9:21pm! I need a new job

Surprise! The Rose family is expanding in November 2014.  Kaya’s going to be a big sister!

Our favorite Durham event happened this weekend: the annual Beaver Queen Pageant.  It is a fundraiser for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association and contestants compete in a beauty pageant dressed up as beavers.  You can imagine the beaver jokes and fun!

We closed up an awesome weekend with a trip to the Eno Rock Quarry – Durham’s best swimming home. It’s a beautiful quarry, although tightly regulated with limited parking and uptight rangers. There was a snake in the water right as Tommy and Kaya got in, which really freaked me out. Otherwise it was great fun. I forgot to take pictures, so snapped this one as we were packing up.

Back to the grind today after a wonderful two week vacation. We essentially sat around for the last 8 days of the trip (on a cruise boat) and ate delicious food and watched movies.  It was glorious.  Tommy had one energetic afternoon with the FlowRider – he was the best surfer out there!

Tommy and I are off on a cruise for the next week – cell phone and baby free! Here’s our sail away in New York.

We spent the last 5 days in Los Angeles with my college crew from Emory. We rented a place in Beverly Hills, went to the Santa Monica Beach, visited the science museum (where we actually couldn’t find the gigantic shuttle Endeavor and just assumed it wasn’t there despite all the signs), and ate a relaxing lunch at the Getty.  We also got to see my beautiful roommate Tammy get married to her lucky new husband Bryan – a big congrats to the bride and groom!  It was a beautiful outside wedding in the California hills overlooking the city.  (Unfortunately I was having too much fun to get any good pictures of the happy couple).

I am still in shock my little brother by another mother)is married – but I couldn’t be happier for him and his beautiful bride.  And we were pleased to be able to get baby buds Rose and Kaya together at the post-wedding brunch.

C’mon Gammy – let’s go see some birds! (At the bird sanctuary in Florida)

Kaya’s favorite current hobby is “swimming.” She loves jumping off the edge, floating on a noodle, and kicking in the water.  We flew down to Florida to visit with the Kircher family in remembrance of Great Grandpa Kircher.  Luckily for Kaya, a little pool time gave everyone a nice break.