Come Back Soon

I had a great weekend visiting with my Uncle David and Aunt Mary!

Come back again really soon!

Oooooo---wow!

"Oooooo---wow!"

~Jackson, on the birds

Yes, wow!

Remember Hugo and Victoria, the baby robins from the little tree in our front yard?

Well, it turns out there were actually three babies ... the egg that I thought did not hatch ... actually just hatched a day later.  So, Hugo and Victoria were actually Hugo, Victoria, and Miracle.  The third bird, Miracle, is so named because we have saved her life twice.  Three days ago, she fell out of the nest and way lying in the sun on our asphalt driveway.  Luckily, I arrived home shortly after she must have fallen.  She was panting, but still alive.  So, I scooped her up between two paper towels and returned her to the nest, hoping the mother robin would not abandon the three nestlings.  Mommy Robin returned to the nest within about 30 minutes and continued to feed and nurture the three babies.  I was so very happy to see her there!  What a wonderful mother she has been.

Then, just now--like, literally while I was typing the opening of this blog post--Justin called upstairs to tell me the babies had left the nest.  One baby quickly skipped across the yard and into our neighbors' bushes.  Another baby sat chirping in the shade of our front stoop.  And the third baby, Miracle (because I'm certain it was the same baby was before-wink) was panting in the grass, unable to stand.  Justin scooped her up and placed her back into the nest.  Sure enough, Mommy Robin has already returned and is still tending to her.  It is so sweet ... as I'm writing this very line, I can hear them chirping outside.  I hate that they chose today, the sweltering 103 degree day, to fly the nest ... but I suppose that's mother nature.  I will just have to keep faith that God will take care of these three precious babies that I have grown to love over the last two weeks.

Incredibly enough, I snapped several photographs of Hugo, Victoria, and Miracle about 20 minutes before they left their little nest ... and one of Hugo chirping on our front stoop ... so, I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.  I know I will never take the simple pleasant chirping of a robin for granted again, instead I will think back fondly on the summer I was blessed to witness the birth of these beautiful tiny creatures.

Can't you just imagine little Hugo standing there on the stoop carrying a lunch box?

... just a silly little thought that came to mind ...

Farewell to our treasured feathered friends ... come back and sing to us now and then.

Birthday Weekend

To celebrate Justin's 30th birthday (albeit really early), we traveled last weekend to Winston-Salem, NC to visit my our dear friend, Megan.  I just thought it would be a nice treat for Justin to have a weekend away from parenting, work, and the familiar.  So ... Jackson had a busy three days with his Ne-Ne and Paw-Paw, and we loaded up the Scion for our travels to North Carolina.

Actual Time: 4:47 pm:  day one

I had to include this beloved photograph in honor of our Megsie.  She has become accustomed to her car clock (and watch--yes, watch) being 50 minutes slow.  Therefore, she's afraid that resetting them correctly will throw her off schedule.  We got a kick out of this!  And ... after a few days, we started running on Megan-time as well.

 

Love you, girl!

Why Krispy Kreme?  My husband and his sweet tooth discovered that Winston-Salem is the birthplace of the Krsipy Kreme doughnut.  So, naturally, we had to pay a visit.

And hear about it everytime we traveled anywhere near the street where it was located.

Ahem.

But, Krispy Kreme wasn't the only outing on our agenda ... oh no!  Megan treated us to a wonderful lunch at an old tavern in a colonial Moravian village--just my style!

And we also enjoyed wine tasting and touring at a local vineyard.

And after a classy bottle of Riesling, we decided to kick back at a local dive--real Southern style--for some good old fashioned North Carolina BBQ.

Talk about some good eatin'!

On Saturday night, Megan took us downtown for some throwback Charlottesville-style pizza at Mellow Mushroom and to her favorite bars.  It was great!

Nothing quite like good friends and a good time for your birthday ...

But, wait!

It wouldn't be a Justin-esque holiday without ...

Cake.

Complete with all 30 candles ...

Happy (early) Birthday, Jus!

