Hello Monday and Hello July!!

I am linking up with Heather, Lindsay, and Johannah for Hello Monday!

We had a lot of fun this weekend! On Friday, Jeff and I took the boys to TPC Potomac for the Quicken Loans PGA tournament. We all loved it!  Kids tickets were free and there was a bunch for kids to do there.  Jack went last year and this was Luke’s first time at a golf tournament.  Tiger Woods and Ricky Fowler were the two golfers that the boys were most excited to see. They both had early tee times so we hit the road around 5:50 am and made it to the 10th tee by 7:30. It wasn’t very crowded but as Ricky’s group and then Tiger’s group approached the tee the crowds grew quickly.

After they teed off, we hustled over to the 12th green and got a great spot to watch. The boys sat right under the rope and watched a few groups come through.

Then we hustled over to the 1st tee to watch Ricky’s group and Tiger’s group come through before lunch.  It was a really hot day! So hot in fact, that the course was offering buy one, get one free water and water filling stations.  We certainly went through a bunch of Aquafina bottles!

After those two groups came through we headed over to the fan village to get some lunch.  I had the most delicious steak sandwich from Ruths Chris. We lucked into a table in front of the cooling mist fans! After lunch Jeff and Jack headed back out on the course and Luke and I headed over to the TGR foundations Learning Lab.

Luke had so much fun in the Learning Lab! The first thing he did was an engineering challenge to build the tallest tower he could using a box of tongue depressors, small wooden cubes, and Dixie cups.  He probably could’ve worked on that for hours!

They also had a machine that carved letters into ball markers. Luke made one for himself, Jack, and Jeff. Then he made a flashlight using parts from a 3D printer.

After that he moved on to the giant games.  We played Connect 4, Tic Tac Toe, ring toss, and putt putt.

Then we met an artist who created a coloring book sharing native plant and animal species to the golf course.  It was very informative and the artist was so engaging and knowledgeable.  Apparently she has been working with the PGA to make these books for a few other tournament courses.

They had a caricature artist and Luke wanted to have his picture done.

Jack and Jeff came over to meet us and we headed home around 1:30. I was pretty impressed that the kids put in a solid 6+ hours of golf watching. We had such a great day! I have to say, Jeff Parsons really knows how to navigated a PGA tournament with kids!  He led us to exactly the right places!

We came home, I ran through the grocery store, and then we headed over to the pool for our swim team pep rally. Before every home swim meet, we have a pep rally. The kids do cheers, we all eat dinner, there is an activity (scavenger hunt, etc.) for the kids, and the parents set up for the swim meet. This one was really well attended and we were finished setting up within 45 minutes.

I left the house around 9:15 pm to go get my sister Annie from the airport.  Saturday was my mom’s birthday and Annie flew into surprise her. We got home around 11 and went straight to bed!

On Saturday morning, Jack had a baseball game at 8 and Luke had a swim meet at 8. So Jeff went to baseball and Annie and I went to the swim meet. It felt like we waited forever for my parents to get there to surprise my mom for her birthday! While we were waiting Luke got to help sing the National Anthem (so super cute) and swam his first race, freestyle.

Mom and Dad got there and it was a great surprise! Jack’s team lost his baseball game, ending the season, but he came over to the swim meet.  Both boys had a great meet and swam fast!

To celebrate Mom’s birthday we went to dinner at Charleston. We went for her birthday a few years ago and all of us were looking forward to going back.  This time we decided to try the Chef’s Menu with wine pairings.  We were not disappointed! Our first course was a lobster soup paired with sherry.  I am not a sherry drinker, but the sommelier said that it was the best wine for the course so I gave it a shot.  The soup was amazing!! Our second course was scallops over riced cauliflower.  It was paired with a Chardonnay. The food was fantastic and the Chardonnay was amazing!! Our third course was branzino, a Mediterranean white fish, with Chateauneuf-du-pape, a white wine.  This was fabulous too!  I forgot to take pictures of our first few courses, but our table was getting pretty full.

 

After our third course, the chef came out into the dining room briefly. She was so kind and took a picture with Mom.

Our fourth course was a southern chopped salad paired with a Pinot noir rose.  The salad was great and the dressing was light and delicious.  The wine was tasty too! I’ve never had a Pinot noir rose, but I can add that to my wine list now.

Our fifth course was seriously amazing!! We had perfectly cooked beef tenderloin with Uvaggio, an amazing red wine.  This was everyone’s favorite course of the dinner.

Then we had dessert. There were five choices for dessert, so that was pretty perfect! We each ordered something different and shared.  The five options were passion fruit creme brûlée, an abstract blueberry tart, a white chocolate bomb, a flourless chocolate cake, and a raspberry and chocolate pot de creme.  They also brought mini pistachio and mint macaroons and a raspberry gelee.

That was one amazing dinner!

We all walked away perfectly satiated, but not stuffed.

Here we are 6 years ago, after one crazy train ride for Annie, a wild storm, and a delicious dinner!

Sunday was pretty low key and HOT! The day was projected to be about 99 with a heat index in the 100s.  Jeff got up early and played golf.  He had a great time but it was hot!  After that Jeff and Luke headed to his mom’s house to visit with cousins that were in town.  I took Jack to a birthday party and then met up with Mom, Dad, and Annie at the pool.  The pool was really the only place to be on such a hot day! Jeff, Jack, and Luke joined us later and we caught up until Annie had to head home.  It is always fun to be with Annie and sad when she has to go!  I am so glad she come up to surprise mom and celebrate her birthday!  We had a great weekend.

Needless to say, there was not much time for reading this weekend, but hopefully there will be some book time in my future.  I am loving By Invitation Only by Dorothea Benton Frank.  I am looking forward to a fun 4th of July and great pool days ahead!  Have a great week full of sunshine and books!

☀️ 📚 😎 🇺🇸 ❤️