Last row out

It is FREEZING here in Norfolk. I hear it is cold everywhere, but I feel like winter has slapped us in the faces with its arrival. Determined to keep fall alive, I spearheaded one last boat outing last weekend. It wasn't THAT cold, and besides that's why we have hats! Getting into the boat is a bit trickier now that you really don't want to get wet, and keeping the hats on with the wind is also a problem. Our last row out lasted about 9 minutes. Oh well. Looking forward to the spring. . . .

This is what we see everyday from our house before day turns to night. Have I mentioned before how much we love it here?

Halloween

I despise Halloween. I'm not sure why it has been deemed a holiday for children because it is anything but. Creepy masks, frightening porches, ghosts, and loads of sugar??? Any mother would agree that this is NOT a holiday for kids. . . or at least for pre-schoolers. We tried trick or treating for the first time this year, and it bombed. At one point, our kids were paralyzed with fear at the edge of a driveway, viciously shaking their heads indicating that they were NOT going towards that house with spiderwebs, scary music, and a sketchy clown handing out candy. We retreated and found a "harvest festival" at a nearby church. sigh. . . . twas a fun event with nice people, CUTE costumes, games and candy. Call me conservative, call me a party pooper, but my kids had a blast!

Our Halloween was made even MORE fun because we had my sister's family in town with us! Loved having them here, and the cousins had a ball together.

Have I told you that we have a giant mermaid statue in our front yard??? This was taken from the back of her. I'll get a picture in the next few days of her frontside. . . .

Burkes Garden

I'm slowly catching up on the blog. Thanks for your patience! Here are some pictures from our trip to Burkes Garden, VA. John's family has a house in this SW Virginia mountain valley. John remembers flying there as a small boy with his granddaddy and now has a memory of taking his own family here. It truly is one of the most beautful places on earth. Click HERE to see even more pics from the trip.

San Francisco

I know, I know. . . it's been too long since I posted last. We have had a FUN but busy October. I have lots of fun pictures to post, but only a few hours in the day of free time. I am NOT one of those moms who blogs with all her free time!

So, back to early October. . . John attended a conference in San Francisco, and I got to tag along. HUGE thanks to Grammy & Pop Pop (john's mom & dad) who (i won't just say watched) played with, fed, transported, read to, bathed, entertained and loved on our kids while we were gone. We could not have had this great time without them! I put a slew of pictures on flickr here, but posted a few on the blog. We loved everything about our trip. Highlights. . . . fresh, organic food EVERYWHERE, seeing the Blue Angels flying overhead as we crossed the Golden Gate bridge, uninterrupted days with no children, experiencing the diversity of California, and walking everywhere.