Date Weekend

As all you parents of young children know, dates without the kids are wonderful...and hard to come by, unless you want to pay someone $50 to watch them for the night. The cost of a babysitter gets a little prohibitive! We are blessed to have parents/in-laws who really love to be with our children and bless us by periodically watching them for us. This past weekend was one such time. Thursday afternoon I drove the boys up to Frederick, MD and met my in-laws (it's about the 1/2 point to their place), then I headed home in peace and quiet! That night Philip and I attended the Tony Bennett concert at Wolf Trap. We last saw him perform 7 years ago...the summer we were engaged. It was such a fun time and Tony Bennett is the consumate performer. Just delightful! Whenever we go to Wolf Trap, we always buy lawn tickets. This means we can pack dinner and a blanket and enjoy the music under the stars.

The folllowing day, we headed out to Winchester (after spending a while in the garden detaching the butternut squash from all the plants it's trying to take out!). We went to the State Arboretum of Virginia. Not a super exciting place, but quiet and a nice place for a picnic, which is what we were looking for. After lunch we wandered around and located the grove of "Magnificent Magnolias", as they were so deemed by the brochure. Personally, I think the ones in my parents' front yard are just as nice, but since we were there, we took a picture. :)

We also got these fun shots:

I was doing this on purpose. We were having the worst time getting a good picture, so you know...make it interesting. Of course, it does kind of resemble the one below taken back in 2002. I think that was the first time Philip had kissed my cheek...doesn't look well received. :)

Then we moved to another spot where the lighting was better and got this keeper. One of my alltime favorite pics of us. See now, don't you think with eyes that color, ONE of our kiddos could wind up with blue eyes?? Please? We'll keep trying, I guess. :)

That night we went to a very exciting baseball game between the Winchester Royals and the Rockbridge Rapids. And amazingly, there wasn't a sinlge error the whole game. Hmm...could have fooled us...but what do we know? :) They are part of a summer collegiate league. Wasn't the greatest baseball I ever saw, but it was fun and the first game we'd been to in a LONG time. And bonus...after the game, was a fireworks show! Yeay! So fun. For a small town, they put on a really nice show. And do you notice I am wearing long sleeves...in JULY??? Yeah. Gotta love the wacko weather we're having this year. Although, I suppose it was better than roasting to a nice red color to match the patriotism of the day. :) Notice, also, that I am wearing the same jacket in the picture from 2002. I am happy to report, though, that I no longer own those bad "mom-jeans" jeans. :) LOL.

Saturday we drove up to PA to reunite with the boys. Andrew looks like he survived just fine without us, doesn't he?

Thanks again Mom and Dad!!