Not much in the way of significance, per se...

Life returned to normal for me yesterday.  I don't really know when the last time my life was "normal", if there really is such a thing.  What I like to think of as normal is this: Husband gets up and goes to work.  Husband leaves breakfast things out on the table.  Wife/Mother gets up and gets the kids off to school.  Mother does various "things" during the day (this may include actual exercise, tedious household chores, shopping-for purposeful things of course, or being lazy...which I reserve the right to do if I have no other "pressing obligations"), kids come home from school, kids play, everyone comes in for dinner prep and homework, the Dad comes home (emphasis on that last part.) You see, Clark went back to work yesterday.  He has been home, and I mean home, for six weeks.  And yet, I still wasn't ready for him to go.  I liked having him around.  In fact, while we talk about the new normal I would like to also emphasize that in addition to the six month deployment where he was totally and completely gone gone, he spent 8 of the previous 18 months also gone on various underways.  That, is not normal. Not in the normal world, as it were.  In the Navy it is indeed perfectly normal.  Got that? Normal.  Just thought I'd throw one more in for good measure.
The funny thing about "normal" is this.  Every time I have asked Clark in the last two weeks what his work schedule will be like, he says that he will get home at a normal time.  And then I would get a puzzled look on my face and ask what that meant.  Because you see, in all of our time of being married, he has never had a "normal" 9 to 5.  I don't really know that many people that do, but you know what I mean.  I think I am going to like being normal.  Except that there was a shooting at my husband's place of employment (again) today.  But with 20,000 employees at the Pentagon, I try to reassure myself by hoping that there are at least 19,999 other people there that might get shot before him.  That sounded less rude in my head.
Now I am done using the word "normal".

We have played for the last two weekends.  Forget this "Saturday is for chores" bit - we want to hit up all the outdoor stuff before it gets too chilly.  The first weekend we went into downtown and did the Smithsonian thing.  Last week we did a picnic and exploration of a nearby park...a huge park with bike and running trails, playgrounds, a carousel and a train.  Spencer and Sho came with us of course and it was lovely.
Then this last weekend we had our first of [hopefully] many visitors.  My older brother, Chip was in town for a Swedish Conference.  It was really fun to visit and play with him and shake the very same hand that shook hands with the very royal Queen of Sweden this week.  That sounds like a lie but it is completely true.  He shook the Queen's hand.  Right before we met up with Chip, Spencer and Sho took us to Dunbarton Oaks Garden near Georgetown.  Spencer took some very cool pictures here a few weeks ago.  The girls had fun exploring and it was quite enjoyable.  So pretty.

 With lots of convenient places to smooch.

 The girls were playing Alice in Wonderland for most of our visit.  A lot of the gardens have a very "magical" feel to them.

 I love these girls.  These four, right here.

 And we love this girl.  We are so excited and feel so lucky to live near Auntie Sho.  She loves the girls so.  And they love her right back...except for Mia who happen to be throwing a fit at this particular photo op.

 It took no time at all for the girls to love Chip.  This is him giving them all a horse ride at the same time and singing about the white horse and two little girls referred to as "fatty" and "the thick one"...or something along those lines...but it's in Swedish so their sensitive little female self images stayed intact.

 Then we played some golf.  And Sho had to stand up to really maximize her skills (it didn't help...no offense Sho. Come back for a rematch.)

 We stayed up until 3am, 3am!!! I didn't think that people our age were allowed to do that.  In fact, I didn't know my body was capable of doing that.  We were enjoying it way too much...or maybe Chip was just being nice by not reminding us that he couldn't go to sleep until we left his "bedroom" (being the nice brother that he is, he volunteered his space in the Spo Suite to the couple who wouldn't have fit so comfortably on the couch.)  On a side note: the Spo Suite will now be affectionately be referred to as the "SO" suite, as in Spencer and Sho's initials...it just sounds better and a little bit  more kitschy, which is how a vacation suite should sound.

 Then on Sunday morning I made Chip pose for his picture that will go up on the SO suite bulletin board of visitors.  He gave us "two thumbs up"...and one of those thumbs has touched the Queen of Sweden, remember.

And then in completely unrelated events, Hazel's head bounced a couple of times on our front walk.  It has reminded me of all the other horrid facial injuries brought about by the "clumsy stages" that toddlers go through.  Abby probably holds the record for the worst bumps and bruises.  I thought about posting our gallery of "worsts" but decided that I would rather not have my kids taken away by CPS.   Poor Hazel will heal and all will be well until the next time she walks into a wall or falls down while standing still.  Let's hope her coordination improves some before she hits the teen years.