AVA IS ELEVEN

Ava's birthday (May 7th) is always a special day to reflect on the day she made me an auntie...and now it has been 11 years ago. Seriously, I can't believe it and I can't imagine my life without her. She is turning out to be a really special, talented, and amazing young girl. I love her and her friendship with Stella is one of my favorite things. We love celebrating Ava and having excuses to eat cupcakes.

SRPINGTIME IN LAGOON

We are always excited to return to Lagoon, but I was surprised how excited I was this year. You start to feel like you need a place to go for a few hours of adventure and you wish in your heart of hearts that Lagoon is open, and finally...finally...IT IS! Opening day this year was on March 30th and it was so cold. It was also SO busy. We mostly just went to get out passes and enjoy a few hours together, we didn't stay long.  We rode a few rides all together, and then I took Stella and Ava and we rode the Roller Coaster and then waited in line for a million years for Wicked. One of the things that is always hard at the beginning of the season is how slow and inefficient the employees are. It is understandable but it slows you down. Ava helped pass the time in line by making me laugh with her boy hairstyle.

It was almost a month until we made it back. We went on April 20th, and it was Easter weekend. Ashley had to work at the shop so we picked up the kids and took them with us. We rode a few together and then I took the bigs again, but this time we went to the other side of the park. The tulips were all in bloom and it was beautiful everywhere.

On May 4th the Sallay fam went together and Stella and I rode some rides together while Vivi and Brent hung out and then we rode the teacups with Vivi. We had a nice night together.

TAKE SEVERAL BOWS VIVI

If I actually took the time to figure out my favorite things in the world, seeing my kids in a preschool program would be at the top of the list. Vivi had several this year, but her Spring Sing on April 30th was out of this world delightful and I loved every second. I could not keep my eyes off of her and I kept wondering how in the world I got so lucky to be her mom. I mean, seriously. She is the best and was hands down the most adorable of the class.

My favorite trick she had was that she did this dramatic bow at the end of each song. She did it standing and sitting down and it was something else. My favorite song was one where they each got to say their name, and I have watched the "I'm Vivien!" video more times than I can count. Children's Discovery is such a clever and wonderful place for Vivi to go to school and their program was full of surprises and delights at every corner.

But again, lets take a minute to reflect on the miracle this little girl is in our lives. She's such a part of us now, I forget the pain that we went through to bring her home. And I forget the pain she went through to be a part of our family. It is so good to have these moments where I can be struck and remember that Vivien in our life is a product of miracle after miracle. We are the luckiest.

THE PERCUSSIONIST

Brent spent the early part of this year going to what he called "band practice". I had no idea what it was or what it was for. I assumed he was meeting a few guys in a basement to jam or some sort of adventure like that. Turns out he was actually part of the Midvale Orchestra playing various percussion instruments.

The concert was on April 27th. Not only was he pretty charming to watch on stage, he was all decked out in a bow tie ensemble and he looked pretty adorable. The concert was quite impressive and I kept thinking about how typical it was of Brent to undersell such a night.