Mountain Lake

If you didn’t know, we were away in lovely Virginia this past weekend. We stayed at a little place called Mountain Lake. It is a gorgeous lake setting…when the lake is there. It is a little empty right now due to some odd natural causes. If it looks slightly familiar, it’s also where they filmed part of Dirty Dancing. It is not nearly as mid-century resort glam as Kellerman’s, but how could it be? Being the Dirty Dancing geek that I am, I enjoyed every moment. I think we all enjoyed ourselves. We didn’t get to spend nearly enough time just hanging out and exploring the area. Although, we did have enough time to imagine a Mountain Lake family reunion for the Ohio State / Virginia Tech game in September 2015. Oh yes, we will be back!

Most importantly, we were there celebrating one momentous occasion! Uncle Charlie graduated from Virginia Tech. Congrats Graduate, and best wishes!

Last, but not least, you will notice David and Estelle snagged 5 tadpoles from a sad looking puddle at the lake bed. David calls them the Mountain Lakers, since there are 5, and that is how many on a basketball team…or so I am told. They are cute little buggers, and growing everyday, but what will we do when they are bonafide toads/frogs? We will most definitely set them free in a pond, but it will be a great science lesson for the toddler to watch them grow until then.

Stephanie

NYC Day Trip

This past Saturday, we woke up early, and hopped on a Megabus for a day trip in NYC.

After walking in circles trying to find MTA cards, our first stop was Joe Fresh for some mom shopping. I scored two pairs of bright cropped jeans and a top for $80! I mostly wanted to check out their kid’s clothing, but Joe Fresh kid stuff is only available in their New Jersey location. Boo. While I was shopping, David and Estelle bought Upper East Side-priced Swedish Fish and spotted some Barbapapa wares in the store across the street. The Barbapapa boxes were cool, but too big to carry around all day.

Next we stopped to eat hot dogs, and then walked across Central Park towards the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater.

The show was funny, and the kids got a marionette demonstration at the end.

We weren’t done yet! Off to Brooklyn Bridge Park to ride Jane’s Carousel, and to meet up with Danny. The last time we saw Danny was three years ago when we were sending him off to work in China! Estelle fell asleep on the subway ride, and her nap continued in the park.

We had a quick snack in Brooklyn, hopped on the subway, and made our way to the bus back home via a walk through Times Square.

Stephanie

Thanksgiving 2011

Forgive us blog followers, for it has been over 2 weeks since our last post! We don’t really have many excuses. Here is a quick recap of our very fun and relaxing Thanksgiving trip to Norfolk to visit my family. We don’t have many photos to show for it, aside from a photo dump of Estelle playing in the leaves!

Mimi and Estelle watching Curious George

Air mattress tent thanks to Avô!

David working hard on addressing Kristen & Rocky’s wedding invitations.

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Leaves slideshow! It was a gorgeous weekend. Thank you to everyone who made the trip, hosted, cooked, and came over for visits.

Rumor has it that we are buying a Christmas tree Saturday morning! Estelle is very excited about Santa, jingle bells, snowmen, and the stellar advent calendar my mom sent home with us.

Stephanie

Weekend in O-H-I-O

A great time seeing everyone — went by too fast!

OCNJ 2011 – Headed Home

Pure Joy

Talk about a happy little girl.

Roadtrip 2011: Blacksburg & Shippensburg

7 hour drive on a Friday night to surprise Uncle Charlie — woohoo!  Made it even better that Uncle Chris was right along the way in both directions!  Oh, and that random baseball photo — that’s Granny Annie as seen on TV, in the front row for Phillies during their Seattle trip…

San Diego

Photos are here! We had a blast, and ran out of film for our bonus day in San Diego (thanks to a canceled flight). Places we visited include the La Jolla Gliderport, Coronado, downtown San Diego, La Jolla, Torrey Pines State Beach, and Del Mar.

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Our Big Trip

We had such a great time!  So many photos that there is no good way to get them all up on here – this link will have to do for now (until dad has more time!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZLN_aZX0pY