San Diego

June 21 - 27 found us in (partly) sunny San Diego, enjoying a beautiful, busy week with our dear friends Kelly Knudson and Marc Lazzareschi and their daughter Laurel. It was a fantastic week, full of sandy feet (and hair), whales, dolphins, and fish (oh, my!), roller coasters, mermaid tales, stories, dance parties, late nights, and an occasional meltdown (probably because of the late nights)... :-) We had the best time, thanks to Kelly and all of her planning. We stayed in an adorable house just "120 steps from the beach" that was perfect for our two families. It was such a joy to watch the daughter of one of my oldest and dearest friends play with my girls...it is one of those things I always looked forward to, and to see all three of them together, playing and singing (and whatever else) in such a fun place was just unbelievable. Thank you Marc and Kelly for spending the week with us. We love you all SO dearly and treasure the time we get to spend with you. We can't wait for our next adventure!!

Above: Our crew...Marc, Kel, Sutton, Emerson, Drew, Laurel, and me at Sea World.

I pledge allegiance...

Pretty cute video of Emerson reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. They would do it every morning at school and she was so proud of herself for having memorized it by mid-January, so I thought I would share...It is six months later, but in honor of the Fourth of July, I figured it was appropriate. Hope you all have a Happy and safe 4th!

Go Gators!

We successfully made it through Emerson's first swim meet without ANY drama...yippee! She rocked, swimming 25 Free, 25 Breast, and 25 Back. She was disqualified in her breaststroke, but we haven't really talked about that much... :-) We enjoyed every minute of it...such fun to see her experience the excitement of a swim meet, and even more fun that it was something that was such a major part of her mom and dad's youth. Most importantly, she had an absolute blast!! Below is the video of her swimming her 25 Free. It's a little jumpy...Drew tripped while trying to watch and film at the same time. :-)

Wine Tasting in GJ...who woulda thunk it?

Crazy...crazy, crazy, crazy. Never did I think in my wildest dreams growing up in good ol' GJ that it would become the wine tasting mecca of our part of the country. A few weeks ago, I took a group of girlfriends home for a weekend of wine tasting. Wow! I have to say, it was very impressive. Now, don't get me wrong...it is not Napa or Sonoma, but my tiny little home town (that's not at all so tiny anymore) has lots going for them right now. We enjoyed every bit of our weekend and look forward to all coming back together with our hubbies and children for the Wine Festival in September!! Thanks mom and dad for your incredible hospitality. We all wished you could have been in town to join us!

All the gals in my parents' backyard: Courtney O'Shea, Mara Walters-Hooey, Monique Keohane, Meg Jonsen, me, Stacey Papi

Kicking off our day of winetasting at Two Rivers Vineyard: Mara, Monique, Courtney, me, Stacey, Meg

Steamboat Springs

Last week we headed up to Steamboat for Drew to run the Steamboat Half Marathon. He has done it two other times, always running with my friend, Jen McCall. We were really looking forward to a weekend getaway with them again this year, but their 6 year old was sick, so they opted to stay home. We called Erin and Gary to see if they could join us last minute, and we were thrilled to spend time up there with them. They got to see some old friends that they hadn't seen in years, and Drew and Gary both ran the half. It was a wonderful weekend full of awesome family time, beautiful weather (on Saturday, anyway), and gorgeous surroundings!! Better watch out...Drew and I might take off and take up permanent residency in the 'boat!!!

San Antonio...YEEEEEE HAW!

For my birthday this year, I was able to spend a weekend with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Kelly Knudson. We picked a city neither of us had spent much time in (I hadn't ever been there), to go see our fav, Kenny Chesney. We picked San Antonio and he happened to play the night before my birthday. Fantastic! It was such a perfect weekend, and an even better way to spend my birthday.

I'm BAAAAAAACK!!

Yes...I am alive. I have totally been MIA on this thing, but I'm back. I know...you were all hanging on by a thread, anticipating more from the ever exciting life of the Damianos. Well, here we are, back with more. We had a fantastic winter, enjoying skiing most weekends, and running around from here to there all other times. I'll post a few highlights from the last few months, and then I'll do my best to get back on the blogging bandwagon. :-)