Busch Gardens with Callie and Bryce

On June 28th, we got to go to Busch Gardens with George's parents and Allen. This time was special because Callie and Bryce got to come too with Aunt Jen and Uncle Eric! We haven't been to the park with them for two years, so the kids were really excited.

Callie and Lance can ride ALL the rides, so they ran off with the adults while I entertained the two younger ones. Bryce and Jude are tall enough to ride several of the larger rides as well and enjoyed running around with the big kids.

Lily's first time on the Whirly Worm. She wasn't too sure what to think about it and cried a bit, but after when I asked if it was fun she said yes. :)

Cole's obsession. Whenever he hears about Busch Gardens, he will talk your ear off about the trains and the different colors. The blue one is his favorite and he was thrilled to see this one roll past on our way to meet the rest of the family.

I really had a good time hanging out with these two most of the day. Everything is special and new and exciting. I love seeing their smiles and hearing them laugh on the rides.

Lily loved the rides. She was a little nervous at first on most, but by the end she wanted to run around and get right back in line. So cute! I'm glad my kiddos are all dare devils. It makes it so, so fun.

Cole and Daddy rode Elephant run together.

Jude and Bryce are good buddies and did most of the rides together. I actually don't have too many pictures of the bigger kids since I was with the little guys most of the time. I don't have hardly any pictures of Grandmom and PopPop for that matter, but they were there, watching the kids ride and helping with Cole and Lily. They're the best!

Callie and Lance--inseparable.

Lily held onto my leg the whole time we were on the ride. So sweet.

Teacups! I think Lance was riding Apollo's Chariot while we were on this ride.

Before we started:

Holding on, not too sure if it's fun or not.

I love Cole's face here. So funny! 

Last time we came, Lance didn't get a chance to ride Alpengiest, so we made sure to do it this time. Callie, Lance, Eric and I waited in line together while George and his parents took the kids to Dragonland.

I had forgotten how fun it was, since I usually don't ride it when we go. I must be getting old because I get off the ride and my head hurts from being shaken all around. Lance however LOVED it!

Riding the Merry-go-Round with Daddy

Grandmom and Cole

Poor Jude. So tired.

Riding the train around the whole park while the big kids ride a few last-minute rides.

So fun! We love going to Busch Gardens!

"Macca" came to Charlottesville!

In 2009, George and I got to see Sir James Paul McCartney in concert. It was an awesome experience. How often do you get to see a real Beatle in concert? Once, we assumed.

We were wrong.

On June 23rd Paul McCartney came and performed at the John Paul Jones arena here in Charlottesville. Not about to pass this up, George bought tickets (Happy Father's Day!) and we were able to see him for the second time. Jason and Amy were kind enough to drive down and watch the kiddos for us while we had dinner with a couple Resident buddies and watched the Legend perform.

He was just as incredible as I remember him. Whatever he's doing, it's working. This man is close to 80 and you'd think he's 45, the way he's dancing around and belting out his songs.

"Live and let die"

"Let it be, let it be!" Everyone got out their phones and waved them like lighters. It was neat.

So, so awesome. McCartney is the man.

Jason and Amy spent the night, so before they went back to Ashburn on the 24th we wanted to show them a good time. Remember last year when we visited Snake Hole for the first time? We've been wanting to go back ever since, and what better time than when Amy and Jason could come with us!

The hike was shorter than I remember it (maybe because the boys are older and can walk faster). We got there in record time and had an hour or so to spend swimming. Lance of course jumped right in.

Bender wasn't too sure about the water. He wanted to get in, but he hasn't had much experience with swimming and was nervous.

The water was super cold! I didn't get in past my stomach.

"Here, Lily. I'll help you."

George pulled Bender into the water and he took off like he had been swimming all his life. This dog is a fast swimmer! He still didn't like it too much and got out as quick as he could. Good to know he won't drown, though.

Cold, cold, cold!

Our whole group! We were the only ones there until an older couple showed up followed by three teens.

Maybe it was the cold water, but Cole wasn't too interested in swimming. He spent most of his time climbing this rock and resting in the shade.

We hiked back to the cars and Amy and Jason hurried home. It was so nice of them to watch the kids for us and to spend time hiking and swimming. Love you guys!"

How many Emergency Medicine doctors does it take to have the best time at Lake Anna?

At least 10!

To celebrate their graduation from the Emergency Medicine Residency at UVa and for an excuse to get together one last time, all the Residents in George's program planned a trip to Lake Anna before everyone went their separate ways to new jobs and Fellowships.

Finally, a vacation we get to go on WITH George!

We got there in the evening on the 17th, just in time to have a hotdog dinner with everyone at the "party house". Since there were so many people after you count significant others and kiddos, they rented two houses: the family house and the party house. We ended up at the family house. It was a great house with tons of room and perfect access to a little piece of the lake.

