Life's a Beach

One of the great perks of this "job" (the whole stay-at-home-mom gig) is that I have really nice vacation benefits. We were invited to spend the week at the beach with my friend Molly from Richmond. Ryan couldn't go unfortunately because he had to work but Ollie and I packed up our towels, sunscreen and bathing suits and hit the beach with some of my old mom's group friends. Virginia Beach was more than a 4-hour drive from Raleigh so that was tiring, but once we got there we had such a great time.

Hotel Halverson

In the past three weeks we have had house guests each weekend. We had our good friends Julie and Nick and their one-year old twins Ella and Colson come up to visit from Spartanburg, SC for Memorial Day weekend. Then Richard and Kathy came the next weekend. We went out to Asheville with them and toured the Biltmore house and gardens. Last weekend Ryan's sister Kirsten and her family (husband Kurt and five kids!) stayed with us on their way out to a Johnston family reunion on the Outer Banks. We went to the Durham Life and Science Museum and went swimming at our pool. It was pretty crazy having seven guests in our house. It kind of looked like a flophouse with air mattresses and sleeping bags everywhere. We didn't even have enough pillows for everyone, we had to use throw pillows from the couch. K&K and family are stopping by next weekend too because they flew into RDU from Minneapolis.

Daniel

Anna and Maren in the butterfly house at the Science Museum

Caprice

Ellis

Grandma Halverson playing with Ollie

Richard and Kathy at the Biltmore in Ashville, NC

Ollie, Colson and Ella enjoying a bath

We didn't take a picture of Julie and Nick this time but this is a cute picture from when they came to visit us last September in Richmond.

Rocky Mountain High

In the past month we have been so busy that I have gotten really behind on updating this blog. When we aren't gone on some trip we'll have guests here at home so it's been a little crazy.

So, I'll start with our May 11- 19 trip out to Colorado. It was sort of work trip for Ryan that got extended into a vacation for all of us. We spent Saturday- Tuesday in Fort Collins with our good friends from Ithaca, Dave and Morgan. And then Wednesday-Saturday we were in Colorado Springs where Ryan took a 3-day coaching course at the "Center for Creative Leadership" while Ollie and I saw the sites, checked out various CoSprings playgrounds, and went swimming. When Ryan wasn't in training, we went on hikes through the Garden of the Gods, drove up to Pikes Peak (and quickly drove down to avoid the thunderstorm) and hung out in Manitou Springs, which is even weirder/funkier than Ithaca. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Hiking with Dave and Mo in the foothills near Ft. Collins

Dave and Morgan and their awesome dog Cornelius.

Ryan and Oliver in Ft. Collins

Ryan and Ollie at a playground in Ft. Collins

We stopped at the Hammond's Candy Factory in Denver on our way down to Colorado Springs from Ft. Collins. It was mesmerizing to watch them stretch, cut and shape the candy into big spiral lollipops. Here is Ollie watching the action...

Hiking with Oliver in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs

We drove up to Pike's Peak on our last afternoon in Colorado Springs. It was clear when we started out but the weather quickly soured. It was pretty scary. We spent about 30 seconds at the top, took a picture and jumped back into the car. There was lightning and you can see my hair is standing up from the electricity in the air. You can see also that the visibility on the gravel road was pretty bad...our car was completely covered in mud by the time we got down!

Take Me Out to The Ball Game

Ryan and I both love going to minor league baseball games in the summer. It is so much more fun than the majors (probably because it feels like we are the only ones there who aren't in some way related to one of the players!) We love the corny announcing, the earnestness of the players hoping to get called up to the majors and just the small-time, home-town feel of those games. When we lived in Richmond we could walk to "The Diamond" to watch the Richmond Braves. Now we root for the Durham Bulls. We saw them play the Norfolk Tides a few weeks ago on a gorgeous Friday night. Oliver LOVED it. I don't know if he was watching the players, the jumbo-tron or just spacing out but he was completely transfixed.

Mom, don't bug me, can't you see I'm watching the game!!

Grandpa Ford

My dad (who insists on being called "Grandpa" now) came to visit a few weeks ago. We visited Duke Gardens and went to a bluegrass concert out in Wake Forest. Here are some pictures of his visit.

Good Dog

Cappuccino, (a.k.a. Cappy, Mr. Caps, Cappadoodle, Doodles, Doo-dells, Doodlebug), the Ford family pet for 15 years, was put down yesterday. He was a good dog and had a good life. We'll miss him. Cappy lived with me and Ryan for 6 months when we were in Ithaca. I loved taking walks with him through the Cornell Plantations. Abby sent me these pictures. She pointed out that in the top one he has managed to combine his two favorite activities...eating and sleeping. What a clever pooch. We are going to have a little doggie memorial service for him up at my dad's house in Unadilla, NY. We are going to plant a tree (a dogwood, of course) for him up there. No doubt he's eating freeze-dried liver treats in heaven by now.

Fun Times in Richmond

Ollie zooming down Wilmington Avenue in a little red wagon.

This week while Ryan was "working" in Colorado (he went out for the regional sales meeting and ended up going hiking and horseback riding in the Rockies) Ollie and I went back up to Richmond to see some old friends. It was so much fun!!! We stayed with our friends Laura, Eric and Tom. Ollie loved playing with Tom (almost 2). One morning as we were waking up in the guest room Ollie heard Tom waking up upstairs; he gave the biggest shout/squeal of excitement when he heard Tom's voice as if he just couldn't believe his good luck that he could spend another fun day with his buddy.

We went to the playground on Lombardy Street with all of Ollie's old buddies (my mom's group friends) on Monday morning. It was so pretty to be in The Fan on a beautiful spring day. Virginia is really at its best in spring. The we had lunch with Tara, spent the afternoon back over in our old neighborhood hanging out with Anne, Corey and Drew, and then popped around the corner for dinner with the Humphreys.

On Tuesday we went to visit our dear friend Jeannette. She treated us to lunch in the dining room of the nursing home where she lives. She is amazing, she's had a stroke and is in a wheelchair and still has such a bright and sunny disposition. She is also totally crazy about Oliver, so I know it's fun for her to see him when we are in town. In the afternoon we payed a visit to the Children's Garden and saw all my old co-workers. Then Molly and Knox came by and we played in the Children's Garden together. We stayed until the garden closed and then we headed for a very quick visit to another friend's house (we pulled lawn chairs out in her front yard while Ollie napped in the car.) That evening Laura hosted a small birthday party for her dad who raises grass-fed beef in Charlottesville. It was cool to meet him because Ryan and I have just been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma which is about the hazards to our health, the environment, our children's future, etc. of industrial agriculture. The farmer who he profiles in the book as the example of sustainable farming is a good friend of Laura's dad and they share the same practices. Anyway, it was a nice dinner and fun way to unwind from a busy day.

On Wednesday we went to the playground with some other mom friends and then went to my cousin Betsy and Doug's for lunch. It was really nice to see them. They are experienced grandparents so were quite prepared for our visit with a highchair and a train set all ready for Ollie to explore. Betsy sent me home with some of the most delicious asparagus that she picked from her own garden the day before. Yum!

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Tom giving Ollie a ride in his Radio Flyer.

Knox running toward me saying "cheeeeeeeeeeese!!" Ollie and Drew pushing the wagon in Drew's backyard.
Ollie playing with Knox and Dylan
Dining al fresco with Corey, Steve and Randee

PS--I just read that you should never include last names or any other identifying information on a blog. So I went back through this post and took out all the last names. Better safe than sorry I suppose.