Time on the river

We took the longest driving trip so far as a family of four, down to Appomattox to visit our friends Joan and Hugh and to be outdoors for a while. We stayed at their wonderful lodge and spent some time on the James River. But first, some pictures of Daddy and his girls!

Daddy and Vanessa will have a birthday soon (Vanessa on the 31st, Daddy on Sept 2). Daddy will be exactly 15 times Vanessa's age!

Daddy and the girls around bedtime.

Still working on capturing a smile on camera...

Vanessa is looking so grown up! She can put this dress on with only a tiny bit of help from me, and she can take it off all by herself. That's one of those skills that is a bit of a mixed blessing... Vanessa has also been impressing us with a handful of genuine somersaults (also a mixed blessing) and saying "I love you!"

Here are Daddy and Vanessa down by the river. To quote Vanessa's "Going on a bear hunt" book, "Can't go over it, can't go under it, got to go through it!

Vanessa saw fish and so many frogs in the water down on the river.
Vanessa really enjoyed walking around in the water with her Daddy.

Liz and John and their dog Riley accompanied us. We enjoyed their canoe-carrying skills as well as their companionship!

So, you're right, it's probably not the safest thing to be on a canoe with an infant, as she couldn't wear a life jacket of her own and was just in my wrap and life jacket. But as you can see by Riley walking alongside our canoe, it wasn't a terribly deep or fast-flowing river, and we were out for only just a few minutes. I hope Elizabeth will forgive me for dragging her along, but I enjoyed it immensely! It's been ages since I've been out on the water, and I truly love it.

One of Vanessa's favorite parts of the lodge where we stayed was a bouncing horse she could ride!

One of her other favorite parts was snuggling with Riley! My goodness, she really does love that dog.

Here is a rare picture of all four of us, outside the lodge.


We were also lucky to have several friends visit us. I've noticed that while Elizabeth seems to fuss less in general lately, she seems to know who I am more and she fusses when passed off to others. Rats. Well, hopefully, I'll learn soon how to have other people hold her in such a way that she's more content.

Janet and Ryan and their son Peter were up to visit from North Carolina. We had a wonderful breakfast together.
Our friend Sara visited at the same time.
Peter was such a great kid to have in the house. He is a very funny and very cute little boy!

Our friends Bethany and Ken visited us for dinner. It was so wonderful to see them! All of our lives have been so busy lately!

Angelique paid us a visit! Angelique is sort of an honorary aunt, I'd say.

My friend Pete paid us a visit too, but somehow I didn't manage to get a picture! Vanessa and Elizabeth do keep my hands full some evenings...

So, some sad news of our garden: 120 stalks of corn, 2 squirrels, 2 days.

The squirrels carried the corn stalks into the trees...

They've also discovered how to foil my handy-dandy ziploc bag system that protected our tomatoes for a while.

But, on the bright side, our pumpkins are growing so fast!

And our acorn squash are still promising. I wonder if squirrels like squash.