Our family had a great memorial day weekend. It is our last official holiday in Virginia and we really got to enjoy it just the way we like: with close friends, a festival, a parade, good food and of course a ton of pictures. If you make it to the end of this post we will send you a prize! There are a couple of pictures!
We started our Saturday off with one of Charlotte's bestest friends, Connor and his family. I think it might be tough for Charlotte to find such cute friends in Ohio, these kids just look so stickin' cute together!
These two were quite the strawberry picking team. Connor's bucket was filled long before Charlotte's, but she got side tracked a little more than he did...
A few little bites never hurt anyone!
One of the highlights of the weekend was Charlotte's horse ride. She waited fairly patiently in line, let the lady put on her hat and then adjust it to meet her tiny little head and then it was her turn!
She started with that intense look she gets with her lips all pursed and we were a little concerned for the sweet horse...
But once she found out how fun it was, she was thrilled. She did not even look back to say farewell to her parents. It was just a girl and her horse (and the two 4h kids).
Of course, when she was finished she wanted to hug and love the horse and wanted another ride, maybe another day.
On Sunday we got the opportunity to shoot a close friends family photos and had a great time with them. It is always easy shooting pretty people and they are some of our favorites! We followed their photo shoot up with a trip to Maymont to see the Japanese gardens. Monday was a nice relaxing day, filled with laundry, cleaning, cooking and some holiday traditions that we have started as a family. One of our favorite things to do on Memorial Day is to walk down the street and see our local town's parade.
Both kids were in their element. Oliver was in the baby wrap and slept through the whole thing and Charlotte had a front row seat!
We love small town parades. It has everything you need from clubs in old cars to fire trucks!
After our walk home we decided to bust out the sprinkler for the first time this year!
Both Jay and Charlotte got into it and C loved the "rain" and the "shower outside"!
Oliver also enjoyed the sites of his sis and daddy playing, I know he can't wait until next year when he gets to join in on the fun!
Any good holiday always includes a great meal. We always do ribs on Memorial Day, Jay can make them better than any restaurant and we had some great sides this year.
Doesn't everyone shuck corn in their yellow bikini?
We ended up with some tasty sides to go with Jay's ribs: hasselback potatoes (yes that is slabs of butter and parmesan cheese shoved in that potato), vidalia onion pie, corn on the cob and a freshly picked strawberry chocolate pie!
At the end of the day we were all sleepy, stuffed, a bit sun kissed and some happy campers! Thanks to all the people that have served our country to make this day and so many for our family memorable!
-melissa
On Saturday we headed to Maymont had a barnyard bash for our little sheep lover. All of her favorite people were there and she seemed to have a great time! She got to play with her friends, feed the animals, run around and eat ranch dip and go on a hay ride...who wouldn't want to spend their birthday like that! Here is a recap of her big day!
Thanks to everyone who made Charlotte's big day so special! It was great having so many friends to celebrate her big day. There is no better sound than hearing the squeal of a bunch of kids as they feed goats, a big group of your favorite people singing happy birthday to your little girl or the shouts and cries as they fly along a hayride hanging on for dear life!
