walk in the woods

The community we live in is surrounded by woods, and they have several paths that run through them. My friend and I took our morning run through this path on Monday, and I just had to bring the kids back. This is how excited they were to be here this afternoon! Isn't it gorgeous?

The girls wanted to pick the Queen Anne's Lace, and the entire root came out. Notice how long they are, and the kids dragged them around the whole time.

Group photo!

I seriously love my kids. I love that they love being together so much. Since moving to VA it's been slow going to find kids Addie's age and she really really really wants to make friends, but she is always quick to mention that she's happy Macie is her friend. And Macie just dotes on her.

One more thing, do you say woods or forest? I say woods, Jason & the kiddos say forest. I think a forest is BIG, and the woods are small-ish. But I've heard them used interchangeably. What do you think?

Oh yeah, and there are three more new posts below. It was catch up day!

happy independence day

We spent the Fourth of July in downtown Fredericksburg. First, we watched the 30th annual raft race, where everyone builds rafts out of recycled materials and races down the Rappahanock River. (Why don't we have any pictures???) We're trying to convince the doctors in Jason's practice to sponsor and build one with him and ride on it next year.

Then we were treated to ice cream at Wally's famous ice cream shop,

ate lunch at the local 919 Saloon (my fault, I chose to bring the kids into the bar, before I realized it WAS a bar! Haha!), sat on a bench and watched people walk by,

took pictures in front of old historic buildings,

and then at night we watched the fireworks (although the 10 minute show was pretty dismal).

Even though the fireworks were disappointing, I enjoyed the family-friendly vibe downtown for the day's festivities. I'm getting more and more convinced I'm going to thrive here.

addie turns four!!

Addie is on a bug kick. She is always catching bugs and putting them in her various jars. Here she is on her birthday, wearing the antennae birthday hat. She is holding up the bug necklace we bought her, it has a black scarab beetle encased in the "jewel." We thought she'd love it. Well, it took a while for her to get over that we'd get her a DEAD bug. Haha. She wanted one that was alive, and could walk around. We even had to put it away for a few days because she was so upset that it was dead. Our tender-hearted Addie. Addie wanted a unicorn birthday cake and this is what I came up with! I was pretty happy about it, and had fun playing with my cake decorating stuff that I never use. I still would like to take a cake decorating class one day. (By the way, check out my friend Cassandra's cakes, she's my old college roommate and they are fabulous!)

When Addie woke up that morning and saw her cake she exclaimed, "Thanks for my cake, Mom! It is beeeeee-autiful!" That is one of Addie's best qualities, she is always so appreciative. I'm sure she gets it from her daddy. I think she had a nice birthday. Too bad we didnt' get her a pet, though we considered it. Maybe for Christmas.

And one of the funniest things about the day? Jason's parents had been talking about this chocolate cake from the moment they arrived...how moist and delicious and amazing it was. We were all thrilled to have it! We couldn't wait! Well...turns out they made it wrong. After hearing about it for over a week, we all laughed and laughed at the hilarious disappointment. Better luck next time.

virginia safari park

Jason's parents came for a visit two weeks ago. It was fun to explore our new home together. From the movies, to sushi, to a horse-drawn carriage tour through historic downtown Fredericksburg, we had a blast.

An obvious highlight was the Safari Park! Here we are on the wagon ride-

I just like this picture, taken from the wagon. He's checking us out, daring us to invade his privacy a little more.

Feeding the reindeer. Grandpa loved enticing the reindeer over to him with his food, and then grabbing on to their antlers. Did you know reindeer have furry antlers? I didn't! They are covered in fur!

About five bison all charged toward the wagon at once, stopping just short, all vying to get a bite from our buckets. One got more than just a bite, he stole the entire thing from the lady sitting next to us!

The guide warned us of the camels. They are notorious bucket thieves! We saw one steal a bucket, and then proceed to stick the entier thing in its mouth and chew it all up. We drove away before we could see if he swallowed it or not, but I wouldn't have been surprised. Here is Macie, holding on to her bucket with all the strength her two-year-old arms could muster! (This guy looks like he's wearing a toupee!)

Mothers, do you do this? I always just take a random picture of myself to prove I was there! See? HERE I AM!

Feeding the llamas. Macie ADORED the llamas. She loves our "Llama llama" books, and I think that's why she was so excited to see them. They were soft and sweet, and she kept waving to them over and over and over. It was pretty cute.

Addie, always the animal lover, couldn't get enough.

Lots O' Llamas!

hutchinson clan

I was looking at these pictures today and my family makes me smile. Aren't we a cheerful looking bunch?

camping Up North!

We spent four days and three nights with my parents and brothers and sisters and their kids camping Up North. We swam, played Bingo, shuffleboard, Macie and Addie rolled around in the dirt with their cousins, and found LOTS AND LOTS of caterpillars.

We had a great time, and have decided to make camping a Hutchinson Reunion tradition! We're already planning what great we'll need for next time, I can't wait!

311

I just downloaded all the pictures we've taken since May 20th and the grand total is 311! It's been a busy busy month, lots of work and lots of fun. Here are the highlights.

We crammed in packing an entire house and doing all the "one last time in Memphis" stuff all into one crazy week. Here we are at the Collierville sprinkler park.

Carson hated the water, Addie loved it, and Macie took some warming up.

Addie "graduated" from Joyschool. Oh, how she misses her friends!

And a family picture on the steps of our dear house on Satellite Street that we just absolutely loved. There are so many things I already miss about Memphis!

After picking up our reserved truck a day late because they ran out of them, Jason drove it 13 hours to Fredericksburg, towing our car behind it. I followed him with the kids. About two hours into our trip, TWO of the tires blew on the U-Haul, flinging tread back into my windshield. After three hours on the freeway, they were fixed and we were off, and fortunately without any more mishaps. Here we are waiting in the car for the tires to get fixed.

We had one week to get moved in and sort of settled. During that week, Macie turned TWO! My baby is a full-blown talking toddler! Jason loves the practice he's in, it's exactly the sort of office he's always wanted, although it IS far from family. But he absolutely loves it, everyone there has been wonderful. A few of the staff are even Green Bay fans! He's in heaven. And I already have two early morning running partners!

After being in VA just one week, we drove to Michigan for a family reunion/camping trip Up North. Camping will get its own post, there is just too much to say. We also had one other day there, so we headed up to Greenfield Village and rode the train and some old Ford cars. The kids had a blast. Thank you, Mom!

Now we're back in VA. Carson turned 7 months old, I turned 29 years old, and Jason's parents are in town for over a week! Like I said, busy busy busy, just the way we like it.