So May has come and gone, and June is almost gone, so it's a bit humorous that I now want to talk about May. But hey, let's give this mama a break... the desire to write after the kids go to bed dwindles and there is no long enough uninterrupted time available during the day to write this.
For some time now, May has been one of the busiest months of the year, excluding the end-of-year holidays. We got the school activities, Mother's Day, Z's birthday, and then prepping for Zoe's big day. This year, we sprinkled in a trip to NYC and lots of visits from Beh side.
Spring Musical
On May 7th, Zoe was on the stage for the second time with her preschool friends to showcase the spring show. This year the theme was TV show, so her class performed The Flintstones. Her teacher, Mrs. Schrimsher, is seriously the most amazing person - ordered all of their costumes, put everything together, and even ironed (yes, IRON) every single costume. We knew from last year how much Zoe enjoyed being on stage, so it was very telling to see her increased confidence and focus this year. She put so much effort into memorizing her choreography - I was beaming with joy and pride watching my little girls' performance.
Mother's Day
By Mother's Day, both my mother-in-law (who now lives in Portugal) and brother-in-law (Nan, from Seattle) and his wife, Audrey, were in town. It was a brief overlap in their stay, but it was nice to have a full house of family. The girls loved getting all the attention, and I, of course, loved getting an extra set of hands to wrangle them. The men treated us to an amazing surf and turf dish for dinner.
During their stay, Nan and Audrey also rented a boat, and we all got to enjoy a boat ride in Lake Lewisville on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. Zoe, having been on a boat several times, just absolutely ate up the whole experience. Zaylee, however, was warming up to it.
Trip to NYC
By mid-May, we took a quick trip to New York. Z was scheduled to attend a workshop/conference at NYU, so we decided to tag along to hang out with my other brother-in-law/wife, Sheng and Alice (as Sheng affectionally calls himself "funcle"). My mother-in-law joined us on this trip to extend her time spent with the girls. Thursday and Friday, I was practically running solo with the girls while the rest were working, so having my mother-in-law there was a huge help. Funcle was awesome and got us free admission tickets to all the kid-friendly places, so we got a chance to visit the Long Island Children's Museum | Garden City and Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquiarium.
We did a lot of touristy stuff from our last visit to the city 2 years ago (when I was pregnant with Zaylee!), but we did hear about a new spot to check out, so went to the Summit One Vanderbilt. There was quite a bit of crowd since it was on a Saturday, but traffic control was manageable and stroller-friendly. It is visually stunning and has quite a few neat photo ops. Take the online reviews seriously and wear pants...or at least wear shorts if you insist on wearing a dress or skirt. The first exhibit is all mirrors from top to bottom, so you guessed it - lots and lots of reflections. Not going to lie, as someone who gets very easily motion sick, it was visually over-stimulating and I occasionally felt dizzy. The balloon exhibit was definitely Zoe's favorite, but a very chaotic experience when trying to keep an eye on two excited kids among crowds.
On another night, we went to a Korean restaurant and got my craving fulfilled. Trying to feed two little kids while making sure they don't touch a hot cast-ironed skillet is a rather exhausting eating experience, my Korean spirit was happy.
"Cousins"
Later in the month, the Honekamps got into town to celebrate M's 5th birthday party. Affectionally referring to her as her "cousin", M invited Zoe to a Build-A-Bear workshop, where Zoe made her first bear, "Pink Beary". M's mom was my college roommate at Texas Tech - our families getting together like this is one of my cherished moments as we get to watch our little kids be friends and grow together. And since Zoe and Zaylee don't have cousins, this relationship feels particularly special.
Z's birthday
On the 26th, we celebrated Z turning 37 and threw a little BBQ and pool party action. We always jokingly call this day the 'prelude to Zoe's birthday' since it's only a week away from her birthday and most energy/attention seems to be spent on preparing for that. Definitely not as grand as Zoe's, but we hope that he got to enjoy his day.
Impromptu meetup at Fort Worth Zoo
Zoe got to see her friend, Audrey, again at Fort Worth Zoo when they made an impromptu appearance and invited us at the last minute. We always say 'yes'! So, the girls hung out out together for a couple of hours.
Zoe graduates from pre-ballet
Zoe started ballet as a new extracurricular activity in January, and she loved every minute of it since then. Her teacher praised her for her focus and ability to follow new steps quickly. She graduated pre-ballet level and is now advanced to ballet 1 this summer. This winter, she will have a chance to participate in a small role in the studio's annual Nutcracker show, so we are very excited about that.
Whew! That was May.