August Activities

We stuck fairly close to home during most of the month of August, with Little Noodle's impending arrival slowing us down.  But that didn't mean we didn't have tons of fun!  We worked on Virginia's bike riding skills, did indoor tent making and camping, visited with local friends, and had lots of fun around the house.

First big girl bike ride with the pedals added!

Push off from Daddy

Overnight indoor tent camp-out with Daddy in Virginia's room.

Princess Virginia playing at a friend's house.

Loving on the kitten at friend Sophie's house.

Meeting the daughter of one of daddy's childhood friends

We also managed to do two smaller road trips, staying for a weekend in mid-August with the Argyris family at their cabin in Lake Tahoe and then going to Stinson Beach for a day over Labor Day Weekend.  In Tahoe, Virginia had a blast going tubing behind a motorboat for the first time.

Loving the Donner Lake boat ride near Tahoe.

Ready for her first tube ride 

Speed demon!

Virginia with our Tahoe hosts, the Argyrises.

The Harveys enjoy Tahoe Donner.

Virginia took this picture herself of all the adults!  We were impressed.

At Stinson, Virginia visited with her favorite friend in the world, Griffin Guidi and generally was up to no good.  We loved visiting with the Griffinger and Guidi families, as we have done many times at Stinson over the years.

Up to no good with the Guidi Boys.

Showering Little Noodle

Several of my Alameda mom friends were kind enough to host a shower in August to celebrate Little Noodle's impending arrival.  We went over to Danielle's home for a fantastic afternoon event filled with games, presents and... Southern food!  Little Noodle especially loved the shrimp and grits and red velvet cookies.

Since Virginia especially wanted to participate, we made it a mother-daughter shower.  It was so cute to see Virginia with all her best buddies.  The girls were also a big help when it came to present-opening.

Thanks to all my sweet friends and to Danielle for hosting.  Little Noodle now has lots of adorable outfits that we can't wait to try.

Wonder what could be in there?

Virginia and GayGay at the shower.

Silly girls at the shower. 

Princess pose at the shower.

Lots of present opening helpers.

Virginia Visits Virginia, Part 2

Our Saturday in Virginia was full of fun activities, but we didn't stop there!  We awoke Sunday morning bright and early and drove a half hour from Lynchburg to tiny Arrington, Virginia, where Trinity Episcopal Church is located.  Trinity was our church when we lived in Lovingston, Virginia during my third year of law school (2004-2005), and we could not wait to show off Miss V to all of our friends there.  Virginia behaved beautifully during the service, and then joined everyone for coffee hour and a little playing on the swing set behind the church.

Thomas and Bernie McGinnis at Trinity:

Virginia took our photo (again) outside of Trinity:

After church, we drove a few minutes up the road to our old stomping grounds in Lovingston, where we reunited with our former neighbors, the Boor Family and Larry Wells.  Larry was the director of the funeral home next door to the house we rented from him on Main Street and was a great neighbor and friend.  Travis Boor worked with Larry and lived across the street from us with his wife Candy.  When we lived there, Travis and Candy had two young sons, Myles and Wesley, but we were amazed to find that they had all but grown up!  In addition, a fifth Boor family member had been added, so we were thrilled to meet little Bryn (1).  Virginia adored having a little girl to take care of during our visit.  We visited with everyone and ate lunch at our favorite Lovingston pizza joint, Vito's.

Our old house (right) next to the Wells-Sheffield Funeral Chapel:

Virginia meets the newest Boor family addition, Bryn:

The boys at the Boor house (Myles, Larry, Thomas & Travis):

Thomas with Travis & Candy:

The Boor and Harvey kids: Bryn, Myles, Wesley, & Virginia:

In the afternoon, we loaded up the car yet again and headed for Charlottesville, where we met up with Steve, Yancey, and Finley Haas.  Steve and Thomas were best buddies at UVA, and the Haas family now lives in Richmond, so they kindly made the trip to see us.  Finley is a year and a half older than Virginia, and she and Virginia became fast friends as well.  We had a nice dinner and playtime on the Downtown Mall in Cville with them, and then retired to the Omni for a swim and a good night's sleep.

