A fun weekend away hosted by the Mosers

Honestly, it's amazing how quickly the years can slip away before you have time to catch up with some of the great people in life. Stephanie was my sophomore year roommate (I met her freshman year), ROTC buddy, and life long friend. Through the years she has done a great job of keeping in touch and visiting when possible. The last time we saw each other was when she was visiting Austin for a job conference almost 6 years ago.

Now that we live in Ashburn and her family in Williamsburg (only 3 hours away) it would happen right? Well life can easily make that impossible, however she kept connecting and mentioning great deals with Busch gardens and how perfectly her house could host us all etc. So we packed up the family and headed out after Nick's Saturday afternoon soccer game. We arrived just in time to enjoy fun time in the backyard

They had a great little bounce house

Its amazing how kids that have never met can play so well so immediately

Drew got some time too although I don't think he knew how to maximize the bounce house.....

Next onto the playset - Jesse had a pretty impressive construction story for this one as he assembled all 1000+ pieces---Stephanie's claim to fame was this 5 piece glider---He is a very involved dad with his twin girls but admittedly struggles in the hair department - I love that comment =)

Even a little Drew swing!

Steph prepped some fabulous pizzas for the kids to create.  Their house was perfect for entertaining especially the little folks.

After kid dinner the adults sat down to their own dinner, meanwhile the kids all played in Nora and Adeline's room. I snuck in there and snapped a few photos as it was crazy quite. I stumbled on the book reading, Steph went back a few minutes later and caught Nick and Nora still reading while Shane and Adeline were caring for the dolls by putting them to bed or pushing them in strollers. What great kids.

Later that night we all played Euchre. As luck would have it, we each won a game and opted to host the "rubber match" in Ashburn.

There is just something about sitting across the table from Steph that just made me feel like I was 19 again, I love that! Chris and Jesse got along great too. We met Jesse at our wedding and I was fortunate to be able to attend their wedding too (but since Chris was in Iraq, Vito was my date!!) so it was great to have the guys enjoying some time together as well.  Our families just meshed so well together we are so fortunate!

Sunday morning was our chance to attack Busch Gardens. Attending it with the Mosers meant going VIP style. They are only 4 miles away and armed with season passes and platinum parking.   They had the double Bob and we had the Phil and Ted.  Every seat was taken (and essential too!)

We were there at 10 and it was a HUGE hit, the kids LOVED it. There were tons of rides for even Shane. Roller coasters, gliders, air balloons, etc. 

They all hopped right on the horses immediately - here is Nick and Nora

Shane and Adeline

Stephanie tried to dress the girls differently but I know we all struggled to make sure we got the names right.  Nick was so cute because I heard him try to use both names with each girl.  I can only imagine Shane's brain trying to remember.

Can you believe this ride could handle everyone (meaning all ages?)

Look at this happy crew!!  I loved sitting next to Shane - his AAR comment after the ride was it made his pee pee tickle...

Next for the romantic water ride.  Shane selected Steph as his date over Momma

Love this photo of Nick and Adeline

Shane was enjoying it so much that we actually pushed the envelope a bit when we took him on the 'Viking ship' a favorite of Nora's.  Halfway through the ride he was rather adamant that he was no longer enjoying it. Once we hopped off we kept it more Shane style.

O.k. this was a little boring for Shane style - Drew was ready to get out too

Bumper cars....  This photo brings back memories or Tate and nick on the bummer cars together for the first time -  Nick couldn't reach the pedals and we really hardly knew the McCullough's who know I couldn't imagine life without....

Back onto today....  How cool is this glider ride?

Hey there Adeline!

 There are some AMAZING adult roller coasters. With Chris still recovering from shoulder surgery I had the green light in the entertainment department (as long as he didn't mind being saddled with 3 kids and 2 angry birds....hehe!). The boys let stephanie and I run off to some THRILLING rides. She maneuvered us to the front of her favorites. I will forever remember dangling on the 'griffin' and hearing quite the scream come out of my lungs but hopping right back in line.  Thanks Stephanie for such a wonderful weekend!!  We loved it.  Look at these 2 faces, do they really look much different?  I would say no!

