A Beautiful Wedding Weekend

We had the honor to attend the wedding of one of my best friends (and also my college roommate) this weekend. Cindy and I met our first day of college (we had been put together as suite-mates and hit it off right away). We got along so well, in fact, that we became roommates the next year and lived together until we graduated. We have so many great memories of our times at SBU and also in the years following graduation. We don't see each other too often, but when we do, it is like we haven't spent any time apart! Cindy was one of the bridesmaids at our wedding and I was thrilled to return the favor. All of us girls in the wedding attended college together, so it was a great time of catching up on the latest news, helping get things ready for Cindy's big day, and generally acting like goofy girls! Josh (Cindy's new husband) also went to college with us, but none of us knew him too well at the time. Fortunately, they met up again about 2 years ago and really hit it off. They make a great couple. Shawn and I had a chance to spend some time with them last Thanksgiving and I am so excited that they are together! I wish them a long life full of happiness. Unfortunately, Shawn didn't really know anyone at the wedding except those of us in the bridal party. He spent a lot of time hanging out in the hotel while I was helping with things...but I think he enjoyed the time to watch football, FoxNews, and run whenever he felt like it. We drove home on Sunday and spent a lot of time in the tailwinds of Hurricane Ike. It was pretty exhausting fighting the rain and the wind and we were relieved to arrive home safely. Hopefully Cindy and Josh's honeymoon will be hurricane free!

NightLights, Football, and Hanna

Shawn and I had a busy weekend planned with many outdoor activities that were all threatened by Tropical Storm Hanna coming on Friday afternoon. Fortunately, Hanna didn't pack much of a punch and we were able to enjoy our weekend. Friday night we went downtown to see InLight Richmond. This was an event centered around art and light. The galleries were all open to the public and the street was full of illuminated arts...including wearable art, shadow dancing, and strobe light dancing. The most entertaining was the "wearable art"...people dressed up in crazy dresses with light incorporated in them. The most original was a girl in a solid black turtleneck dress with a small tree-like thing on her head with lanterns hanging off the branches! It was really hard to get good pictures with the rain and no flash, but this is the best we could manage of our night downtown. Saturday we went with some friends to see the University of Virginia Cavaliers play the University of Richmond Spiders. We were ready to sit in the rain all day (Richmond got almost 7 inches on Saturday morning), but right before kick-off the sun came out and we didn't feel a raindrop the rest of the day. The game was really boring and full of sloppy play, but it was great to spend the day with our friends. Sunday was spent with several more friends watching the kickoff weekend of the NFL. Now that football season has started...it was time to put out our sign explaining the fall mantra for our family!!

Summer's Last Hurrah

Well, summer is unofficially over. We just spent our last weekend at the lake until next Memorial Day. We had a wonderful time relaxing at the house, sunning ourselves on the boat and water, and talking a lot of politics! Fortunately for us, we are all pretty much on the same side of the issues!! Now we are settling in for a long fall full of football (our favorite) and elections/politics (a close second). We are looking forward to a UVA football game on Saturday and are hoping we aren't rained out from Hurricane Hannah. Here's hoping the rest of the year goes as fast as it has so far and our adoption waiting just flies by!

A weekend in Jersey

Shawn and I had the opportunity to drive up to New Jersey over the weekend to visit with his brother and family (who normally live in Kenya). They are home for a year and will be staying just outside of Philadelphia...which means we will have a chance to visit them a lot while they are here in the states! We haven't seen Jimmy, Steph, and the kids since we visited them about 3 years ago. We arrived on Friday afternoon and spent that day on the porch enjoying the unseasonably cool weather catching up on each others lives. (We don't talk too much on the phone when they are in Kenya, so everything is done through email...not the easiest way to share lots of info!) They had just dropped their oldest daughter off for her freshman year of college and their two boys (ages 16 and 14) talked with the adults until they got bored and started showing off their skateboarding skills. Then Jimmy and Shawn had to prove they still had it in them and decided to join the kids in the driveway. Needless to say the boys were much better and Shawn had a very sore bruised back to prove it!! Saturday we spent the day in Philly (a city I had never visited before) to take in all the famous sites...the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and a carriage ride around all the neighborhoods full of historic sites. I have to say the highlight for me, though, was eating a genuine Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich after waiting in a line that wound around the building. I guess that is how you know it is one of the best! Granted, I didn't order it right and it led the man at the grill to ask me where I was from...but it was still the best sandwich I have ever eaten in my life! (Apparently the correct way to order one is a "Cheesesteak Whiz" if you want one with cheese whiz [the normal cheese used on these sandwiches] and I said something like "a cheesesteak with just steak and cheese...whiz!) We ended the weekend with church on Sunday morning, hot dogs and mac-n-cheese for lunch (a tradition for Shawn and me) and a fun game of "Ticket to Ride" (a board game we got the family for Christmas). We had a wonderful time and are thrilled we will be able to see the family several more times before they go back to Kenya next summer.