The Accidental Boilermaker

This afternoon we went to Soaring Ridge to hear some blue grass music.  Travis Book of the Infamous Stringdusters  was performing a benefit concert for the Roanoke chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association.  We really were just interested in experiencing some good blue grass. We meet up with two friends at the brewery, but then ran into two more.  It was fun to listen to the music with a group of people.  Evelyn did pretty good; she was a little fidgety and wasn't interested in sharing the pizza Nate and I got from the food truck. Nate and Evelyn practiced some walking and dancing once she got too antsy to sit at our table.

Meredith left tonight.  And it was sad.  I thought maybe there was a chance I'd get through the goodbye without crying but I didn't.  The 12 weeks went by too fast.  We celebrated her last night in Virginia yesterday at Parkway Brewery. No food truck food this time, just snacks, beer, and perfect weather. Brandon trying not to be in the picture. Tonight we got Chinese take-out.  On Meredith's first Friday, after her first full week at the VA, we had Chinese too.   Meredith made a fruit pizza for dessert. And for some reason I decided Evelyn could just have fruit pizza for dinner.  Not sure why.  Maybe because it is Friday and I didn't feel like watching her throw food on the floor. Feeding the goats one last time. A stowaway!   Goodbye Puddles, it was fun having you live here too.

It was Meredith's last weekend in Virginia; she goes back to Georgia on Friday.  But we hadn't done any hiking yet.  The weather was perfect on Sunday so we went to Read Mountain. Evelyn did very well.  She was awake on the way up and slept on the hike down. Sisters. After our hike Meredith convinced us to go to McAllister's for lunch.  Was easy to say yes since we were all pretty hungry.

We took a trip to the Mill Mountain Zoo on Saturday.  I was able to get 5 free tickets through the hospital and Evelyn is free, so we invited Ashley and Harper to join us.  The zoo is not very big, but that makes it the perfect size for a 13 month old and an almost 4 year old.  And it does have some fun animals like baby red pandas!   Evelyn and Harper got to pet a really big bunny. Checking out the animals Baby red panda Another cute animal - a patagonian cavy After the zoo we all headed to Pops for some ice cream!  

On Sunday we went to brunch and then drove out to Bedford to visit the National D-Day Memorial.   First we stopped in the visitors center and watched a short movie about the invasion. You can kinda see our tour guide behind this statue.  He was very good and I learned a lot about D-Day.  For example, the national memorial is located in Bedford because of the "Bedford Boys," which this statue represents.  The town of Bedford lost the most men per capita during D-Day than any other city in the United States. This wall memorializes all the United States service men who died on D-Day.  There is a similar wall that lists all the men who died from the other Allied Countries.   This portion of the memorial represents the storming of Omaha beach.  This time of year the water features aren't working, but the overall imagery is still very powerful.   Evelyn got to spend some grandparent time this morning.  Grandma t...

Pat and Paul arrived from Michigan on Friday night!  Saturday morning they accompanied Nate and Evelyn to swim lessons. After lessons, Meredith and I met everyone downtown Roanoke to see some of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations.   But it was rainy, so we quickly escaped indoors to the art museum. We also visited Center in the Square to see the aquariums.  Evelyn liked the jelly fish. And since it was super Pi day, we had to stop by Piety before heading home. Evelyn got to celebrate Pi Day by having ice cream for the first time!  It was a big hit : )

Evelyn started swim lessons this morning at the YMCA.  Nate said it was the real deal with lots of dunking, kicking, and splashing.  He said Evelyn enjoyed parts and hated parts, but overall it was a good experience. All ready to go I finally got to run today while this little mermaid swam.  With the snow, cold, and people being sick, I haven't gotten to run since before Valentine's Day.   Swimming is hard work.

It was Nate's birthday yesterday!  Meredith woke up early and made us all cinnamon rolls for breakfast.   Evelyn also turned 13 months yesterday.  She is 100% recovered from the chicken pox, thank goodness.  Sleeping is going pretty well, but we still have hiccups from time to time (like this morning when she woke up at 1 am and did not want to go back to sleep).  Eating is about the same with her having a small range of acceptable foods - cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, applesauce, graham crackers, and teething wafers.  She also seems to like peanut butter.  She isn't sure how she feels about her sippy cup.   Meredith helped me throw a small birthday dinner party for Nate.  We had a nachos which is Nate's favorite food and invited over Ashley, Harper, and Brandon.   Can't have Mexican without Coronas and limes.   For dessert, we made these faux empanadas which were super simple and pretty yummy.  Just...

Jeremy came to visit Meredith this weekend.  Evelyn wasn't very sure about him. She liked Jeremy enough however to hide magnets in his shoes, which is Evelyn's new favorite game. We went to the Homeplace for dinner Friday night. And then to Soaring Ridge Brewery in Roanoke Saturday night. Jeremy and Nate - twins in their flannel and baseball caps. Evelyn loves going to the breweries because there are lots of people to watch and fun music to listen to.  She was very happy all evening.