NB

NB: The previous two posts may only be interesting to parents and grandparents. ;) But feel free to enjoy anyway! :)

Evie

And here are some videos of Evie from the archive along with some newer ones.

Gracie

It has been awhile since we have posted any videos, so here are a bunch of Gracie, with more to come!

A Mary Poppins experience...

Today Williamsburg hosted a Chalkfest in New Town. While we weren't able to go down for the actual event while the artists were drawing, we stopped by this evening to check out all the finished projects. They were amazing and so fun to look at. I didn't know anyone besides Bert could make a chalk square look like these. ;)
 
Love the carmel apples!

And pumpkin pie of course (Snoopy on the pumpkin was also cute ;))
I loved the color and design of these leaves!
And these two were Evelyn's favorites because of the kitty and squirrel, of course! She made sure she pointed them out to me so I wouldn't miss them. ;)
    
Gracie didn't have the greatest view from her stroller, but she did enjoy being out and about in the absolutely gorgeous fall evening! Don't worry, Grace, next year will be better. ;)

Yellow Submarine

Last Friday night our church's music director, Robin, organized a concert with other local bands to benefit a local youth wind ensemble. The theme: a Beatles tribute show! It was a blast! Ten or so different local groups each performed a few Beatles tunes. They did a great job and it was fun listening to both the traditional renditions as well as variations. Nathan got to play in Robin's band and was fun watching him in his first (Sold Out!!!) Kimball theater performance! :)
 
Besides Nathan's band, of course, my favorite was this family - the mom played drums, the 14 son played electric, and the 11 daughter played bass and sang. These kids were amazing, especially the girl! Her bass was taller than her and when she started to sing, you could here a collective gasp/laugh go through the audience. No one was expecting what they got! They sounded amazing and it was fun to watch them having fun up there as a family. :) Here they are joined by a few other musicians for a very entertaining rendition of Yellow Submarine 
My grandparents from Mississippi were in town this weekend (more on their visit later :)) and got to join me for the show. Such fun. :) They're also responsible for one of Evie's new favorite words: "Sippi!!!" (aka, Mississippi ;)).

Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh my!

When our very fun aunt week was over, we met my parents at the National Zoo in DC to drop off Emily and Caroline. My parents were coming from Lancaster so they were able to bring Drew and Lana with them! Evie was thrilled to see Nana and Grandpa again AND her cousins. :)  
While the lions, tigers, monkeys, and elephants were quite exciting. The panda bears, which I was most excited to see, were kind of duds. One was inside and the other was asleep in case behind some bushes and wouldn't move. The best picture of a panda bear that we got was the picture below. :) Oh well, we'll try again next time. :)
The gorillas were hilarious! Fascinated kids:

Deciding that maybe they're a little scary afterall...
Nana and Grandpa with all their grandkids. :)
Gracie can't wait until she's big enough to run around with all the cousins too and not just hang out in the baby bjorn. :) We'll have to go back again in a few years, and maybe the pandas will be awake then!

Aunt Em and Aunt CarCar come

A highlight of each summer is Aunt Emily and Aunt Caroline's week long visit. Although they came over a month ago, we still talk about them every day and the conversation usually goes something like this: Evie "Emly, CarCar, back soooooon" Me: "Oh would you like Aunt Emily and Aunt Caroline to come back" Evie (emphatically): "YES, miss.....car, back, soon.... play blocks" (she knows they arrive by car :)).
We were so busy having fun and running all over Williamsburg that we forgot to take many pictures. Here are two showing the girls enjoying their aunts (reading Calvin and Hobbs and playing duets, what could be better??)

In addition reading, cooking, playing German board games, shopping, baking, and CW, we also adding Busch Gardens this time. In all my family's visits, they'd never been to BG. Evie had such a good time introducing her aunts to the Sesame Street Forest of Fun and other such top attractions. ;) I got to take Caroline on her first real roller coaster. Caroline, I'm glad we're still friends. ;) Here are a few pictures of the day.
    
And of course no visit is complete without plenty of time spent in CW. :)
Ems and Car, we can wait for next August!!!