Settling In

We've been in the house in Norfolk about two weeks. Boxes are unpacked, curtains are hung, meals made at home have resumed.  Beyond that, there is not one glimmer of a normal routine on the horizon. But what is most important is that we are all healthy, the kids are happy, and it seems as though we have chosen EXACTLY the right neighborhood to move into.  A quick update on the craziness of the last month and the potential excitement in the month to come:

*  Our week at the Outer Banks was awesome.  Both brothers flew in from Colorado, Jules was in from LA plus my parents and two dogs joined the fun.  A few photos are below.

*  Baby cookie and I are doing really, really well.  I've found a doctor here that I like and trust, and we took a family tour of the hospital where I will deliver.  The doctor even thinks I will be able to make it into my 39th week, so we're shooting for early early August for delivery.  I am clearly carrying a future triathlete, or at least a strong swimmer.  Two months ago she was in normal, head down position.  Two weeks ago she was breech.  This morning she was back to head-down.  PLEASE girl!  We are in our ninth month here and you are HUGE.  How in the world are you spinning back flips in there?

*  The neighborhood, as I mentioned above, is a dream.  Within three days of our arrival, two neighbors had delivered plates of cookies and a new friend just dropped off a hot loaf of banana bread tonight; we had met about 1/3 of all the neighbors on the block along with their dogs and kids; Mils and Si were letting themselves into our new friends' house across the street (they have two kids and really awesome parents who have just adopted our family); we spent hours at a spur of the moment cupcake party on our neighbors' lawn while Mils and Si disappeared into a pack of 15 kids running wild around us; and it goes on.  A new friends' son mowed our lawn; we've been invited to barbecues and book clubs.  I guess I continue to be surprised when kind, kind strangers choose to invest their time and friendship in us, knowing we'll be moving on in a few years.  It's just touching, really.

*  All of the above gives me encouragement for our journey over the next year when Christopher will eventually deploy.  He left tonight join the carrier for a few weeks of training while it's underway.  My parents are down to help with the wild ones, so we'll make an adventure out of it.  (Not to fear...it's looking like he'll be home in plenty of time for baby's arrival)  Big plans for the holiday weekend include staying in the air conditioning as much as possible and maybe catching a movie or two.  Gotta dream big!

And the trashy tradition continues: Some quality time with Uncle Monkey and US Magazine.

We loved this little private patch of beach on the Sound.

Casey got to come with us and LOVED every minute!

Exhausted.

Wait...did someone say ice cream?

A fun night at "pirate golf" -- putt putt golf.

Winding Down, Spinning Up

With just hours left until our belongings are packed into boxes (movers come in the morning), I'll share a few of our May adventures.  As usual, the race to squeeze in lots of memories is real.  We have loved our time in Charlottesville, and despite my expectations, have made some really sweet friendships.

The month in photos...

Strawberry picking with the Gullo's (My friend Summer is married to a Coast Guard JAG colleague of Christopher's and mom to four little ones, including one-year-old twins.  Wowzers.  She's fun.)

Check out that beautiful Virginia scenery!

Just a cute photo from an afternoon birthday party with some friends:

Mother's Day.  It was awesome.  Breakfast in bed.  Wonderful gifts (handmade and otherwise).  A super fun afternoon at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond:

My college friend Sandy left alone to wrangle our kids.  We met Sandy and her two sweet ones at the Richmond Children's Museum one morning:

 
A sunny Sunday afternoon at a UVA baseball game:

Millie's Preschool Graduation ceremony:

A sneaky playgroup-turned-baby shower that the ladies from my CBS bible study group threw for me last week.  I am still so touched by this.  Most of us were strangers when we showed up to our first meeting last September.  Nine months later we are sweet friends. What a thoughtful, fun, generous thing to do for our new baby girl!

This photo is classic...we asked Millie to take it.  She forgot to give us a warning.  Hilarious.

You think these kids are ready for Baby Cookie to arrive?

