A Memorable Weekend

The long weekend over Memorial Day ended up being filled with lots of sweet times with family, friends, and neighbors.  As it marked nearly 3 years since our move to VA, it was very confirming that we are right where God would have us.  We still feel like we're New Yorkers at heart in some ways, and we will always miss our friends there, the church we loved there, and the city itself, but we have built such a special community here having not just close friends, but amazing family and neighbors, that our long weekend at the end of May had us feeling especially grateful.

The weekend kicked off with one of our "dinner club" nights at our dear friend's home.  We have been doing these monthly for over 1 1/2 years now with 4 other couples and it is always a highlight of our month!  

Good food & good friends!!!

The next day was spent with some of our closest friends here who adopted their son from Uganda last summer.  Not only are they just an awesome family, but they have been an endless source of encouragement and guidance for us on our journey to adopt from Africa!  Our families spent the morning at a nearby nature reserve and the kiddos loved seeing snakes, turtles, fish, and ducklings!

Best pals Lilee & Emma :)

On Sunday afternoon, we were SO thrilled to be able to meet up with one of my most special friends, Cindy, and her family at the National Harbor!  The kids loved seeing one another and had a great time walking around the streets, circling around on the carousel, and enjoying the boat ride back!  And of course, the perfect ending to the day included ice cream! :)

Monday morning began with a sweet brunch with Nana & Pop-Pop at one of our favorite spots in Del Ray.  We love being able to get together with them so regularly!

Monday ended with a long afternoon/evening spent with the neighbors along our "path" for a bbq.  We had a little pool for the kiddos and we are so grateful to have such a wonderful group of neighbors surrounding us!

It was a very full weekend but it left us feeling more refreshed and grateful than worn out!

More pictures from Memorial Day Weekend:
pix.sfly.com/s-OkAMUE

Springs & Strawberries!

I've got quite a back log of photos right now so the next couple of posts are going to have A LOT of pictures!  Especially this one!  It goes a little backward with our April trip to Capon Springs at the end, and our May trip to DE in the beginning... oops!

We enjoyed our annual trip to DE in the middle of May for a special visit with Too-Dad & Mary Catherine, a day at the Fifer Farm's Strawberry Festival, and even a short but sweet visit with my cousin, Sam, and his family.  We drove in Friday evening, straight to Sam & Kim's beautiful home in Middletown, DE.  The girls loved playing with their "cousins," playing in the big yard, and playing with pup Navarro!

Excited to see Too-dad that night!

On Saturday, we spent several hours at the Strawberry Festival which included plenty of time at the petting zoo, bounce house fun, picking strawberries, and of course, enjoying the strawberry ice cream!

Only Too-Mom could brush Lilee's hair that night!  No one else would do :)

Even more pics from DE!

https://pix.sfly.com/b12BhT

As always, it was a great visit and DE is such a special little getaway for us!

And now to backtrack to the last weekend in April!  Every year our church has a retreat out in Capon Springs, West Virginia, and my folks were gracious enough to keep Lilee this year which gave us a lot of freedom to enjoy the weekend, and gave both girls special "individual" time.  Maelee loved the attention and had a great time fishing (Steve caught one that was cooked up for us for breakfast the next morning!) and learning more about Jesus.  We loved the time with friends and learning more about how to be in community with one another.

More pics from retreat:

https://pix.sfly.com/gST6qp 

And while we were enjoying our time out in West Virginia, Lilee was LOVING all the attention from Nana & Pop-Pop with sweet treats, and a super special trip to the National Harbor that included a new friend from Build-a-Bear and over a dozen rides on the carousel.

 More of Lilee at Nana & Pop-Pop's:

pix.sfly.com/ZB2JwH1E 

It was a memorable weekend for all of us! Spring has been a blur of activities so another post will soon follow with more May and June fun!!!