pictures that I have finally downloaded....

 Story Time with Nana was a nightly occurance

 The Boot;(

 Cy loved the pool. He and Dad went in 3 times a day, everyday:)

Below is the sequence of a high "dive" jump from my little man...he's so cute, I can't stand it:)

 Cy is saying, "Just 1 more tunnel Pap"

 Dad and his buddy going to get the mail:)

 Town square, I absolutely love this place

 Cy's new shades...I love them, I might be the only one who does:)

 Cy and his bed buddy, Mickey

 Cy had to have a boot like Pap

The drive home we stopped for dinner at Perkins....I really love Perkins, or did when I was younger. Wasn't quite as good as I remembered (haven't eaten at one since I moved from Naples in 1995...)but it hit the spot:)

All in all, we had a wonderful vacation and can't wait to go back!

Sunglasses...

Cyrus hates to wear sunglasses, I try and try to find pairs that he will wear for any length of time because he just takes them off and throws them down. I figured, what better place to find good sunglasses than Florida so I was on a mission. I found 2 pair today that I love and he seems to tolerate. One pair is pretty functional with the wrap around look and the second pair is a D&G look with big lenses...i LOVE them. I am certain his daddy is not going to be too excited about them but that's ok. We need to give Daddy some fashion lessons:) There was an adorable aviator Rayban style that I loved also but Cy was not crazy about them so I didn't get them...I may be kicking myself for that one.

 These are my favorites:)

Downtown Disney

Today was a great day! Mom and I went to her Pliates class this morning and these woman kicked my butt again. Last time I went, I was sore for days and I think today will be the same. I need to take up Pilates when I get back to Richmond. It's so challenging and so tough on your body in a good way, it makes me feel strong.  After pilates we came home, had a delicious lunch of stuffed salmon, spanikopita, & veggies and then loaded into the car and headed to Downtown Disney. We went back and forth about going to one of the parks but Cy is still too young. Downtown Disney was AWESOME! We were there for about 4 hours before he began to melt down a bit. We started at the Lego store which is obviously FILLED to the brim with Legos. And, they had a number of stations where you could build things. Luckily, Dad was there b/c I'm really bad a Legos. I just don't have the vision to do anything with them. If I see a picture, I can replicate it but to have a pile of them and just make something, um, no.
After Lego Land, we went walked around a bit and grabbed a yummy hot fudge sundae in a waffle bowl at Ghiradelli, Cy rode the train by himself twice, we went to Once Upon a Toy and found a GREAT Mickey train that Nana couldn't pass up. We built Mr. Potato Heads, tossed balls in a net, road the Carousel, and watched the boats before a meltdown on the sidewalk which brought us back to the car:) On the way out, I jumped back into the Lego store to buy Cy his first true lego kit/toy...we'll work on a tower when he's in a better mood:) Cy played with his new train for about an hour when we got back to the house and just went down for the night. He slept better last night, almost all night, and I'm hoping for the same tonight.

Baby Watson

Welcome Watson Adams Mundy II - born June 21 at 11:42 pm, 9 lbs 9 oz and 22 inches long. Baby Watson was born to Gardner and Stinson Mundy on Thursday, June 21st after 37 LONG hours of labor. Unfortunately, Cy and I were in Florida so we weren't able to rush to the hospital to meet Watson but this picture says it all. He is adorable and such a sweet little man! So looking forward to watching him grow up and to the relationship that he and Cy will have in the future:)

Mama Mia!

Mom and I went to a sing along breakfast of Mama Mia and it was so much fun! It was early, we had to be there at 7:30 but we started off the morning with some mimosas and good conversation with the other ladies at our tables. The event started at 8:30 after we had a yummy breakfast of quiche and croissants. The sing along part consisted of watching a punctuated version of the Mama Mia movie and then the entire audience and cast members singing and dancing during the musical numbers. It really was a great time and Mom and I had a blast together:)

St. Augustine, Florida

While we were in the area, we decided to spend a little time in St. Augustine as I have not been there in years. It wasn't like I remembered, very run down and old. It is the oldest city in Florida established (for the most part) by Henry Flagler who was a successful business man from the North who made the majority of his money in the Railroad industry. The cool thing about St. Augustine is the history, there is so much of it and it really is fascinating but the buildings and the resturants are all pretty run down and kind of gross. We had hoped to go and take a train ride or trolly ride around the city to take in the sights but by time we arrived after naps, it was too late for much other than dinner and ice cream and a quick stroll around St. George street. My parents wanted to take me to the Santa Maria (?) restaurant on the pier in Manzas bay and I had not been so I was looking forward to it. When we arrived however, it was pretty clear that we were not going to be having dinner there. We got a table pretty quickly but after that, a server never came by with water or bread or even a "hello, I'll be right there". We sat there for almost 15 minutes and asked the hostess twice to send someone over. Finally I said forget it. We were leaving. The service was terrible and I wasn't too upset as it was a really old place with the shlack (?) tables that just feel gross after many years of use. So, we tried to find another nice spot for my birthday dinner but the wait was too long for Cy and we could decide so I made an executive decision to go to NY Philly's which served great sandwiches and beer in a dixie cup. A far cry from what my mom wanted to do I think but the food was great and I enjoyed it:) After dinner, we strolled around St. George Street and grabbed some ice cream at Kilwin's which was delicious.
I was exhausted from the race and some sleepless nights from the little man so we called it a night early and headed back to the hotel.
The following morning, we went back to St. Augustine to take a train ride around the city to take in all the sights. We also went to the winery there to take a tour and have a tasting before heading to The Villages. 

Marineland Triathlon

The race was good today, really good. The swim was horrendous. The waves were HUGE, they couldn't get the buoy to stay out in the water b/c it was so rough so they put two lifeguards in the ocean and we were supposed to loop around both of them. They were pretty shallow so it was more of a bouncing run than anything except when the waves hit and I would dive under. The second turn with the second lifeguard is where disaster struck. He/She was positioned at the end of the sharp rock jetty and what we were supposed to do was swim around her and head back to the beach. Well, it was pretty confusing and super rough and so what happened was people were getting smashed into the rock jetty. Probably 80% of the racers today were bleeding from some part of their body from the swim.  I immediately figured out what was happening when I got close to the second lifeguard and swam past her about 20 yards and turned and headed straight into the beach. Then, I ran up and over the rock Jetty on the dry land, there was NO was I was going to badder myself on those rocks. So anyway, I was the first woman out of the water and out of the transition. I was the first woman on my bike and held my lead for about 5 miles before being passed by another girl. I was in sight of the pace car which never happens so that was cool. I held second place until about mile 11.5 and some girl snaked me at the end of the ride. I took off on the run as 3rd place woman, past the 2nd place woman and finished a strong second place woman finish overall and first place in my age group. It was a good race and I'm glad I did it. 

The race consisted of: .75k Swim, 20k Bike, 5k Run and my finish time was 1:05.56