Visit from Nana and Papa

Nana and Papa came a couple weekends ago to visit us for a long weekend and then they took a trip around the Chesapeake Bay during the week and came back this past weekend to visit again before they headed back to Michigan. We had a great time, as always. The first weekend we took a day trip to Baltimore and went to the National Aquarium and then went to a restaurant famous for their crab. The Aquarium was spectacular and Emma loved it (so did I!) Along with all sorts of fish, turtles, sharks, swordfish, and jellyfish, they also have a dolphin show and a 4D movie. The 4D movie was very cool as the audience is sprayed with water, bubbles, and even snow! The dolphin show was amazing, too! We also got to see a few scuba divers under water feeding the swordfish. Emma was enthralled with this and asked a million questions from what was on their feet (flippers) to what was in their mouth (oxygen) to why they were wearing goggles. She is still talking about the Aquarium and every day her "favorite" part changes. One day it is the jellyfish and the next it is the "sleeping sharks" and the list goes on and on. Nana also brought lots of "crafts" to do with Emma, including some cute Halloween decorations for our Halloween trees. Papa took a trip to the National Mall with Jay to support him on his 10K run despite the crummy weather outside.

The second weekend they babysat the girls for us while Jay and I went away for a night. (Be sure to see the blog post below this one to see what Jay and I did on our trip.) Nana, Emma, and I also went to the Clifton festival which had all sorts of vendors selling arts and crafts as well as lots of kids activities. Emma had a blast in the jumpy house and going through the huge inflatable obstacle course and down the slide! I thoroughly enjoyed the yummy food that goes along with the festivals, including Kettle Corn.

Also happy to say that Jay and I got our genetic testing back and as expected neither of us have TSC. Anna, therefore, received it as a spontaneous genetic mutation. She is still seizure free and doing great! She is oh so close to walking, too!

Anna immediately got into Nana's bag and thought it was hilarious!

Shark at the National Aquarium

Emma trying to kiss the fish:)

Anna was all smiles too with this fish

Jay and the girls looking at some cool fish

The crew

Nana and Papa with Emma

Dolphin show

We stayed out of the splash zone:)

Emma's favorite jellyfish

What a cutie in her 4D glasses

Our hard shell blue crab for lunch. My loving husband did all of the work for me - it is a lot of work to get the good part out of the shell but they taste yummy!

Nana and Papa with their crab

Bath time

Nana and Emma snuggling up and reading a book together

Play time outside. Emma sporting her John Deere hat riding her John Deere Gator:)

Girl loves her bike!

Anna loves crawling through obstacles!

Favorite pastime of Anna's is also to dump out the laundry basket and play in the clothes

Does it get any cuter than this?!?

Emma takes over the laundry basket. Girls love to play with it!

Posing with their cute new Halloween dresses/bows that Nana made for them

Look at those adorable skeletons! It is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get a cute picture of the girls together, looking at the camera, and smiling! I have tried a million times and still haven't gotten the best shot!

Nana with the girls. Anna refused to take her hand out of her mouth;)

Papa watching a movie with Emma and Anna wants to watch, too.

The cutest "dead" skeleton ever!

Getaway to Shenandoah National Park

Jay and I took advantage of Nana and Papa for one night while they were visiting and they kindly babysat the girls for us while we had a one night getaway to Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We haven't been away from the girls in what seems like forever (minus the house hunting trip which is always super stressful) so it was a great break. I will let the pictures tell the story.

Our first stop was to Barrel Oak Winery. Virginia is well known for its wineries (who knew?) and we hope to visit more! We spent so long at this winery that the others were all closed by the time we left:)

Jay enjoying his glass while we look over the vineyards

Next stop was a drive through part of the Shenandoah National Park to get to our "lodge"

Yes - this was our first wildlife sighting! Mommy bear with her two cubs! The pictures aren't the best because I was in utter shock and didn't have my camera on the right setting. Let's just say seeing these bears made me a bit nervous for the hike I knew we were taking in the morning.

Baby bear is climbing up the tree!!!

Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains

We stayed at the Skyland Resort in the Shenandoah National Park. I will call it "rustic", although it had gorgeous views from our balcony.

Our "resort"

View from the balcony in the morning. The fog is lifting from the valley in the mountains - gorgeous!!

Our next wildlife sighting on our morning drive

We went for a hike at Dark Hollow Falls. It was one mile downhill to a spectacular waterfall. The one mile hike uphill back to the car was a bit more difficult, but we LOVED it!

Seriously - this is not photoshopped! I feel like I am posing for my senior picture:)

The one picture of the two of us! It is a good one!

Did I mention how gorgeous the falls were?!?

Jay at the top of his "mountain climb". He had a hard time getting down:)

Next stop was Luray Caverns for a one hour tour of the underground caverns.

This picture was taken where there was standing water so you can see the reflection of the rock in the water - very beautiful

The largest formation. All of these "spikes" of rock grow one inch every 300 years! Amazing!

We finished our trip with a great lunch and a little bit more wine tasting. We had a good time seeing some of the beautiful scenery that Virginia has to offer and hope to do it again before we leave.