What do you mean, "It's almost August"?

Seriously, this summer has flown by at record speed. I feel like I just got used to it being July and somehow my calendar is telling me it's almost time to flip again. Really, August? Already?
I can't complain, though. We have filled our summer with many fun memories, trips and time spent with friends and family.
Let's see...July...
We celebrated the 4th of July by participating in the neighborhood parade - mental note: wagon needs to be thoroughly decorated on July 3rd to refrain from pre-parade chaos. My one ribbon was a poor showing, but having just arrived from Costa Rica the night before, I was only 25% mentally there myself. After naps, we headed to a pool party at Jen & John Taylor's house...in the Dove, of course. Nick showed off his dance moves as he stayed hydrated....




This month, our niece, Lillyanna (Jason's sister, Allison's daughter), turned 4 years old. Allison celebrated with a cute party at a place called the Pink Pokka Dot (no, I'm not a bad speller, that's really the name of this place). Anyway, it's mostly geared toward little girls with dress-up, mani/pedis and little girl makeovers followed by pizza, cake and a "dance party". Here's a picture of Nick trying to figure out whether or not the crown is edible, Lilly in her Princess dress and Sarah (Toni's daughter) in her crown.
My sister, Nikki, is on the final countdown before walking down the aisle on August 8th in Chicago. Of course, before making it legal, we had to make it fun! I joined Nik's closest friends for a weekend in Lake Geneva, WI, just about an hour north of Chicago. It was a fabulous weekend with some great stories, copious amounts of wine, a wedding shower lunch and a Saturday night bachelorette party. The only downer is that summer apparently skipped Wisconsin this year and it was WAY too cold to hang out by the pools or the lake.

Back from Playa, on to Austin, then Costa Rica...

Ok, so I'm still talking about June. It was a big month for us....tons o fun!
We got back from Playa...ahhhh, Playa.... on Monday, my sweet, wonderful parents left on Tuesday (after all, my Mom had a plane to catch to Costa Rica on Wednesday, gimp foot and all) and then on Friday we headed out to Austin. Friday night we spent with our dear friends Will, Laura and Kennedy (or KiKi, as Nick calls her) Thomson. We love the Thomsons. Not only did we love Will and Laura before babies, but now that our babies are close in age, it's even more fun. It's not often in life when a friendship works out the way it has for the Thomson/Romano clans. Will and Jay have known each other since they were kids. When Will met and married Laura, she and I were immediate friends....it was just one of those things. The guys couldn't be happier:) Now, with the kids just 4 months apart, the fun is on fire!
As much as we love the Thomsons, the real reason we went to Austin was for Chris Burke's surprise 40th birthday party. Kim, Chris's wife, definitely worked hard to keep the golf tourney plus party at the Salt Lick a surprise. Unfortunately, she couldn't do anything about the weather.

Let me put it to you this way. It was so EFFFIN" hot, the devil went north.

Chris Burke needs to know he has great friends who played golf in literally, 105 degree heat. I picked up a very pregnant and beautiful Amanda Walker and we met the boys at the Salt Lick. Nick was oblivious to the heat and only wanted to be near the music...outside. Ugh.
As a mother, I think the kid is cute, but it was really fun having so many people stop me and tell me how dang cute he is! It was even funnier when friends of Jay, who had not met me, stopped me and said.."You must be Romano's wife, because THAT is his kid." I get it..I was an incubator.

On to Costa Rica!
I had not planned on going to Costa Rica. But sometimes life moves you in different ways than planned. I love my grandmother more than I can express and for reasons that we don't have space here to describe. As I examined our year of travels, I realized that being a mom in a young family, all of your time is ahead of you. As the matriarch of a family, most of your time is behind you. At the end of the day, I knew I would never forgive myself if I didn't take Nick to hang out with my mother and my grandmother in Costa Rica. And that's what we did....just hang out with my family. It was beautiful and calm. One day I will tell you about my grandmother. She is literally the strongest woman I know.
Now, I will also tell you that was the last time Nick travels on my lap on a full flight. Somewhere between the AC going out on the 30 minute delay on the tarmac and Nick screaming for 2 hours and then throwing in the air the potato salad, I really contemplated asking the flight attendent for a drink. Thankfully, he fell asleep for the last 45 minutes, and let me assure you, if I could have figured out how, while Nick was asleep in my arms, to reach for the $5 in my bag to buy myself a cocktail, I totally would have. Instead, I just sat back and tried to remember what the heck I was going to put on his wagon for the 4th of July parade.

So I'm a little behind..let's start with Playa

Son of a gun (as my dear friend Kristine would say), June is over and I didn't keep you faithful three readers up to date on all that has happened.
Rats.
First of all, there was Playa. AHHH....moment of silence for the brilliance that Eliana had when she threw out the idea of taking the Dove on road. For those of you not "in the know", the "Dove" refers to my neighborhood gang (no guns, just toddlers, parents and cocktails kind of gang). Our section of the hood is "Dove Manor". We've since referred to ourselves as the Dove. Before you throw up a little bit in your mouth, understand that when you have a bunch of kids and a bunch of adults who were fun in a prior life, you improvise. We have great parties, get-togethers and the occassional "Bachelorette" or "Real Housewives" watching parties. Anyway, we took the fun on the road with a vacation to Playa del Carmen earlier this month. Eight couples, a beautiful location and less swine flu than Houston made for one of the best vacations of my adult life. We relaxed, had some fun and came back planning the next field trip. Now, that's friendship:)
Of course, my INCREDIBLE parents were kind enough to come down and watch Nick while we went on vacation. Unfortunatly, my mom fell down the stairs the morning of her trip. Being the trooper she is, she got a wheelchair and showed up. Damn. Noone loves you like your mama. Thankfully, "Papa", my dad was her sidekick, and together they had a great time surviving the record Houston heat.