Weekend.

We took a very impromptu trip to the mountains this past weekend - and it was really wonderful to get away from some of the stress that has been building here lately. David has been very busy with graduate school applications, the GRE, and his usual workaholic busy schedule. The kids and I miss him, and we are still trying to find our rhythm after being shut-ins for nearly two months.

We ate, and lounged, and felt like we watched the leaves changing before our very eyes. It was peaceful, and relaxing, and fun.

 
At the local Farmer's Market - such a neat place.

 Looking at pumpkins

 My little Damon-boo riding a tractor - I think this one was from 1938.

 Dmitri on the tractor

Damon was scared of a man that walked up. It was pretty hilarious.

leaves.

 This kid loves BBQ.

 He love cones.

and coffee. There's always coffee.

Back to real, messy, life. I wonder how I can make every day feel more like this weekend....

Our Last Summer Hoorah: Beaches & Weddings

We have dragged out our summer life of un-structure as long as possible, flitting here and there, enjoying friends and family, celebrating my brother's wedding, a last trip to the beach (which is how we started our summer, too!) Today we are home. It is calm and quiet, and I feel ready for a rhythm, winding down for fall, and finding peace.

Snapshots of our latest travels:

 Watching the Blue Angels

Holding tight to mama

 The four of us at the Naval Air Museum

My new sister-in-law was a beautiful bride:

Photo by Audrey Shawver

We will almost share the same name and we have the same initials. I just have an additional "-ine".

The ladies of my family: My mom, Gram, Carol, Grandmother, and me (and Dmitri of course)

I'm sure there will be more photos to come. As for now, I'm home and on a cleaning rampage. Going to go finish scrubbing the bathroom grout that I've always thought was supposed to be dark brown...

A Traveling Ritual

Sitting here this sunny morning with my cup of coffee (well, it's actually two cups. Putting it in a giant mug makes me feel better about my "cup" of morning coffee). Feeling a little contemplative.

Today I am going home after a lovely summer break with my family. In some ways, I am a little sad to leave. I've enjoyed being apart of my brothers and parents daily lives. The weather has been perfect, and the mountain views are spectacular here in Appalachia. But I am very ready to be home. I've missed David- two weeks has been the longest we have been apart since we married, and it's felt even longer on some days. Due to a change in his research schedule, he had to miss spending our anniversary together, which made me pretty sad, and a little pissed off. But the day was exciting despite a lack of celebrating our anniversary, because my tiny new niece, Claire Elizabeth, was born in the wee hours of the morning!

Through a random correlation, I will be able to catch a ride with David's sister, who is passing through Tennessee (She attends medical school in WV). Two very excited aunts will be road tripping to visit the newest family member. And since I cannot drive stick shift, I will be happily knitting in the passenger seat. Perfect.

As I am gathering all the items that have been strewn about the house by the littles, and searching for any things that the "Borrowers" might have hidden, I am also washing all of my dirty clothes. It's my little traveling ritual. On the last day of my trip, all of our clothes are washed, dried and folded neatly to be unpacked straight back into the drawers and closets that they came from.

It takes away the overwhelming feeling of being "behind" when I get back home.

"See" you when I get back to the farmhouse. Happy weekend!

This Weekend

This weekend I achieved the monumental moment as a mother: spending the night away from my children for the first time. I went on a camping trip to a 500 acre farm with a group of ladies from the Ladies Homestead Gathering that I am apart of. It's taken me a while to be ready for this day, but I knew that the time had come (although, it did take a little convincing from the husband and my friends!)

The occupation

I loved:

-talking late into the night under the stars, oh about everything.
-quiet peacefulness of the farm
-being able to relax
-sweet, kindred souls & friends
-a four hour plant identification walk
-not changing diapers/fixing food/washing dishes etc.

I missed all the snuggles of my little ones, but it was oh, so, wonderful to get a much-needed break. Pumping was a little annoying and time consuming (not to mention engorgement. UGH.) But it went well, and I won't be worried about having to pump over a long period of time in the future.

 Friends! (Disregard our ridiculous hiking clothes and tick-preventing sock silliness.)

Thankful for my time. And glad to be back home.

Cumberland Island: A Camping with Toddlers Adventure

We just got back late Monday night from a trip to Cumberland Island off of the coast of Georgia, which is the reason for the silence here lately. I have been planning this trip for six months, and it was our first vacation sans family: just the four of us. My brother's high school graduation coincided with the end of our vacation, so we tagged on a trip to visit family as well. Nine days was a long time to be away from home; but the children traveled very well, and seemed to enjoy the frequent change in scenery!

This was the first time that David and I have been camping, so taking a one-year-old and almost-three-year-old to an island for three days was an adventure for all of us!

We drove down to Fernandina Beach the night before we caught a ferry in St. Mary's, GA to take us over to Cumberland Island. The island was absolutely beautiful, and we loved how peaceful and remote it was. We rarely saw another person, and only shared the entire beach with two other families who were out of ear-shot. It was a completely different vacation experience than anywhere else we have been, and it was so wonderful to "unplug" in so many different ways.

As for the camping itself, the children loved it. I did not sleep at all in the tent, but since David and the children did, it was survivable. Our second day on the island, it started to rain, and it did not stop. Our tent began to leak from the roof, and we were able to borrow a tarp from some camping "neighbors". However, even with the tarp, water seeped in through the bottom of the tent, leaving everything, and I mean, everything, wet. My sheets and air mattress were soaked, and I was wet, cold, and shivering the entire second night. The next morning, we did not even have clothes to wear or towels to dry off with, because all of stuff was drenched, and we had used what we had to dry off the night before. There was over an inch of water on the floor of the tent, and the weather forecast actually had a flood warning for the island.

So, we felt that we had no other choice but to leave the island a day earlier than we had planned. So we packed up all of our stuff, and took the ferry back to St. Mary's, and decided to spend our last two days (one night) in Savannah, GA (about two hours away from St. Mary's). It was so nice to be able to take a hot shower, dry off, and be inside during some afternoon thunderstorms in Savannah. We stayed right down on Bay Street, which made it incredibly easy to walk and see the town with the little ones. Our final stop was Tybee Island where we climbed to the top of the lighthouse. The views were gorgeous, and we enjoyed learning about the history of the lighthouse.

In the end, it was a fantastic trip. We learned a lot about camping, and hope for it to be a part of our lives on a regular basis. It was a much needed break to focus on spending time as a family after such a busy semester for David, before heading into a very busy summer.

And I think the photos speak for themselves:

We are busy trying to get back into everyday life...and missing vacation already. It was nice to be away from the stress of trying to deal with the coyotes (And I cannot thank all of you enough for the support and advice. We are trying to decide on the best course of action, and all of your comments were very helpful). David has also entered full-time job hunting mode, since he will be graduating August. As usual, we are keeping things exciting.

Summer, here we come.