Happy Birthday Emilia!

This past Sunday, one of close family friends turned 2! We had a wonderful time celebrating on Saturday morning at the new town square area at Reston Town Center with friends, delicious food and fun music. Rocknoceros (a very popular children's group) was playing that morning. It was a perfect morning and fun way to celebrate. Happy Birthday Emilia! We can't believe you are already 2 years old!

Charlottesville Weekend

We packed up the mini-van and drove down to Charlottesville Friday afternoon to spend the weekend with Dan's brother, Ryan, and his family. Nathan loves playing with his cousins Carter and Isabelle, and soon enough, Andrew will too. It was another amazing July weekend with low humidity, so we literally spent the whole day on Saturday outside! We started out the morning with a trip to the pool.






After the pool, we drove to the Corner and had a picnic lunch on the lawn. The kids enjoyed bagels and cream cheese from Bodos and the adults enjoyed sandwiches from Take-It-Away (yummy!). Now if only both places would open up locations here in Northern Virginia. The kids had a blast running around on the lawn and we even got to catch up with another friend, Angie and two of her children.





On the drive back to their house, Mindy and I stopped at Arch's to pick up some frozen yogurt treats for the adults (the kids were supposed to be napping). Back at the house, Nathan, Carter & Isabelle loved playing outside on the playground and riding bikes down the driveway. The kids were so tired on Saturday night that we had all three bathed, in bed and asleep by 8 pm! The adults then enjoyed pizza from Crozet Pizza with wine and beer. It was just the perfect weekend!!



PS - For all you UVA alumni, is your mouth watering??? We sure hit some of the best food spots all in one day!! Now back to the gym and my "sensible" diet so I can rebuild my muscles and lose some of this baby fat!!

Happy Birthday Laura!

On June 24th, our friend Laura Hill turned one! We enjoyed a fun time at her party the weekend before. Check out Nathan with all of the ladies!

Carnival at Dulles Town Center

On Sunday evening, June 28th, we went with our friends to the carnival at Dulles Town Center Mall. Dan and I cannot even count how many festivals and such Nathan has been to in the past 3 years. Nathan LOVES the rides and constantly asks us "why the festabull had to go bye-bye?"

Here's Nathan enjoying a ride on an ATV...


and Clara on a Jet Ski...


and Emilia on an ATV....


and all the kids and their daddies on the big slide.

Introducing...... Super Nathan

We've noticed that Nathan is really beginning to embrace imaginative play and is starting to show some interest in superheros. Thanks to a McDonalds Happy Meal, he knows that the Green Goblin is not a nice guy. Next time we go the New York City, Nathan wants to ride the subway train with Spiderman and Batman. "But the Green Goblin cannot ride the train because he is not a nice boy."

He also recently received a big brother gift that was perfect for him at this stage and perfect for us for a photograph opportunity. Here's SUPER NATHAN........

Friday Night at (in) the Fountains

The weather here in Virginia has been unusually pleasant for July. The humidity has been low and there's been a nice breeze to cool the heat of the sun. We took advantage of this beautiful weather and met up with the Hills at the fountain in Lansdowne for a picnic dinner and lots of fun in the fountain for Nathan and Clara. Laura even got to enjoy the water a bit. Maybe next year Andrew will also get in on the fun.

Happy 4th of July

God Bless America, land that we love, stand behind her and guide her...