Summer Travels

Summer vacation is here! This past weekend we kicked off our summer travels with a weekend trip to Virginia. Boomer's cousin, Kaleb, and his new wife Samantha got married on Saturday just outside of Woodstock in Mount Jackson. It is the same drive that we make every Thanksgiving -- about 4 hours if driving straight there. We were able to do it in 5 hours, making one stop each way. It helped that we were able to hit the road early on Friday; Boomer has started his four-day work weeks, and I had a half-day, since it was the last day with students. We were on the road by 3PM and pulled into Woodstock around 8PM. Emmy was a great traveler! Daycare, as usual, must have worn her out, because she slept for about 2 hours of the trip. Then we stopped for dinner and made the final leg of the journey. After checking in at our hotel, we met family at the downtown Woodstock park for some live blue-grass music and ice cream. There was an awesome playground, and Emmy went up and down the slide over and over again. We were back at the hotel by around 9:15PM (a late night for Emmy!) so we quickly got her down for bed. Well, not before an unfortunate incident...but I'll get to that in a little bit... 

On Saturday, we had breakfast downstairs in the hotel, and then Boomer and I got in a run thanks to Granny Cathy! She watched Emmy while we ran from the hotel to the downtown Woodstock area, which has a lot of quaint shops, restaurants, and businesses. When we got back to the hotel, Emmy was playing in the pool with Granny, having lots of fun splashing in the water. We all changed into dry clothes, and then Boomer, Emmy, and I went back downtown to eat at the Woodstock Cafe and Shoppe. It is a cute deli with sandwiches and salads and with a wine shop in the back. We felt somewhat like locals after our morning run and lunch downtown. 

Kaleb and Samantha's wedding was that evening at a barn venue in Mount Jackson. The ceremony was outside, and although very warm, it was otherwise a beautiful day. It was great seeing all the aunts, uncles, and cousins that we typically only see once a year. They all commented on how big Emmy was getting. Boomer spent most of the ceremony chasing her around, as we expected. There was a seating area/rock pit that she found particularly fascinating. She loved scooping up handfuls of the tiny pebbles and throwing them up in the air like confetti. It was hard to drag her away! After dinner and the cake cutting, we were able to take a Kennedy family photo, and then we whisked Emmy back to the hotel. It seemed she was on the brink of melting down, so we didn't want to chance it. Boomer said that after the last two weekends of weddings, he is "weddinged-out" for awhile :)

On Sunday, we went to the farm to visit Boomer's grandparents before hitting the road back to NC. His grandparents came to the wedding, but they were not able to stay very long and left shortly after the ceremony. It was nice to spend some extra time with them on Sunday. His grandfather was cracking jokes and picking on the grandsons; Boomer's grandmother didn't say very much, but she smiled at Emmy several times, and I was able to capture a few photos. Emmy was the only grandchild there this weekend (Goosie & Darby and the kids weren't able to come), so I think Emmy enjoyed the extra attention. We are thankful for the time with family and realize how precious it is to make these memories. 

So back to Friday night...but first I should probably introduce the main character of this story: Bobby. Bobby is Emmy's little lamb that she has grown quite attached to in the last couple of months. Great Gma Nancy gave it to her in April at Zander's birthday party (much like she would always get presents for me when it was Megan's birthday, and vice versa). We keep Bobby in the toy box, but Emmy usually runs to get it when she comes home from daycare or when we come downstairs for breakfast. We started calling it "Lambie" but Emmy has always called it "Bobby", so Bobby it is. Bobby has a little rattle inside, and even the sound of one shake, Emmy will cry out "Bobbbyyyy". 

Bobby was one of the few toys that we brought with us to Virginia. In fact, it was the only toy. We brought a few books, but otherwise my packing was pretty minimalistic, knowing that I could make do with cups, bottles, or anything else that we had on-hand in the hotel. Wellll Friday night, just before bed, Emmy decided to baptize Bobby in the toilet. We were all three in the bathroom, and Boomer and I immediately said "Noooooooooo!" It must have scared Emmy, because she immediately clung to Boomer's leg and started crying. I rescued Bobby and started a soapy bath to get it clean. Poor Bobby was out of commission the rest of the weekend. Moral of the story: we will keep the toilet seat closed from now on!