My Memorial Day Weekend in Pictures: 2019

It has become somewhat of a tradition to share my Memorial Day Weekend in Pictures with you all.  So in keeping with tradition, here we go.  Lexi just turned 5 and here she is getting into the swing of things.  I LOVE some red, white, and blue for all things summer, festive, and Americana.  But for some reason, I also seem to include yellow (or gold) in many of my festive summertime color schemes.  In any case, we didn't really plan on that for this picture, but somehow it still screams Americana to me.  

Leading up to the weekend, I knew we had to start hanging our flags and banners.  We display them all summer long.  Here's a look at John in action. 

And here's the finished product.  Banners hung, flags waving, ready to go for the summer.  This photo was taken on Memorial Day 2019.  And this is what I wore all day.  The dress wasn't a true red- more muted, but it worked and I thought the style and pattern fit the bill.  Our flowers and plants are already taking off for the season but by mid-summer, they will be overtaking the front steps.  

But back to how we spent our weekend.  Oh, what a special start to an always fun weekend....  LEXI GRADUATED FROM PRE-SCHOOL!!!

She has spent two wonderful years at the most amazing pre-school.  She has been loved on, and learned so much.  She has made wonderful friends.  In truth, so have I.  But she is moving on up to Kindergarten in the fall, and this really made it official. 

On Friday morning, she and her fellow graduates gathered on the big stage for a big send off.  They sang us a sweet little song.  They each came up and received their diploma.  And then the teachers put together a real tear-jerker of a slide show for their big send off.  I only cried A LOT!

Dada brought flowers to our graduate, and I'm sure she wondered what in the world we were all making such a big deal over.  Precious Babydoll.  We are so proud.  

Later on Friday night, we decided to continue our tradition of sneaking up to 12 South in Nashville for the best barbecue in town at Edley's.  We go there almost every Memorial Day weekend, but this was a HOT one. A heat wave settled in just in time for the weekend.  And even though we sat in the shade, our table on the patio was a bit warm.  In any case, the food was wonderful as ever.  I had pulled pork, but steered away from my usual sides, opting for the daily specials- black eyed peas and corn.  Both were so goooood.

We had planned to walk about after dinner to see and photograph the many many murals that have popped up all over 12 South.  But alas, the heat got the doll pretty quickly, and our night was cut short.  It really was super hot, and I couldn't disagree with the call to head home early.  We did manage to get one festive shot of Lexi girl with the blue and white stripes gracing the side of Draper James.  This wall has become fairly famous in Nashville, so I was happy to get this pic.  Then we were on our way. 

Saturday brought the promise of another warm and sunny day.  But that didn't stop John and Lexi from getting out the old convertible and taking her for a spin.  The two of them have special plans every Saturday morning for the next several weeks.  More on that in a moment.  When they left, John was driving....

But apparently, that didn't last long. 

They made their way to the Waffle House for breakfast.  This cutie could be the poster girl!

Looks like they had a pretty good time there. 

So this is what they are working on.  Lexi takes dance classes weekly, and it's almost recital time again.  There is always an opportunity for the dads to take the stage for a special dance with their daughters.  John and Lexi did this last year and it was a huge hit.  So they are back at it this year.  Here's the cast of characters from Saturday.  They will be practicing their routine for the next several weeks getting ready for the big dance. That's Lexi, second from the left on the front row.  And John is fourth from the left on the back row. 

After all that dancing and rehearsing, they were ready for a dip in the pool.  All the pools are open for the season, and we were excited to get back to our summer pool routine. 

Normally, Memorial Day weekend starts our summertime pool visits, but the water is usually still a little too cold for me to venture into.  However, this year, we have been experiencing a bit of a heat wave, and even I got right in.  The water was a bit cold but it felt good compared to our unusually hot temps for this time of year. 

Lexi girl donned her new goggles, and took straight to the water.  This kid has always loved the water. 

There was a DJ spinning tunes, burgers on the grill, and people playing and having fun everywhere.  There was a shark attack game going in the pool, and Lexi ended up catching one of the sharks.  She was so proud of herself.  It was a fun fun way to spend the afternoon. 

By the time Saturday night rolled around, it was time for our annual neighborhood crawfish boil.  Here are our two hosts for the evening.  That's our neighbors, Mike and Doug, serving up the feast. 

And these lovelies are the hostesses.  That's our neighbors, Natalie and Cheryl.  

People from all over the neighborhood come with their lawn chairs and side dishes.  There is music.  Kids running and playing.  Cornhole.  Laughter.  Catching up with friends and neighbors.  And of course, the food. 

