v-a, n-a, b-a-n-a-n-a-s

Last night, it occurred to me that I have not 1) updated this blog in a while, and 2) that I never shared the joys of our spring break adventures. So why don't I do that now?

During the 2nd week of May, we wandered to Williamsburg, Virginia for spring break. We started the journey by allowing the Pup to have his very first ice cream cone (cone being the operative thing of it) ever. In the car. I doubt very much that we will be winning any sort of "smart parenting" awards any time soon. If you are thinking, "oh, that sounds like it was messy." It was.

So, Virginia... We originally thought house-hunting was going to be involved; but, that was not the case (since we will be calling Connecticut home for at least one more year). Instead we had a few days of rest, relaxation and horses. That's right horses.

Anders did not find the historic home tours as interesting as we did. Thinking back, these are the adjectives that best describe his behavior on the tours: fidgety (wouldn't stay still), rude (kept talking over the docents), and incorrigible (he pretty much complained the whole time--"more horses...now...please." Apparently, this is what happens when wee ones develop the ability to speak and articulate an opinion.

However, when we got to the fiber shed, he was completely normal, enthralled even.We think it's because it was stuff he is familiar with. Roving, wool, yarn, threads, looms, spinning wheels. Yeah, nothing new there (it's like home; but, just a little cleaner)...

We also did a day trip to Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina (stopping in Murfreesboro along the way, because I just had to) to visit with one of my best friends since elementary school (the exact grade/year is still in dispute).

AC is a Tarheel fan in Blue Devil's clothing. This amuses me to no end. If you grew up with her, you would be amused as well.

She and the Pup got along really well. When we parted ways he cried for awhile screaming her name (it was very reminiscent of Rocky Balboa harping for Adrian). If we weren't sitting in the car with him listening to him wail for her, it would have been kind of cute. Kind of...

After a nice visit with AC we drove around the Duke campus where we unsurprisingly found our way to Cameron Stadium. The men's team was packing up to go to a game (against GA Tech, I think). So Papa Seal figured this was the perfect opportunity to trespass, or rather, to sight see (I can assure you that these unlawful shenanigans were not the doings of any strategy on my part...I just took the pictures). We walked in the stadium and walked on the court, the women's team just finished their practice. The Pup had fun. We like to take opportunities to expose him to college and university campuses, you know, let him capture the spirit of academia by the osmotic process.

We had a good time. And it was nice to have this adventure to get us revved up for our upcoming travels which we are really looking forward to.

Posting should resume with regular frequency now. I have gotten over myself and how busy I am. Sorry Mom.

summers are sizzling in virginia and the capitol

So last week we wandered to Virginia. The Mama Seal had a class to attend at a school on the UVA campus; and, Papa Seal and the Pup went too. It was fun and all, but Virginia is really hot this time of the year.

On our way down to Charlottesville, we made a few quick stops. Papa Seal was able to sit down and chat with his mom briefly in Northern VA (oh, serendipitous travels).

The pup had fun playing with his cousin and aunt,

there were crayons.

There were also popsicles.

There were also new and exciting toys,

the likes of which we have never seen.

Clearly, someone had fun.

We also made a pit stop in the Portmouth area, just because.

You have to brainwash indoctrinate them early.

You will have a liking for sea and its lore young man, you will! It's in your genes!

After getting to the UVA campus. I spent all of my time in class in this building:

Kelly and the Anders had other enviable adventures on the UVA campus.
But most of them involved Anders trying to take part in the fun of the ball games of older boys.

Not yet little guy!

And food is always important...and dessert, especially so.

And because wandering was involved, I had to wander to a shop dealing in my own version of candy:

Great fun was had.

And then there was the site of supreme money suckage.

It's very dangerous to learn about chromolithography and chromolithographic prints one morning and seeing really gorgeous examples that afternoon. Especially when said examples are for sale.

On the way back north we stopped off in Washington DC so the Pup could say "hi" to our good friends George and Laura, we guessed they were too busy to.

While we got a chance to see a good friend while in the DC area, we had to cut the looking and wandering about a bit short. It was miserably hot. We will have to go back when the weather is more tolerable for seals.

As always, more pictures over in the flickr site.