It's Been Awhile

It’s been a long while since I’ve updated the blog.  We’ve been busy with work, school, sports, life, etc., and I have had to shelf some of the things I enjoy for a bit to keep up.  This blog has been going on for nearly 17 years.  I’ve realized that I do this more for me and my memories than anything.  Time is going by so fast.  I feel like keeping track of life as we move through it is good for me.  I often go back and just randomly see what we were doing years ago or check in on what the girls were like and what they were doing at random times in the past.  So, I keep updating - just sometimes more frequently than others.

 

We celebrated Lyla’s 15th birthday on March 8th along with Bo’s birthday (I won’t out him on his age - ha ha!).  I’m still trying to process that we have 15 and 16 year old children. Yikes!  Late Feb/March holds birthdays for Brittany, Bo, Lyla, me, and Mark, so we got together as a family for a joint birthday celebration at the Williams house.  On 3/8, Lyla had a busy day of practice and school, but we got to celebrate with her dinner of choice with Bo and Brittany that evening, and her cake this year…well, if you know Lyla, you just know.  

 

March was a busy soccer month.  Lyla’s club team had the Loudoun Soccer Showcase...

 

…and she started playing with the JV team for Independence High School.

 

 

The team is doing great so far (undefeated) and watching a high school game one night, we caught sight of this beautiful spring moon!

Speaking of spring, the trees are blooming, and my birds are out in full force.  I don’t know how it happened, exactly, but it turns out I love watching birds that come to our feeder.  I really don’t know a whole lot about them (except the obvious birds native to VA), but aside from battling the squirrels, I love having them frequent our deck feeder!

 

 Nina has started outdoor track, and set a PR for sprint hurdes in her first meet of the outdoor season then beat that PR in the second meet of the season, so she’s feeling her stride with hurdles right now.  The outdoor distance for sprint hurdles is about double the indoor sprint hurdle distance, so it’s definitely a different race, but she’s doing great with it.  This outdoor season she’ll also be doing 300m hurdles and high jump.  

 

Mark is still volunteering as the high jump coach for Indy’s boys and girls jumpers.  While it’s sometimes hard to fit it all in, he enjoys working with the kids and the jump team has been having a lot of success this year.

  

While Mark and Nina were in the cold and rain here at home last weekend, Lyla and I were in Williamsburg for Jefferson Cup with her club team.  Aside from a dreary start to the day on Saturday, the weather in Williamsburg was beautiful and we had a fun weekend of soccer and hanging out.

  

  

 

Not to be forgotten, our sweet pup is doing just fine.  She’s as pesty as ever (maybe even mores as she ages), but she’s also still the sweetest girl.  While she’s still rather annoying anytime food is out, she’s happiest when she’s right in the mix with her family.  

 

  

Anniversary Weekend

Mark and I celebrated our 21st anniversary on January 19th.  We spent the Thursday evening of our actual anniversary at a rainy track meet of Nina’s, but then the next day we set out for a much anticipated hiking weekend.  We wanted to cross Virginia’s Triple Crown off our list, and it definitely did not disappoint.

 

We drove down to the Roanoke area on Friday morning, and we hiked our first of the three hikes that day.  Tinker Cliffs was just a fraction under the longest of the three.  We were a little concerned that we’d be able to finish in daylight, but we pushed out pace and made it out and back in plenty of time.  The hike was challenging for it’s long steady climbs, and once we made it to the summit the wind was crazy and super cold.  The summit is a series of cliffs that are beautiful and give you a great view of the landscape for miles, but with the crazy wind, we didn’t stay too close to the edge of the cliffs for very long!  

 

After finishing Tinker Cliffs, we were hungry and ready for a warm place to hang out, so we decided to check out Three Notch’D Brewery.  The beverages were refreshing, the food was delicious, and the downtown part of Roanoke is really cute.

 

Day 2 started with a large coffee and a big breakfast, and we were off to McAfee Knob.  The weather on this day was the best, and this was the most popular of the three hikes, so we saw quite a few other hikers out.  The hike itself was very enjoyable.  There wasn’t anything very technical or difficult other than just consistently making your way upward.  It was the longest of the three hikes (by just a fraction to Tinker Cliffs).  

 

The summit of McAfee Knob is absolutely beautiful.  The rock outcropping is an iconic place to take in the landscape and snap a photo, and pictures don’t do justice to the view you have when you’re sitting out there on that rock.  Even in January when the landscape is more stark, it’s just beautiful.