A daily routine

Is there such a thing with these guys? Some days I would love to find it, but most days I search for the grace to just roll with it and juggle everyone's happiness.

This photo was my happiness. The boys love to watch the high schoolers load up for the bus right outside of our window. Nick makes sure Drew can be part of the excitement too-something about this photo makes me thing Drew likes it too.

Drew is 11 months - with a TOOTH finally sprouting!

One more month before we officially flip the calendar in the life of Drew.  11 months and lets capture what he is doing....

eating finger food - yuck...  eating is a strong word, making a mess of finger food is a better explanation - I would MUCH prefer to spoon in that mushy stuff, but there are days when drew stresses his independence.  Great right?  Recently I was talking to farrah while Drew tossed Black beans, avocado, fish and rice all over the floor - in my exasperation, she said - what a healthy lunch =)  Thanks for looking on the bright side farrah!

our other accomplishment - the stairs....  Now in Germany our stairs were VERY treacherous - Shane was not allowed on them until he was about 2 - these are the perfect kid climbing stairs. 

And as you see, he gets a lot of encouragement and assistance.

No Drew, you don't have to do it alone. 

You asked for it.  I love this shot of his hair - another fun Drew aspect

While Deakon was with us he coined Drew as having Bill Murray Hair.  I searched for the perfect Bill Murray photo - this looks about right.

Now that is some hair that i am in no hurry of trimming.

He is a happy dude and morphing into our afternoon kindergarten schedule - which for Drew translates into a late morning nap and short if any afternoon nap with a possible lunch in there somewhere.

And yes, a tooth - finally, the bottom right!  Chris was the first one to feel it yesterday and everyone has been sticking their fingers in his mouth recently to check its progress.  

Go drew Go - 1 year is just right around the corner.   Lets hope those sea legs turn into walkers!!

A weekend with the Carsons

The Carson's are here the Carson's are here!!  They arrived semi well rested after their connecting plane flight through Dallas.  Shane and I greeted them at the airport.  Evan and Chloe had never met Shane so it was cute as Evan thought Shane was nick - the confusion even continued a bit when we got home and Nick greeted us and Evan thought that was Shane - too many boys aye?

Once we got settled, Chelcy and I opted to take the kids to the pool while the BIG boys stayed home to prep dinner.  We toasted ourselves later that night as we got to go wine tasting at my local favorite spot.  We waltzed in ready for wine as their first evening customers at 7:15!!  The night was fabulous as we chatted and chatted up everyone around  us and brought home a bottle of wine and bellies stuffed with Tacos.  During the conversation Chelcy and i said the SAME thing at the same time twice!!  Absolutely cracked me up - I love our parallel humor and have SO missed it.

Saturday morning was coordination through Nick's triathlon - but once the dust settled from that we took the crew to the pool - we were the only ones there for a bit which was absolute bliss.  

Here is our quick group shot

Evan was on a mission to NOT be part of the group shot

We tried to wear them out every day - there were moments of success that should be noted.

Love this dad's and Shane photo - we did a little park time for the evening

Having a girl around the house sure added another dynamic for my building, breaking, construction boys.  She found the kitchen right away - as well as this fireman's hat.

Shane never really understood the girl type games.

We had them all coloring at one point - for about 10 minutes - it was a wonderful 10 minutes

On Sunday we headed out to a winery - but first to Aldi Mill - the oldest operating Grist Mill.  This is what Evan thought of the historical site...

The mill started operation in 1807

The do daily demonstrations at 1 and 3 - but no time for that... 

This crew needs to head to the winery!

My artistic shots for Chelcy

Here is my favorite!

