Lexi

This summer we didn’t take a trip anywhere and instead kept it kind of local. The girls spend a week in Charlottesville with my parents and then Dave and I came down to join them for a few days. On our way back to PA we stopped over in DC for two days to do some of the touristy stuff that we haven’t done in a while.

In Virginia we visited with Aleen and watched some polo at King Family Vineyard. We also toured Monticello, and we met up with the Davis’ at Pro Renata in Crozet. I love when we can get Sophie and Lexi together.

In DC we hit two museum, the Spy Museum and the Museum of the American Indian. We walked along the lawn and saw the Washington Monument, various memorials, and then veered off to see the White House. We also had some very excellent dinners, which was a good reward for all of the walking.

Overall the girls were pretty good, although I wouldn’t say it was their most favorite vacation. But I’m happy they can still be good sports for us.

The girls usually spend one week of the summer down in Charlottesville with my family. Since I’m working from anywhere these days, I went down with them and stayed the week. We hadn’t seen everyone in-person since Sophie’s birthday back in March, so it was really nice to finally give real hugs. The week was pretty low key. Most of the activities that the girls do while down there are closed this summer, or we just weren’t comfortable doing them, so we spent a lot of time at the house and just took a couple of trips out.

One day Becky and I took the girls to Sugar Hollow, which is a beautiful hiking spot where I spent a lot of time in high school.

Another day we went to a lake that was open for swimming.

One afternoon we met up with my friend Sarah and her daughter Lexi, who is 2 weeks younger than Sophie. We typically see them once or twice a year. The girls have totally different personalities, but get along pretty well. This time they bonded over Tic Toc (if I could find an eye roll emoji I would insert it here).

Sophie & Lexi (looking at Tic Toc together). Also pictured, adorable Caleb, who is just a year.

And the rest of the time we spent at the house – playing in the yard, fishing, and just hanging out.

Lauren lost a tooth while we were down there – her 8th tooth, and third to lose while we’re with my family. Must be a tooth fairy preferred location.

We of course travel with all of the animals, which right now just included Lauren’s tortoise, Jewels, and Sophie’s parakeets, Princess and Zebra. Jewels had an opportunity to meet Vahid, and she was not thrilled about it. She kept her head in the shell the entire time.

Lauren and Ari are pretty inseparable, and spent nearly the entire time together. At times it makes it tough for Soph because she feels left out. She and Ari also play together, but their personalities are very similar, which usually means it leads to fighting pretty quickly.

Mom also wanted to recreate a picture that she took of Dad, Becky and I about 30 years ago when we had Hannah, who is a doppelganger of Penny. Penny wasn’t super into taking direction, and we’re all a lot bigger than we were 30 years ago!