Fast Forward 20 Years

Prelude to his hard drinkin', hard smokin' rock star career...

Tweetsie Railroad

We spent a fun, sunny day in May at Tweetsie Railroad with the Georges!

 Papa with Abby and Barret.

 Grandma and Kate lead the way...

 ... while Tim and Matthew bring up the rear.

 Grandma and Papa with all the grandkids!

 Hugs!

 Pretty much everyone took a spin in the race cars.

Ted and Abby.

 Tim and Kate.

 Annie and Barrett.

Matthew road with Papa - but I didn't get a good picture.

 I couldn't believe that Kate and Abby road the Ferris wheel -

a couple of times each!

They are brave little girls!

The whole fam

(minus Tim, who took the picture!)

10 Year Reunion

Tim and I enjoyed a really fun weekend in Boston

for Tim's 10-year law school reunion.

It was so fun to be back on campus,

to see so many good friends,

and to spend time with each other!

Special thanks to Grandma and Papa for

generously taking the kids for the weekend

and making it all possible!

Rody Joins the Household

I can't believe I failed to get a family shot at Easter this year!

But, we'll remember this Easter as the year that Rody

(i.e., the funny blue bouncy bunny)

joined our family.

Matthew could hardly be distracted to look at anything in his Easter basket!

Third Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Our annual Easter Egg Hunt is one of our favorite activities of the year!

While we were forced by rain to hold last year's hunt in the basement,

the weather was absolutely gorgeous this year.

And we can't wait to do it all over again in 2013!

 The happy hunters!

 Jamison is meticulous!

 Chase found a golden egg!

 Rocco took a spin in the roadster

once his basket was full.



Beautiful Day at the Farm

One weekend in April, we took another trip to Lenoir to see Grandma and Papa.

We also spent a day with Uncle Ted, Aunt Annie,

Abby and Barrett at their beautiful farm!

 The girls focused on arts and crafts...

 ... while the men made a plan...

 ... and surveyed the land!

Lions and Tigers and Bears

We are members of the National Zoo and it's one of our very favorite family outings!

You'll find us there at least once a month -

except in July and Augsust, when it's too hot and too crowded!

Here are some pictures from a typical trip back in March.

 We always visit the elephants.

 And the small mammal house is a favorite these days as well!

Especially the meerkats!

 Here's how Matthew looks the first 2/3rds of the trip...

... and here's how he looks by the end!

Updates! March Trip to Roanoke

Sorry I've been gone for so long!

We lost the SD card for our good camera right after we got home from Disney World in January.

It was tragic and I lost the will to blog!

Happily, we found it again a couple of weeks ago.

We have tons and tons of pictures from Disney and I'll post some of them another time.

For now, I'll catch you all up on recent happenings!

In March, Tim and I loaded up with the kids and Nana in our new minivan

and drove to Roanoke for a quick trip to see Uncle Jon, Aunt Loren and my adorable niece and nephew -

who were there on a househunting trip -

with my parents in tow to help out with the kiddos.

(Jon and Loren have since MOVED to Roanoke.  But, more on that later...)

 Sportin' the Sienna

 Gran and Anna

 Ben and Matthew enjoying ice cream cones

 Pop and Kate

Nana with Jon and Anna

Ringing in the New Year

 Over New Years weekend we drove down to North Carolina

to visit Uncle Ted, Aunt Annie, Abby and Barrett.

We had a blast visiting their new farm in Lenoir!

 The cousins enjoyed running around

and playing together.

 I can't believe how quickly my niece is growing up!

 Aunt Annie brought along a fun toy called "stomp rockets."

 First, she had to build the launch pad.

 Then, Uncle Ted loaded on a rocket.

 The kids took turns "stomping" the bellows

to send the nerf rocket soaring into the air...

 ... and then they all ran as fast as they could to the rocket.

Repeat until kids grow weary of the game.

Stet that. 

The kids will never grow weary of the game...

they just grow weary.

 So, you take them on a hike

to expend every last ounce of energy before loading back into the car.

 The Ted Georges.

It works like a charm.

After a day of fresh air, good exercise and lots of laughter with their cousins,

the kids took amazing naps in the car.

We hope this will be the first of many, many visits to Ted's farm.

Thanks for having us, guys!