Farewell, Harry

In 1997, a single mother on Welfare brought the world a story that would forever change a generation.

My generation.

And at 12 o'clock this morning, we took our final journey into the world of Harry Potter--a bittersweet journey that marked a final installment of extraordinary magic--and also the end of a childhood fascination spanning some 14 years.

Thank you, Harry.

Justin and I recently awoke after the, truly, once-in-a-lifetime experience of attending a Harry Potter marathon that began at 4:30 am on 7/14/11 and lasted through the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

It All Ends.

7.15.2011

We've been seeing that slogan for some time now, and when my alarm sounded in the wee hours of July 14th, I couldn't have been more excited to wake up!

Justin had traveled directly to the theatre after working night shift ... and little did I know he had spent his night playing Scene It! with people who had traveled to Winchester from all over the East Coast for this event ... how lucky that we live 5 minutes away!  So, when I arrived at 4am, lots of Muggles already knew my name.  I felt a little like Harry entering Diagon Alley.

This car belonged to our friends Virginia and Erin!

So we found our seats, and prepared for the 24 hours of Potter magic to begin!

Not seeing sunlight was a small price to pay for this opportunity to drink Butter Beer, squeal and cheer with fellow Potter-fanatics, and curl up under a blanket and watch Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson grow up on screen--to see over a decade of their childhoods, and ours, played out in these truly epic films.

There were costume contests, Harry Potter trivia, free back massages, and free face painting (scars, of course)!  And ... almost everyone (including us) came dressed up in one way or another.

Yes, a few tears were shed ... okay, a lot (and by a lot of fans) ... but this will forever be an amazing memory.  One that I'm sure I'll one day proclaim to Jackson "Yes, I was there!  I was there when Harry Potter was created ... I was there from the cupboard under the stairs to the battle of Hogwarts ... and I loved every moment!"

Farewell, Harry, our dear friend.

Yes, There Is A God

Not that I needed baby robins to hatch in our front tree to convince me, but how can you look at this photograph and not agree?

Yes.

There is a God.

And He is so very good.

P.S.-- their names are Hugo and Victoria

wink

Better Late

I suppose it's better late than never to share how we spent our Fourth of July around here.  Unfortunately, Justin had to work again on this holiday, so Mom and I took Jackson to see his first fireworks (well, the first ones he paid any attention to anyways).

Before the firework display, we traveled to West Virginia (really...it's only 20 minutes away) to eat dinner at our beloved Logan's Roadhouse (oh, how we miss Roanoke).  As you can see, Jax was super-duper excited about the holiday photo taking.

But at least--in this quality mother-son photograph--you are given a lovely display of his holiday garb.  Always a silver lining.

Once we gave up on the picture taking, we headed to dinner ... then home to watch the fireworks display for the first time in our new hometown.  I'll have to say ... it was pretty nice.  Ever since Roanoke's fireworks stopped being let off from wonderful old Victory Stadium, nowhere has ever really compared.  

I'd give ours a solid "B-" ... not too shabby.

Some great things about these festivities were the food vendors, the games, and the live music.  The three of us had a splendid time just milling around before the fireworks began at "dusk"--a.k.a. 9:50pm (when Jax was fading fast!)

I'll give you one guess who the "monster bag" of cotton candy was for ...

Jackson?

Dead Wrong.

Finally, the magic began ...

Lighting the night sky with a beautiful extravaganza of color ...

Literally, like nothing Jax had ever seen ...

Boom.

Boom.

Pop.  Fizzle.

Boom!

Little Taco fell asleep during the whole ordeal ... but I'll bet his dreams were amazing that night.  Don't you think?  After all, you know what they say about what you fall asleep watching ...

Maybe it is better late ...

I think the Fourth of July is something beautiful to relive.

So Tweet

Look who joined our family this morning . . .

So tweet!

Just Thought You Should Know

A few big things happened this weekend . . . and I just thought you should know . . .

Granny Tori came to visit . . .

And . . .

I started walking!