Lily liked the tiki candles.

The party house was also the "dog house"--I think there were about 6 dogs all together. We had planned on bringing Bender, but since the family house didn't allow dogs, we left him with Scott and Abbey to hang out with Falcon for the four days we were gone. Thanks, guys!

Lily quickly made friends with Pretzel and just chatted away with her on the floor.

The next day was spent swimming. I think we spent probably 6 hours in the water all together, maybe more. This is a large lake, but it has these little off-shoots where houses dock their boats. Our house was situated at the end of one off-shoot which was perfect for the kids to swim. The water was fairly shallow right off the dock, getting deeper as you went out.

Lance was in the water when he wasn't eating or sleeping. Seriously, this kid is part fish. 

They even has this cool sandbox right on the edge of the dock, although it made me a tiny bit nervous with Lily playing in it. The water was only about 18 inches deep right there, but still.

We shared our house with Heather, Kelley and her husband Josh and their cute son Liam. They were great with the kids and fun to hang out with. I'm sad I haven't been able to get to know them before our stay at Lake Anna.

Taking the canoe out for a spin to the larger part of the lake:

Cole's confidence in the water increased exponentially and by the middle of the day he was bobbing along in his lifevest like it was no big deal.

That night we invited the party house over for dinner. George made pork loin and carrots, I made some artichoke dip. It was so good!

Jude and Cole insisted on introducing some of the group to the amazing movie "The Lego Movie". They were enthralled, as you can tell. :)

That evening we swam until it was too dark to see. The water was so warm--probably mid-80's in temperature. 

Jude was getting better at swimming, too. He liked to venture out without his vest and was able to swim several feet between me and George.

Kelly and another resident (I can't remember her name).

Conwell and David trying out the paddleboat.

Kelly, _____, and Cathrine (Mark's wife) with their cute baby girl.

Little Liam

Everyone was so nice to the kids. They had a great time hanging out with all the fun adults.

Mark and Kevin

Mark and Cathrine's baby. She was so sweet.

Conwell playing with Cole

Kevin

Josh. Kelly's husband, and Liam watching the fun.

Heather is expecting her own little baby soon and was very helpful with Lily. I'm sure Lily loved having so many adults at her beck and call.

Kelly and Liam

Lee! George attended Med School with this guy also. He's pretty funny.

Conwell with Cole

George and Mark. These two got along really well and would often go out together during the week to just chat and hang out. Of everyone, I think George is going to miss Mark the most.

You can only watch people having fun for so long...

...before you have to join in!

"Moon!"

Such a sweet baby. Love my baby girl.

That night was the best time we had that whole vacation. It was so fun to be with all of George's friends and swim in the perfect water, enjoying the perfect weather. The kids had a late night, but it was worth it!

The next day we jumped right back in!

Kelly and Heather had driven to the other house that morning and kayaked the three miles along the river back to our house, so George and Josh kayaked them back that afternoon.

While George was gone, a stray dog showed up. Very nice, sweet dog covered in ticks, she snuck around looking for food. She let me approach her, so I removed a few of the ticks around her eyes and face and tossed her some leftover pork loin. Lance came in a little bit later and told me he was going to give the dog some more scraps, so I said fine. I thought he was just going to toss them to her, but nope--he held it out for her to take from his hand. The dog wasn't aggressive but was a bit too excited for the food and ended up cutting Lance's finger a bit. Shoot. He was fine, the finger stopped bleeding almost immediately, but the damage was done. Once we got back into Charlottesville, we had him treated for post-exposure rabies. Poor guy ended up getting 7 shots all together over the course of a couple weeks. Better safe than sorry. I just wish animal control had been able to locate that dog. She was so sweet and nice--I probably would have considered adopting her, but she disappeared later that same day and we didn't see her again.


That evening, we drove over to the other house for dinner. While it was cooking, Lance and I went out for a bit on the kayaks. 

Jude really wanted to come, so I let him hang out in my kayak while I paddled around.

We made it back just in time to enjoy a shrimp bake. Potatoes, corn, sausage and shrimp all together in one pot with tons of Old Bay. How can you go wrong?

It was really, really good!

Of course these boys were only interested in the fire. Boys, boys, boys.

While waiting for George who was chatting it up by the fire, we put in American's Funniest Videos, Animal edition in. While the kids loved it, it was time for us to go so the rest of the people could get the party started. It was the party house after all!

The party was just too much for this guy, so we gathered everyone up and headed back to the family house and our warm beds.

Saturday rolled around and we had one more morning spent swimming. 

Jude is trying to pull Cole under the water. Who needs enemies when you have brothers like this?

Even though we had the house through Sunday, we packed up and left Saturday afternoon so we could make it to Aric Elmer's 40th Birthday party back in Charlottesville. We were pooped, but had had such a fun time! We will definitely be visiting Lake Anna again!