Wintergreen Retreat: Intro

In the time-honored tradition of American families,

we loaded up the kids and tons and tons of stuff into the car

and embarked on a summer vacation!

This year we spent 10 days at the Wintergreen Resort

in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We really enjoyed our time in the mountains

and loved spending time with our extended family!

Irving Farm

My baby is gaining some independence!

She went with my parents (aka Gran and Pop)

to the Irving Farm (in Low Moor, Virginia)

WITHOUT us.

It was only for about 24 hours...

but, still, it's a big deal for her to go on an adventure without us.

And this was definitely an adventure!

The Irving Farm is the farm that my grandfather (aka Great Pop)

grew up on and that the NoVA Gleasons visit every summer

around the 4th of July.

All of us Gleason kids have tons of fond memories

of being there and fishing with my grandfather.

I am so pleased that Kate had her initiation

and that she was happy as a clam at the farm.

(Although, when we went to pick her up,

she did ask if we could go "to a museum, the library, a store or something.")

Kate and Pop (my Dad) had fun skipping rocks

in the Jackson River.

And then Kate got to go fishing with Great Pop!

The whole fam got involved in the fun!

Matthew came with Tim and me to collect Kate.

He slept through his chance to visit the Jackson River...

but he'll have his initiation soon enough!

Look, Ma!

Look, Ma!

One hand!
Ta Da!

I Love My Baby Brother

Kate loves her baby brother...

at least as long as he isn't touching her stuff...

or looking at her stuff...

or thinking about touching her stuff.

They are starting to play together

more and more

and it's pretty darn cute.

They have fun wrestling in the Family Room

and hanging out in the backyard.

Kate loves to play "restaurant"

and "grocery store"

and Matthew is a willing pawn in these games,

moving seamlessly among roles as

diner, shopper or cashier.

He might even get an award for "Best Actor" one day...

but only after Kate is the "Best Director."

So big!

So strong!

Ok, what parent can resist

the obligatory sibling bathtub photos?

We promises ourselves we'd never do this...

but we've broken a lot of pre-Kate

promises about parenthood.

And this was actually Kate's idea.

I promise.

So, what they heck...

So clean!

So insistent on dumping water on her brother!

So over it!

But, so stinkin' cute!

Imagine My Surprise...

Imagine my surprise

when I went to collect Mr. Matthew from his nap

and found this:

That's right! He's standing!

And mighty proud of himself, too!

In the span of a week,

he learned to stand, cruise,

clap and wave "hello."

I'm not ready for my baby to grow up!

It seems like only yesterday that Miss Kate

was at this stage.

Summer Fun

The summer has just begun -

but we've already enjoyed many trips

to the playground and the pool.

Matthew enjoyed his first carousel ride
at Clemyjontri Park.

And I can't help but share this goofy picture

of Katie Bug

in her ballerina bathing suit

and typical bandaids -

with Miss Daisy in tow, of course!

Playing School

Kate is really "in" to imaginative play these days!

One of her favorite games is playing school -

and her Miss Daisies make the perfect students!

Today was "picture day" in Miss Kate's class.

So, she and her teaching assistant, Miss Meerkat,

rounded up the bunnies for the class picture.