There you have it.  Last photos from a magical year.  We're off on a three week odyssey of packing, moving, beach-going and finally settling into the new house in Norfolk.  I'll check back in when the dust clears!  And oh yeah...I'm about 30 weeks now and really hoping to make it to 38 before the c-section.  That puts us towards the end of July to get life back in order before Baby Cookie joins us.

My Little...Adventurer???

If you know Millie, you know that she has a TON of fantastic qualities about her.  And like me, you'd probably never list "adventurous" or "physically courageous" among them.  Let me tell you, her school field-trip to Watermarks Camp last week showed me an entirely new side of my girl.

For example:

She was the first to low-crawl thru the woods.

ZIP LINE!  Not even kidding here.  Millie is up really high...that rope is probably 20 feet off the ground at its high end.  This is one of the camp assistants getting her psyched up for the journey.  

The catch.  I am stunned that this happened.  Not only did she go down this thing without tears, she was the very first volunteer...she nearly ran to climb up the ladder.  Later at home when I told Christopher about it, the dad AND the lawyer in him just couldn't believe there wasn't some harness system to keep these kids attached to the wire.  Nope...just awesome bravery by the four year olds.

The kids even got to go canoeing.  Once again, Christopher insisted that 1) Millie's life-jacket be double-secured by a professional (could she wear two of them???) and 2) My pregnant self should not even attempt to get in that small boat, what with my questionable sense of balance and all.  So Mils went out with a teacher and another mom and two of her classmates.

There was fishing.  Mainly sitting and picking grass.  As Millie explained to the well-prepared dad who brought fishing poles, a tackle box AND live worms, "We're just not big fishers in our family."

Getting harnessed-up for the climbing wall.

She was more into the dangling, less into the climbing part of rock-climbing.

And this is where my four year old flashed forward 10 years right in front of my eyes.  Tether ball.  She looked so grown up to me here, laughing and playing and running around with her friends.  Man, I must be pregnant if scenes like this bring tears to my eyes.

What a fun day at camp!

Easter 2011

We spent a fun, beautiful Easter with the Greers and Hardys in Delaware.  It was a weekend packed with activities...an egg hunt for the kids, the traditional Easter Basket hide-and-seek, egg decorating, and lots and lots of great cousin and family time.  We hit church on Sunday morning and then gathered together for a great meal.  TONS of fun pictures from our time together...

The girls in their "Saturday" outfits!  Matching dresses that even came with dresses for their dolls!

The whole gang, minus Tim who is taking the photo.

Mils with some Easter basket loot: straw glasses along with a crazy straw cup.

Rumpass in Bumpass

Seriously.  That is the name of the triathlon Christopher did a few weeks ago.  I was troubled because they insisted on spelling "rumpus" wrong, but really, this should have been the least of my worries.  The reason the race organizers were able to schedule a triathlon so early in the year here in Virginia is because the lake where the swim was held is warmer than normal because its waters are the cooling mechanism for the nearby nuclear power plant.  WHAT???  Seems crazy to me, but I've got a lot on my plate so I couldn't rally the effort to look into the safety of this.  And then when race morning dawned, we were looking at 52 degrees and POURING rain.  We packed up our oatmeal, loaded into the car and trudged on.  Luckily, it only really poured for the swim portion of the race (the kids and I stayed in the car for as long as possible).  My favorite quote of the day was from one of the volunteers way out at an aid station along the bike route: "Man.  I hope someone tells us if there's a tornado today."  Sure enough, tornadoes hit all over Virginia this day, but luckily the race was over and everyone was safely off the course.

My favorite part of the day, however, was reconnecting with Sybil and Greg, our neighbors from Capitol Hill.  Greg is a big time cyclist and Sybil's a big time photographer and good sport, so it seemed like a good place for us to meet up for the day.  In the end we had a great time together, dodging raindrops, jumping smack into the middle of puddles, and high-fiving Daddy at every sighting during his transitions.  After the race we took a quick walk around the UVA grounds (aka the campus) before they headed back up to DC.  Sadly, I left the photography to Sybil, so I don't have any pictures of them.  And I am a bit sad about this because every time I turned around Si was hugging Sybil and Mils was grabbing Greg's hand.  Sweet how quickly the kids remembered and fell back in love with these great friends.