Virginia

This year Becky entered Ariana into the Annual Dogwood Festival pageant, and she won the Tiny Miss title! Which meant she got to ride on a float in the Dogwood Festival parade and also celebrate at a Queen’s Ball.

The girls and I made the trip down to see her.

Here she is on the float before the parade started (it was a Candy Land theme).

Doing her princess wave as she passed us.

My high school friends Jenny and Samantha, and Jenny’s sister Laura all came to watch with their kids.

Here’s the whole gang – between the four of us we have 9 girls and 1 boy.

Here we are, each with our oldest. Everyone has a mini me, it’s a little crazy.

That night we got all dolled up and headed to the Queen’s ball at the Double Tree hotel.

The girls and I at mom and dad’s house.

Becky and me, and the girls with the little Princess

The event was a mix between a wedding and a high school dance. The girls were most thrilled to dance with the Queen herself. Lauren especially was enamored.

It was a really fun night and Ariana had a great time. She felt so special all day and my girls were thrilled to spend it with her.

 

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We headed down to my parent’s house in Virginia for Thanksgiving this year. We had the usual group of folks: Doug, Vicky, Carley (no Quinn b/c she’s still on her gap year), Nana, Becky, James, and Ariana. We were also joined by Tom and Ginger this year. Dave cooked the bulk of the dinner – as he always does – and it was delicious! 

 Mom and Dad also took the opportunity to snap their Christmas Car pictures with their three grandkids
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This year we went to Charlottesville for Easter. We had a little break in the cold weather – enough to have an Easter egg hunt on the campus of UVa. And another one back at Mom and Dad’s house. Never enough candy, right? 
Here are the girls in their Easter best on The Lawn

Almost the whole crew

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We were down in Virginia this year for Thanksgiving. It was a big crew, as usual. Doug, Vickie, Quinn, Carley, Nana, our friends Carl, Amanda, Gianna, and Ella from North Carolina, and Aleen and Yvonne were all there.

We deep fried the turkey again this year. It think it might be the 5th or 6th year we’ve done that. It’s always delicious. Doug was the turkey master again. I think he waits all year for this. He was out there for hours getting the oil and the turkey just right. But time worth spent because it was super tasty.

Doug lowering the turkey

The weather was amazing and we got to spend a lot of time outside. We took a few hikes and just enjoyed my parent’s amazing property. It was also an opportunity to try and get a cousin picture. Alas, more failed attempts… Why they can’t all smile and look at the camera at once is beyond me.

Ariana is highly skeptical of her cousins. 
Lauren has clearly had enough. 

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The sound of cicadas has been replaced by crickets chirping, so that must mean summer is coming to an end. It was a pretty great one though.

In July Aleen and I road tripped it up to Mass to visit Sallie. It was a long drive (preview of what was to come a few weeks later for our Maine trip) but so worth it to hangout with some great, old friends.

Sallie, Aleen & Me
And then in August we headed down to Va. for the weekend to drop Sophie off, who spend an entire week with my parents. We had the annual high school friends BBQ at my parents house with the whole gang, and most of the kids
Becky, Ari, Sarah, Jenny, Aleen, Lauren, Me, Bracy, Samantha
Lexi, Parker, Darby, Kaylee, Darby
 Sophie was also reunited with Lexi. Sarah and I are really forcing this best friend thing on them. We’ll see where that ends up…
Lexi & Sophie
And then for the very last week of summer we trekked all the way up to Maine. All four of us packed in the car and headed to Bucks Harbor in Brooksville, MA and picked up a 40 ft. boat that was our vacation home for 5 days and nights. We sailed/motored around to Swan’s Island, Mount Desert Island, and McGlathery Island before heading back to Brooksville.
We did a lot of exploring in intertidal zones. They were teaming with cool creatures, like these start fish that Sophie found. 

Sophie at the helm. It was tough navigating the waters with so many lobster pots, but there were a few spots where Sophie (and I) could steer for a bit and give Dave a break. 

Dave and the girls

The fam in Acadia National Park. Beautiful hike and breathtaking scenery. 

Sophie in front of a very cool, very big rock that was only visible at low tide. The tides were huge there. On this particular hike we started having to wade thought water and ended with vast rock to walk on (you can see in this pic). But the tide also comes back in pretty quick, so we couldn’t linger for long. 
And that’s it. The last hurrah of the summer. We tried to pack in as much as we could it and was a great one! 

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This year we got a Christmas tree for our house – the first in the new house – but spend actual Christmas in Virginia. Here’s a shot of the girls decorating the tree.  Many ornaments, very low. 

The girls in a loving Christmas moment. Perhaps they were moved by the prospect of presents… 

The cousins Christmas morning. Poor Ariana was sick and very unhappy. 

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On August 16th Becky and James got married in St. Paul’s Church, Ivy. It was a beautiful wedding and we all had an amazing time – including Sophie and Lauren who were flowers girls.

The newlyweds!
While the rehearsal went as smooth as could be, on the real day Lauren decided that she would sprint down the isle – and Sophie didn’t know what to do so she ran after her. 

Me, Becky & Mom

The girls hung with me up front for bit – although it was pretty boring for them, so they didn’t last long.

No official pictures yet, so here’s a very unofficial one of the whole wedding party. 

Lauren cutting a rug with Zoe at the reception. 

The Rainer Clan

The Coughlin Clan

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We made a quick trip to Virginia last weekend. The girls got to see their cousin Ariana, and Dave and I got to enjoy some Virginia wine tasting. All in all a great trip!

Lauren doing her favorite thing – playing in water

Me with Ariana, who is 6 months, and Lauren, who is right now very into clutching (and not letting go) blankets. 

An attempt at a cousin picture. At least we got one where no one is screaming (I’m looking at you Lauren). 

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We spent Easter down in Virginia again this year. On Saturday we had a BBQ with a bunch of Becky and my friends and their kids. It was madness, but a lot of fun, including a piñata that Becky and Jack made.

Sophie and Lexi
On Saturday night Ariana was baptized at an Easter service. It was a really pretty service, with the whole congregation holding candles during the beginning part of the service. Doug and Vicki are the god parents and presented Ariana at the front of the church. 

And Sunday morning there was of course an egg hunt! Here are Quinn, Carley and Sophie with their winnings… 

The three cousins! 

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Last month Lauren and I went down to Virginia for a short weekend visit. We flew in a little puddle jumper and it was her first flight. I am happy to report that she was great! Luckily it was also only a 50 minute flight, which helped a lot. On the way back from Virginia we were delayed for 5 hours in the airport because of weather. Luckily the Charlottesville airport is small and not crowded, so she could just wander around (and tire herself out). By the time we were ready to take off, she feel fast asleep on my lap and slept the entire flight. It was perfect. Here’s to hoping future flights are so smooth! 

Here she is in a kid-sized rocking chair watching the planes arrive (unfortunately none were ours..)
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