First Week Alone

George has now been in Roanoke for more than 1 week and the boys and I have had to huff it alone here in Charlottesville. We miss him like crazy. In an attempt to not appear too pathetically despondent at his absence, we've tried to fill our time with fun and friends.

Getting the boys to bed on time is a bit of a challenge without George helping me tame all that energy, but we have a "good time".  :)

Thanks to a friend's husband, I actually got to go out with some friends kid-less! It was so nice to be able to relax and have some fun without worrying about the boys.

The leaves have started to turn various shades of red, orange, and yellow.

Fall really is my favorite time of year. It is so beautiful and the weather is perfect!

Jude loves bananas and discovered the peel this past week. What a stinker!

I've been trying to be more festive this year and have been following crafting blogs for good ideas. I hosted Play Group at our house this past Wednesday and had all the supplies to do some crafts. I should have known 13 kids would somehow change the plans. Needless to say, the moms were not free to craft as they pleased, so on Thursday night I held "Craft Night" at my house to make:

Pumpkin luminaries! I found this idea on a blog (I went back to try and find it so I could link up, but I can't seem to find the blog...). I think they turned out really cute!

Crafty ladies.

So, the story behind the next two photos: for the past month or so, we've had this grocery cart floating around our parking lot. I kept wondering if it was going to disappear, but it never did. Finally on Friday I got fed up with it and decided to walk it back to the grocery story it came from. It's quite a walk from our housing development to the strip mall down the hill. Have you ever tried to push a grocery cart along a bumpy path or over curbs and through grass? Don't try. It's nigh impossible. Anyway the boys and I stopped halfway and took a picture to remember the experience.

I had a hard time getting Lance to look at the camera and couldn't figure out why until I followed his gaze:

 A hawk! He was really pretty and we had a good time spending a few minutes watching him and the crazy squirrel that thought it was funny to play on the next branch over. I'm crossing my fingers the squirrel wised-up and left the tree for a safer playground.

Lance has had some good distractions, too. Almost every afternoon finds at least three if not four kids playing at our house. Lance loves his friends and thinks it's great to show off his fun toys and, of course, Transformer videos on the computer.

One week down, three more to go...

Happy Anniversary!

George and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this past weekend! I can't believe we've been married for two years. It simultaneously feels like the time has flown and like we've been married forever (in a good way). 

It was a really fun few days of celebration. Wednesday our new camera came--our gift to each other. It's a Canon S90. Not an SLR, but a very nice little camera that takes beautiful pictures. We tried it out at the park behind our house and were instantly pleased.

Hooray for not having to use a 7-year-old camera to capture life's happenings!

We dropped the boys off at our friend's house and went out for a wonderful dinner at the Melting Pot here in Charlottesville. We've been here a few times before and were so excited to go back.

You start with a fantastic cheese fondue appetizer...

...followed by a tasty salad, although we usually only pick at this to leave room for:

Lobster, steak, filet mignon, duck, chicken, shrimp, and goat cheese ravioli all seasoned to perfection and personally cooked in boiling Coq au Vin. Yum...

And, of course, no dinner at a fondue restaurant would be complete without the dessert chocolate! We had white chocolate creme brulee-style. I was a little hesitant because I'm not a huge white chocolate fan, but this was amazing! The waitress even gave us a candle in our dippers.

All that was left.

It was especially nice to be out with George, just the two of us, because we got to ride in his car with the top down. I tried to capture the fun, but this was the best I could do.

I had to take Lance up to Fairfax to visit his dad on Thursday and because George had his Pediatric Shelf to study for and take on Friday, Jude and I just stayed up at my mom's place. George joined us Friday afternoon and we spent the weekend with his family.

Over the course of the weekend, Jude discovered bubble bathes. He couldn't quite figure out what he was supposed to do with them, but thought the bubbles were tons of fun!

Eat them?

Pop them?

Rinsing after the bath...

Struggling to dress the little wiggly drool monster.

Here, Dad. Let me get that for you.

Think you can change my diaper? Haha! Think again!

George's parents took us out to our favorite restaurant on Saturday. We love Nagoya's! They make the food right in front of you, and they have the most fabulous sushi I've ever eaten.

I think Jude looks just like George here...

Fried rice!

Jude loved watching the action.

Our chef was so nice. He even took the extra time to chop up the food into tiny baby-sized bites so Jude could eat some as well.

Last time we came to this restaurant, Jude was NOT a fan of the fire that erupts at the beginning of the dinner. I tried to video his reaction this time. Although he doesn't lose it like he did last time, it's still pretty funny:

We drove back down to Charlottesville Sunday afternoon (our actual Anniversary) and after dropping Jude off at a friend's house, George and I took his little car on a drive down part of Skyline Drive. I had never been before but had heard wonderful things. I wasn't disappointed. The leaves are just starting to change and the views are breathtaking.

We got to drive with the top down again. The weather was perfect!

I like this picture because you can see some of the colors just starting to peek through.

I, of course, had to record this.

At one point, we stopped at an overlook and George took off his sunglasses and put them on the car. We got back in and drove off, forgetting his glasses were perched precariously on the back. We finally realized and drove back to get them. Miraculously, they were still in one piece sitting in the middle of the road!

It was the perfect weekend. Sunday night, Lance came home and we were able to spend a nice night together as a family before George left for Roanoke today for a four week rotation. We'll get to see him on weekends, but it's going to be hard without him. The boys and I walked Rockne today (the dog we walk during the week) and Lance picked two flowers: one for me and one for DaddyG. :( 

We all miss you already, George.

Apple Festival!

Two Saturdays ago, we went to Carter's Mountain with some friends to attend the annual Apple Festival. 

After spending over 90 minutes in the car trying to get to the orchard that is normally 15 minutes from our house, finally getting there and being assaulted by the hot sun and swarms of stink bugs, moods were not the best:

Poor Lance. I kept telling him to improve his attitude, but honestly, I think we were all feeling a little bit like this in the beginning.

Some shade helped a bit.

We ended up having a blast! Once in the trees, the weather was perfect and the bugs weren't as bad. We put Jude in a little carrier and he was totally content to just hang out. He even got to do a little "off-roading" while we tried to get to the best apples.

Lance was a great help getting the apples. And if you're wondering why his eye on the right side of his face is scratched, he was swinging earlier that day and jumped off. Unfortunately, he landed on his face--not really what he had planned.

Where's George?

Jude LOVED chewing on an apple. I think he munched contentedly for more than half an hour before he accidentally dropped it.

Our friends the Baileys were the ones who invited us to come. They were really nice about letting Lance help them get the apples. Lance thought it was awesome to be so high and try to find the perfect ones.

Me and Rachel. Our husbands are in Med School together and we both live in Married Student Housing.

Beautiful view from the top of the mountain.

Lance and Jude had fun playing in the dirt under a deck while the the adults talked and ate amazing apple donuts and drank apple cider. The Simmons came too, another Med School couple here in Family Housing. When I get my hands on the group picture, I'll post it.

We had a great time! And the best news... going down the mountain and all the way home only took 20 minutes. Score!