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After spending much of our anniversary trip in a hammock in Hawaii, Greg was compelled to order one for the house so we could continue to relax. Here are a few hammock pics from our Hawaii trip back in June for our 10-year anniversary:
(Pics taken June 11 - June 18, 2011)
And,here's our little biscuit Rowan, who obviously loves cheesin' it up on the new hammock!
(Pics taken August 5, 2011)
Uncle Jon was in town for work...and, that's always a fun time. To top it off, our old friend and Greg's former bandmate, Chris, was in town for a visit.
(pic taken July 27, 2011)
On Friday night, the boys met Chris, Beth and Gabriel downtown for the XGames. Rowan loved watching those skateboarders up close and personal.
On Saturday, the gang headed to one of Greg's favorite hidden beach spots in Malibu called El Pescador. Unfortunately, I was sick in bed and missed the beautiful beach day. But, it certainly looks like they all had a great time!
Thanks for visiting us Chris, Beth and Gabriel! Hope you enjoyed LA! Come back soon!
(Pics taken July 30, 2011)
My very sweet and adorable nephew, Ayden James, got baptised on July 23rd. It was an honor to be asked to be his Godmother and there was no way I was going to miss the special event. Plus, what a great excuse to get our family together for some fun times. So, we made it into a mini vacation.
We flew into Charlotte, SC late on Thursday, July 21st. Tara and Ayden picked us up. After an exhausting day of flying, we grabbed dinner on the way home and hit the hay.
On Friday, Dad drove up from Tonnie's house and the big boys - Dad, Jon and Greg - went "sweaty" golfing. They were lucky enough to have an almost 100 degree day. So, during our girls' shopping trip to Wal-mart for forgotten toiletries, we got a call from our "sweaty" men to bring a change of clothes since they were soaked.
Friday night, we headed for a true southern BBQ dinner at Woodlands in Blowing Rock, NC. After stuffing our belly's with BBQ chicken, ribs, pork, cole slaw, hushpuppies, and fried okra, The Tripletts showed off the quaint little town of Blowing Rock. Such a cute town! We played, relaxed and strolled in the beautiful park. What a nice evening with my sister and her family!
Saturday was the main event! We had a beautiful private family ceremony and Ayden was a doll throughout the entire festivities, talking and being his cute little self. Again, I feel honored to now be Ayden's Godmother and feel blessed that Greg, Rowan and I could be there for this very special event.
Since the temperatures were record-high again that day, we decided to spend the afternoon at an Bo's Family Entertainment, an indoor game place with bowling and archade. Seriously, what could be better for a bunch of boys! Rowan was so incredibly excited to be with his cousins!. And, his cousins - Ben, Evan, and Carter - are all so good with him. And, as you can see from the pictures, he's practially attached to the hip with Carter. At the end of the day, the boys turned in their arcade tickets for prizes and Rowan got a ring like Evan and Carter. He called it his "Cousin Ring" and refused to take it off for days. And, when we got home, he put it in my jewelry box because it was so special. (Of course, we've lost it by now. I'm sure it's in the house somewhere and he'll be thrilled if I ever find it again.)
On Sunday, we drove to The Woody residence in Fort Mill, SC and spent the day in their hood. We set up camp at their community pool all afternoon and stayed cool for a few hours. Then, mom/Nana & dad/PapPap treated us to the yummiest pizza ever for dinner. When it was time to go, I told Rowan to say good-bye to his cousins and he said, "Bye guys. See you tomorrow." It broke my heart when I had to tell him we were saying good-bye for good since we were flying home the next day.
What two wonderful and fun days with both of my sisters, my nephews, my brother-in-laws and my parents! I don't think they could have been any better (although, a drop in temperatures by15-20 degrees would have been appreciated by, at the very least, the men of the group.)
Monday was bittersweet. Time to go home and get back to reality. We were exhausted from the time zone change and having Rowan in our room with us and from all of the family fun. But, we were certainly sad to go! But, before leaving, we met Jon for lunch in the cute little college town of Boone, NC where he works for some delish Thai food at Cha Da Thai.
Thank you, Tara, for getting Ayden baptised and bringing us all together for such wonderful family memories. Thank you to the rest of my family for making it such a fun, blessed trip. We couldn't have had a better time and can't wait for our next trip back to the southeast! Love, Love, Love to you all from The LA Drews!
(pics taken July 21 - 25, 2011)
The title of the post says it all! Can't get much better than running through the sprinkler on a hot summer day...for both kids and adults. This is Rowan's first experience with this awesome cooling off technique. And, Greg...well, who can blame him?! He had to show off his moves!
(pics taken July 17, 2011)
So, our friend Parrish (in the pics) has been sporting a mohawk for a few months now. Greg has been coveting her mohawk for a few months now. They finally just did it up. I slept through the transformation...didn't think I could handle it. And, my first reaction wasn't so great. But, he doesn't wear it all spikey like in the pics and it actually looks really fantastic. He's such a handsome man...he makes even a mohawk look amazing. [love]
(pics taken July 8, 2011)
We headed to Solana Beach to visit with the 3 J's (Jill, Jeremy & Josie) to kick off the July 4th weekend. And, what a fun time we had - hanging & playing at the house, Hawaiian reggae biker pool party, fish tacos, tide pools, body surfing (and Jeremy's first dive into the Ocean since surgery in early May. Yay Jeremy!), Naked Cafe. All around GREAT FUN with the BEST of FRIENDS!
