Memorial Day at VA Beach

Today is Memorial Day and we went down to the oceanfront to meet up with Dad and the kids and Ky, John, their kids, and her mom. Though the water was pretty cold still, the weather was perfect. As soon as we showed up, the kids just swarmed to Damien- chased him all around, jumping and climbing all over him! Poor guy... Then they decided to bury him in the sand- of course jumping all over him and getting sand and water all in his face- and when he finally got out of the sand his poor foot was dead asleep- he's such a trooper! :) And now some photos...

The girls chased Damien up and down the shore

...poor D running away from the kids :)

Chris running from the waves

Back and forth, back and forth - it just never gets old to him!

Kim & Mady - mermaid buddies

The kids start burying Damien


Get him packed in there guys!

D and Chris face off in the sand!

Finally, he tries to get out of the sand, but they keep trying to
bury him and Kathryn keeps pouring on the water!
Check out his foot at the end- dead asleep!


All tuckered out...

Happy Memorial Day!

Officially Done!

It's official! I'm a graduate of ODU!

My diploma came in the mail yesterday- yay! My dad offered to have it framed like he did with my undergrad diploma (which i totally love), so I've just got to get over to the school bookstore and see if they have diploma frames in stock so I can get it all pretty looking!

Now... everyone think positive thoughts that a position will open up here pretty soon so I can get a full-time academic advising job by the end of the summer and hang this baby in my office!

Birthday Camp-Out

Kimberly had her 8th birthday party yesterday out at First Landing State Park. The kids had a good time with silly string, s'mores, a pinata, playing on the beach, pop-rocks, climbing trees, and of course the cake and presents. My dad even made it out with Mady and Chris. Most people stayed and camped out overnight, but my allergies got the best of me so I peaced out early!

The kids attacking Kim's Uncle Patrick with silly string... ahhhhh!

Everyone say "trouble" !!!

Pinata Time... Kim went first, but nearly took out the crowd at the end!

Jay went next- again, nearly taking a few people out with that bat!

Kathryn went next - sans blindfold for the safety of everyone :)

Presents!!!

Kim's Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday to You!

Heading down to the beach...

The kids find a crab!

Jay went right to work building his fort

Christian enjoying an afternoon stroll in the sand...

Mady "the brave one" holding the crab

The littlest mermaids... Kathryn & Elise... too cute!


Happy Happy Birthday!!

So Long Seattle...

This morning, we had to pack up and head home to Virginia. It was a great trip and we really enjoyed Seattle. I would definitely come back to visit in the future and if job opportunities occurred, would certainly consider moving there. Our flight had a 2+ hour layover in Chicago, so D called up Mike, our former Chicago roommate, to meet us there to catch up a bit which was great!

All the chatting got us thinking about future vacations and we're thinking of planning a trip out to Napa Valley/San Francisco next summer. We're also thinking of going hang gliding for our anniversary this August and maybe visiting New York City at Thanksgiving-time! It's so fun traveling and checking out new places!!

Mike & Damien
...reunited and it feels so good...

Seattle Trip - Day 5

Day Five of our trip to Seattle!

For our final day in Seattle, we took the Snoqualmie Falls & Winery Tour. We headed out of the city saw the beautiful Snoqualmie Valley, sampled at two wineries, viewed a pretty waterfall, and visited the Boehms chocolate factory. Our tour guide knew a lot about the area so he pointed out sights along the way too- including the area where Bill & Melinda Gates live, the former Carnation Milk farm, and the various mountain peaks. Seeing the sights outside the city just made us fall in love with the area even more- everywhere you look it's just green- really GREEN. I love it!

The day started out overcast, but by the day's end it was quite sunny and warm!
Though some people complain about the weather, I loved it!
Being a pale-skinned gal, i love overcast and rainy days - plus, it make sit so green!

Winery #1

Damien found his bottle!

So pretty out there! So romantic!

Winery #2!

D checks out the "legs" on his wine sample

This winery had beautiful grounds to stroll around and even four resident peacocks!

Two of the peacocks- I was trying to get them to show their feathers,
but they weren't fazed by me at all...

Walking around the winery ground...
I think this is the point where D fell in love with Seattle too :)

Driving through the Snoqualmie Valley

Rolling valley, lots of trees, snow-capped mountains in the background... so pretty!

The falls

...lots of mist in the air!

Cheeese!!!

Drinking our wine and enjoying some
yummy fresh Boehms chocolate truffles on the ride back to Seattle

A final view of the Snoqualmie area!

Seattle Trip - Day 4

Day Four in Seattle!!!

Day #4 was spent exploring the city by foot... LOTS of walking! LOTS of STEEP hills! We loved the Piroshkies so much yesterday that we wanted to get some for breakfast and pick up some souvenirs too. Then, D had a conference call scheduled with work where he was being thanked for doing a great job (Yay!) so we headed back to the hotel for that.

Post-call we headed back out to check-out Olympic Sculpture Park. We weren't too impressed and thought maybe there were more sculptures further down the area, so we kept walking and walking... and walking... and then we realized, yeah- definitely no more sculptures and we had walked a looooong way- but it was a waterfront trail so we kept walking thinking there must be an end or a way to get off of it eventually. We must have walked a good 2-3 miles or so before we came across a bridge that would take us over to the main roadway. We were now in the outskirts of downtown, but were right near Queen Anne Hill, where I had wanted to go to take pictures.

So we found our way up to the place, Kerry Park, which had a great view, but man was it a steep climb up- especially when you're not used to those hills! But the view was way worth it. We did a little more sightseeing and though we were planning to get a kayak and take it out on the bay, the unexpected scenic route tired us out, so we caught a bus back to the hotel and got dinner at a place called Sazerac, which was pretty good- kinda of New Orleans-y food & (most importantly) just a block from our hotel!

Good Morning Seattle!

Yummy Piroshky!!

While looking for more sculptures, we wandered on to this water-front path

Very pretty!

Hi D!

The view when we finally found a bridge to cross over the railroad tracks!

Funny sign

Cute sign

Halfway up the hill to Kerry Park in Queen Anne

Just when I thought we were at the top- STAIRS!
(a very cool yard though on the left!)

Kerry Park view of Seattle

Beautiful!

Sweet shot of my hubby!

Walking back down from the hill

Heading back to the hotel - I thought the background buildings looked cool layered like that

When we got back, the exec. that D had a conference call with sent us this nice basket of goodies to congratulate him on a great job at work- so cool!