January 23, 2013
Monticello Trail
Aunt Shelly was here for a visit recently and we took the boys for a walk on the Monticello Trail, a 2-mile path that has a gentle grade leading up the mountain to Thomas Jefferson’s estate. It was a cool foggy day but the the low clouds made for some nice photos.
November 13, 2012
Shenandoahs
For Clayton’s birthday, my sister Jenny flew in for a long weekend. She loves the outdoors and wanted to take Clayton out of the city and into a national park. So one afternoon the three of us drove west to the Shenandoah Mountains, hiked a trail and stopped a few times to admire the scenery.
When Sandy blew through Virginia, she dropped some snow on the mountains, and that was one of the first things we saw on the trail.
Here plant, have some snow.
Brrr!
Clayton and Jenny on the trail.
Reach for the clouds!
Next we found a hill of large rocks and somehow I convinced Clayton to climb them with us. I’m still surprised he agreed to it — he is not the fearless type! But he did really well and gained some confidence as we scrambled up and down the rocks, even if he did have a meltdown at the peak. Way to go, Clayton!
They bonded through the experience.
3,000 feet on the Appalachain Trail.
A few spectacular views.
It was so beautiful and still up there — I could have stayed all day! Thanks for getting me out of the house, Jenny!
November 10, 2012
Four!
Clayton is four years old today, and we threw him a little party at a local park. Clayton is very excited to be four, and he’ll tell you that “after that I’ll be five!”
November 5, 2012
Trick or treat
Halloween was a fun time for our family this year. Clayton had a little better grasp of what it was and Knox had lots of people admiring the cuteness of his beaver costume.
October 25, 2012
Fall at Monticello
We met some friends at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello this morning. We took a walk and enjoyed the beautiful fall colors and then played in their kids’ Discovery Center for a while.
October 24, 2012
This October…
We went apple picking with Clayton’s preschool
Spent a lot of time at our neighborhood park (photo by Clayton)
Enjoyed a visit from Aunt Shelly (and spent some more time at the neighborhood park)
Bought a pumpkin
And set some records for getting into mischief and eating cabinet paint, leaves, plastic grocery bags and stickers.
“This sweet face?” you ask. “Cause trouble?” Mmm-hmm.
Knox is 11 months old, a speedy crawler and cruising along furniture and walls. He says “dada” and makes a few animal sounds, including “cack, cack” (quack), “baa” and “ooo, ooo” (moo) when we read his Noisy Farm book. His appetite continues to grow, although he’s still mostly on purees and cereals due to his genetic gag reflex.
Clayton loves his preschool, going to parks, playing with his neighborhood pals, wrestling with Daddy and Knox, doing puzzles, watching Caillou, cooking with Mommy, walking on railroad tracks, and building airport control towers with Legos.
September 24, 2012
Snapshots from September
Having a picnic lunch at a local park, enjoying the cooler weather.
Having fun with Aunt Shelly.
Knox loves the caterpillar.
A visit from Gigi, and some more beautiful weather.
For Clayton, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Brothers.
Knox: Dad, I got this.
My handsome almost 4-year-old.
September 18, 2012
Family photos
Shortly after we arrived in Charlottesville, my in-laws came up for a visit and we had did a photo shoot with my friend Julie, who I know from when we lived in Northern Virginia. Julie’s husband took a job in Charlottesville this summer, and we happened to move here the same week. She and her husband are incredibly talented photographers. Julie took Clayton’s newborn photos, including this one,
and a year later took this one.
In July, she took these.
(In the above photo, Clayton has his pasted on “cheese” smile.)