We visited Olde Salem Brewing Company in Salem after finshing McAfee Knob, then it was time for showers and dinner.

It was “Restaurant Week” in Roanoke while we were there, and a couple of the places we wanted to try were already completely booked out with reservations when we called over a week in advance, so we decided to try something a little more casual that wasn’t a part of Restaurant Week.  Beamer’s 25 was a cute little bistro in Roanoke that payed tribue to the VT coach, Frank Beamer.  The food was great, and it ended up being a great place for us to have a good meal and watch some playoff football.

The last of our three hikes was on Sunday which was forecased to be the worst weather day of the weekend.  The temps were supposed to drop and a wintery mix was forecasted to come in.  We dressed for cold and rain and after a good breakfast and a good coffee, headed off to Dragon’s Tooth.  This was the shortest of our three hikes, but we both agreed that it was the most challenging of the three.  It also has the most variety in terrain.  It was a really pretty hike on the way up.  

  

The last mile definitely lived up to the warning here.  It consisted of challenging sections of steep rocks and scrambles.  We were SO glad that the forecasted wintery mix had held off a bit.  The air was damp, but at least it wasn’t freezing rain on us.  That would have made the steep rock sections rather precarious.  

 

The summit of Dragon’s Tooth was very rugged and very cool.  It had a unique opening of interesting trees and the famous tooth-like rock formation at the top.  After exploring around a bit at the top we made the trek back down and arrived at our car tired but very fulfilled.  The three days of hiking was so much fun and having time to just hang out in between was a blast for us too.  We left from Dragon’s Tooth for home and were glad to arrive home safely to the girls and pup (big shout out to my mom for hanging at our house with the girls and Cayenne for the weekend).   It was definitely the best type of weekend, and we’re so grateful for the opportunity to get away for a few days and enjoy doing something we love together.

 

 

 

Happy New Year

It’s a new year, but it’s the same great hike and brewery that we love to head out to for a fun day hike.  We got an unseasonably warm day for January, and what better way to start a new year than to head out on a beautiful hike!  Nina had a couple friends over for New Year’s Eve and a sleepover, so when we left around noon, the older teenagers had yet to emerge from the basement where they slept the night, so Mark, Lyla, Cayenne, and I headed out for the day.

We had an absolutely gorgeous day to hike Ravens Rock, and enjoyed the sunshine, the warm temps, everyone on the trail greeting each other with “Happy New Year”, and finally some fabulous post-hike refreshments at Bear Chase Brewery.  It’s my type of perfect day to start a new year!

  

 

Christmas 2022

Winter Break started the week before Christmas for Nina and Lyla.  They both were looking forward to a nice break from school, and of course, everyone was excited for Christmas.  The weather that week was freezing though!  It definitely felt like the full force of winter.  Despite losing their power (and heat) for 24 hours leading up to hosting Christmas Eve dinner, the Williams family still pulled off a great Christmas Eve dinner, thankfully getting power restored to their house earlier that afternoon.  Aunt Jeanette kept us laughing with her Christmas creations that we all had to wear (and get a picture taken in) after dinner.  As always, Christmas Eve is a highlight for us - such a fun evening together with family, great food, and lots of good times.

  

After doing Christmas morning at our house, we left for brunch and more Christmas at Mouse and Pop’s house.   

   

Another Christmas tradition that we love is getting together with family again on Christmas morning for more presents and Mouse’s fabulous brunch.  

  

Mouse has carried on the tradition that her father set of always having a birthday cake for Jesus.  PB used to always say that we got together and celebrated everyone else’s birthday with cake and singing Happy Birthday, so we should do the same on Jesus’s birthay, so the tradition continues with our families.

    

We spent Christmas evening at home just relaxing after the activity and fun of Christmas Eve and Christmas day, and Cayenne made a point of claiming Lyla’s new fuzzy comforter as her favorite Christmas gift.  

 

After the cold weather leading up to Christmas, we got some nice warm days in the week after.  It was beautiful to be outside and enjoying some sunshing and warmish temps at the end of December!

 

 

We also managed to get in some ice skating at Reston Town Center this week.  It was a popular place to be on Friday night, but it was a fun way to spend some time, and thankfully none of us took any spills, so that’s always a bonus!