Virginia and Finley, clearly up to no good chasing their dads:

 Dads & daughters: Steve, Finley, Virginia, & Thomas:

On Monday morning, we had a few hours to kill before our flight home, so we took Virginia to see UVA.  We had lunch at a famous greasy spoon, The White Spot, on The Corner, and then bought lots of UVA gear for Virginia and us.  Then it was back to California for us!

Silly girl at the White Spot:

Virginia taking yet another photo of us - not bad at all!

Virginia Visits Virginia, Part 1

Ever since Virginia was born, we've been waiting patiently to take her to her namesake state.  So when the judge that Thomas clerked for in Lynchburg announced he was having a reunion of his clerks, we jumped at the chance to take little V to Virginia.  We planned a whirlwind weekend, leaving on a Friday and returning on Monday.  I managed to snag us seats on United for $283 roundtrip, so it was a travel success story as well.

We arrived late Friday night into Charlottesville airport and drove the one hour trek down Route 29 to Lynchburg that night.  We made an obligatory Chick-Fil-A stop along the way, of course.  After a glamorous night at the Holiday Inn in Lynchburg, we had a great Southern breakfast the next morning and then went to meet the Homiller family for a playdate.  

Lucy and Will Homiller attended UVA law school with Thomas and me years ago, and have two little ones who were just the right age to be Virginia's playmates.  Virginia and Frances (almost 5) hit it off right away, and little George (3) tagged along for all the fun.  The Homillers were so sweet to come all the way to Lynchburg (Lucy's hometown) from Richmond (where they now live) to meet us.  We visited a great park in Lynchburg with the kids, ate lunch at a restaurant by the Lynchburg River, and then the girls went to the Children's Museum, Amazement Square.

At the park:

Silly kids playing at the park:

Fast friends:

"Snowboarding" to a motion-based video game at Amazement Square:

UVA buddies and their little girls!

After our great playdate, it was off to the reunion dinner for Judge Norman Moon.  Virginia was one of the few kids in attendance, but she hung in there pretty well, with the help of some iPhone games from one of the clerks who was a mom herself and whose iPhone was well-stocked!  Everyone got a kick out of her insisting on taking the group photo of all of Judge Moon's clerks, and she continued to snap photos well into the evening. 

Judge Moon and all of his former clerks:

 Virginia took this photo of us -- not bad!

Thomas with Judge Moon:

Third Time's the Charm!

Virginia celebrated her third birthday with friends on April 14 - a few days after her actual birthday.  We figured this is is the last year that we can influence her choice of theme, so we went with one of our favorites - luau!  Mimi sent her a tropical dress, and we loaded up on the wacky tiki decorations to transform our house into the Hawaiian islands.

The party was a big success.  About a dozen of Virginia's buddies, their parents, and a few close family friends came to our house to enjoy a bouncy house, gourmet Domino's pizza, and a classy Safeway cake (Virginia insisted on a Safeway cake covered with lots of icing flowers, after many months of viewing them in the bakery display).  PopPop fired up the blender to make a few mai tais for the grown ups, which were a big hit.

I guess it is official... little V is now a big girl!

Hawaiian bouncy house:

 Buddy Bella (these two are HILARIOUS together):

Kids take over the front room:

The pizza is almost as tall as Virginia:

Virginia, Kylie, and Isabel chow down:

The Safeway cake, covered in icing flowers!:

Kylie, Mom & Virginia:

Marcia (the other birthday girl), Martha, Ellie & GayGay

Leslie and Dore:

Kids enjoy cake outside:

Bouncy house madness (with James, Griffin, Bella, Violet, Tasha & Dekker):

Virginia and Tasha enjoy the bouncy house "afterparty:"