The winery was fabulous - a bit sticky and rainy, but fabulous.  They import their grapes from Italy and California and have quite the variety - to include wine slushies with green tea extract - a HUGE hit on the muggy day.  We were equipt with tons of kid entertainment stuff, water balloons, soccer balls, bubbles, all great things if it wasn't raining - but sadly it was - the kids didn't mind, but the supervising parents weren't thrilled.  Alexa's family joined us as well as Rick and Amy (kidless - their kids can stay home solo - how wonderful!!)  Not sure why I never managed to snap a photo - but I'm hoping to commit it all to memory - or just go back again soon!

later that day we did the Sweet frog thing - its impossible to resist.

One of my favorite photos of the differences between boys....

And girls

The kids all slept in the same room and although the parents had high hopes of success, the night often was better as one, maybe 2 was extracted to another location temporarily.  

The boys ran out to the Dulles Space Museum that morning as mother nature was encouraging us to refrain from the pool.  Chelcy and I had a wonderful morning together just chatting away about life and the pursuit of happiness =)

 We loved every minute of co-family living.  The boys stayed up chatting, the girls could mingle in the kitchen - if only we could live like that more often.  It was a wonderful long weekend together.  I hope that it was a relaxing get away for the Carson's as they are knee deep in home construction and sale of their current home - its nice to get away from the every day sometimes.

As I write this they are on the flight home due to arrive at 8:15 tonight.  I know its a tough turn around and school starts for Evan and Chloe (Kindi and pre-K) tomorrow morning - what a big day for you guys.  We loved to have you for the weekend and hope to keep our traveling tradition going!!

Love you all

Its always possible that I miss something and that i love Chelcy's way with words - she sent this email out Tuesday morning and I love her way of describing everything.

Well we made it all the way there without a working REAL camera so all pictures are from Sara (link to her blog is below) and we rarely remembered to take  them amidst all the kids and activities – go figure. It was a great trip and the kids did pretty good considering it was their first ever plane ride – We do know that they are maxed out at 2hrs 45 min in the air so they have a bit more room to grow before we opt for a longer airplane ride.

Each night there was at least one adult that was “over-served” and I was the one to take it for the team the first night. Bless my friends and husband for not posting the pics they later took of me snoozing it off – I don’t care though as I was so excited to see my friend and catch up. The first 20 min solo we were finishing each other’s sentences and laughing so much that other patrons in the wine bar were wanting to join us and the party continued as we walked to the next eatery.

They live in an awesome community with everything you really need in walking distance – 3 pools, grocery stores, gyms, shops, yogurt shops, restaurants, parks Galore and so much more. I never really considered myself hip to the urban life (mainly due to lack of exposure), but they picked an awesome spot that is conducive to all walks of life and welcoming to visitors (like us!) to make sharing it all so easy. I walked more this weekend than I have in weeks.

The other main highlight was after we left the local winery which by the way was so great for just trying new things and family atmosphere – seriously looked like something about of Martha Stewart Living with all the locals rolling up for their Sunday afternoon rituals of snacking, tasting, bean bag toss and much more, BUT the best part of that was the Lobster Rolls we sourced on the side of the road. Yep I said side of the road – hello we are so close to the coast and you cannot pass it up when “in Rome” right! They were so simple and YET so darn good! It will definitely be added to the Chris Leadbetter list of eateries I am sure.

It was so fast, but just right to catch up with friends and let the kids see who their new best buds from afar will be. This morning as I woke up Evan for his first day of school, he told me as soon as he sat up how much he missed Shane and Nick. Awe the memories he will have and we will hear about for the next several weeks.

We are so fortunate to have friends like them that welcome us into their home no matter what continent or country they are in. We look forward to the many more adventures we will share with them.

http://www.leadbetteradventures.blogspot.com/

The Leadbetter’s welcome all, just be prepared to sign the darn guest book – oops I forgot AGAIN! No worries she will get me on it soon enough.

Enjoy the pics and be sure to check out Nick’s 1^st ever Triathlon that Evan and Chloe were on the sidelines cheering him on for. Very cute to watch and something I think Evan would really like.