Oh Shenandoah

Just a quick update part way through our trip back East -- and what a beautiful week we've had. My whole family met up in the Shenandoah Valley for a family vacation and to celebrate my parents' fortieth wedding anniversary (hot diggity!). Along the way, my brother and sister-in-law (Chris and Aimee) celebrated their eleventh anniversary and John and I celebrated our fourth. My other brother and his wife (Greg and Meglet) just HAD to be different and have an August wedding so they didn't get to go out for a solo dinner (although they have no kids so every night can be a quiet dinner without chasing wee ones around the dining room) but were thankfully around to lend extra hands.

This area is gorgeous and we've had great weather so we've been out exploring swimming holes, hiking, and splashing in lots of rivers and streams. Molly has been tuckered out chasing her cousins around (and Erin and Megan seem to have morphed into Erimegnan) and has been very interested in Baby Evan, which I'm hoping bodes well for us come, oh, October. She is also causing her usual amounts of mischief by crank calling people on the condo house phones, pressing the help button on the elevator, and throwing Grammy's cell phone off the balcony. The little parrot has plenty to say about all her high jinxes, too, so may I suggest that one doesn't make the same mistake that her mother has and say anything in haste or surprise unless you want it repeated from here to eternity. Also, while I've very happy that Molly can now tell me when she has a poopy diaper, I'm less pumped when she yells it out in the middle of a bank lobby or the grocery store. Never one to let a moment pass quietly into the night, either, she likes to repeat herself until she makes sure everyone is aware of the situation at hand. Awesome.

Luckily, the great outdoors is more forgiving...

Chilly stream water may didn't deter the plop plop plopping of stones in the water.

We did a gorgeous hike in Shenandoah National Park that Molly slept through half of. Luckily, she woke up for the big finale...

which, for you and me, would have been this giant waterfall. For Molly, it was everyone's lunch that she could bebop around to and scavenge.

Next up is our trip up to Block Island for a long weekend. We'll meet up with some more of Molly's fun loving cousins, Katy and Emmy, and Nana and Grandpa up there. Oh, what a trip!