Last week the kids and I got back from a week-long trip to Virginia and Maryland with my mom. We had a great time, though I think I'll avoid traveling as much as possible in the near future!!
We spent the first part of our trip at my Aunt's parents' house in Virginia. They live about a block away from a nice little beach on Lake Monticello so we went to the beach at least once a day.
Jackson didn't like the way the sand felt on his knees so he quickly adapted his crawl to this bear-walk.
But he loved the sand everywhere else - even in his mouth! Yuck!
This first day we weren't quite prepared for the water - I think his diaper probably weighed as much as he did when he was done.
Natalie loved the kayak and got to go out on it almost every day.
Later that day another couple family members arrived. Here's Jackson playing peek-a-boo with Aunt Kathy, (my aunt, his great-aunt!)
The next day we went apple-picking. Natalie found out that she is 13 apples tall.
and picked her own apples - we'd worried that the trees would be too high up for her to reach, but everything was really low to the ground!
Jackson loved having his own apple to gnaw on too.
Hanging out under the tree with Uncle Steven.
And our first sight of Fall Pumpkins as well... they're everywhere now!
Later that afternoon, (after naps) we walked to the beach again and spotted our first deer.
The guys...
A lovely afternoon for a paddle.
And here is the spider that Natalie named Sam. She usually greeted us from the window next to the front door.
One morning we played for a while at the neighborhood park.
Natalie showed us which letters were which.
And Gary played with Jackson on the swing.
Later that day we went for dinner where we knew there would be a balloon guy. While we were there we had the only child in the place, so Natalie got a lot of attention. She left with two hats, a cool ballon toy, and a balloon bracelet! This guy was a balloon genius!
The next day we did the two mile walk up the hill to the Monticello visitors center. The walk started in a nice park where we had lunch and Natalie got to play in these cool hollow tree stumps.
Jackson enjoyed the ride... there were these great railed in boardwalks, or bridges over a lot of the trail.
And every time we came to one we had to do something, (Gary and Regina did push-ups, Natalie did jumping jacks or marched.)
Once Natalie started to get tired she just needed her muscles massaged a bit.
At the top there was a nice children's area. When Natalie walked in the man told her she could touch EVERYTHING. That was exciting for her.
The next day, before we left Regina's folks' house we managed to get in one more swim at the lake. We wanted to tire the kids out before putting them in the car for 3 hours on the way to Colonial Williamsburg.
Stay tuned for part II!
Cruising. 
Hanging out in Breckenridge. 
Worn out in Breck.
Hungry in Breck. 
Georgetown RR on the way back from Breck. 
Playing trains with the big boys. 
Hanging with Grandma on Jackson's 1st birthday!!
One year olds have all the fun!
Snow day!!
Halloween party apple-bobbing. 
Dressing up for her school Halloween party. 
"Eating" candy, (Jackson still puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.) 
Natalie's preferred pixie stick method.
Finger (and face) painting. 
SOOOOO Big! 
Thanksgiving break playdate, (since all of Natalie's old playdate friends all have different school schedules we had to arrange this one during the break.) We managed to pass our stomach bug that we thought was gone to every family in this photo! 
Tired baby!
First time sledding... she's a pro!
Christmas. 
Natalie the fashionista. 
Who's that guy again? 
Ahhh.... Santa!! 
So that's it! Do you feel caught up? I'll get back to you after Christmas.
