Easter Weekend

For the last several years we've celebrated Easter with the Evans and Crane families and even though the Cranes have now moved up to Northern Virginia so Bret could teach at George Washington University, we still try to get together as much as possible.

The Cranes came down on Saturday, but we were hosting some other friends here at our house so we didn't really get to see everyone until Sunday. Gavin has had these two really great friends since kindergarten and their parents turn out to be really great as well. There was a little shuffling with Caleb going to his first dance, Mormon Prom, and Jonah going to a birthday party, but the rest of us enjoyed a great meal together and a rousing game of around the world on the ping-pong table, where I swear my sister-in-law Karen showed up. Tripp's mom has only been defeated once by Tripp's dad and she meant business.

Here is a photo from our back yard that Gavin's friend Ray took:

Caleb ready to go to his first dance! I heard for the first dance he asked a girl

who was not someone I would have expected him to ask and when I talked to him about it he simply said: " she was standing closest to me". Oh, well, of course, that's how you decide who you want to dance with, how could I have not known that?? The mind of a 14 year old boy is so completely foreign to me!

His curls that started to show up about 2 years ago are creating a completely new look for him. Jared too had straight hair until his teens and he's been a curly head ever since.

More views of the new look:

The nice thing about having good friends is that we all pitch in and contribute the meal and being that I think we are all pretty good cooks, Em C. being the award winner, we get to enjoy really great feasts. 

I loved this photo of the egg hiders....the sun was so bright that they only needed to open their eyes on "3"!

 During most of the hunt Caleb and Bret were seeing who could nail who with a Nerf ball. Bret happens to be the biggest tease and prankster and even hid Gavin's eggs before taking off to DC. Gavin finally found them after about 30 minutes of searching.

Gavin weighing his loot which less than a week later was entirely consumed!

The gang....can't wait until the beach when we'll all be together for an entire week!

Jared turned 43

It was almost two weeks ago that we celebrated Jared's 43rd birthday. It was uneventful, really, outside of the pot roast and banana cream pie I made to surprise him. I never make pot roast, I tried once and it was a flop, but I knew if I could figure it out, Jared would be in heaven :). It was a Sunday after all and Saturday was packed to the hilt with soccer games and merit badge university for C. and L. so we were both ready for a day of rest. In fact, I had to do a little VT'ing after church and apparently Jared took a little nap, something that is a rarity around here. The boys on the other hand never seem to wear out or lose steam, so we left them at home to clean up after dinner and get their gifts ready while we took a walk down our favorite road that looks out over the Blue Ridge mountains. It's this very view that we have in a painting over our mantel and I've never been drawn to or loved a painting more that this one.  I find myself staring at it thinking of our life here in Charlottesville and once again pinching myself at our good fortune.

The boys called us while we were still walking to announce that the kitchen was clean and that they were getting the gifts and cards ready. We made it back for him to be surprised with some unexpected gifts for his upcoming Philmont trip with Caleb as well as a verbal coupon to be able to pick out his own back-pack and hiking boots. I ordered hiking boots for him at Christmas and then he ordered several more pair and still, he's not found the pair he's willing to hike 90 miles in this summer. So the search continues.

Before pie, we make a spanking line and the boys unleashed all their strength, which of course ended up hurting their hands just as much as Jared behind! I warned them, I did. So Happy Birthday to the man who keeps our life full of living!  He's behind the camera 99% of the time, so the most recent photo I have of him is from the last winter storm in March:

Williamsburg

Spring break was looking like it was actually going to bring some truly spring-like weather and we were all very excited to head to Colonial Williamsburg to spend a few days with our great friends the Riggs. Jared and Dale were roommates in college and when they get together a whole new language including intonation, word choice, and facial expressions emerges in a way that leaves us laughing until our stomachs hurt and tears are streaming down our faces. I swear, my face muscles were so sore after just a few nights together, but oh so worth it!

To be honest I wasn't sure if Colonial Williamsburg would be a fun enough vacation stop for more than a day, but we found it to be surprisingly fantastic. When we went to purchase our multi-day pass we found that we could pay for a single day tickets and because we were Virginia residents, could come back as often as we wanted for the remainder of the year! Which was great because after two days we realized that we needed at least one more visit to see everything we missed on this trip.

