I love Williamsburg!

There was a time in my life that I would have promised you I'd NEVER utter those words. They were somewhere around ages 8-12. Don't get me wrong, I loved going on vacation with my Aunt, Uncle, cousins and Grandparents... but Williamsburg wasn't the "vacation destination" of a child's dream. Or so I thought. Or so I tell Katherine. :)

This is our third year visiting Williamsburg and each year it's been a fantastic vacation. We have loose plans, but nothing that can't be changed spur of the moment depending on weather, what we feel like doing or the status of a nearly 2, 3 or 4 year old.

Every day we all share our favorite parts of the day. Highlights for all of us this trip included lunch with the Sesame Street Gang, A carriage ride in Colonial Williamsburg, Running through Colonial Williamsburg (Okay maybe everyone in the family didn't see this as a highlight but it was enjoyable!), Katherine and I riding "big girl" rides (ala things that spin and make me want to hurl), and Stephen's birthday dinner.

We spent 3 days in Colonial Williamsburg, 2 days at Busch Gardens and 1 day (few hours) at the outlets. I found a White House Black Market outlet store and thought I'd arrived in heaven. $115 later and I had 3 silk blouses, two pairs of pants, a pair of shoes, and a suit coat. *Yes I'm pretty proud of my finds!!!*

Stephen was excited by Katherine's interest in all of the historical buildings in Colonial Williamsburg. She wanted to visit all of the "flag buildings". I visited them once. The history doesn't change. I got it. ;) Stephen on the other hand could visit them every year. This year he had a partner to visit with and I was able to sit outside and enjoy the weather.

Busch Gardens was a bit different this year too. As Stephen says, we started the week with her on the little boats going in circles. We ended the week riding the tea cups back to back with her yelling, "This is sooooo fuuuuunnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!" (While I held onto the railing moaning ooohhhhh....) We went back to the Irish Dance Show at the park (twice) and again it was a huge hit for the family. Katherine loves the dancers and got very upset each time when the show ended.  She asked if she could bring them home. We  told her no. (You have to teach kids limits, ya know?!) I can't imagine what she or Stephen would think if they actually got to see a show like Lord of the Dance.

It was a great week filled with lots of super family time. Each year on this trip I fall in love with my family even more than I already am. I'm already looking forward to our trip next year and making more fun memories.

xo,
Darlene

Our pictures from the week...

Digital scrapbook made with Smilebox

One year... Many blessings

One year ago today a tornado came through Raleigh... more specifically it took a trip down Serendipity Drive. 

We've been incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderful friends, cousins and my sister (Nicole) who have been so helpful in getting us back to normal. In fact, I think we're probably better than we were before the tornado.

See for yourself... 

April 16, 2011

April 16, 2012

I'll say that the tornado was a blessing for us, in so many ways... Just to name  few:

We got to know more of our neighbors. We even learned that one of our neighbor's son (who we had seen playing along the block) was actually one day older than Katherine. Very cool. Katherine gained a new BFF in our neighbor's little girl. I gained three wonderful girlfriends. We've had ladies night out, ladies lunch out and shared some post kids go to bed coffee time.

Our home is practically new! Our house was built in 2003. We were approaching the 8 year mark. You know, the time when things start to break and you need to begin replacing them. We did. In one fell swoop. New siding, new roof, new HVAC, new screens for our porch, 8 new windows, nearly all new screens in the windows and the whole interior of the house painted. (I'd say re-painted but more than half of the house hadn't been painted beyond builder beige yet!) We also took the opportunity to upgrade our kitchen a bit with new countertops... Quartz! (Remember the fortune I had in my Pei Wei cookie the Monday after the tornado? It said "by the end of the year you will be in a new home"... It was right!!!)

My family needs me more than my employer does. This one was harder for me to get to and resulted in an education and a blessing.  I realized within a couple weeks after the tornado that the work I was doing, while very enjoyable for me as I loved my team, was not something that was valued as much as my family valued time with me. Or me doing things to help make our family life better. This lead me to seek new employment. I did... While I am still finding my way I am glad I have been able to find a better balance in my life that enables me to take care of my family better than I did before the tornado. For those that know our life before we spent many an evening eating dinner out. Now it's a special treat (that Katherine gets WAY excited about) when we go out to eat. I'm not quite sure if it's because she doesn't like my cooking (apparently Mr Tyson, the cook at school, makes everything better than I do) or because she just thinks it's fun to pick from a menu. I'm hoping the latter.

These are just a few of the blessings... There of course were more.

A few people that helped us immensely: The Krieman family, The Miller Family, The Vanderbilts and Jesse & Jeremy, Michele & Nicole... Thank you for coming over and helping us in the days immediately after the tornado.

Krieman's thank you for giving us a place to stay when we didn't know where to go.  Our thanks to the Krieman ladies for playing with Katherine and taking her mind off of the events of the day. She thought the sleepover was pretty awesome! We so appreciate your help in the securing the house & boarding/taping up the windows.

John, thanks for taking Stephen to Lowes to get the emergency supplies we needed. Stephen would have wandered the store for hours just staring into space, I'm sure, if it weren't for your help! Thanks to your help securing the house! Between you, Stephen and AmK, and T the house was as secure as it could possibly be! Meredith, your interior sweeping of the carpet was fantastic. And you kept me from completely losing my mind. (I still laugh at Lexi taking her shoes off inside the house because she didn't want to get the carpet dirty... Among the piles of glass & debris everywhere!!) :)

Frank and Meredith thank you for bringing us our foodie favorites and helping me tackle the bedroom. I just kept closing the door thinking it would magically clean itself. You helped that happen about as close to "magic" as it could be!

Jesse & Jeremy, you answered the call for help when we realized we needed to rebag the debris that we did collect in order for the city to pick it up.

Shell, the shopvac was a great tool for vacuuming the lawn. I think I might take that up as a hobby... it was quite cathartic!

Nikki... You remained calm and helpful throughout everything, despite your own car being damaged by the tornado. <3

And of course our thanks to the volunteers that came in force in the days and weekends following the storm.

Now... if we can get our grass and yard back to it's former self... Life would truly be back to "normal". =) For now we'll revel in our weeds and remain grateful for our blessings.

xo
Darlene, Stephen & KK