JULY! Part One.

Celebrating a friend's birthday - and us middle-aged mamas mastering the .5 angle. :)

My new friend Smokey, he's 37 years old and such a gentleman!

He belongs to my friend Perri.

Boat day! We spent the day on "Lake Boca" on the Intracoastal.

I love boat days. Thank you, Gorham family!

Gracie, Chase, and Walker

at lunch :)

Gracie's giant Squishmallow. Ben and the kids got it for her at Costco.

Boo-bear! Hi Belle. She's so cranky.

Beach Day for Lainey and her dance team. I just love them! Lainey's in there somewhere...back row, third from right, I think.

so sunburned, after the beach day

(with Sophie and Adriana)

Nationals send-off party for their company

Lainey's award for the year: "Outstanding Technical Achievement"

Lainey and Dakota

with Gaby :)

and with Iliana

with Adriana in the bathroom, at the send-off party :)

***

Next up, Nationals!

Our Respective Weekends

Photos from Lainey's trip to Ohio!

(Or at least, the ones that were shared with me.) :)

Lainey, Ainsley, and Kaitlyn... on their way to Cedar Point (an amusement park)

this is my favorite

candle making :)

While Lainey spent time in Ohio, Ben, Walker and I spent time with friends at the Turnberry Resort near Miami. Gorgeous view from our room!

I could even see the boys playing.

Walker is on the far left...in the blue shorts.

with my sweet friend Meghan, Chase's mom

Our neighbors took care of Belle! She behaved!

Ben picked up Gracie from Pompano Pet Lodge (where she stays during our vacations).

a slightly massive alligator in our neighborhood

AND, on Monday, Gracie took herself on a little adventure around our neighborhood. I'm the "A" and she's the "photo"...way far away from me. Shockingly, just as I was loading up to go get her, she made it home to our back gate. (Our back gate had been left open...that was how she got out in the first place!)

The "path" of her escape. I love her collar; it provides me with such accurate information and when I mark her as "lost" it sends me updates every 45-60 seconds. Very helpful!

Lainey is off to Ohio! (And other things!)

Gracie :)

Baby Walker...how cute is he?

Lainey flew BY HERSELF to Ohio yesterday to see Ainsley! Kaitlyn also met them there!

Lainey and Ainsley...friends since they were itty bitty. They met as one-year-olds, I think.

They met Kaitlyn when they were three years old!

And - as a fun little activity... last week, Lainey got her ears double-pierced and I got mine re-pierced! But it turns out mine never closed completely...amazing. I haven't worn earrings in those holes in at least 15-20 years! So I just got the holes re-opened. :) Fun times!

Ben's New Job, Lainey's Dance Recital, and UM/Longhorn Game

We had a "farewell" dinner at NYY Steakhouse in honor of Ben and his COO, Joe. Both Ben and Joe are starting new jobs at an HCA hospital in Miami; we are so excited for them. Ben started June 5th, Joe starts in a few weeks.

the executive team playing some Blackjack

Joe's wife Haley and I holding farewell gifts. It was a lovely dinner!

The next day, Ben and Walker went to the UM vs. Texas Longhorn baseball game with our neighbor/friend Bill and his daughter Penelope who is a cheerleader at UM.

They got into all sorts of places on campus.

While Ben and Walker were at the game, I was attending (what is most likely) Lainey's final recital. (Ben and Walker went to an earlier recital.) Lainey has decided to "retire" from dance and pursue cheerleading and other activities next year at school. It would have been too hard to "do it all" so she's quitting dance and we fully support her decision. We will dance through mid-July and then take some much needed time off. It's been harder on me than I thought...I feel like we've "broken up" with dance. It was the right thing to do but it still hurts.

Lainey's in black, in the middle

and up front in black

Such a phenomenal show with a phenomenal company - we love Studio 61. 

I'm sad that we only had one year with them. They are incredible!

A cute studio shot - this group of kids is awesome. I'm thankful we have a little bit more time with them and their families. I'm so proud of Lainey for making this huge decision for herself. I'm excited to see what next year looks like without dance - we don't know a world without dance, but it'll be fun to explore. :)