Highlights included military training where we were broken up into platoons and taught to march on command, yelling out "yes sir sergeant!" to said commands. Watching "General Washington" ride in on horse back to give the preparing troops a reminder as to why they were fighting: freedom! We toured the governor's palace where Mr. Dunmore lived before he fled in the middle of the night with his family and his personal entourage. He probably figure it was get out of dodge or get lynched because he'd given the secret o.k. to remove all the ammunition from the settlement to a boat docked on the James river owned by the British. He was given his governorship by the King of England after all, so his true loyalties rested with the man paying the bills. I'd make a stealthy exit too! My favorite stop on the palace tour was watching them make chocolate from the cocoa beans in the kitchen. It was very labor intensive: the beans were roasted, then the hard shells removed, then the beans were crushed in a large mortar then scooped out onto a granite slab and with a rolling pin smoothing them out over and over until a think chocolate paste was made. Now this was 100% cocoa, so not something that would have tasted like a Dove chocolate, but it smelled divine. The next day we got to sample the "hot chocolate" from these beans in the tea house. It's hard to explain the flavor....much richer (like 100% of your saturated fat in a 4 oz serving), with hints of cinnamon, cloves, and chile pepper. Truly divine.

You get into trouble, you end up here for all the towns people to see and spit in your face or worse.

We arrived in time to meet the Riggs for a fun meal at the Kings Arm Tavern where we enjoyed peanut soup, salmon, ribs, wild meat pie, and to finish off with what Gavin felt was the best pecan pie he's ever had. Our waiter dressed us with our personal bibs and Jared was trying to strangle Dale.

The next day the Riggs went to Jamestown and Yorktown, two sites the boys have been to on field trips and were not interested in going back, so we toured the homestead where the real work of Colonial Willimsburg happens and then more of the Colonial sites. At the homestead, we learned that this was a  new addition to Colonial Williamsburg designed to tell a part of the history that had not be previously talked about. Like this man said: "all those building that are admired over that wall came from  here. Here is where we make the bricks and the shingles, and raise the pigs for the hams curing in the smoke house. It was fascinating and a piece of the history that should not have been left out for so many years.

Jonah listening intently to instruction on how to make a shingle.

Inside one of the homes that was maybe 16x16 and where 12-14 slaves, or free laborers lived. Jonah and Gavin learned that carrying water or pulling weeds would be their "school" every day and they would have started at the age of four.

Jonah and Jared are lovers of maps. Jonah carried this around with him all day long, pulling it out every now and again to orient himself.

Behind this brick wall lay a maze that was the source of a great deal of tag. We brought the Riggs back here the next day for more play time.

Each evening, there is a Call to Arms where General George Washington stirs up the hearts of those citizens who are newly volunteering to fight against the British.

Fantastic photo from Jared

!!

Taking a tour of the tea house and learning about life so long ago. 

Here we are sampling the hot chocolate of the times.

Counting up the grams of sugar in each bottle: 42 or a half cup if you were wondering :)

Jonah was super excited about his chosen souvenirs.

Caleb and Liam were glued to Dale and by the end of the trip there were four people speaking the language of Dale-Jared.

 Being that in the group there are two official babysitters, we planned a date night after taking the kids swimming.

This game was made up by the boys and I think they never thought through why Emmaline or Eliza never joined in. Duh!

Soldiers in training for the night...I love the stoic faces.

The last day we went and briefly toured William and Mary. Caleb found a nice little niche in the chapel of the Wren building.

Caleb: "Mom, watch this and take a picture!"

 Once we were back at our house, these two never stopped their imaginary play, I mean never. Not until we forced them into bed after 9:00pm and they were awake at 6:30am quietly waiting until 8:00 to come out of their room.

All the while the others enjoyed the tramp and watching Napoleon Dynamite. All of us were watching it at first until the kids subtly suggested that we leave. o.k., o.k., we got it!

Because of Jared's teaching schedule this was the first year that we actually went somewhere for Spring Break and it couldn't have turned out any better. One of the best things in life are really good friends.