We took an hour break at the Children’s Museum in Richmond yesterday. Grams and Grandaddy live too far away. Whew. But we made it.

Lucy was so excited to see some people her size that she kissed a little boy on the lips as soon as he approached her in the cab. She may have kissed him a few times. And Grams begged her for a kiss all week.

This girl needs a steering wheel! Brendan is in town and we went to the National Air and Space Museum. She jumped the line twice for the little airplane. Then she arched her back and screamed when I ended up dragging her away.

We are packed and ready for a trip to NYC. We head out first thing in the morning to reunite with Dad for the first time in over a week. We had a terrible connection tonight on Skype. But she did recognize Daddy. She just doesn’t recognize where she should sit for him to see her. Or how easy it is for her to delete icons off of our desktop. iCal is MIA.

More updates from The Big Apple!

We went to Maine for Ben and Elif’s wedding. It was so sweet and beautiful. Here are a few of my favorite moments.

A groomsman carved their names and date into the little hut on the pier where they were married and where Ben played as a child. (Henry overheard the groomsman saying that he tried to make the ampersand and scrolls match the ones on the invitation.)

They left the wedding in a boat, while kids played on the beach.

We waited for them to return.

The Maine, Turkish, and US flags were flying.

I always make Henry draw a picture in the guestbook.

Backyard receptions are the best!

Especially when the bride hires a belly dancer as a surprise. I wonder what Ben’s dad is thinking right here.

You may recall that this event was also a big part of my summer to-do list. Aside from the invitations, here are a few shots of my other work for the happy occasion.

The Program

The Table Tent and Place Card, using the couple’s Favorite Cities Theme/Game for table assignments

choice of veggie or beef

more cities and more names
I included the picture and names on both sides of the place card to make it easy for anyone to take a quick peek at their neighbor’s name regardless of where they were sitting. I only included the cow or carrot on one side. The cow was always on the left and carrot on the right to help make it a little easier for the caterers.

The Restroom Signs – crucial!
(Who is that handsome fellow waiting patiently in line, and does he have a date?)

See all of the pictures on Flickr. I have over 28 short videos from my iFlip. I am hoping that Henry will edit them together sometime soon.

Henry did some masterful driving yesterday. We made it back to the Manchester airport with only a few minutes to spare. When the TSA guy told me he was going to test Lucy’s baby food, I told him to keep it. We had less than 20 minutes before our plane took off for DC. Fortunately, there were several flight cancellations and we were delayed boarding. I thought we would be the last to board the plane, but in fact we were the first. Only because of Lucy.

But it came with a cost. $8 a gallon in fact. We did not have time to fill up the tank of our rental car before returning it. What was a three and a half hour drive from Belfast to Manchester stretched to over five. Good thing we didn’t dally. I promised Henry that the price of gas was much cheaper than another night in a hotel and all of the other associated costs.

Today’s lunch with This American Life is all about rest stops. And the running story line is a rivalry for sales between a New York rest stop with the Kennebunkport rest stop in Maine. Our only stop yesterday. Same weekend one year earlier. Aghhh… the traffic. Fortunately, we did not have tornado warnings like they did the year before. Just a slight rain.

My last trip to North Carolina was to our family reunion. It wasn’t the traditional Watts reunion hosted every year at the American Legion in King. This one was on a Saturday night and included beer. Scandalous. It was also limited to my great-grandfather, MP Watts’ family and his eight children’s children. In fact, sadly, only one of the original eight is left – Frank. My Grandma Merritt passed away on Christmas Eve. She was the last surviving daughter.

Tomorrow we are leaving for another sad goodbye to Joan. I caught her saying goodbye in this video clip. She had a rare form of leukemia and passed away within ten days of finding out that she had it. We were hoping to visit her this week. Unfortunately we did not make it in time.

When we were in the fifth grade, we stayed with Joan after school. I think that technically Leslie was our babysitter. But Joan was always there. I just realized this week that we probably stayed with them because that was the same year that my grandfather had a stroke and was very sick. I remember playing with Landon, who was a baby. We also watched lots of cartoons, including my favorite ones about the houses of the tomorrow. And I thought it was scandalous that Leslie was going to see Purple Rain, which was rated R. I am pretty certain that she was only 16 or just about to turn 17. Wow. Of course, I think that I also knew that it featured the best soundtrack of all times. Alex and I did lots of dances to Let’s Go Crazy that year. She was the choreographer. Good times.

We will miss you, Joan. Much love.

I just want to add that this video ends like most I take around my family. Donna saying she is not going to tell my mom something and my mom saying, “Just go ahead and tell me.” That is when I cut the camera off.