apples.friends.food.party.

Jay has been very busy with work lately so it was extremely fitting that we had a fun, action packed weekend together as a family.  I can not think of a better way to celebrate cool temperatures, the opportunity to wear warm snuggly clothes and the beautiful Virginia fall foliage than driving out west to go pick apples with friends, have some delicious meals with some great people and go to a barn party for A10.   We met some of our great friends that we met at our Bradley Birthing Class at Carter Mountain on Saturday.  The weather was great and we had a great time with Brian, Vera and Penelope.  Penelope is two weeks younger than Charlotte and the six of us have really hit it off in the past couple of months.  Vera and I both love to sew and we have already spent countless hours sewing together over the summer!

On our way home we stopped by one of the craziest looking/most authentic Mexican restaurants I know I have ever been to.  In past years this place might have creeped me out a bit, but by watching episode after episode of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, I have become much more adventurous.  It was delicious and Charlotte stayed awake so she must of liked the authentic atmosphere!

On Sunday after church we met at a great little greek restaurant, Stella’s.  Another amazing restaurant!  We can not take the credit for this one, we met some of our first friends that we had in RVa, Fray and Belvia.  Fray picked us up from the airport when we interviewed with United about six and half years ago.  They have been a constant in our lives ever since, always supporting and encouraging us and today they met C for the first time.  I would love to have a warm charming picture to post of the three of them, but about ten minutes after we all sat down for lunch C had had enough and was not about to smile again for the rest of the meal!  She did eventually fall asleep, not in any normal baby way of course, but sitting on Jay’s lap.

We finished up our weekend at barn party that A10, our church, was having in beautiful Goochland County.  It was really nice and we got to chat with friends for a bit to wrap up our weekend.  By the time we got C home she was completely wiped.  

Here is to a restful week home with Daddy!

mr. and mrs. vacay

We have always said that when we have kids we wanted to make sure that we took time for just the two of us.  We know that it is so important to have time to ourselves, especially when we are both working and life starts to get crazy.  Although we have not done that great on the one date a month, we have recently been able to complete our first mr. and mrs. vacation, just the two of us! For our first mr. and mrs. vacation we went to Seattle, Washington.  Neither of us have been to Washington, Southwest flies out there, and we had willing grandparents willing to watch Charlotte for a couple of days...it was perfect.

We had a great time, doing things that would be difficult to do with a five month old on a very rigid nap schedule.  Here are a few of our favorite things...

Meals with no baby on my lap.  Although we were strongly encouraged to go to an indian reservation and get fresh caught salmon by some old bird on the plane, we opted for Ray’s, a lovely and pretty famous waterfront restaurant.

Go on a ninety minute tour of the Boeing plant.  This would have been out of the question if we weren’t flying solo, this tour had some crazy strict rules, one being no children under four feet.  We know Charlotte is tall, but not over four feet yet.  This tour was great and Jay was in little boy heaven!

Hike up a huge snow covered mountain.  Mt. Rainier was amazing. You can see it from almost everywhere in Seattle and it really reminded us of our honeymoon at Lake Louise.  The trails were still covered in snow, so some of the hike was a little scary at times and we ended up doing a good amount of “skiing” down the mountainside by keeping our feet still and just sliding down.  This is one of the most beautiful places we have been to!

Touring the city.  We walked this city up one side and down the other!  We were pooped at the end of the day, but got to really experience the city and all of the hills that go with it!

We really did have a great time.  It was so nice to be able to come and go as we wanted, chat through dinners and sleep through the night.  Our first mr. mrs. vacation was a great success!

It would not have been possible without Grandma and Grandpa Hess.  They had a great time back in quaky virginia!

-melissa

beach baby, beach baby, out on the sand...

Aren’t you glad that all of the Hess family beach trips are over for this year so you do not have to read anymore corny Beach Boy references!  Well, our week is up and we had a great time!  We were hoping that Charlotte liked the beach as much as we did, and she bummed it out on the beach like a seasoned beach baby!

We did all of our normal beach activities, but this year with just a little beach baby twist.

-melissa

let’s go surfin’ now, everybody’s learnin’ how....

Our family vacation is coming up in just a matter of days and I am ready. This year we are going back to an old classic for our family, Ocracoke.  Both Jay and I love it there, we love to drive our trusty subaru to our choice spot everyday, we love that there is no dinosaur or pirate themed put-put, we love that everything is closed after 10, we love that there is no chain restaurants or stores, it is just a perfect little get away from everything.  We have had some great trips here in the past and we are looking forward to one again.

Last year we ventured out of our vacationing norm and took a east coast tour of some cities and states that we have always wanted to visit.  It was a great vacation, but it wore me out.  I am not sure if it was because I was in the throws of my first trimester of pregnancy or because we essentially walked the whole east coast up one side and down the other, but I am glad that this year I can plant it in one town, in one house, for one week.  We have seen all the sites, eaten at all of the restaurants, shopped and paroozed all of the stores and galleries, but I think some nice familiarity might be fitting for this years vacation.  With an almost four month baby nothing has been too familiar in the past four months.

So needless to say we are ready!  We have all of the essentials......

sunscreen, bug spray and a new fun color of nail polish

and of course a finished beach quilt that is just begging to be relaxed on in the sun!

Ocracoke here we come!  Keep your fingers crossed that little C is a beach bum like her mom and dad!

-melissa