One Crazy Summer

This has been such a busy summer! I am ashamed to say I have only been to the beach once, and have swam in my pool only once. I am going to try and figure out where the time has gone... starting with June 9th which is when Grandma Vegas started her 5 week visit! She arrived Saturday June 9th, only to be thrown to the wolves the very next day when Richard when upstate with some friends for a few days of golfing and I started my work week on Sunday night. She was on her own Sunday night and Monday night until Rich arrived home on Tuesday. That Friday June 15th was Allison graduation from St. James Playgroups (sniff- sniff), Grandma was lucky enough to catch that... considering I am now done with pre-school, since Allison starts kindergarten in the fall. Right after the graduation... we drove home, picked up our trailer and headed out to Hershey Highmeadow Campground with the Hoeys, the Paglias and the Grabowskis... to spend the weekend at Hershey Park. We had a blast!! They just opened a big water park section they are calling "The Boardwalk" and it was fun- crowded- but fun. I discovered that Allison is really a thrill seeker along with Kathryn. She rode the Super-Dooper-Looper 3 times in a row!! We came home from Hershey, PA and Katie attended her last week of 1st grade. She finished on June 21st and is now a 2nd grader (something I am still finding hard to digest).
June 23rd was a super proud day for me and the entire Leute family. My nephew Robbie (Rich's sister Nancy's son) graduated from William Floyd High School second in his class and was therefore the salutatorian. He was second in his class to Erica Palma... his girlfriend of a little over 2 years. I know... how cute is that? So we are proud of her too. The both are both brilliant and down to earth people. Both speeches were fantastic- Robbies earned him a standing ovation from his classmates.
The evening of the 23rd, I flew to Austin, TX to visit my friend Kerin who has been living there for the last 3 years as she works on getting her PHd from UT. We spent a few days hanging out and having fun... and then flew home together. Kerin is originally from Setauket and decided to come back and take a really intense gross anatomy class for fun!! So we are glad to have her back in NY even if only for the summer.
In the meantime the girls had started a vacation bible school while I was gone... they love it and it only lasts a week. This year was even better, because not only Taylor and Emily were there (their cousins) but some of their best friends attended this year... Christopher, Natalie, Hannah and Ava.
Only July 1st we attended a wedding for some friends.... and had a great time! Congratulations to Anthony and Meryl!! and thanks to Grandma Vegas for babysitting. The 4th was kicked off with the annual Port Jefferson Parade. We attended every year. Years ago, before even Richard, I marched in the parade annually as a proud Terryville FD member and Richard did the same as a Setauket FD member. Since the girls have been born we have been on the sidewalk enjoying the wonderful community parade together as a family. This year had a twist though... Kathryn and Allison were participants. Rich's dad is the 1st assistant chief of the Port Jefferson FD. He called and asked if the girls wanted to ride on the PJFD antique truck in the parade, we asked- and they enthusiastically said YES!! It helped that their cousins Taylor, Emily, Jackson and Jacob would be on the truck too. ( I have tons of pics to post... once I figure out how to do it) We finished off what ended up to be a rainy and cold 4th of July at Jill's house for Natalie's birthday pool party (where only a few dared to enter the cold water of the pool).
Ah.... my birthday. My birthday is July 13th, and since my mom was here and because it fell on a Friday I wanted to do something fun. So we decided after hearing about this great pizza restaurant in Manhattan that Uncle Dougie talks about for so long... we should go. Uncle Dougie, Aunt Erica, my mom, me, Rich and the girlies met up in Manhattan and eat really really good pizza at Lombardis. A plaque on the wall informed me that it is the first ever pizza place in the United States. After some pizza we walked across the street to "Rice to Riches", a truly special place if you are a rice pudding lover. They have fresh rice pudding of many flavors.... Allison had a bowl of Cookies and Cream, Kathryn and her dad enjoyed the cheesecake flavor, Grandma Vegas finally decided on Rum Raisin (after about 8 different tastes) and I had Mascarpone cherry- YUM! Aunt Erica was disappointed that they didn't have her favorite flavor "French Toast". After some really rich and delicious pudding, we headed to the South Street Seaport. When we got down there... I noticed the signs for the BODIES exhibit. I had wanted to see it for a long time. Uncle Dougie and Aunt Erica offered to hang out and watch the girls (they had already seen it in Las Vegas) so Rich, my mom and I saw the exhibit. I recommend it to everyone.... it was AWESOME.
We relaxed on Saturday the 14th and geared up to take Grandma Vegas to the airport to go home on Sunday. That is always sad... for me and the girls. I think it was a smidgen easier this time, knowing she will be back in November for the birth of Doug and Erica's first child.
I am going to stop there for now... although there is much more. I want to post some photos and then continue with the rest of July.