It was a whirlwind week! We had a nice trip out to Virginia last Friday/Saturday, stayed at a hotel and played in the pool. That night we also ate at our usual restaurant in Evansville - a pizza and microbrewery place. Killy kept begging to try the drinks on my beer sampler platter, so I finally let him have the smallest sip of a stout. His response? “Killy not like that! Paper towel?” and frantically scrubbed his mouth with it. I told him that’s what all beer tastes like, and he now calls beer the “yucky drink.”

We arrived in Floyd on Saturday, and Crazy Uncle Amit came over to visit! Uncle Bob and Barbara were there, too. Great fun was had by all:

The next day was Christmas Eve, and we went to visit my grandparents in Galax:

We also visited the Woods, where Killy and Ellie got to play in the fabulous playroom in the basement that Grandmommy and Pop-Pop set up for them! They have trains, balls, a chalkboard, blocks, a miniature pool table, and lots of other fun stuff. A kid paradise!

We then went back to Floyd and worked on decorating the Christmas tree. Then Christmas dinner, then the church candlelight service, and then we did our Christmas gift-exchange with the Sharps/Roops:

On Christmas morning, we headed over to the Woods where we had a wonderful Christmas (again!), but we forgot our camera because we’re idiots. We all got lots of wonderful gifts! Then we went back over to my grandparents to visit awhile, then back to Floyd.

The next day Mom, Dad, and Erin left early to go back to Kansas, and David and I and the kids explored Floyd. Then we got together with our clients in Roanoke for a wonderful Indian dinner, during which the kids behaved shockingly well! Ellie wowed everyone by eating FOUR plates of chicken curry and lots of naan. We had a really great time with our friends and it was one of the best parts of our trip. Right afterward, we met Mr. Michael (a friend of mine from college) at a coffeeshop a couple doors down and it was really great to see him. His wife was out of town, so we didn’t get to meet her - but we promised to get together more than every 5.5 years from now on! THEN, we went back to my parents house and another friend came over to visit - even though it was the middle of the night. We had a good time hanging out with Eric, and he was nice enough to help me go see if my cat was still alive. Poor kitty, she’s 17 years old and we thought she was dying. However, I don’t know that Eric will ever come visit us again since he had to come help me look for a dead cat! She was doing much better the next morning, though, so she was just temporarily ill. Of course, we got our annual snubbing from one particular friend of mine (you know who you are!), but other than that it was great getting to catch up and hang out with old friends!
The next day we visited my grandparents again:

When we got to Chattanooga (finally), we stayed the night with David’s cousin. We had a lovely time, and the visit was a total success - except that Ellie caught pinkeye from her cousins. Oh, well - that happens with kids. We still had a lovely time!

Finally, on Thursday we went sightseeing around Chattanooga. We went to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Killy got to touch the Tenessee River (much to his grandparents’ chagrin):

We walked around near the river for over an hour and then went to the aquarium. Here’s me and Ellie in the Butterfly Garden:

And, David and Killy late in the afternoon - it had been a long day already!

That night, we had the Woods family reunion, and it was wonderful to see everyone. But, the definite highlight for Killian was getting to sit on Uncle Mike’s Harley!

That night, we started home, and arrived late the next day.

It was a really wonderful, really tough week. It was hard to fit so many things in and we’re all absolutely exhausted. But, there wasn’t anything during the week that I’d want to have skipped, so I can’t complain too much. We are so blessed to have such loving family and friends!

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