Lake of the Woods

On Friday, Andy, Liddy and I headed down to Lake of the Woods to spend the night with Greg and Erica (Adam was with Grandma and Grandpa!) Greg's parents bought a lake house there last month and we were excited to get to test it out.

The house is perfect and the views are spectacular. In a little less than a month, the house already feels like a home, better yet, there is even a little basket in the kitchen filled with lake house themed Christmas ornaments. Greg's mom is truly a woman after my own heart! :)




The dogs had a blast running around after each other and of course, swimming. It was all we could do to keep Liddy from jumping off the dock right when we got there. Roxie however needed a little convincing, so Erica and I took her in the paddle boat over to the little beach area so she could ease into it.




After our water fun, we headed inside for cocktails and appetizers. Andy and I were tasked with bringing the apps, so we did a little cheese plate, some shrimp cocktail, and the tastiest, goat cheese and crab cake stuffed portabella mushrooms you've ever had! Tooting my own horn, yes, yes I am.





For dinner, Greg made some fantastic ribs, and Erica made her awesome homemade macaroni and cheese. And since that wasn't enough, for dessert, they whipped up root beer floats! Taste!





While it was a short visit, it was still a great time, and considering it's only about a 60 minute drive from our house, it was well worth it. Thanks to Greg's parents for buying the house--we plan to help to get your money's worth out of it! :)

"Where's Adam?"

As I've mentioned before, Adam is LOVING playing "Peek-a-Boo" or as we prefer to call it, "Where's Adam?" He plays this game a variety of different ways. Sometimes he'll hide behind a book, sometimes he buries his head in a pillow or sofa cushion, other times he hides behind a chair, it just depends on what's available at the time I suppose. I even caught him playing it with Liddy last night! It was so funny, he just kept putting his head on the sofa cushion, then picking up his head, looking at Liddy, and then back down again, and so on and so forth. It was hilarious! I love how something so simple can create so many giggles!

(this was Adam playing his game at Wintergreen with Uncle Lee, who lucky for us had his camera out and ready) :)

Wolf Trap

Saturday night Kathleen and I left our little ones at home and headed out to Wolf Trap to see Idina Menzel perform with the National Symphony Orchestra. For those that don't know, Idina was the original Elphaba in the musical "Wicked." Kathleen and I have been, well, obsessed might be too strong a word, but it's close, with the musical since we saw it together in Chicago two years ago.

While the weather was rather toasty, once we got situated on the lawn and poured our first glass of wine, it wasn't so bad. We enjoyed a great cheese platter, followed by some tasty pasta salad, and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. The perfect picnic!





The concert was great! She was hilarious and her voice is just amazing. She sang lots of great show tunes, including several songs from "Wicked." Needless to say, we were in heaven!

Best part was getting to enjoy some much needed sister time! :)

Climbing up the stairs...

Uh oh! Look what Adam can do....

Friends

I've been away this week on travel, but Andy did a great job of documenting what went on while I was away. Probably the most exciting thing is that Adam and Liddy really seem to be playing together. I'm told that Adam would chase Liddy around the island, and once he'd catch up to her, he would bump his head into her and try to "pet" her. In the past, Liddy would typically just run away, but I'm happy to see that she's starting to play along. Here's the proof:

Happy 4th of July!

We continued our tradition of spending the 4th of July up at Wintergreen. I can remember last year being pregnant with little Adam and all of us being very excited at the thought that next year we'd have a baby joining us...who knew there would end up being TWO babies! :)




It was Olivia's first trip to Wintergreen and I think she enjoyed herself. It was nice to have lots of time to spend with her. After chasing Adam around the house it was nice to have "Olivia Breaks" where I could just be in charge of cuddling that sweet baby girl.






We all took turns with the cooking duties and as always we ate very well. Andy even got to spend some time smoking ribs and reading a book--a favorite past time of his.



Adam had a lot of fun and enjoyed having so many extra people around to play with him. He even got to splash around on the deck in his pool.







We skipped the fireworks this year, logistically it was just not going to work especially with such little ones in tow. But we did enjoy a rousing game of "Hearts" followed by fireworks on the tv--not quite the same, but it sufficed.




I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe holiday!

(PS: thanks to Uncle Lee and Uncle Mark for helping to take some really great pictures!)

Bubbles!

When the weather was nice last week (and our air conditioner was broken, ugh!) we got to spend some quality time out on our deck. We also got to introduce Adam to bubbles! We've blown bubbles for him before, but he never really noticed them or really paid much attention at all. This time he was all giggles and laughs trying to catch them and pop them with his little baby claps. It was quite entertaining, at least for his mom and dad! :)

10 months!

We got to celebrate Adam's 10 month birthday up at Wintergreen with my side of the family this past weekend. We had a great day playing with and chasing after Adam and ended the day with, what else, cake! :)






This last month has brought a much more active, giggly, and talkative Adam. He is making "Ba" "Da" "Ga" "Ka" "La" "Ma" and "Na" sounds in addition to blowing on his tongue to make noise (can't think of how else to describe this, but you know what I mean). We also have noticed that he's playing more thoughtfully with his toys. He reaches for certain buttons and levers on his music table now, rather than just banging at it. He isn't walking yet, but he's gotten very good at climbing up and can lean his belly into a table and then have both hands available to bang, clap or play with toys. He has become a pro at playing our version of "Peek-a-boo" or as we call it, "Where's Adam?!" and we even find him hiding behind chairs, coffee tables, and his favorite, books, to play! It cracks us up every time!

We just love our happy little boy!!



XOXOXO

Lunch with Olivia

Today I got to meet up with Kathleen and sweet baby Olivia for a quick lunch at Tysons. Even though we live somewhat close to one another, we really don't get to see each other as often as I'd like, so I was happy that we were able to squeeze in a mid-week visit!

Olivia is getting so big and was full of smiles and even a few signs of laughter! It was great! I also got to hold her for a little bit, and love that she's getting more "sturdy" for lack of a better word. Better yet, I'm about to get to spend all weekend with her!! Lots of Olivia time coming my way!




XOXOXOX :)