Cow Appreciation Day

Free meal today at Chic-fil-A if you come dressed as a cow! It was fun...

Harborfest

We spent the fourth of July in downtown Norfolk enjoying Harborfest. We got down there early in the day, around 11am, and conveniently parked in Stu's work-day parking space, just a block from Waterside. Getting down there early was a good idea because no one else was there yet. :) Stu's office acted as a "home base" and was a great place to return to when the crowds got to be too much or we just needed a little down-time. Nauticus opened earlier than the festival, so we started out there and enjoyed walking around the museum for a couple of hours. Admission was only $4/adult with kids free, and you could come and go through out the day. We came back a couple of times to see different movies they were showing in the theater. Harborfest was a lot of fun, and not terribly crowded (during the day, anyway. It did get crazy closer to the fireworks). There were some fun acts to watch, and Eliana loved her little mermaid hat from Ryan-the-balloon-guy. It was a great fireworks display. How do you know you have good "seats" for the fireworks? You get showered in ash. Yup, we really did. Luke was great-didn't cry once, and actually fell asleep during the finale! We didn't get home until about 11pm and the kids were so good the whole time. We really had a great family day!

Luke's 1st Swim!

He loved it! All smiles! It's fun how buoyant little babies are; you hardly have to hold them up. I commented on that to Ellie, and said, "I wonder what Luke would do if I let go." Eliana FREAKED OUT! It was so funny. I hadn't actually let go, just mentioned the idea, and Ellie started screaming and crying, "No! No! Don't let go of Luke!!!" She's apparently a protective big sister. It was very sweet. Don't tell Stu, but I did later let go...Luke didn't mind. :)

Photo Shoot

I've always taken Eliana to JC Penny's portrait studio to have her picture taken, and every time, I say it'll be the last...they're always running late, the photographer often made very little effort, they don't take many pictures, the proofs on the computer are blurry and small, and you have to wait a long time to get your pictures. I kept going back because it's so cheap. But after a few recommendations, I've finally branched out and took the family to Portrait Innovations. We were the first appointment of the day, so they were ready when we were, the photographer was great, and if we wanted to spend very little money, we could have gotten plenty of pictures (one pose) for $9.95. They don't have any sitting fees, which is another plus, especially when you're bringing the whole family. This was our first family photo shoot since Eliana was Luke's age, so of course I couldn't go with just one pose! I now have more pictures then I know what to do with! Besides tons of pictures, another advantage to buying more than just the special package is they throw in the CD of all the pictures free. The CD is low resolution, so you really can't print any bigger than 4x6 yourself, but you have to have that CD if you want them to make more prints in the future. I think our pics came out so great! The pics of Luke in the last post are from our shoot, and here's some more... If you have a Portrait Innovations near you, I'd definitely recommend them.

Four Months Old

Luke had his four month check up today. Weighed in at 16lbs 4oz, 25 inches long, and doing great! It's hard to believe he's four months old already. And today he rolled over for the first time!

Mary and Joseph

The other day Eliana's walking around the house with her blanket around her head, and when asked what she was doing responds with:

"I'm pretending I'm Mary, and Joseph is somewhere in the house."

Eight Years!

Stuart and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary last week by taking a nice little get-a-way to a beautiful bed-and-breakfast in northern Virginia. L'Auberge Provencale is a French Country Inn in the Shenandoah Valley with a nationally acclaimed restaurant. We very much enjoyed our stay and dining and it was especially nice to get a way sans kids! (Thanks Oma (my mom)!!)


On our way home, we stopped in Fredricksburg to visit our Alma mater, have lunch at our old favorite, the Country Store, and of course stop by Carl's for an ice cream cone. We saw lots of changes at Mary Washington since we were last there. The most obvious of which is a bell tower in George Washington Circle. They have also redone Lee Hall, including a new, much fancier, bookstore. It's such a beautiful campus, and it was fun to reminisce.