Izzy's Wedding

We had a great trip to Charlotte for Izzy and Mike's wedding. Jessica stayed here with the kids. Chris and I headed out about noon and had an easy drive. We got there in time for a fun rehearsal dinner. It was very nice to hear Izzy's friends and family talking about her. I never knew of her love for music- several people noted being introduced to music by her. She and Mike seem very happy- what a special time. 

We had a great time sitting at dinner with Berk and Ginny, Brice, Laing, Ginna and Lolly. 

The next morning Brice, Berk and Chris went for a bike ride. 

Ginny and I went to Sarah and Brant's. They recently built their great house based on a sketch Uncle Jim made! Eloise and Patterson are adorable! 

The wedding was beautiful- and the reception was a great party. Chris and I had a great time knowing the kids were happy and safe and not serving any role at the wedding!

Don't tell Izzy, but Eloise kind of stole the show! So precious and happy! 

The next morning we all went to him and Isabelle's for brunch. More fun times. It really got us excited about Thanksgiving!

We got some cute pics of Esmé playing at the Mason's. They are such sweet friends! 

Esmé had her 4 year check up. She is doing great. She is tall and thin and very healthy. The dr did agree that we should have her eyes rechecked with the tracking issue. 

On September 22 we marked 26 years since McDaniel died. Many people posted remembrances which is nice. I also talked to the kids about him. 

Then today I went to a photo shoot for work with Jill Ellis- the coach of the US women's World Cup soccer team. I was able to get a ball signed by her forZav.  He was pretty excited ! 

Back to School

Well it happened, summer ended and the kids went back to school. 

Zaven is off to 7th grade at Berkeley Middle School. He seems to be ready to have a great year. With big plans to concentrate on his studies and get good grades. So far he loves his History, English and Spanisb teachers. He even had me make him extra vocabulary flash cards for Spanish. 

Nell is in 3rd grade and has Mrs Lampert. Her first assignment was to put 5 items in a bag and tell the class about yourself. Nell did a great job getting her items together and practicing her presentation. She had something turquoise for her favorite color. A necklace that Chris made at Tge jewelry store that her grandmother owns. A Russian nesting doll that she collects. A ribbon from the champs swim meet and her Taylor Swift concert t shirt. She even went so far as to write out notecards for it. Then I put Esmé to bed and by the time I got to Nell's room she was changing her items and the whole thing. She ended up with a turquoise Eiffel Tower, the swimming ribbon, a picture of Viola "her favorite cousin. The Taylor Swift T shirt and something about gymnastics. I will be untested to see how she did- her recap made it sound like she did not expound much on her items. She might have gotten nervous. But she is liking her class so far. 

Esmé is in children's house 1 with Ms Angela again at Montessori. It was funny the weekend before school started we saw Ms Angela out and about two times- we have never run into her before. It helped Esmé be excited about school starting. She still would rather be at home sometimes- but has a good time once she gets going. I forgot to take her picture so here she is through the door- with her friend Quinn 

Labor Day weekend was big fun with everyone being back together. We went to Busch Gardens with the Oneills on Sunday and Monday was a big wiggle ball game at the sunken garden and W&M   Esmé got a big spinster but otherwise lots of fun was had and we are hoping it will become a tradition. 

Vacation- St. George Island, Florida

What a great time! We drove out of Williamsburg on the 21st and headed south. We made it to around Savannah and spent the night. The next day we had just 5 hrs until we made it! It turned out that we could not get into the house until Sunday so we got a hotel in Apalachicola at the Water street inn. The kids swam. We had dinner at Papa Joe- which had moved but the hush puppies were just as good- which let's face it, are why we are there. 

Sunday we were able to get into the house early. Ellen, Spencer and Armen got there in the late afternoon and we celebrated Ellen's birthday and had Seafood pizza from BJ's- so tasty! 

We went on from there to spend a lot of time on the beach. We saw a shark. Lots of Dolphins. Nell let me bury her in the sand. 

Zaven loved skim boarding. 

We rented paddleboards. And just had a great time being together. 

It was super fun to have Viola there. She is adorable and busy and fun! It was very special to have her get to know us. 

The kids loved playing with her. Nell helped feed her a lot and I know they will look forward to seeing her grow up. 

The kids always love time with Grammy!

Ain't Ella!

uncle Soencer was an excellent chef- making breakfast every morning and grilling some amazing fresh fish a few times too! Not to mention hauling paddleboards and helping Grammy. 

Just a note about Zavens face in this picture. This is his "froggy" face. So cute and funny. 

Soencer also got Zaven to eat his first oyster- in two attempts. 

It was a really nice family time. We love St. George and this was a particularly nice time! 

We had one almost rainy day and we managed to do the 1000 piece puzzle that I had brought- in a feww hours. 

Our last night there was a spectacular sunset- these photos just barely begun to capture it! 

We left Saturday morning and drove to Atlanta. Esmé and I met up with Milla and Poppy for the night and Chris and the big kids went on the Chattanooga. We had a fun dinner out- there were some Fox statues at the restaurant by Michael Stipe and Esmé had a great time playing among them. 

Sunday Esmé and I flew home. Her first airplane trip. She was a bit nervous but once we took off she liked it quite a bit- even the turbulence did not bother her!