Here is the main fare.  That's a combo of crawfish and shrimp, with the traditional corn and potatoes. 

And one of my neighbors MADE these cookies that were picture perfect for the occasion.  I scored a couple of them, along with this picture early on.  I knew they wouldn't last long and they didn't.  I live in a super-talented neighborhood full of super talented women.  These were amazing!

Our contribution is always popcorn. We wheel the popper out and pop the night away.  Here are John and Lexi hard at work.  John said he ended up popping over 7 pounds of popcorn.  Now that's a lot of corn!  He was in charge of popping it, and Lexi was our server extraordinaire. 

Time out for a quick photo with Mama. 

And then after dinner, Lexi switched to a swimsuit and hit the slip n' slide with many of her friends from the neighborhood.  Here she is with her friend Ellie from across the street.  They will both start kindergarten this fall.  Sweet sweet girls. 

And here's one last photo from the night.  This is me with my girlfriends from our cul-de-sac.  That's me on the left, Natalie and Cheryl in the center (our hostesses with the mostesses!) and Besty on the right.  I am so lucky to have these wonderful ladies.  And check out Cheryl's earrings- crawfish!!  Couldn't get any more perfect!!  What a fun night.  We always look forward to the crawfish boil every year!

Sunday brought another trip to the pool.  It was busy.  Lots of kids and fun all over again!!  And wouldn't you know it.  Lexi found a friend.  This is actually one of her pre-school friends who just happened to be there.  They palled around all afternoon long and had a big time.  

Sunday evening brought a movie in the backyard with friends, and although I didn't get any pictures (darn it!) it was a good night.  More popcorn, more friends, and more outdoors.  The fun just kept rolling. 

Monday was Memorial Day and John's parents invited us to their house for a barbecue.  We made a pit stop at the splash park on the way, and it was so much fun. 

Lexi has been visiting this splash park since she was a baby, and she still loves it.  

But remember, we were on our way to a barbecue.  We feasted on hamburgers from the grill, homemade potato salad and baked beans, corn on the cob, and some of the best lemonade I've ever had. 

For dessert it was homemade strawberry shortcake!

And then there was time outside for a while.  Lexi loved checking out all of Grammie and Papa's flowers.  Their garden is gorgeous, as always. 

Then it was home again, home again to wind down another long holiday weekend.  We had such a fun time.   And I hope you did too!   I hope you've enjoyed this little photo tour of how we spent our weekend.  Now that summer has officially (unofficially) started, it's sure to be a good one. 

And here are the links to my photo lineups from previous Memorial Day weekends, in case you want to travel down memory lane with me. 

2015 

2016

2017

2018

My Memorial Day Weekend in Pictures: 2018

For the past several years now, I have done a "My Memorial Day Weekend in Pictures" blog post for you all.  So here we go again this year.  As I look through these pictures, it occurs to me that we didn't go any place particularly special or do anything extraordinary.  But we are masters at the moments between the moments.  It's where the magic often happens, you know.  :)  This year we just stayed close to home.  We had an especially wet forecast and a lot of outdoor plans, which typically don't mix well.  But thankfully, we dodged the bullet on (most of) the impending rains, and had a delightful little holiday. 

Our long weekend started last Friday.  Lexi attends tap and ballet classes with her friends on Friday mornings.  And every week she also brings along one special "baby" that sits at the edge of class to watch.  So it was Zuma's turn on Friday.  Here they are gearing up for class to begin. 

It happened to also be the fourth weekend of the month, which meant that the Nashville flea market was in town.  John went early, and just look at what he brought back.  This is an old outdoor sign from a Wendy's restaurant.  It's HUGE!  But he thought it looked like Lexi.  Let's see.  Red hair, blue eyes, pigtails, bows.  Yep, I can see it.  I think this lovely will look great hanging in our garage so hopefully we can get it mounted soon. 

He also bought me this amazing dish of succulents for the back deck.  I arranged them on our deck table with a few of my birdhouses and voila!  That mushroom in the background is Lexi's little stool.  It moves around the yard almost as much as she does. 

Our Friday night plans actually did get rained out.  Oh well, maybe next weekend instead.  So we ended up making margaritas from limes (or something like that) and headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner.  Here are me and Lexi (and her baby Skye) donning our matching red, white and blue for the start to the Memorial Day weekend.  

My gingham is a top, but her's is a dress.  Both came from Old Navy recently.

