Thanksgiving

My parents came to town on Monday to spend Thanksgiving with us. I had scheduled to take the week off and work on miscellaneous projects around the house, so they had fun taking Sarah to various places (the zoo, the children's museum, and Maymont--a place with a small aquarium and animal area). Sarah had loads of fun and tired herself out each day with them.

On Thanksgiving day, we decided to decorate the tree. The next few weeks are going to be busy with work and an upcoming conference, so I thought it would be a great opportunity while my parents were in town. Sarah had fun decorating the tree and I am wondering if she'll understand what Christmas is this year.

Unfortunately, Greg was working, so he slept through most of the fun. Luckily they gave him Christmas off, so he'll be able to spend it with us. He looked at his schedule and for the next 3 years (he works every other week, so it is fairly easy to figure out is schedule), he is working Thanksgiving and Christmas. The fun of working retail. Sad for us :(

Mommy and Sarah decorate the tree.

Sarah helps Nanny

Sarah rests on Nanny's lap after a long day

A Weekend in the Mountains

This weekend we headed to the mountains near the Virginia/West Virginia boarder. We stayed at a cabin (this is a picture of it to the left) in one of the state parks known for good mountain biking. While my only mountain biking experience was while in Peace Corps, Greg still tries to ride and recently bought a new bike so we thought it would be fun to go out for the weekend.

We left on Friday and arrived in the afternoon. The weather was great and in the low 70's. Saturday, Greg headed out early for the trails while Sarah and I checked out the park. We headed for the lake which has swimming in the summer and apparently great fishing. We walked around until we found a big playground, but it was still wet from the morning dew, so we ended up playing in the leaves. After Greg returned from his trip, we headed to the Homestead for lunch. The Homestead is a five star resort about 40 minutes from the park. It is a beautiful place and each year, my work holds a conference there because one of the community colleges nearby provides a lot of their employee training. They give us a very reduced rate on the hotel. The conference is next month, the second week after Thanksgiving (a slow time for all hotels), which is nice because it is decorated for Christmas.

We had a great lunch at the golf club overlooking the course and the hotel. People were playing croquet on the lawn next to us (if this gives you an idea of how surreal it seems for us middle classers). I always wonder what the people eating and staying there do and I am fascinated by listening to the conversations at the other tables to get a glimpse at what 'high rollers' talk about.

After our lunch, we headed back to the cabin to settle in for the night and give Sarah her first s'mores experience. She really enjoyed them and so did we. Greg went for another quick ride in the morning and I fought with Sarah to put a jacket on since the weather had turned much colder. I finally gave up and she ran around in a long sleeve shirt and cold nose. She didn't seem to mind, which further indicates that this is yet another gene that she did not inherit from me (for those that know me, I am always cold).

All in all, it was a great trip and we've decided to either head back to this park or check out some of the other state parks across the state with cabins. We were very impressed that the states manages them. They are by no means rustic. There's air conditioning and heat, full kitchen and bathroom, fireplaces and beautiful porches. We stayed in an older cabin, but the newer ones have screened in porches. According to the signs, Virginia's parks have been rated "number one" (not sure by who), but we agree!

A picture of the lake at the park.

Sarah plays fetch with Brody.

Sarah helping Apa make s'mores

Sarah eating her s'more

Sarah poses in front of the Homestead. (Note: If you've been following our posts, you'll notice the small yellow duck in Sarah's hand. It seems to pop up in the strangest places. I am sure we'll do a story on it sometime when we have nothing to write about-so stay tuned...)

Woof Woof

This was Sarah's first Halloween. I had said I wouldn't dress her up in a costume until she said that she wanted to but it seemed that her interest hit a little earlier than expected as her daycare decided to have a costume parade with everyone in her class on Halloween. Although I wasn't too excited about the idea, I also did not want Sarah to be the only one without a costume for the parade.

In addition, I ran into a neighbor who has a five year old and she asked if we were taking Sarah trick or treating. I told her I wasn't, but during the course of the conversation she convinced me it would be a good way to meet some of the people in the neighborhood. She was nice enough to offer a dalmation suit for Sarah to wear. I don't think Sarah was too sure of it at first, but once she got it on, we couldn't get it off. Consequently, she loved the parade at daycare with the kids (and getting candy in the classrooms they visited), which meant she was ready to roll that evening. She did a fantastic job and held her new friend Kyrne's hand when she went to the doors. We probably went to 20 houses and she loved every minute of it. Her bag was so heavy she kept dropping it. Luckily I brought another bag, so I could take the weight off. All in all, it was a fun night and we had to fight Sarah out of her suit to go to bed.