Monthly Archives: August 2015

Williamsburg Wedding Weekend

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This past weekend we went to Williamsburg for my cousin Brett’s wedding.  Brett and Jesse both met at William and Mary, just like Justin and me, so they decided to get married at Wren Chapel and have the ceremony at the Alumni house.
Since Justin and I rarely go to Williamsburg and the girls had never been, we decided to make a long weekend  out of it so that we could truly enjoy our time there.  We left Thursday right after lunch with the hope that the girls would fall asleep on the car ride down there.  Avery and Harper fell asleep for a good chunk of the trip.  Emerson was up but was patient and quiet, even when she was mouthing the lyrics to frozen quite dramatically.
Thursday night we rode around campus and saw all the highlights of our old stomping grounds.  They definitely have built a lot of new buildings since we graduated!  That night we went to a Mexican Restaurant that was built since we graduated.  We went basically for the signature “white sauce” that is served in Mexican restaurants down “south”.  It was okay….service was so-so and the white sauce was good but not great.  Portions were huge and we definitely had some leftovers.  Anyway, the girls were tired by the time we left as it was already after 8:00 but we talked them into going to Duke of Glouster (DOG) street for a late night walk in the strollers.  It was dark out but it gave Justin and I some much needed exercise to feel better about ourselves after our massive Mexican dinner. It also gave the girls something to look forward to see during the day.
Friday morning our first stop was to William and Mary Campus.  We spent some time at the Wren Chapel….
The Sunken Gardens….
Bryan Hall…
The Crimdell…..
We then went back to DOG Street where we ran into much of the Petchenick clan at the William and Mary Bookstore.  The girls each picked out their own William and Mary BPA Free water bottle.  We did some exploring.  We checked out the horses….
Visited an old time jail….
And had a picnic lunch from The Cheese Shop!
The store was ridiculously packed but lunch did not disappoint.
We attempted an afternoon nap which didn’t work out so well so we took a quick dip in the indoor pool hot tub before getting ready for the rehearsal dinner at Sal’s.  At least Harper caught a few z’s during our morning outing.
Saturday morning we took a quick trip to the outlets as Justin didn’t bring enough shirts and I was potentially looking for a pair of heels that went with my dress options better than the one’s in which I brought.  I have always hated outlet shopping and this trip proved that I still do!
Saturday was the wedding.  Emerson loving on Harper while waiting for Mommy and Daddy to get ready.
Here we are on our way to Wren…way early may I add…thus we had time for some pictures!
Family picture (minus Harper) taken by my dad…not a bad picture besides the angle…just tilt your head a little.
The ceremony was literally the shortest ceremony I have ever attended…literally it was probably seven minutes from beginning to end…no joke…I’m not complaining though.
We had an hour after the ceremony ended until the cocktail hour started so we ventured to Paul’s Deli for a drink for old time’s sake…..slowly taking a few more pictures along the way.  
The girls happily ate their snack from Wawa and had a fun time coloring!
At cocktail hour, my dress seriously malfunctioned!  Good thing I was indecisive and brought a second dress and my husband so graciously drove back to the hotel during cocktail hour to get me my other dress.
The wedding was lots of fun.  Food was great and the girls especially had a great time dancing and hanging out with cousins Christine, Katy, and Jessie.
After the wedding, we went back to the hotel, got the girls in their pajamas and dropped the girls off in my parents room so that Justin and I could head to the deli’s for a little.  We were planning on picking them back up but they were all sound asleep in the same bed when we got back to the hotel around midnight that my mom didn’t want us to wake them.  Anyway, we went to a new deli “The Brick Tavern” first because that is where the wedding party was.  After staying there for a little, we went back to Paul’s for old time sake and so Justin could have himself a Hot Holly.  The Hot Holly didn’t disappoint although he did have to share it with the bride and groom and the little speck of mold on the bread didn’t deter either!  Justin said he felt nostaligic a few times during the weekend. I had a great weekend and it was certainly good to be back and to show our girls where we met, but I can’t say that I had that sadness feeling associated with nostalgia.  In a way, it felt like just yesterday that we were there and in other aspects, it felt like it had been the 15 years that it has been!  Either way, it was a great weekend!

Avery and Emerson Turn 4!

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It’s hard to believe but my first born babies turned 4 last week!  This was the first year that they were both truly excited about the anticipation of their birthday.  We decided last year that we weren’t going to have a big birthday party this year….this year was going to be strictly a family celebration.  We knew they remember their birthday party from last year particularly the moon bounce. I knew that we needed to talk up their family birthday celebration so they knew that this year’s celebration was going to be just as exciting if not more exciting than their party last year.  We spoke about the upcoming birthday on a daily basis probably starting a week before their birthday.  They seriously were so excited…every day waking up and asking how many more days until their birthday.  

Their birthday was on a Tuesday this year and I took off the whole day and Justin took off in the morning.  We started the day with breakfast at Corner Bakery.  The girls had only eaten their once and truthfully it was before they were one so I think they really just accompanied Justin and I there for dinner one night while they drank their bottles.  Corner Bakery is right by my office and once every other week (okay sometimes every week) I usually treat myself to a medium Hazlenut coffee and an avocado and spinach power thin panini.  While it truly is delicious, I often take note of all the other things on the menu including the pancakes, eggs, and bacon platter that has everything Avery, Emerson, and Harper could all share and still get what they like most.  

So we went there for breakfast and the girls all split that one platter and the additional side of fruit I got them.  After breakfast, we headed to Clemyjontri Park.  It was a hot day but the girls had a lot of fun…on the swings……

hanging out in cars…

playing hop scotch….

walking on bridges…

on the merry-go-round….

taking family pictures…..

(okay so that was like pulling teeth…..Emerson especially doesn’t want to take her picture quite often)…so we took a few without her.

After some time watching, she decided she wanted to join in on the fun. 

After we got home, Ludmila made the girls lunch.  Harper was sleeping during this time so I used this time as an opportunity to have some one on one time with Avery and Emerson individually to read them portions of their annual birthday letter.  Emerson sat through most of it and enjoyed hearing what I had to say.  It was so neat to be able to finally share it with her.  Avery sat for the first paragraph of hers and then decided she wanted to do something else…..very typical!

After lunch, I took Avery and Emerson to ballet, along with Harper.  They were in a summer ballet class that meets twice a week and they are flourishing.  It is so neat to see how much they have progressed and how well they are doing in the class!

Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Adele came over to the house for dinner and we all ate take out from a turkish kabob place.  We were going to have Reston Kabob but it turns out they had closed so we had to come up with a very quick back up plan being that it was only when I attempted to place the order did I find out.

After dinner the girls opened up more presents from Grandma, Grandpa, and Grandma Adele.  The felt very special having been opening presents all throughout the day! They also received many Happy Birthday calls from other family members (GiGi, Uncle Russell and family, and Karolin). 

Finally it was cake time!  This year the girls got to pick out their own birthday cakes!  Emerson picked out Rapunzul and Avery picked out Sophia The First!  

We sang Happy Birthday to each of them separately.  They each made a wish and blew out their candles. 

 

We tried for some more family pictures!

We knew with two cakes we would have A LOT of cake left over so earlier that day, I sent a text out to our neighbors and invited them over for cake and ice cream. 

Truly it was a great day and the the girls had a great time turning four!