Virginia

We've had such a nice week and a half here in Virginia. We've spent a lot of time with Debbie and her kids. They had us over for a cookout one night, and we went to the children's museum another day, and we've spent a few days just hanging out at her house. It's so wonderful to have a good friend who knew me well before kids, who now has kids similar ages and totally gets my mommy struggles too. And it's been great when we've spent the day together because our kids play pretty well together so we're able to visit, plus when one of us needs to make a phone call or switch the laundry the kids still have supervision.

I've been practicing my photography on her kids a little and that has been fun. Both her kids are gorgeous, and her daughter especially has been cooperative for some pictures. (A little M&M bribery may have helped! I feel like things are finally starting to come together with photography. For the last year, I've just been learning enough to see everything wrong with the pictures I'm taking but not enough to get them right. I still have a lot to learn, but now I can see a lot of things I'm doing right now too. It's so encouraging that all this time I've spent reading, studying, and practicing is starting to pay off! I've got a long way to go but I think I'm finally turning the corner. Here are a few shots I've gotten of Debbie's kids while we've been here:

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Lynchburg, VA

From Lynchburg, VA

From Lynchburg, VA

From Lynchburg, VA

Visiting with old friends

We're now in Appomattox, Virginia-an itty-bitty town in the middle of Virginia. We're visiting my college roommate Debbie and her family. She and her husband have a little girl who's just a few months younger than Ian, and a little boy who just turned one. It has been so wonderful to visit with them. We went to their church on Sunday, which was really nice. They had a great kids' program there. We went out to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, and wow, it was so nice to eat with someone else who is used to little kids! Jeremy commented about how they ate at the same pace as us-slow, with many interruptions to cater to kids. And we could have a conversation with kids climbing all over us and we all could tune out the kids and still listen to each other! I honestly think it's the first time we've gone out to eat with our kids AND other people and not felt rushed.

This morning Debbie brought the kids over to our house and everybody played with toys for awhile while Debbie and I just visited and chatted. So refreshing!! We have visited a lot of wonderful people, and I'm so thankful for their visits. But this was one of very few times when I didn't feel a pressure to have everything spotless, or feel embarrassed if the kids acted out a bit...there's just something really great about having an old friend who you trust who is also used to little kids and all the chaos that comes with them. Very freeing, and so wonderful to catch up with her. I'm glad we'll be around here for a few weeks.

Canoe ride

Last night we finally did something I've been wanting to do for awhile-take the kids out on a boat. This was the perfect place for it, since they had canoes for rent (instead of pedal boats where we can't see the kids), and the river that we went out on is huge and calm, and less than 5 feet deep for a mile out from shore. We had such a nice little ride around. Ian loved it and wants to do it again for his birthday. Rinnah was nervous at first but quickly warmed up to the idea and nearly fell asleep during the ride. Unfortunately we don't have pictures because I didn't dare bring my camera out in a canoe with two kids who don't sit still.

After the canoe ride we went over to the playground and the kids played and dug in the sand for awhile. It was such a relaxing evening. We are really enjoying our time here in Virginia Beach.

Fun with friends

We have had such a great time here in Virginia Beach!

On Monday we met up with two of my online buddies, Laura and April, and their kids. Connor and Luke are the same age as Ian and Grayson just turned one. We went to the Living Museum, which was part history museum with a dinosaur exhibit and part zoo, with tons of live animals to see. We had a wonderful time with everyone and the kids got along well.

Then tonight April and her boys, and Laura and Luke, all came over. The boys played with the train set for a long time while we visited, then we played outside for a bit and had a campfire cookout for dinner, complete with s'mores. After dinner we went out to the river beach here at the campground and the kids just had a blast playing in the water and the sand. We had so much fun together.

Alright, pics are up!

All of us at the museum: from left, Grayson, Connor, and April, then Luke and Laura, then Ian, Rinnah, and me

From Virginia Beach, VA

Ian, Rinnah, and Luke digging for dinosaur bones

From Virginia Beach, VA

Connor joining in

From Virginia Beach, VA

Ian as a turtle

From Virginia Beach, VA

Rinnah didn't want to climb in the shell but she thought it was great that she could be a turtle!

From Virginia Beach, VA

Ian and Connor controlling the robotic dinosaur

From Virginia Beach, VA

All the kids

From Virginia Beach, VA

Somebody said something funny

From Virginia Beach, VA

Luke, Rinnah, and Ian playing ring around the rosy

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Virginia Beach, VA

Luke, Connor, and Rinnah playing

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Virginia Beach, VA

Luke hugging a tree

From Virginia Beach, VA

The kids playing outside after our picnic lunch

From Virginia Beach, VA

And then from last night:

Grayson and Luke playing with trains

From Virginia Beach, VA

Connor and Grayson

From Virginia Beach, VA

Connor driving a train

From Virginia Beach, VA

All the boys playing

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Virginia Beach, VA

After playing with the trains, we had popsicles and went to the playground

From Virginia Beach, VA

Grayson

From Virginia Beach, VA

This is the highest and longest Ian has ever gone on the big swings-he was doing great!

From Virginia Beach, VA

Grayson wasn't sure what he thought of the sand

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Virginia Beach, VA

Luke and Connor on the slide

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Virginia Beach, VA

Then they spotted the camera

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Virginia Beach, VA

Our cookout dinner was delicious-hot dogs over the fire, burgers on the grill, baked beans, deviled eggs, fruit salad, chips, and jello

From Virginia Beach, VA

From Virginia Beach, VA

Then we made s'mores! Some of the kids hadn't had s'mores before and all the kids were so excited to roast marshmallows!

From Virginia Beach, VA

Digging in

From Virginia Beach, VA

Can you tell he enjoyed it?

From Virginia Beach, VA

Love that hair!

From Virginia Beach, VA

After s'mores we went down to the river beach area. Here's Luke swimming at sunset

From Virginia Beach, VA

Ian and Rinnah at sunset

From Virginia Beach, VA

Rinnah was so excited that we let her climb in, jeans and all!

From Virginia Beach, VA

Luke and Connor

From Virginia Beach, VA

Luke was such a little fish!

From Virginia Beach, VA

Even Grayson got his feet wet

From Virginia Beach, VA

We had such a fantastic time! When it was time for his friends to go, they hadn't even started their cars and Ian was already asking when they could come over again. The boys really did great together!

Rinnah's birthday

Today Rinnah turned 2!

We had a fabulous day. We started off with donuts for breakfast. The kids loved adding their own sprinkles.

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

After Ian helped me wrap Rinnah's presents, we headed out to a blueberry farm. Since that was one of her favorite things we've done, we wanted to take her again. She was very excited. Both kids really enjoyed picking (and eating!) the berries.

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

We came home for lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches (Rinnah's request) and of course plenty of blueberries. After naps, we talked to Grandma Fox on Skype and then went to the putt-putt to play minigolf.

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

Rinnah had more fun throwing her ball and jumping off the obstacles than actually golfing.

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

After golfing we headed to this restaurant right next door

From Rinnah's birthday

where the kids had some tasty hot dogs topped with pickles and Jeremy and I had some burgers.

From Rinnah's birthday

After dinner we headed back home to make s'mores over a campfire. Rinnah had picked out strawberry marshmallows and they actually made really good s'mores with our dark chocolate! We also talked to Grandmother & Granddaddy Weatherford over Skype.

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

From Rinnah's birthday

We really had a fantastic day, and we haven't even gotten to the cake or presents yet! We'll have to finish the celebrations tomorrow!