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I'm reflecting on a nice long weekend, despite rolling thunderclouds mixed with searing sun.

First off, I took this Memorial Day weekend to fertilize before it rained, shop for outdoor plants and purchase a hummingbird feeder with pre-made nectar.

So far, no hummingbirds have shown up.

Laura's mother Anne showed up amidst the showers, travelling on her way up from Florida toward her summer home in Virginia. Grandma Anne knows just what to do with Caroline, our little book-loving chatter box!

The true highlight of my weekend was peering into the back of my outdoor grill to check in on my family of Carolina Wrens who'd built a nest this spring. With a flashlight in one hand and a camera in the other, I snapped this shot of the mother sitting on her five eggs.

I know someone who's met the President!

Being one of the dozen or so people who don't use Facebook,  for better or worse, I'm not privy to the nitty gritty updates of everyone I've ever shared a yearbook with.

But this news was so far-reaching, it was in traditional media outlets -- one of my fraternity brothers, Cody, was involved in a gag that had him dressed-up as a pirate for a photo with President Obama.

First, an old picture from college:

Then...

Read about the full story in CBS news here.

Plus... how cool is it that the White House has a Flickr Account to archive this stuff?

Go Cody!

It's been 6 months since we've seen my brother Peter and his family, so we jumped at the chance to visit them at Wrightsville Beach this weekend.

The last time we visited Pete and Katie at the beach was last July, when Caroline was just 3 months old.

Caroline was a little afraid of the cold water at first, and preferred staying in her covered beach chariot drinking apple juice from a straw. Ben was more adventurious, but was hit in the head by some hippies playing frisbee.

The other big happening was a strawberry farm with homemade ice cream.

The rest of the time we hung out at the Rippy's beach house with the kids, enjoying the family time.

For the second time this spring, a pair of birds have turned my grill into a nest.

Good thing I opened the lid this time before turning on the flame. Last time I had to put out a fire of leaves and pine needles before cooking dinner.

So much for a drought huh? This year we are already getting tons of rain and I love it.

My good friend from Fairfield, Connecticut arrived yesterday. Tim was also the best man in my wedding. Our first priority was to go to a shooting range this weekend.

Tim is an "experienced shooter," and I had never fired a gun before.

It was awesome.