Jokes, Tea Parties, and S'more!

As alluded to earlier in the blogosphere, Luis took the kids camping last Monday, just the 3 of them. Not only did I have to work, but camping isn't my top choice for ways to spend my free time so I was more than happy to let them go have the fun without me. So while I was sitting at home, sipping wine and eating pizza, here's what the family was up to.

Here's the campsite the crew stayed at. I should note that aside from the car and the cooler, noting you see in this picture is actually ours. It's a bit of a borrow your way to camping trip. Thanks Junior!

This tent is bigger than houses in many small countries, complete with windows. Note that even the sleeping bags are borrowed. The kids are ours though!
The kids got to experience one of life's biggest pleasures - smores! Turns out Mason wasn't a fan (he doesn't really like chocolate) and Siena just ate the marshmellows.

Fun in the dark with lanterns.

The wild beast!

Technicolor camping.

Saturday the kids did a sleepover at Yaya and Papa Ron's while Luis and I celebrated our anniversary by going out to dinner and catching a comedy show afterward featuring my favorite podcaster Jimmy Pardo! I've been listening to Jimmy's podcast for 4 years and Luis and I went to the live show back in May (as you may remember from the blog). This was my first time seeing him live doing standup though and he was awesome! Plus I got a picture taken with him after. Yup, I was thrilled!

This morning was Fantasy Football draft day at Buffalo Wild Wings. We'll see how we did once the season starts. Our starting lineup looks like this:

QB - Eli Manning

RB - Rashard Mendenhall

RB - Arian Foster

WR - Brandon Marshall

WR - Steve Smith (Giants)

TE - Celek

K - Bironas

D - Dolphins

Our league commissioner Kip is pictured below with the completed draft board. Being a new team to the league, we drafted last so we're the last column on the right - team name: Bonnie and Clyde.

And if that isn't enough excitement for one week, after the draft Mom, Siena and I went to a bi-annual tea party at my dad's cousin Sharon's house. This is th first time we have been able to attend the tea party and we had a great time!

The first thing each guest does upon arrival at the tea party is to choose a hat. This is not as easy as it sounds as Sharon has hundreds to choose from!

Here's mom sampling a crazy blue/green contraption.

There was also my favorite: BAKLAVA! Cousin Sharon's is the BEST!

Group photo in Sharon's yard, with our hats.

Siena enjoyed the food - especially the chocolate covered strawberries.

And the flowers from Sharon's garden that you can eat! I don't remember what they were called but they tasted somewhat minty/peppery. Interesting experience. Yes, I did tell Siena those were the only flowers she could eat.

Sharon has a beautiful garden. Here's just one small sample.

To top things off, there was a pinata! Siena got a few good swipes in...

...and along with the other kids scored plenty of candy which she was kind enough to share with her brother when we got home.

This was a super fun weekend, even though it seemed to fly by too fast!