Virginia State Fair

On Sunday we took a trip to the Virginia State Fair. There was a lot of fun stuff to do & we all had a great time. Checking out the baby chicks


Petting the baby calves

We saw one calf that had just been born the day before!

Lily thought the baby pigs were so cute

Watching the Demolition Derby

Lily was a little worried about the cars getting all smashed up & at one point she was covering her eyes saying "I can't watch this - I just can't watch this" - but then I saw her peeking through her fingers. When it was all over she said "that was a lot of fun!", so I guess she wasn't too scared.

There was a booth promoting catch & release fishing, and Lily was allowed to try to catch a fish out of the tank. Oh! She got one!

What a catch!

Lily begged all day to go on the rides, so when it finally cooled off enough for us to stand in line for the rides, we let her loose.
She had so much fun on this ride - the cars went around a little track & on the corners, the cars whipped around really fast. Lily laughed hysterically every time she got to the corners. Her giggle is so infectious, she had everyone else laughing along with her.

Her favorite was the elephant - of course :o)

What's New

Well, we've had a slow couple of weeks since the wedding - we've just been relaxing & trying to get back into our routines, so not many pictures -sorry! Here is what has been going on with us:

Brian has his Promotion Board coming up on the 12th. He's been studying hard & spiffing up his Class A's, getting them ready for inspection. They have also cut back his hours at Advanced, so he's been home in the evenings a lot more often lately. We found out that he will be leaving for his mission in Dover, Delaware on Oct 29th. He will be working at the Dover Port Mortuary, where all the remains from overseas are sent & processed, for 6 months. Lily & I will be staying here in Virginia, but Brian will be able to come home & visit, or we will be able to go there to visit him often.

Lily seems to have fully recovered from last weeks ear & throat infections. (we had to make a trip to the emergency room last Saturday, since our doctors office is closed on the weekend & Lily's ear was in extreme pain) She is back to her normal self & has been playing with Stevie almost every day. She really likes her "big girl" dance class. I think she's been learning a lot more in this class, mostly because the girls already know their dance steps, so the teacher doesn't have to keep teaching them over & over. One of Lily's friends from storytime, Kylie, has also joined her dance class, so she is pretty excited about that. I asked Lily's teacher how she has been doing in school & she said Lily has been doing really well & that she's one of the smartest in the class. She said she follows direction well, does what she's told, she knows almost all her letters & can write her full name already. She also said that Lily is dominant & she has "good leadership skills", which pretty much means that she is bossy & tells the other kids what to do a lot. (Which is not a big surprise to anyone who knows Lily...) We've been trying to work on her bossiness at home, but we haven't had much luck yet... We did have a little incident with school this week. On Monday Lily came home from school with a mark on her back. When I asked her what happened, she said she didn't remember. I didn't think too much of it - figuring maybe she just got it on the playground. Then on Wednesday when I picked her up, she said she didn't have a good day because she got in trouble & had to sit all by herself for yelling at someone because they hit her & some of the kids were mean to her. She also had a red mark & scratches on her face, which, again, she said she couldn't remember how she got them. On Friday I decided to go in & talk to her teachers to find out what was going on. Her teacher said she couldn't remember Lily getting in trouble for yelling & she couldn't say for sure that she got the marks at school, but that she would keep a closer eye on Lily. Hopefully this will stop the issues & Lily will be able to continue to enjoy school.

I've signed up for an online course in dog training & my classes will start this week. I'm really looking forward to it & can't wait to start. :o)

I think that's all our news for now. Here is my one & only picture from this week:

Miss Lily helping me give a dirty Vava a bath. She's such a big helper!

Shannon & Phil's Wedding

Finally, I have the wedding pictures! There is quite a few from all the different festivities, so I put them all on one post rather than splitting them up into several different ones.

Miss Lily looking awfully excited at our "spa day" with the bride, bridesmaids & mothers of the bride & groom.

Getting pampered
Too cute toes!
Lily with Shannon & Mommy
Lily & her Grammy

Lily & Alyssa

Rehearsal Dinner at the Wayside Inn

Lily had lots of fun taking a tour of the Wayside Inn with Peggy & the ring bearers. She then took a bunch of the other guests on "tours" as well.

Wedding Day!
Here we come!

Lily getting out of the limo

Walking down the aisle - she paused halfway down the aisle to pose for a picture for Grammy...

Congrats Mr & Mrs Colleton!

Alyssa, Lily & I after the ceremony

Lily & Shannon at the gristmill

The girls

Wedding party

Prettiest flower girl ever :o)

(I'm not biased at all)

Lily posing with the handsome ring bearers, Dillon & David

Family pic at the gristmill

Lily & Uncle Doug

David, Lily & Dillon being announced at the reception

Papa, Grammy, Phil, Shannon & Lily

Lily was the dancing queen of the evening! She started dancing as soon as the music started & did not stop until 11:30 that night!! Grammy was going to take Lily home when she started getting tired, but she was on the dance floor non-stop! She preferred dancing with Shannon, Phil, Spencer or Alyssa, but if they were not dancing, she would dance with anyone who would dance with her. She had lots of fun & was entertainment for lots of the guests. :o)
The Dancing Divas

Charming the boys...

What happens to a dancing queen if she dances past her bedtime:

New England Aquarium

Grammy took us on a fun trip to the New England Aquarium & to Faneuil Hall in Boston while we were visiting. Lily with the sea lions in front of the aquarium

Penguins!

Our fantastic attire for the 3-D show about the 'Deep Sea'

Lily loved being able to touch all the 'sea creatures' (as she said). There were hermit crabs, starfish, stingrays & snails.

After the aquarium we went to Faneuil Hall for a late lunch, where they had the best clam chowder ever. Then we walked around all the shops & vendors, where Lily insisted on getting a bright pink Boston sweatshirt. Of course Mom had to get one to match. :o)

What a great day!!

Tougas Farm

One of our favorite fall activities is picking our own pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. Since pumpkin patches aren't very easy to find in VA, we went while we were in MA.

Which one to pick??

This is actually Lily wearing pants, for those of you who might have questioned...it wasn't easy, but I think we're slowly convincing her that girls do wear pants sometimes. She still complained about it the whole day & asked to change as soon as we got home, but it's progress... :o)

Papa, Lily & Grammy with...a pumpkin tree??? hmmm...

Lily & our prized pumpkins

They had a petting zoo at the farm & a play area where Lily spent lots of time.

She loved swinging on the ropes

We also found out that raspberries were still in season, so we picked some of those as well. Lily was the perfect raspberry picker, since she is still small enough to be able to look up under the bushes & find the ripest, juiciest ones.


Our day wouldn't have been complete without Lily's cider donut: