sweet summertime

Summer is here! I've already gotten to spend time with so many amazing people...it won't all fit in one post. On Tuesday, I enjoyed a fabulous picnic surrounded by some awesome flowers and some gorgeous girls :)





After we found a nice shady spot on the grass, we plopped down our picnic blanket, and settled down to eat, talk, and relax.




Then we decided that it was time for some adventure, so we explored....



Soon Jo got lost in the jungle...



but Lynne spotted her



and Laura caught up to her


so soon she was not alone.

(This is by far the best picture of the day)

Later, Sarah found herself surrounded by a menacing tree.



Lynne and I weren't quite sure what to make of this interesting event...




Some other notable finds include pink honeysuckle,





a courtship swing,

(awkward courtship pose)

and a climbing tree.




(this is the classic senior picture pose, but Laura wasn't about to let Jo steal the spotlight.)

By the end of these harrowing adventures, some of the party were quite exhausted.


All in all, it was a very memorable day :)

soon

In less than 24 hours, this will all be over.




However, this will not be.



But that's ok, because I would miss it a lot.
And although I'll be spending plenty of bonding time with the piano this summer, it will be in the comfort of my own home -- instead of a space like this:

very small

or very dusty.

No, I won't miss that for a few months. But I know I will miss seeing these smiling faces every day....

If there's one thing I don't enjoy, it's writing papers. But I must say that writing a paper in a foreign language makes a paper in English look very attractive. I finished writing a Spanish paper this afternoon, but as a told someone afterward, I don't know what I wrote because I can't remember, and I can't read it. Oh well....at least it's finished. And now the only thing standing between me and my summer is a nasty Spanish exam tomorrow. How will I remember all those capitals?

Today this girl

is two!

Happy birthday Ava! You're the sweetest!

March. MADNESS.

A one-point lead with one minute left: I knew it was too good to be true. But I was kind of proud of Belmont as a representative of Campbell's very own Atlantic Sun Conference. Anyway...the best part of the sports year is here.

We start them young around here:

Ava was required to pick her own winner for each game in the tournament. Here, she knew enough to pick the one seed over the sixteen.


In other note-worthy pictures...Alice has an awesome hair style. We had some bonding time the other day when I got to babysit her. This is only a sampling of the many pictures I took.




I did manage to get her smiling :)

roadtrip

During spring break a couple weeks ago, Jo and I took a little trip up to Maryland. We stayed with our grandmother (Mema), got to visit with Aunt Jo and Amy, and watched way to0 much American Idol. We also got to spend a day downtown in the capital city.

We took the metro in, and this is what we saw when we emerged from the tunnel

We visited the Freer gallery first, and enjoyed lots of Whistler (he's definitely becoming one of my favorites)

The Freer Gallery is small, but definitely worth visiting. Besides American art, it also focuses on Asian art (Japanese screens and things) and has a beautiful courtyard.

We walked along the mall, admiring old buildings and things.

Jo posed for the camera.

ok. Does this look familiar to anyone? Either someone in Cary is ripping someone off, or the other way around. (or, I guess it could be the same artist). I must say that this looks even more like a construction zone, because a piece of it was just hanging there.

We were sad that the history museum was closed, but got to experience some Treasures of American History in another museum.

Something from our home state!

There were other important, history-altering items there. I mean, where would we be without the signpost from M*A*S*H?

or these guys?

We also learned some new things...apparently Andrew Jackson was quite a small man.

And then we got bored, so Jo memorized the Declaration of Independence.

(ok, not really)

We visited the National Art Gallery, taking in a lovely concert and the large shop. As it was after 1:00 when the concert ended, we were too hungry to see much of the museum. But we did see this

This is only a fraction of all the flowers. It smelled amazing.

We went undercover and visited the International Spy Museum. We had to memorize our covers and all our details. They told us it was really important, and that we must remember everything (name, birthplace, residence, occupation, destination, reason for visit, length of stay), and we did, but we never needed it. We took in a lot of information, most of which was not able to fit into my brain, because of all those details I was remembering, and all the mental energy that was required in order not to be knocked over by the swarms of middle schoolers everywhere. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but a lot of it was like old spy movies.

When we got our of there we observed the National Portrait Gallery across the street, and decided to take a peek. They were celebrating the centennial of this lovely lady.

We learned that the oscar statue used to be much smaller. (trivia: she had four)

(obviously, I haven't yet learned how to take a picture through glass)

All in all it was a lovely day. Here we are before heading back underground.