Welcome to our World

We stopped off at an empty store during the drive from Williamsburg to Amherst. Kaelah isn't used to driving a long way & made us. (; Beautiful, though, huh? Except for the first day, VA was nice enough to only rain while we were in the car, asleep, or eating at a restaurant. Talk about hospitality! Kaelah meeting my half-aunt, Doris. Since she doesn't travel anymore, this was the first time I saw her in almost 8 years. How time flies! The fountain at the Linden Row Inn. I loved this hotel! Edgar Allen Poe grew up here back in the day and they have crow statues hanging out on one of the tables. Sweet. While Kaelah napped in the stroller (which was almost every day while we were gone) I got to look around the many gardens. On days when it was just me & her these times were so invigorating. If there is one thing I've wanted to bring back to CO from VA it's one of those gardens I got to be in!!! I love the bridges in VA. Don't worry, the water was only 2 inche...

1607 here we come! Aboard the recreated Susan Constant. I freaked people out continually by letting Kaelah climb stairs -- and they are everywhere in VA! Kaelah's really good at it & didn't fall down once, but I had lots & lots of middle aged women giving me the eye or telling me to watch her. Deciding where to go first at historic Jamestown. They say if you blink your baby will become a teenager.... Smiths by John Smith. Looking out toward the James River. Kaelah loved putting Grandma's pennies in the donation box. Pocahontas got lots of "wow"s out of Kaelah. What wowed me was that we were walking around a place that began only a few years after Queen Elizabeth's death and during Shakespeare's lifetime. Wow.

Kaelah & I spent two days at Colonial Williamsburg and my mom spent 1/2 a day. We had a wonderful time. We played lots with Baby, Doggie, & our sunglasses. Kaelah in a barrel! We loved the cooper smith... the people working there were seriously our angels that day. The living history museums are awesome, but in Colonial Williamsburg you can sometimes feel it isn't very toddler friendly. You'll notice my mom & I aren't in most of these pictures. Kaelah & I spent most of our time in Williamsburg while Grandma spent time doing genealogy research. Hence all the Kaelah only pix. Here she is looking out at the sheep & lambs with her mop cap on. Kaelah could not get enough of the stocks! Every time we went past the court house we HAD to stop & play. I just adored the scenery! A blossoming tree by the bakery. We were graced with 2 free ginger cakes & 2 free apple ciders. Please don't ask why. Here is a noisy & smiley Kaelah in the Governor...

While doing some genealogy here in Colorado, it looked as though we could be related to some really amazing people like George Washington, Thomas Nelson Jr. (a signer of the Declaration of Independence among other things), & all sorts of other famous people. This inspired a trip to Virginia to check it out and for my mom to visit the genealogy libraries in the area. On the very last day of our trip in Richmond my mother discovered that we weren't really related after all. Oh, well. It was still a blast!!! Behind Grace Church in Yorktown. At Thomas Nelson Jr.'s house. My mom is pointing to a cannon ball they put back in after restoring it. Picking a butter cup. I had taught her to pick the dandelions in our yard before we left Colorado. Woops. Running around Warner Hall. Yummy fancy lunch followed by tombstone hunting. Fun stuff! We thought we were related to the people who originally owned it. A recreation of an 18th century farm included chickens & turkeys walking...

I adore Easter. I wish it was as big a deal as Christmas for everyone. Without the sacrifice & resurrection of the Only Begotten, His birth would have lost all meaning. Last Easter Kaelah was too young to be involved in our celebration, but this year we were able to set up an egg hunt for Kaelah. Grandma was awesome & hid the eggs outside while Danny & I finished making a wonderfully special & delicious meal. We did cheat by purchasing the hot cross buns, though. (; For the first few eggs Kaelah would see them & say "uh oh" since they were obviously out of place, but she quickly caught on. Soon she was running & giggling in delight. We all couldn't help but join in. Meigo became so excited she began following us around with a stick we had gotten at the park earlier in the week. A little rain would never slow this girl down! Victory! Grandma got to be the special basket holder. So cute. Although there were 5 humans & a dog all together...

My wonderful family walking We finally got a good dumping of snow here last Thursday! Our grass needed this wonderful white stuff very badly. Kaelah had already outgrown her 24 mo. snowsuit, so we unburied the 3T items we purchased on clearance for next winter. Obviously still too big, but she was able to stay nice & warm that way. Kaelah's first time sledding. Yes, she had been tubing at Christmastime, but for sure the first sledding. While we were sledding a city snow plow came by & knocked over much of the fence between the sub-development & the road behind us. The shear force of wet snow traveling quickly -- what a mess. Yesterday Dan & Kaelah made Kaelah's first ever snow man in the front yard. And Grandma Karyl picked out the wonderful accessories for our nameless man. Kaelah preferred the snowballs to making the snowman. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise considering how much she loves balls! Each time she touched the snow she would gasp an...