Virginia Beach, Part 1

We had been wanting to go back to Virginia for a while, so when our friends Derick and Cheryl contacted us about meeting up with them to go to the beach, we were really excited. I've always felt that I didn't get to say a proper goodbye to all the special people and places in Virginia because I left VA a few hours after I got out of the hospital after having Emmitt.

Derick went to SVU at the same time we did, and we met them through some other friends. I remember the power kept going out in our apartment complex, and it would be out for whole days at a time. The week after we met them the power went out again, and I had just returned from the store with a bunch of food that needed refrigeration. I didn't know anyone outside our complex but Derick and Cheryl so another friend and I called them, and they let us put our food in their refrigerator until our power came back on. Good memories. They also lived in Utah at the same time we did after leaving Virginia so we got to be with them there, but it had been over a year and a half since we last saw them. It was so great to see them again!

Back to the trip. The first night we stayed in Lexington so that we could go visit dear Buena Vista and SVU again. Sam got to see his old coach and a few of the guys that he played football with. I was so happy to get to walk around the campus again. We used to walk around the campus almost every evening together--just me, Sam, and Mila. Mila would burn off some energy running around everywhere and Sam and I would follow her holding hands and talking about what the future held for us. Those will always be some of my fondest memories--walking with my little family in that beautiful place in the magical light of evening...sigh, I still miss it sometimes.

April 2010

 August 2012

Mila and Emmitt on the stairs of Main Hall where Mila used to play all the time.

The Knight. The kids were disappointed that they wouldn't be getting a ride on the horse.

We went to Charlottesville to visit some other SVU friends, Paul and Courtney Montagna. (I didn't get one picture of us with them!) They lived in our apartment complex, I had lots of classes with Courtney, and we had dinner together a lot and spent lots of time together. They even watched Mila for us when we went to the hospital to have Emmitt. It makes me a little sad that we rarely see some of these people who were such a big part of our lives at one point. 

While we were in Charlottesville, we went to visit Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. I am my father's daughter and always want to see the historical sites. When we got to the visitor's center we found out that it cost $48 for our family to go through! And our kids got in free! Yes, it was $24 per adult! No, we did not go through. I just couldn't justify spending that much money to chase Emmitt through a historical home. I was a little annoyed. But the kids had fun in the little fountain, we cooled off in the neat gift shop, and we got our pictures with a Thomas Jefferson statue.

Yes, Emmitt's clothes are different. He threw up all over himself in the car.

We spent the rest of the day driving to the coast. We didn't get to our hotel until about 11, so we visited with Derick and Cheryl for a few minutes until our kids were so crazy that we had to get them to bed. To be continued...