Go Hokies!

Okay, so posts have slowed here at Team O’D VA, but I’m still way ahead of Fat and Mof, and Chris and the 'Rents haven’t even entered the race.

I win!

Ahem.

Anyway, we had a great visit with Kaleigh in Blacksburg this past weekend. She’s really doing great – finding the perfect mix of academics, work and straight-out fun that college is supposed to be. Elsie was very impressed. And not just by the giant turkey.


We somehow came away two-for-two with our dinners there in town. Friday night we randomly chose an Indian place and not only had great meals, but the four-year-old son of the owners was there and he and Declan chased each other around and played together, making (most) everyone in the restaurant smile. Saturday night, Kaleigh took us to her favorite vegetarian place near campus and it was also awesome – super-fresh food, a great waitress, a woman for Declan to flirt with and a table of drunks to laugh at.

I can’t tell you happy it made me to have all three kids in the same room together. Man I love those kids.



Must have made Declan happy, too, because he refused to fall asleep until 10:30.


It was fantastic to be in the mountains again. Amy and I talked about how much we love mountains and rolling hillsides and beautiful land and agreed that when we move out of P-Town it will be to someplace gorgeous.

One our way back, Elsie rode shotgun.


Kidding. Come on. Please. (When I sent this to Kaleigh, she called me Britney Spears.) This was after pulling off the highway to change a stinky diaper. Elsie and Declan were both champions in the car, by the way - five hours each way and no breakdowns to speak of. Whew. Dodged that bullet.

We stopped at Jamestown to stretch our legs and to ease Amy’s disappointment that I’ve lived here for 20 years and have never been there. While we were walking, it poured rain off and on, but that just made it more fun.



Incidentally, we have a photo of Amy when she was little that looks JUST LIKE THIS.

We bought Declan a pair of binoculars, which he enjoyed (backwards) immensely.


Until he threw them over the side of the footbridge into the swamp where the snapping turtles were. He asked me to go get his binoculars. I declined.

It was a nice side trip. A beautiful area and cool historical stuff, but as is evidenced by the photo below, we didn’t quite have a leisurely walk that allowed us to see and learn all there is to see and learn there. I mean, someone has to pull Declan off the Pocahontas statue, after all.


Next time I’ll post about the weekend before that, when we went to Chincoteague. No giant turkeys, but you should see the toad.