Seng and Sopheap's wedding

I went to my first ever Cambodian wedding reception in July.  It was WAAAY fun.  Seng has been a co-worker of mine (albeit now in a different office since I'm in Boston and she's in Fairfax, where I used to work) for almost 8 years.  Girl knows her stuff too, wicked smaht lady!  AND... she knows how to throw a fun reception!

All of my favorite Dewb peeps were there.  In fact, over 300 people were at this reception!  I went down by myself, because we have too many things planned this year to try to get another one of our family members to watch our kids for a whole weekend.  I got to stay with one of my favorite couples- Katie and Jeff.  We had hit up a local winery in the afternoon prior to the wedding reception.  PLUS... it's Cambodian tradition to have a bottle of Hennessy for each table (in addition to the unlimited Heineken!).  Well, the following pictures are what you get when one table challenges another to see who will finish the bottle of Hennessy first...

Above:  Me and Brett Hurm, my birthday twin.  I seriously have no idea what is going on here.  But my arms look good, don't they?

 I have no words.

This is the bride...  Seng flanked by Robyn and Greg.

Seng is naturally pretty anyway, but she looked like a porcelain doll... and her hubby wasn't too shabby either!

This was flat out troublesome.

Brett helped lead our table to victory in the Hennessy Challenge.  We're actually considering a rematch sometime later this year or next.

Cambodian tradition is to present each of the tables with gifts from the bride and groom.  We got cool scarves, which Katie and Jeff showed off on the metro ride back to Vienna.  Jeff snazzed his up with a little head gear. 

Congrats to Seng and Sopheap!!!

4th of July

Hmm... a little behind here. 

We had another fun filled day in Natick enjoying the annual Kiwanis pancake breakfast and the Natick 4th of July parade!  Just like Natalie in 2009, Grant ate his weight in pancakes.  We had to steal a plate full of them because he wasn't finished when the parade was starting, so you can see in the picture below, he has his mouth full of pancake!  We scored some good seats along East Central too, right on the street.

I'm beginning to wonder if there will ever be a photo of Grant without his sippy cup of milk. 

Natalie waving to Sparky, the Wayland Fire Department Fire Dog.  And look, he's waving back at her!

Oh wait!  THERE'S a picture of Grant without his cup!  He clearly has no interest in being photographed of course, so Natalie is yanking him back in the picture.  Get back here little brother!

Oh well, if Grant won't participate, then we'll just get a cute one of Natalie, Pink Bear, and Daddy. 

Natalie once again, was very into the parade this year.  I was actually a little surprised that Grant sat still for a good portion of the beginning of the parade (perhaps it was the milk and the pancakes), but Natalie really enjoyed the whole thing.  She danced to the bands, hugged Tigger, and was wowed by the dancers, gymnasts, and jugglers!

Unfortunately, this might be the last year of the Natick 4th of July parade (yes, ever).  They are having trouble finding someone to organize/run the parade.  We hope that they find someone soon because we really have a great time every year! 

Trip to the Beach

Don't get excited... we just went to the local beach in Natick on Dug Pond.  It's actually a really nice little beach, with a concession stand, lifeguards and plenty of space. 

Grant didn't care for the sand. He kept asking for his shoes! "Shoes! Shoes!" He didn't like walking in the sand. He wasn't so sure about the water either but he eventually got used to it.  He also had his trucks and he found a big stick!  Look at those dimples!!!!

Natalie was like a little fish!  She can't swim yet but the water was shallow enough that she could just splash and play without mommy or daddy being super close by.  She just had a blast.  She had a great time with daddy building sand castles and a big giant puddle/lake!  (See above!)

Right before we left, we had to get the kids cleaned of all of the sand they had accumulated.  Daddy wanted Grant to get in the water, despite his objections.  Once he was in he was fine, and Daddy was bouncing him around.  Then of course, Natalie wanted to be a part of it.  The kids did really great and we had such a fun time!  We can't wait to go back, but the rest of our summer has been so busy and it got cooler (yes, I'm not taking my kids to the beach when it's only 80 degrees!  I'm such a Floridian!)

Trip into Boston

We took the kids on the train into Boston for the day a few weeks ago.  We like to do this about once a summer, and we make a big deal out of it, and the kids were crazy for it!  First we went across the street to Station 5 Grill for some breakfast.  We were there when they opened at 7 am, ha ha.  Little buddy ate some pancakes with his daddy.

Next up, we went to West Natick station to pick up an 8:20 train to Boston.  They thought this was SO cool.  Grant loves anything with wheels, and probably the fact that it was going fast.  Natalie is crazy about trains, so it was probably the highlight of the day!

Next we walked around the Garden for a little bit, and then took the Blue Line over to Aquarium so we could get on the commuter boat that takes you from Long Wharf over to Charlestown.  It's only about 10 minutes long, it comes every half hour, and it only costs $1.70!  You really can't beat it.  We rode up front so Natalie could see out. 

Once we got over to Charlestown, we didn't have enough time to go over and see Old Ironsides, so we just walked around the wharf area.  We found this giant anchor and attempted to take a family photo on it.  Three out of four Bailey family members participated!

After we caught the boat back to Long Wharf, we grabbed a quick pizza before heading back to Back Bay so we could catch our train back home.  We were home before 1:30, and Todd said, "It's only 1:30 and I feel like we've done a full day of activities already!"  It was a  good, fun family outing!