Daddy's day

Happy Father's Day, Eric! After church, we braved the 90+ degree weather to take in one of daddy's favorite pastimes: fishing. We hiked back to the lake at Claude Moore Park in Sterling and claimed our spot. Anna tried to beat the heat with mommy's water bottle...

Emilia helped daddy pick out the perfect setup...

Emilia and daddy headed out in search of the big one...With a little patience, Emilia scored FOUR fish! A successful day!

Happy Father's Day, Eric! All your girls love you! And to the Toms (Grandpa and Poppy), we all love you, too!

Taste of the town

Last night, we went over to the Reston Town Center for the Taste of Reston. We planned on taking Emilia to the R-I-D-E-S, but there was so much else going on in the way of delicious food and great music, we never made it to that side of the festival.One of Emilia's friends from school was there, and the girls had a great time running around the dance floor.

Reason to celebrate

Yesterday, I had the privilege of being part of a shower for my dear friend, Megan. Meg and Mike and so close to bringing home their two boys, Joshua and Isaac, from Uganda. The process has been a journey for them, so it was a complete joy to celebrate with her.

Let's go racing boys!

On Friday, Eric got a special early Father's Day treat: he and Dan headed to Richmond International Raceway to get a first-hand look at NASCAR. The highlight: they each got to drive eight laps around the track. Eric isn't a fan of the Jimmie Johnson #48 but he didn't have an issue driving one of the four-time defending champion's retired race cars. Thankfully, they made it home safely and brought back these photos.

And of course, no trip from Richmond to D.C. is complete for Eric without a stop at Bass Pro Shops.

Big girl toys

Anna has graduated from newborn toys and is now on to some of Emilia's old favorites...

Sisters

The girls were particularly lovable one day last week...

Jersey girls

Last weekend, we headed up to New Jersey for my (fill in the blank year) high school reunion. The girls had a great time playing with Grandma and Grandpa and enjoying the shore. One day we headed to Ocean City for some fun on the boardwalk. Emilia got to play mini golf... and ride the arcade rides... Anna had her first beach experience, but Emilia enjoyed it much more than Anna...

And, we were sure to stop at Mack and Manko's for real boardwalk pizza...

Emilia got an early birthday surprise from Grandma and Grandpa... a new bike! It took her no time to hop on and ride up and down their driveway. One morning we opted to enjoy the local Port Republic beach instead of going back to the ocean. While Anna didn't particularly like the water, Emilia loved it.