Family Vacation

We had a ball traveling up to D.C. We stopped in Charlotte to visit Aunt Emily Jeff and cousins Leigh and Dawn. Aunt Jeff was incredibly sweet to make us feel at home. She was happy as could be spending time with Nate (and he with her)-! Leigh and Dawn entertained us, and were even able to get us tickets to the Wachovia golf tournament pro-am on Wednesday in Charlotte. We had a blast - and I always thought golf was boring (: Heading up through Richmond, we were able to meet Jack, who is such an angel, and spend time with our wonderful friends, Kelly and Justin Brod. It was so much fun to hang out in their beautiful home and just catch up. The next day, up in D.C., we were back in our old stomping grounds again. We stopped and visited Cathy Babuschak and saw her gorgeous house on our drive up to the city. Jason took over baby duty and handled a very dirty, hungry, fussy baby for me while I chatted with my good friend. It was fantastic. Then, once in Fairfax, VA, we had a fabulous dinner. We met up with great friends, Sam and John Young and their darling daughter, lil' miss Aubrey. Cathy joined us, and we all talked and ate and drank until the ripe old hour of 9:00. But then again, with kids, there are no more late evenings! Sweet Jason let me have a couple of hours after dinner to drink wine and chat with Sam and Cathy (sans kids), and I loved every moment. We joined up with our good friends, Clarisa and Jerry Hickel, who we met in Japan, in Georgetown for coffee the next evening. It was a lot of fun hearing about their lives, and seeing how much fun they had meeting Nathan. Finally, our last night there, we met our longtime friends, Ellen and Rodney, and their kids, David and Sarah Armand at Austin Grill in Bethesda. We always love seeing them, and had a blast laughing and discussing parenthood. For about 5 minutes, we talked about how much we missed the area (we met there afterall!), and then the bad weather started, we got a parking ticket for a meter that had expired five minutes earlier, and the traffic came to a standstill. Time to head home! It was a crazy, busy trip, but there's nothing better than spending time with friends and family. Nate did really well, and adjusted to all the chaos and change. I was so proud of him. We arrived home safe and sound, and a little tired. And then we discovered we had left our garage door open for eight days. Only WE would plan an entire road trip down to the most minor details, and leave our garage door open... !