In Virginia July 23-Aug 3

Highlights from our time in Virginia July 23-Aug 3

- Grandma gave Rachel her undivided attention for playing, reading stories, meals, and snuggles the whole time we were there.

- Rachel is somewhat obsessive about her most recent story or movie and will change her own name and everyone else's names to fit the characters in the story. For example, after watching part of the Madagascar movie, she spent several days answering only to Gloria and calling people around her Alex, Marty, Melman after the animal characters.  It's exhausting to keep up with her imagination and to get who is who straight.

- Jason had extra time to clean out a lot of his stuff.  Old boxes of papers, baseball cards, furniture, etc was all organized and cleaned out.  We decided to rent a UHaul trailer and bring some things back to Colorado.  We took home a ping-ping table, a chair, bunk beds, a wheelbarrow, boxes, kitchen stuff, canning jars, etc.

- We were able to get rid of some items at grandma's house via Craigslist.  One man arrived and managed to take out the huge, old, heavy chest freezer in the garage by himself as he wore a t-shirt that said "the power of one".

- Having an extra adult meant we had extra time to exercise. We each swam and ran.  Jason enjoyed a few longer runs, including a trail run from Great Falls to Sterling. Meggan was able to slowly move from walking to jogging intervals, and even got in 500 yards at the pool.  Yup, the whole workout was 500 yards.  You gotta start somewhere!

- Several friends stopped by to say hello/ meet Ava.  We had Thai food out one night with Greg, Becky, and Marilyn meddles.  The Montanas came by.  The Berthelsons came by.  etc

-We visited the national zoo and its carousel, the local pool and playgrounds, and the local rec center pool so Rachel was thrilled.

- We drove to Maryland to see Uncle Tom, Aunt Martha, cousins Taylor, Leah, and Jessica, and their dog Honey.

- In Newport News we visited great grandparents Buddy and Francis.  We toured their complex, ate at the cafe, and went out for dinner at Cracker Barrel. (For Canadians who don't know Cracker Barrel, it's a terrific southern home-style restaurant that is pretty kid friendly and serves things like baked apple slices as a side.)  

- In Williamsburg we went to water country,USA and Rachel had a blast.  It's a totally awesome water park for kids as young as Rachel.  She enjoyed slides, river rafts, a wave pool, spraying fountains.  Jason and I even got to go down two adult rides together while grandma watched the two tired girls.  ( love you, Susan!). Jason tried the scarier drop slides, and miraculously found his sunglasses/watch/wedding ring after the force of the drop pushed these items out of his Velcro pockets.

- We visited great grandparents Doug and Barbara Lord in Williamsburg.  Rachel found all sorts of toys in their house and met everyone in the complex while running around the dining room.  We are still enjoying their applesauce!

- We had some time in the evenings to play 'take off!' ... One fabulous game that we don't own (yet).

-Ava did really well with all of this.  She loves to be held, is generally very calm, and many nights will sleep with only 2-3 waking a for milk.  Rachel did really well, because she was able to play with grandma non-stop the whole time!

Pictures to come - sorry!!