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:

Virginia, The Flower Girl

Thomas's cousin, Shannon Mack, got married this fall and Virginia was honored to be asked to serve as flower girl in the wedding.  Shannon married a lovely Southern gentleman, Brett Casey, who just happens to be from Charlotte, North Carolina.  Shannon will be moving there after her honeymoon, so she has gotten to be friends with my sister who also lives in Charlotte (along with Thomas's other cousin, Beau, who already has befriended my sister).  Needless to say, it is starting to get hard to unravel these Neeland/Mack friendships and connections!  I was just thrilled that Liz could make the trip to Connecticut too so we got a chance to visit with her and her husband, Dave.

The wedding weekend was a huge success.  Virginia attended the bridesmaids' luncheon, where Shannon gave her a lovely engraved jewelry box filled with all sorts of fun kid jewelry.  We were then off to get manicures and pedicures with the bridesmaids - Virginia's first visit to the nail salon!  She totally ate it up.

Posing with the bride and her bridal party:

Someone was in manicure heaven!:

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner in downtown Stamford.  Virginia desperately wanted to make a toast, but then froze under pressure and exhaustion when she got the microphone.  I'll spare readers the details, but the toast did not end well!  But we certainly entertained everyone, I suppose.

With the bride at the rehearsal dinner (pre-toast meltdown):

Saturday was filled with getting dolled up for the big afternoon wedding.  But we made sure to spend a little time with family and also set off on search of some good Connecticut pizza!

With Dave, Liz, Beau, and Jessica at a hole in the wall pizza joint - the best kind:

And then it was off to the wedding!  Virginia loved her beautiful dress and tolerated the crown of flowers on her head.  We were afraid she wouldn't wear it, but she completely rose to the occasion.  She got to ride in the limo with the wedding party to the church, and she was mesmerized by the lights inside.  She called the limo her "spaceship" and announced we were "ready for blastoff" when the limo started moving.

Strike a pose:

She was so proud to be dolled up like the big girls:

Spaceship limo ready for blastoff:

The wedding ceremony was truly beautiful, and Virginia fulfilled her flower girl duties with grace and charm.  Virginia was accompanied down the aisle by Brett's nephew, Colin, as the ring bearer.  Colin was a little younger than Virginia, and there was some question whether he would make it down the very long aisle in the Gothic cathedral.  In the end, he and Virginia grabbed hands and powered down it like pros.  We breathed a sigh of relief!

It was a "three lollipop wedding!"  All the sugar limits went out the door as we tried to keep Virginia quiet through the ceremony - Catholic services are a little longer than we Methodists are used to!

With Mom outside the gorgeous church:

The kids after the service - Virginia's "twin" cousin Jones and the ring bearer Colin:

After the church service, we went to a reception like no other!  It was held at the Westchester Country Club, which was beyond impressive.  There was a candy station and photo booth, among other surprises.  The kids joined us for the cocktail hour, and we then got some much-needed adult time when the kids went upstairs with a babysitter during the dinner and dancing.  Thanks, Aunt Ellen, for hiring that sitter!  Virginia, Colin, and Jones apparently had a blast, while we danced the night away with a very fun band.

The Charlotte contingent, Dave, Liz, Jessica & Beau:

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters:

These boys might have gotten into some trouble over the weekend.  No comment:

Doug and Thomas, with a happy and relieved father-of-the-bride, David Mack:

Virginia and Colin conked out with the babysitter before the night was over:

We finished the wedding weekend with a Sunday brunch at the hotel with family and friends.  Then it was back to California!

Virginia adored cousin Beau.  She spent most of the brunch negotiating with Beau and his wife Jessica about how she was going to take a plane flight by herself to Charlotte to visit them!

I got my one photo with the bride and groom.  Don't they look happy to be married?!:

Virginia with Aunt Meg:

Another Anaheim Adventure

The Harvey family's love of all things Disney runs deep, so we jumped at the chance this fall to take Virginia there for third time ... thanks to another convenient Southwest Airlines fare sale.  This time, we brought company!  Virginia has quickly become buddies with Griffin Guidi, the grandson of some dear Harvey family friends.  Griffin and his parents, Matt & Ellie, spent his first few years living on the East Coast, so we were thrilled that they moved back to the Bay Area this spring.  Griffin and Virginia just started attending preschool together, so we decided to let them play hooky for a day and planned a long weekend trip.  But our group was not yet complete.  We also invited Virginia's GayGay along.

The trip was a big success, even with two three year olds and an infant (Griffin's baby brother, Preston) in tow.  Griffin and Virginia saw every Disney character under the sun and rode just about every ride they were tall enough for!  

Virginia loves Alice in Wonderland and often runs around the house saying  "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date.... no time to say hello, goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"  Needless to say, meeting the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit was magical.

Griffin and Virginia saw Donald: 

And Minnie:

And Virginia just grinned from ear to ear getting to meet Mary Poppins.  She loves singing Spoonful of Sugar and Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious!

A highlight of the trip was the new Cars Land in California Adventure.  Thanks to some thick soles on her sneakers, Virginia just made the height cutoff (40 inches) to ride the new thrill ride, Radiator Springs Racers.  She was a little scared, but was determined to do it like the big kids.  She powered on through that ride and said she wanted to do it again when it was over!  We've definitely learned that Virginia is one tough cookie.

Cadillac Valley in Cars Land:

Another highlight of our trip was parents' night out!  On Saturday evening, Ellie & Matt hired a babysitter for their little ones, and Virginia set off on an adventure with GayGay.  So, the four adults took the night off.  We hit some of the thrill rides we couldn't do with the kids, and also went to our favorite restaurant, the Blue Bayou, for a nice meal.  

 Best parents' night out ever!:

Dinner at the Blue Bayou:

What Virginia was doing while we had the night off - adventures with GayGay!:

We also got to check something really big off of our bucket list this trip -- Thomas and I had the chance to dine at Club 33!  I won't reveal how we accomplished the impossible feat of getting a reservation, but suffice it to say that I have renewed faith in humanity because of it.  The kindness of strangers - particularly Disney fans - is truly amazing.  Virginia went with GayGay for a few hours, while we went for Sunday brunch.  Thomas and I split a bottle of champagne, ate some delicious food and even more delicious desserts, and lived it up!

Outside the understated entrance:

Pluto came by for a visit to our table:

And Mickey did too:

Our dessert plate -- note the gold leaf logo on the eclair:

We finished off the weekend with a visit from some additional family members -- Uncle Doug and Thomas's cousin Liz Mack.  Liz has a two year old with red, curly hair and he and Virginia look so much alike they could be twins!  They had not yet had the chance to meet, so we were excited to bring the cousins together for the first time.

Eating breakfast at the Grand Californian with Uncle Doug and Dale:

Cute kids over breakfast.  Virginia spent a lot of time fawning over baby Preston:

Second cousins... or long lost twins?!?!: