Why do children hate Santa?

I was looking at pictures of my nieces and nephews (I do that A LOT. They are all so effing adorable) and found this picture that I took when I was visiting the Binns in Colorado. We took the kids to the North Pole and like all adults, forced them to sit on Santa's lap. This tradition rarely produces the darling photos we are hoping for, so I wonder why we do it. I guess because our parent's forced us? Either way, I'll continue to torture my nieces and nephews and I don't know why.

They all look very hesitant and slightly terrified to be touching this guy, which I am proud of. They have obviously been taught that this is wrong. Hopefully there was no irreparable damage done by the confusion they must have felt when the adults they most trusted, and taught them not to do this thing, made them do this thing. I'm sorry Bradley, Annie and Jackson. I, and your parents, really do love you. I will be in Colorado next month to visit these 3 again and will not be making them do any such thing. My mom (their Grandmother) already suggested another trip... Initially I said "no", but after looking at all the fun we had, maybe :)

Cowans Gap

Last weekend we spent the first 3 hours of essential tanning hours at Cowans Gap in PA. It was a beautiful, sunny day on the fine, imported sand. We were laying out, eating, drinking, people watching. It was a great little beach up in the mountains and the water was crystal clear. The sand was awesome. It felt so good to mold your own spot in the sand to lay out on. Then the park ranger came out over the intercom and told everyone to exit the beach immediately because severe thunderstorms were on their way. I thought he was being a drama queen but in exactly 2 minutes, dark clouds appeared and we got our butts off the beach! 

Fortunately for us, Corey's dad lives close to the park so by the time we got over there the rain had stopped and we could soak up some more rays in his pool. I'm pretty sure that my genetics are predisposed to be at a beach of some kind as much as possible. 

The Best Kind of Weekends

Corey's cousin was getting married in Lynchburg, VA this weekend so we made it a twofer by stopping to see the Morris' in Richmond. It turned out the one of those fun filled summer weekends where you got to eat good food, hang out with good friends, spend a lot of time in the sun and never want to go back to work.
We stopped in Bethesda on our way down to pick up some DC cupcakes. I don't know why I thought 6 would be enough but let's just say that Sarah considered eating her own child's cupcake since Eva was napping when we got there. The cupcakes were good.

As you can see, Sarah made the right choice and Eva got her cupcake :) 

Sarah is my adventure mentor and she set up an awesome river floating trip for Saturday, before we had to leave for the wedding. First of all, it was only $12. Second, the river was PERFECT! The guide said the water was in the eighties and it felt like an angel. Third, I didn't lose my Ray Bans when I flipped over in the class 2 rapids.*

After the river wild, we got dressed and left for Lynchburg. It was so beautiful and it felt like the south. The wedding was gorgeous and we got to see some of Corey's family that lives overseas. I was loving the bride's colors. Plum and peacock green. I would drape myself in peacock feathers if it were socially acceptable. 

I hope this weekend can get me through this jam packed week of unfun activities. I have 3 nights of classes for the next 6 weeks so I think the next few weekends might consist more of reading books and writing papers. 

I cut my hair a few weeks ago. It's really a cute haircut when the stylist does it, but becomes less "adorable" when I attempt to use a round brush with a blow dryer. How do people do their own hair?!

*Class 2 Rapids are super wussy and I was embarrassed that I fell off my tube. Devin really enjoyed it though.