We popped into a little ice cream shop right around the corner after dinner.  Lexi chose strawberry ice cream and I had a cantaloupe popsicle.   John had a butter pecan cone.  There are really no wrong choices here. 

Saturday morning brought haze, steam, and the threat of more rain.  But the rains held off long enough to squeak in a trip to the park. 

We packed a picnic lunch and ate under the trees.  After lunch, it was time to test out the gigantic bubble wand she got in her Easter basket this year. 

Those big wobbly bubbles soon attracted lots of attention, and before we knew it we were making lots of new friends who were also interested in the serious business of blowing and popping huge bubbles. 

Saturday night brought the promise of more rain, so we asked Lexi if she wanted to spend some quality play time with her Grammie and Papa so John and I could have a little date night.  She did!  And we did too!

We did dinner and a movie.  We saw Life of the Party.  It was a Melissa McCarthy flick, which meant that I was all about it, and John pretty much suffered through it.  But hey, she played an awesome lady named Deanna, so there's something already, right?    The storyline is a little predictable.  She is a mom who is sending her daughter away to her senior year in college.  Her husband asks for a divorce about 5 minutes into the movie.  So she decides to get it together and get on with her life by finishing her own college degree- AT THE SAME COLLEGE AS HER DAUGHTER.  Here's the official trailer. 

And here we are.  All smiles.  

This was the concoction that John ordered for dinner. I think it was called a horseshoe.  It was bread, with a hamburger patty, then cheese, covered with french fries, queso, chili, and jalapenos. I'm not sure why on earth he ordered this.  Even he didn't like it (that much).  I ordered a couple really fresh fish tacos that we soooo good, but this picture was better.  Ha!

Sunday morning brought the sun back out.  We finished up a little planting in the yard.

And it was then that I noticed that our lillies are abloom once again in the pond out back. 

After a little yard work, we were ready to hit the pool for the first time this season.  Lexi jumped right in. And she was completely undeterred by the chilly water temps.  

I snapped the photo on the right below at the pool on Sunday and I instantly had deja vu.  When we got back home I searched and searched until I found the photo on the left.  It was taken almost exactly two years ago. Lexi had just turned two, and spent the entire summer in swim caps.   Now, at four, she's far too grown up to wear the swim caps anymore, but other than that, she still looks exactly the same to me.    

We spent the evening at home grilling in our own back yard.  John manned the grill and I whipped up a couple Mai Tais for us.  I am planning to post the recipe on the blog next week.  It's a winner.  We first fell in love with Mai Tais in Hawaii, and then were reminded how good they are when we were down in Florida last month. 

Monday morning was hot and humid out.  Before taking off to the pool, we knew we needed to snap Lexi's annual birthday photo since we had not done that yet and her birthday was almost a month ago.  Ever since Lexi turned one, I always take this picture of her at the edge of our garden with the chalkboard declaring how old Lexi is (now).  That beautiful white dress she is wearing is one I purchased on Etsy to replicate the Mary Poppins supercalifragilisticexpialidocious dress.  White dresses and four-year olds don't really mix that well.  After a couple minutes her pretty dress met with the red chalk on the board, and both were done for the day.  In any case, I did get this pic.  Yay!!

And to give you an idea of what these pictures have turned out like in the past few years, here she is last year when she just turned three.

And again and age two. 

And where it all began as a babe just turning one. 

But back to the events of this weekend.  All was not lost once the dress and the chalkboard collided.  We did get quite a few cute little outtakes before I slipped her out of that dress.  

Then it was back to the pool for the second day in a row.   Lexi always likes to start in the kiddy pool, and I mean for like usually two minutes or less.  Just enough to get wet, and then my big girl wants in the big pool. 

This will be her third summer of swim lessons, but the first time she has actually worn goggles.  She is requesting them now, so we are working on it.  Lessons will start again soon.  This kid is fearless in the water, which as you all know, is good and bad.  We have to watch her like a hawk, and we do.  There isn't much down time to relax when you are at the pool with the babe, but we all have fun, and that's what counts. 

Just look at her smile!  We rounded out our holiday weekend with another night grilling at home, and then the rain set in again.  

And now, we prepare for Subtropical Storm Alberto to move right over us and dump a lot of rain on our part of the world.  I know it already has and will continue to impact lots of you too over the coming days, so please stay safe as it moves through.  

That's all for now.  It's been another great holiday weekend here.  Hope you all had a nice one too.  And I hope that we all can take a little time to remember, reflect, and express our gratitude for the reason we celebrate Memorial Day each year.