Deep Creek Lake

We spent a couple of days this week with my Aunt Weezie and her family on the lake in Western Maryland. Great weather, great company and great fun. We took the boat out every day and although the anchor didn't do a great job of holding us in place, after cruising around a bit on the lake, we'd look for a cove to go swimming and just cut the engine and enjoy being out there. Neither Sanjay nor Priya much enjoyed their tubing rides at a snail's pace (you can see the fear on Sanjay's face), but they did have a fun time overall. Here are the promised pictures of the tubing, my cousin water skiing and the extremely hot firepit where we roasted marshmallows at night. :)

Four Days...

at Nana and Pappy's house will do this to a little boy in the late afternoon.



We've been picnicing with old friends, biking, swinging, pony-riding and swimming in between all that. Tomorrow we're heading to western Maryland with Aunt Weezie and family to bask in the sun some more and maybe do some tubing behind her motorboat. Come back for photos of those adventures.

The Girls Who Knew Me As Sandee

Way back in elementary school we were on the same bus route, we were neighbors, we had slumber parties at each other's houses in the small town that was Frederick in the late 1970's. Everyone knew each other. The "thanks for letting me pass" wave on the one-lane bridge off Shookstown was often received by someone you knew. A lot has changed around here since then with the suburbs of DC sprawling to accommodate all the people that live and work down there trying to escape the dreadful traffic that has made the I-495 beltway famous.

After high school, I lost touch with these girls. Again, it was Facebook that brought us back together and sparked this mini-reunion at my parent's place. They all remember our house before the renovations (in 1997) so it was a lot of fun to show them around and watch their reactions to the extra square footage. While sipping on Mojitos and Gin and Tonics, we talked about the good old days. We reminisced about the kindergarten big-wheel trek that landed me grounded for the first time in my life at age 5. We talked about playing fast food drive-thru by circling on our bikes around the trailer parked in my parent's driveway. We discussed our childhood phone numbers and how they are still ingrained in our brains. These were the days before cell phones when you had to memorize phone numbers or - egads - actually grab a phone book to look them up. We remembered the time we had our first taste of beer by sharing one can of Coors between several of us and those days at Prospect Hall dances where we hid drinks in our trench coats to sip on between singing along to "Blister In The Sun" and "Dancing With Myself". Then, we followed up with how we hope our children make better choices about certain things than we did. It was fun to see the personalities of "the next generation" and how, for example, Kristen's oldest is not-at-all like her. She may look like her Mommy but is so much more outgoing and talkative.

It was so much fun that we're already planning what we'll do different next year, and we are hoping to see some more of the girls and their kids before we head back to Colorado. Here's a shot of us on the deck. Unfortunately, I don't have one where everyone's eyes are open. :(



Besides swimming and eating, we threw in some pony rides. Karen still lives within walking distance of my parent's place so she brought over Cassie (who was not thrilled with the plan) to take the kids for a ride.



For more photos of the day, check out the album on Facebook.