I couldn’t believe it was already time for Samantha to graduate college. It seems like she just started! Those college years really fly by, when you’re not the one having to go to classes, study, and take tests.

The Graduate:

Proud Mama:

Having a little fun:

I was very happy to be able to go back to Michigan for a weekend. Besides Sam’s graduation, we spent an afternoon at the Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids.

We all wore our new Grand Valley State shirts. Aren’t we cute?

“Yes, higher…”

“Give me more!”

“Yes, that’s it! It’s mine, all mine!”

Guess who decided to paint their nails all by themselves?

I was a bit horrified when he first showed me because I was worried about the mess he might have left behind. I ran to the scene of the crime to find only a tiny speck of nail polish on my dresser that was easily cleaned up with nail polish remover.  I then suggested to Archer that we clean up his hands, to which he strongly protested! So we left them as is.

That is until I started painting my nails with a fun springy blue color. Then he couldn’t wait to get blue on his fingers instead (his very  favorite color).

Maybe this gives new meaning to a “man-icure”. Harhar. =)

We had an unexpected visitor on Sunday afternoon.

This guy was pushed up against our back door, enjoying the sunshine. You can imagine our horror! Justin and I have never seen this big of a snake in person, let alone one that is trying to get in our house (or so we thought at the time).

Justin immediately went outside to inspect the situation and take action, armed with a garden hoe and hatchet. I immediately went to the computer to investigate what kind of snake this was.

Strictly from it’s appearance, I figured it was a Northern Black Racer. From this site: http://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/snakes/snakes_of_virginia.htm they are said to be harmless.

With this information, I yelled through the window to Justin, who is now poking the snake, “he’s harmless” (meaning non-venomous). He took that to mean NOT to kill it, even though all I meant was that he didn’t need to be worried about it killing him with a bite. Instead he tried to remove it from the deck, but the sneaky creature slithered right in-between the flooring to our addition and the roof of our enclosed outdoor storage area (meaning not in the house, but a little too close for comfort).  Before he got all the way in there Justin was able to hack it a few times with the hatchet, causing it to bleed all over the place.

Upon further investigation, we found out the snake isn’t necessarily “harmless”.  Non-venomous is a much better work to describe it. They are non-aggressive, but will bite repeatedly when feeling threatened. Eek!

Now a few days later, we are still wondering if that snake is under there (possibly with it’s family) or if it curled up and died. Short of ripping out the roof of our storage area, I’m not sure we’ll know for sure. But the idea of more of those things living in there is a bit worrisome!

*We couldn’t get a picture of the entire snake, since we didn’t want to get that close!

When I was younger, I loved to camp. It was fun to sleep out in a tent, enjoy the outdoors, and spend time with family. Now that my body is older the idea of sleeping in a tent isn’t quite as appealing. Pair that with a husband who isn’t crazy about camping and 3 children that I’m pretty sure would get little to no sleep in a tent (therefore keep me up all night as well) and the idea of camping sounds torturous.

Justin and I did a few trips when we were first married, but having kids just took that type of adventure right out of us. Then we had a brilliant plan: just set up the tent in the backyard!

We still had no intentions of sleeping in it, but at least the kids were able to play and picnic outside for the afternoon.  No one was more thrilled than Archer. He loved having his own little house in the backyard.

Maybe one of these days when getting a full night’s rest isn’t important, I’ll sleep out there with the kids. Until then, they they can continue having  fun just pretending!

 These days, neither Justin nor I are up for events with large crowds. This can prove to be challenging in the Washington DC area.

However, when we had the chance to go to the White House Egg Roll we thought it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. Bragging rights alone was reason enough to go. =)

Just another box we can check off – yep, did that!

They limit the number of tickets issued for the event, but still allow more than 30,000 people to attend. Talk about a crowd. Tickets are issued for specific 2 hour time slots throughout the day. So at any given time, you might be in a crowd of a mere 5,000-10,000 people instead of the full 30,000.

We got there 45 minutes before our time slot and waited, which we anticipated.

Then we were let in during our ticket time and waited some more before we were actually let in to the White House grounds.

This Welcome sign was a trick! We still had long lines ahead of us.

(Most of my pictures from the day were of us waiting in line. =)

Then we walked and walked and walked to get up to the White House lawn. Finally we made it to the fun! It felt more like a local festival than a special event on the White House lawn, but seeing the White House in the background had a nice effect.

We watched some dancing acrobatic performers before heading our separate ways.

Sophie and Truman went with dad to play tennis and basketball. I took Archer to other areas where he made his own kite and did an egg hunt.

Sophie loved playing tennis in the White House’s backyard! She even wrote us a note about it:

Giving her that experience was reason enough to go.

Justin enjoyed seeing the Children’s Garden. He said that was the only time he felt like he was on White House property.

In order to collect our wooden commemorative egg, we had to leave within our ticket time. Two hours was up and it was time for us to go.

We walked back to Justin’s office from the White House, which was quite a trek. The kids almost couldn’t bare passing all of the food trucks without stopping and I was just hoping I wouldn’t wet myself I had to pee so badly! (As you can imagine, the bathrooms at the WH had huge lines.)

We stopped in Justin’s office for a quick potty break then headed back downstairs to grab hotdogs for the kids and Quiznos for the adults.

        Overall, despite the crowds, it was a fun experience. I’m not sure it’s something we’ll be clamoring to do again, but fun to have gone at least once.

Although we never did make it over to the “egg roll” portion. Maybe next year?

I’ve heard stories of my Grandma loving to set a good fire and past experience with our HOBO family gatherings tells me my Dad and Brother love it as well. I have to admit I like a good fire, but it’s actually Justin who enjoys taking us out back to sit by the nice fire he built.

No fire is complete without roasting some marshmallows. At least that’s what my kids think!