(pics taken July 2 & 3, 2011)
Then, we spent 4th of July day at the pool with The (FABULOUS) Moons. For some reason, we didn't get many pics, but here are Rowan and his BFF Lilly at lunch.
(pics taken July 4, 2011)
What a kick-off into summer! We're blessed to have such wonderful friends with such wonderful children!
Time sure does fly when you're having fun and sleep deprived! It's absolutely impossible to believe that 4 short years have passed since Rowan blessed Greg and I with his beautiful blue eyes and handsome face. Life sure has changed and I thank God every day for allowing me to add "mommy" to my titles and for guiding me through this crazy & exciting journey of raising a helpless tiny baby into a sweet, kind, funny, intelligent, talented, beautiful human being.
A Glimpse into the life of Rowan the 4-year old:
Again this year, we took our birthday boy to Disneyland on his birthday day. It's our tradition. It's fun. We'll continue to do it as long as we live in CA. And, special thanks to one of my besties, Heather Gantt, who generously gives us free tickets!
We had a great day. But, the Toy Story ride was a disaster! He was scared to death and, at one point, Greg thought he (Rowan) had actually peed his pants. Poor little guy! We stuck to "safe" rides the rest of the day and finished with a bang.
We asked Rowan where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner. Of course...Wabi Sabi!
And, then dessert from Lemonade to complete the best birthday EVER for our baby!
Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!
(pics taken June 29, 2011)
Rowan loves Dr. Seuss, has a ton of Dr. Seuss books (thanks to GeeGee and Poppy, who send 2 a month, I think) and I found some really cool Dr. Seuss bags and favors last year for his 3rd birthday party, which we never had. So, I really wanted a Dr. Seuss themed party. When I asked Rowan what he wanted on his cake, he said Spiderman. So, the Dr. Seuss Super Hero party theme was born.
I found some really cool decoration ideas online. With great help from the best ever Parrish Walsh, we were able to pull a lot of the ideas together. I rented a room at Joslyn Park, one of my favorite parks in Santa Monica. We invited the best kids and adults in all of LA. And, on June 25th from 11am - 1:30pm, we had ourselves a great party.
Here are Parrish and I the Friday night before the party working on the final details. In the pics below, we're working on drink straws for each guest.
For the food, I really tried to stick with the themes, so we had:
We had a fruit and cheese plate as well, but I didn't come up with a clever name for those. Unfortunately, I was madly rushing around finalizing the party set-up and decorations when guests starting arriving, so I don't have very good pictures and it's not evident how much hard work Parrish & I really put into this party. But, you'll get the idea.
Do you see the Super R city we built and Super Rowan sign for the Super Hero table?
I bought extra Spiderman rings from the cupcake place and those were a HUGE hit with the boys (of course)!
Happy Birthday Book: I set up the Dr. Seuss Happy Birthday to You book on the gift table with a sign that read:
"Stop right here you see, and write a special message to me! A Birthday Wish or just say, "Hi" to your very favorite FOUR year old guy!
On the front, the back, or any page, it's something I'll treasure at any age!
Signed,
Mayor Rowan"
We didn't get too many messages, but a few of his friends signed and it's cute to see their little scribbly signatures.
Photo Booth: We had a "photo booth" of sorts with super hero and Dr. Seuss costumes and props. The kids loved it! Even some adults had fun with it. I wish I had taken some time to enjoy it too. Oh well...I'm enjoying the pictures!
Coloring/Sticker Table: I printed out a bunch of Super Hero & Dr. Seuss pages for the kids to color and found some awesome puffy Dr. Seuss stickers.
Happy Birthday to Rowan: Greggie brought out his guitar for the special Happy Birthday singing. At first, Rowan liked it. And then Greg kept it going for a 2nd round and...Rowan freaked out (4th pic below). To his defense, Rowan did tell me the night before that he didn't want people to sing or clap. He just doesn't like all that attention on him...makes him nervous, I think. Just like his mommy. Anyway, we eventually got his beautiful smile back!
Make Rowan a Super Hero Game: So, we had this amazing Super Hero poster of Rowan. The idea was that we'd play a game with the kids - like "pin the tail on the donkey" where they would stick the super R on Rowan's shirt and finish making him Super Rowan! Unfortunately, in all of the craziness, I couldn't find the Super Rs, so we didn't play. But, we got a few good pics and the poster is now a very cool addition to Rowan's bedroom.
Soccer: We're at a park. It's Rowan's birthday. Greg Drews is involved. Of course we had soccer activities.
It was such a fantastic party. But, all great things must come to an end, even if we don't want them to. And, clearly, Super Rowan was ready to keep celebrating. Just look at this face - "Ah man! Is my party over already?!?!?!"
Very special thanks to Parrish - for tirelessly helping with decorations, set up and clean up, to Izzy - for helping with set up, to Brooke - for helping with logistics and photos during the party, to Dax - for helping with set up, and to Jonathan & Suzie - for helping with clean up.
(Pics taken Saturday, 6/25/11)
