Virginia, I miss you already!

Sorry for being a terrible blogger and delaying my Virginia trip post, but work has actually been busy *gasp* and there just hasn't been time!

So, let's start with the day we left: Wednesday, our travel day. We woke up at 4am (ugh) and were on the road by 5am (pretty impressive with a baby, if you ask me). We stopped at McDonald's where Caroline refused to eat her breakfast and instead ate one of Josh's pancakes. She went back to sleep until we were nearly to Jacksonville and from that point forward was awake mostly the entire trip. The only other time she napped was the two hours Josh spent in the back with her while I drove through South Carolina. Other than that, about eight hours of the trip was spent with me in the back seat entertaining her. We watched The Little Mermaid twice, played peek-a-boo, ate cheese puffs, and tried to keep each other content. She did so well, guys. I was really impressed. When we got home, we hung out with my parents, ate a delicious roast, opened Caroline's first birthday gifts a bit early, and Caroline quickly bonded with my parents' dogs who LOVED HER. It was so much fun!

Beep Beep, World!

Thursday, my mom was able to take off work to spend the day with us! We started the day by going to see Nanny; Carline loved her Great Grandma! She especially loved her Great Grandma's magnet covered refrigerator, giant stuffed teddy bear, and dolphin toy. We met my dad for a delicious lunch at a Mexican place in the Short Pump area. Caroline loved the chicken from my chimichanga, but was not a fan of my dad's refried beans... like mother like daughter :) We then went shopping at Short Pump, where I got some new black flats to wear to my high school reunion (thanks, mom!). It was a fun shopping adventure, Caroline made a new friend with a fellow ten-month-old-walker, and I really miss living near a mall that nice. We then went to DSW and I got another new pair of shoes (thanks to my mom, once again). We also went to Trader Joe's, where I got cheese platter goodies. We hung out, ate some pork chops, and relaxed.

Guys, this vacation thing is exhausting.

Friday, my parents sadly both had to work, so Josh and I packed up Caroline and headed to Norfolk for the day. We raided the ODU bookstore, walked around campus (making us feel very old, especially pushing a baby around), and then ate at one of our favorite restaurants, Felini's. We then headed to the MacArther Center where Josh reconnected with an old coworker, Keith. I think we shocked him walking in with a baby :) On  the way home, we ended up in Suffolk somehow and in a completely different tunnel than we are used to (thank goodness for our GPS or else we would have been SO LOST). It turned out to be beneficial to get lost, because our usual tunnel was blocked by an accident. We hit some annoying traffic on the way back, but still made decent time. Newport News wouldn't be Newport News without horrific drivers causing backups; it's just a fact. Anywho, we made a pit stop and surprised my mom at her library with Miss Caroline. She LOVED her Memaw's library, especially the puzzles. However, she didn't understand the concept of being quiet and was squealing... goof :)

Stop taking pictures and give me LASAGNA, mommy!

Friday was the night of my high school reunion. I swear it had originally stated that the reunion started at 8:45pm, which is late but doable. But thankfully, I checked the site again before leaving and the reunion didn't start until 10:00pm, which is Kaitlin bedtime. Around 9:00pm, I made myself a cup of coffee to stay awake. It worked and I actually felt energized when I left. The reunion was actually a lot of fun; it was fun reconnecting with old friends. I wish more people had shown up, but we still had a good time. Josh and I were ~crazy~ and had three beers each. Whoa. Josh said I was the hottest girl there, which he has to say since he's my husband. Bwhahahah!!!

We don't look as tired as we felt - SCORE!

Saturday, we went to pick up Auntie Allison at the train station!! She hadn't seen Caroline since Hilton Head Island forever ago, so it was a happy reunion. We all had breakfast and caught up; it was fun :) We then headed to the Maymont Nature Center, where Caroline got to see fish, turtles and sea otters. She had SO MUCH FUN walking around and seeing the different marine life. She made friends with a two-year-old (who was smaller than her) and a sea otter. Sadly, it was raining so we didn't get to see the other animals, but I think Caroline was perfectly content! After Maymont, the men and the ladies split up... the men went to a gunshow which us ladies shopped! Memaw got Caroline a couple more new [absolutely adorable] clothing items. 

"Parker, is that you?"

Saturday night, Nanny came over for dinner. We drank Manhattans (and beer and wine...) and ate a delicious meal! AND cheesecake for my birthday, whoop whoop! It was a very fun night! I miss our family dinners oh so much and can't wait until Christmas when we can have another!

Being a wino runs in the family.

Sunday was Princess Reunion Day! It took forever to get there. Traffic on 95 was backed up, so we used a backroad, which was also backed up, yadda yadda yadda. Poor Caroline was not pleased. It was soooo good to see my friends that I hadn't seen since my baby shower a year ago. We ate burgers, tater tots, and I killed the cheese platter ;) Caroline had fun playing with Holly's dog, Punkin, through the door. After the princess reunion, we dropped Auntie Allison off at the metro and then headed home. Guys, it was the worst. drive. ever. It took us FOREVER to get home because, once again, both 95 and the backroads were at a standstill. Once we passed the backups we were later greeted with another backup. Poor Caroline was miserable and we didn't get home until after 9:00pm, ugh. Memaw and Pepaw kept Caroline entertained while we packed - wild child was still wide awake at 11:00pm (I blame her playing catch with a dogbone with my dad, bwhahahaha), so we had to stick her in bed wide awake so we could get some sleep. She was not pleased, but eventually dozed off.

Loveeeeeeeeeee <3

Monday, we woke up bright and early again, packed the car, got Caroline ready, and then said goodbye to my parents, whomp whomp :( The drive back to Florida was long, but easy. Caroline was once again SO GOOD. Unfortunately, Peter Pan and The Little Mermaid both refused to play, so we watched Star Trek and a bit of X-Men... heck, Caroline loved it so it worked for us! We got back to Tallahassee around 6pm, ate some frozen pasta, and Josh was AWESOME and unpacked everything.

Absolutely exhausted from ALL THE FUN.

It was such such such a fun trip, with the only downer being freaking traffic, UGH. I miss you, Virginia, but I do not miss that traffic. We can't wait for our next trips: New Hampshire in November and Virginia again in December! It was so good seeing you all :)