Back in the 'Burg

Because of my fabulous college years at W&M, we've loved to visit Williamsburg since we moved back to the East Coast 5 years ago.  I've blogged about the trips here and here and here .  This was Ella's 3rd visit in her short 5 year life!  This time, the trip came as a response to an invitation from my dear friend Ana (I can't believe we've been friends from 8 years already!) who was able to get two timeshare units right next to each other and asked us to join her family for a long weekend trip!  

Ana and me enjoying Cracker Barrel!

We had really fabulous time.  Traveling with friends and 3 kids under 6 could have been disastrous hard but it really was so much fun! Ana and Jonny are so sweet and our families meshed together so easily!  What a blessing.  Ella and their sweet son Daniel (3 years old) played well together the entire time despite the age and gender difference.  We were so happy to see them spontaneously holding hands and really enjoying each other all weekend!

 

 We had a great time in Colonial Williamsburg checking out the sights...

 

  Sadie was cranky the first day until we realized she had a fever! Poor thing! After that she returned to being pretty easy going and slept SO much better than we expected in an unfamiliar place.  She napped and slept through the night really well!  She did however discover the new skill of shrieking on this trip.  Mostly when food isn't coming at her fast enough.  Oh dear Lord let this shrieking phase be short. Good thing I love her so stinkin' much!

I got to give a little tour of part of William and Mary's campus which made me giddy with all the great memories I have there...

entering the Wren building

Sadie looking regal on an ancient chair in the Wren Building

next to the Sunken Gardens

  

Back at the Timeshare (which was spectacular-I highly recommend the Marriott Manor Club at Ford's Colony) we got to do a lot of relaxing as well as swim...

 And had an amazing picnic dinner in the gazebo right outside our front door...

Jonny was our gracious chef!

 

And snagged as many family and group pics as we could...

It really was a great trip and we are so thankful for great friends.  Excited to share and create more memories like these!

Celebrations!

There have been SO many parties lately! We hosted a little family party the day after Ping and Silas got back from China a few weeks ago and since then we've been to 5 birthday parties (Rylan, Daniel Peter, Emily, Jake, and Aaron) and have 2 more coming up soon. Lots of celebrating and not a lot of pics but here are a few :-)

Uncle Dave and Baby Silas-who is hardly a baby anymore!

the cousins being wild

One of the birthday boys and his mom, my sweet friend Ana

This is my friend Kristen's daughter, Holly-we don't see them very often but I always think of her as Ella's hair twin! (except hers is longer and red of course!)

chowing down on the cake, one of Ella's favorite parts of birthday parties

Pastor Dan helping Ella figure out a goody bag toy. It's SO fun to see him interact with Ella since he did our pre-marital counseling and knew us really well before she was even a thought!