I’m still here. Sort of. I guess. I mean, I’m definitely still alive and a mom of four kids and married to the same guy and living my life. But keeping track of all of it, sharing it on the internet, posting regularly to my sad little mommy blog hasn’t been at the top of my to-do list.

But I was looking for a memory the other day, pictures from the last time I took the kids to Washington DC, and so I googled my own blog. It’s very handy to have a decade of our lives documented in a searchable way, with tags and SEO headings and alt text and one million pictures. So here I go, let’s document some shit.

Quick life update: we’ve moved. We sold our 1913 craftsman home in Connecticut (it was heartbreaking, I hated it, I’m sad every single time I see a photo taken there) and moved to Northern Virginia so my husband could take a job in Washington DC. He’s still in the Navy. We’re renting a house in Herndon, which is part of Fairfax County. Fairfax County is where I lived from the age of 15 until about 20, when I stopped coming home from college and decided I was never going back. Surprise, I am now back.

I have so, so, so, many feelings about being here. We don’t live so close to my high school home that I drive past it every day, but we do live close enough that I use the same roads, often go to the same shopping centers, and see a lot of the friends I’ve kept in touch with for the last 20+ years. Sometimes I feel 17 again, driving with my windows down and singing along to the radio (the rock station I listened to as a teen has the same morning DJ, it feels like a time warp). Then I remember I’m on my way to Costco in my yoga pants to buy 7 lbs of chicken to feed my enormous family. I will not be sitting at home later, 3-way-calling a boy I like on my private line while one of my frenemies listens in and then tells me there is no way he’s going to ask me to Homecoming. I will be dropping off a PTA donation on the neighbor’s porch and sewing black spots onto white t-shirts so my children can participate in the town Homecoming parade dressed as dalmatians.

Besides a daily identity crisis, our new lives here are pretty great. Northern Virginia is a really nice place to live, especially as a military family. There are opportunities galore for free tickets, cool events and day trips.

On Monday, everyone was off of work and school, so we drove out to Great Family Farms in Bluemont where we did every fall thing in one day. Animals, mining for gems, bounce pillows, cow train, hayride, rope swings, ninja course, apple cannon, corn maze, cider donuts and more. Five stars, highly recommend.

(Evan is 12 now, Caroline is 10, Lincoln is 7 and Finn is 5)

Our beach vacation got canceled this year because of a hurricane. I was VERY angry about it, that vacation means a lot to us as a family and as a friend group (we go with two friends from high school and my college freshman roommate). We didn’t want to completely cancel our time off though, and since E hadn’t been to the lake house yet this year we hung out in Virginia. It was a little colder for my taste, but it was still fun. Our best Navy friends came to hang out from Virginia Beach so Caroline got to see her favorite person. We even did a grown-ups only day in NoVa with most of the friends I was supposed to see at the beach, so we don’t have to wait another year to see my BFFs. It’s hard to complain about a lake vacation, especially now that we’re home and I’m just looking back on the pictures.

This year, my parents moved full-time to their lake house. That means my mom officially retired and my dad sort of kinda almost retired except that he still works almost every day and has to commute up to Washington D.C. a couple times a week. I sort of doubt he will ever truly retire, just because he literally does not know how to relax. He needs stuff to do. The lake house was a good purchase because it always needs something done – fix a leak, build a garage, mow the lawn, do boat stuff, go to Home Depot three times in one weekend. It’s also an incentive to get us to visit – lake houses are much more fun than the nice but boring house they lived in when I was in high school. The kids beg to visit and cry when we have to leave.

Our visit this year was extra exciting for Caroline, since the week included pony camp for her each morning at the community’s equestrian center. The boys didn’t seem to care that she got to go to camp and they *only* got to swim in the lake, kayak, tube, boat and hang out with my folks. Unfortunately, E couldn’t get out of work that week so we went without him.

Here are way too many photos from our trip. You’re welcome, Mom!

This is Fancy saying “HI”, not being mad. Caroline and Fancy are BFFs.

My children are incapable of making normal faces for photos.

Finnegan was nervous about jumping the first day. It didn’t last long.

This is the first deployment homecoming were we had kids, so it’s the first time I really cared about deployment homecoming pictures. You know how I love a good excuse to make elaborate and detailed plans (see: birthday parties, daily photo projects, trips to Disney), so picking out our outfits with contingencies for weather was a good way to keep myself focused on the endgame. We were lucky that although it was cold and cloudy with a few raindrops, the weather was actually pretty good for February. (That’s how you can tell I’ve been in New England too long – cold and rainy is “good”.)

All credit for these goes to the amazing Anna Sawin from Anna Sawin Photography, who stepped in to be my photographer when a schedule change meant my original photog couldn’t make it. I was so worried I would end up taking the pictures myself. This is the one time I actually want to be IN the photos.

Sorry not sorry there are so many. This is the narrowed down version!

Plugging on, while I have two kids passed out and two kids watching Lord of the Rings, which should keep them entertained for approximated 4832 hours.

Sunday:

Matching father-son kayaks

THIS is a vacation

Moana needed help with the wifi’

Monday:

Pretty serious relaxing

Rain delay

Dreaming about Disney World

Tuesday:

It’s tubing time

Big helper

Really excited about watermelon

Wednesday:

The only photo I took, but at least I got everyone in it.

Thursday:

Busy baby

Headed to swim call

Dinner at the club

Friday:

Actual thing my dad got for Father’s Day

MY CORN DON’T TOUCH IT

Saturday:

Waiting for his waffles

Boating is exhausting

Finn screams the whole time on the boat unless he’s nursing

We’ve been go go go go all week – basically just to keep us sane and out of the house and not sitting here in the heat wanting to strangle each other – so having an at-home day feels SO PRODUCTIVE. I cleaned things! And put away laundry! We finally called my mom for her birthday! I did a bunch of stupid adulting paperwork! I might even have time to finish setting up my bullet journal because I am determined to get organized so my life doesn’t collapse this fall when I have 3 kids in school and/or activities.

Literally as I typed that the baby woke up, so now I’m done being productive for a while.