Better late than never!

Luke's 2 Year Pictures! Birthday in July, pictures in September. Oh well. He hasn't grown that much in 2 months! I had been taking the boys to Sears for their studio pictures, but this time tried a new place in Blacksburg, Clix. I like it much better. A bit pricier, but probably worth it. Now if I can just get my sister to do outdoor family photos sometime this fall I'll be set!

W&M Girls Weekend 2010

I am blessed with amazing girlfriends. I have been one of the fortunate few who have been lucky enough to maintain friendships with some of my best college girlfriends throughout the years. We began college 17 years ago together this month. Five of us have always gotten together at least once a year, but this year we were able to enjoy a larger group with 3 of our other sorority sisters joining us! It was a fabulous weekend! We decided on a relaxing weekend in wine country (not Sonoma but rather the Wintergreen area - fit the budget a little better :-) We lucked out with Clare's aunt owning a condo at Wintergreen and were able to stay there for the weekend. We also got lucky (well, actually technically I guess Schmiel was the one who got lucky - wink, wink) when we found out Schmiel was pregnant and could, therefore, be our designated driver! I think we have yet to take a trip without someone being pregnant. Not sure what we're going to do for drivers after we all finish having babies. Our only regret for the weekend is that it just might not have been long enough. But many thanks to the mothers and husbands who kept our children while we went out and had fun!

We started the trip at Blenheim (Dave Matthew's vineyard). Dave was popular when we began school together so I think more than anything we were all just curious. In retrospect this was actually my favorite of the ones we visited. Very laid back. Good wine, I thought. Not very commercial.
Here we are: (from left) Emily, Juliet, Clare, Jen, Kelly, Cathy, Kim, Jenn Schmiel
Dinner at the golf club at Wintergreen.

A few girls decided to go on a real hike Saturday morning. Kim, Juliet, and I decided to go check out the shops in the village. So....we followed the signs to the village. I think we probably should have just donned our hiking boots and tagged along with the other group because here was the "shortest and most scenic route" to the village from our condo:

Lunch al fresca at King Family vineyards. Beautiful location. Polo grounds on-site. Cathy had arranged for a private tour for us in the tasting room. Yummy! And fun!

Clare and KimWe landed at Veritas last. Nice setup. Good space both indoors and outdoors.

Lovely views.
Complimentary chickens. To watch, not eat. Have no idea how they enhance a vineyard, but I guess somehow they do.

Just lounging after a tasting.

Spray Park in Lynchburg

While Steve was away for the weekend we also drove into Lynchburg to celebrate Peyton's birthday. Before a little party at the house, we took all the kids to the new spray park in Lynchburg. They really loved it!

Here's the birthday girl!

Morning at the Duck Pond

Steve was away one weekend so to kill some time one morning I took the boys to the Duck Pond. I took my "real" camera which I hadn't used in a while and forgot how much better the pictures are with it:

Mack?

Mack's person hygiene somehow got away from us. He's getting older and can't groom himself as well as he used to. It seemed like within a week he went from having a mat or two that we needed to brush out to being completely tangled. So.....we ended up at the groomers and with a cat who went from 4 inch fur to half inch fur. He actually feels really nice - like velvet. But he does look a little funny. We all practically fell over laughing at him when he emerged from the cat carrier. His look pretty much says it all...

I don't know if it was the smelly cat shampoo or the haircut itself, but Gabe didn't recognize Mack when we brought him home. Even when I put tuna down for the cats to eat, Gabe wouldn't go near it as long as Mack was around. Poor Mack...the family laughs at him then his brother won't come near him.

Peaches!

When we began landscaping our yard we decided that we wanted a few "real" trees so we added two sizeable maples. But we also wanted some practical trees that would possibly bear fruit. So we planted 2 plus trees, 2 apple trees, and 2 peach trees. Surprisingly, in only their second year, the peach trees actually produced fruit. Not much. But enough to pick a few to taste...

I think it's important for the kids to know how food grows and where it comes from. We've enjoyed having the fruit trees in the yard, local berry patches to visit, and also visiting some neighbors who have fairly sizeable gardens. Grayson's new obsession is with picking corn. We drive past the corn fields every day as we drive onto campus. We've had lots of discussions about how the corn grows and when it's ready to pick. He got so excited when the tassels finally appeared, "Mommy - the corn has tassels today - can we go pick it?" Unfortunately teaching a 3 year old about property and boundaries is more difficult.