May 7: Don't bet on the horses (or do).

Perfect Saturday.  Good food, great friends, beautiful weather, meaningful family time.  Perfect Saturday. For us, days like this come together organically. They're not overly planned, no pressure to be a certain place at a certain time,  plenty of activity but not overloaded.  It's the type of day that you reflect on and say "we couldn't have planned it any better", which is true, because if you had tried to plan it, it wouldn't have been as lovely as it was.

Started with breakfast at the  Hamilton.  This used to be a weekly event, but over the past few months it's been hard to make it out of the house on Saturday mornings.  I'm either working or we have some big, elaborate plans that keep us from the most delicious eggs and toast that have ever graced a plate.  We met up with the Witmer clan (some of our besties) and shared a perfect Saturday morning meal.  Henry loves spending time with Benjamin, and this mom is just tickled to see her kid enjoying a friendship so much.  Steph captured a really sweet buddy moment on her phone.

 

Ahh!  How cute are these kids?? How great is this photo??  Whyyy is Steph so stinkin' talented?  (and, she is...let me just tell you.  I am always blown away by her skill and creativity. Winning at life.  True story.)

After the 'Milt, we roamed the streets of Carlisle enjoying the sights and sounds of Amani Festival.  This is an annual downtown event which is always nice, but this year I felt like it was really good.  I don't know what it was that had made it better than it had been in previous years, but I noticed it.  After an hour of festival fun we kicked back and relaxed at home.  Low key, cat-nappy, play in the warm sun and entertain happy kids.  Bliss.

The night was spent at the McDougall home where we gathered with the Krohns (lifelong besties) for the Kentucky Derby.  Watching the Derby, placing bets on the horses, drinking mint juleps and eating good food has been a tradition that we've shared for many years.  It is one of those things I grew up with and it's so fun to share it now with my own kids.  Alice could have cared less, obviously, but Hen was a different story.  He got SO pumped about betting on a horse and then rooting for that horse to win.  When "Derby Kitten" did not win (came in 13th, I believe) I was worried we might have a situation to deal with.  Instead, Eric (who did win the dough) gave Henry a dollar from the pool and a celebratory high five.  Having no idea that this was just for fun, Hen became convinced that his horse had won the Derby and proceeded to cheer and root loudly for the next ten minutes or so (included a really hilarious fist pump).  

Meg caught this on video.  It only captures about a tenth of how hilarious it was to witness in person:

*the title of this post has a story to it.  When I was younger, Sundays meant a few things--definitely church, possibly donuts, and often, visits from the Gilroy family (another one of our dearest and oldest family friends).  On one of these Sunday visits, (Uncle) Hubert asked me to take the little kids on a walk around the lake near our house.  I whined about it b/c I was being a brat and didn't feel like babysitting. He said "Molly, if you do this, I'll give you a tip."  Never one to turn down a potential profit, I took the kids outside to go on a walk. Upon returning, I marched up to Hubert, extended my hand, palm up, and said "How about that tip!"  He turned and looked at me square in the face, cracked a smile (such a quick wit and sense of humor has Uncle Hubert), and said (almost laughing) "I'll give ya a tip!  Don't bet on the horses!!"  Every time I think of that story I find myself chuckling.  Couldn't pass up the opportunity to share it.