Tour de Virginia

Kinda like the Tour de France, only better. Last weekend was a blink of an eye, filled with as much as I could, part family, part friends visit trip while in Virginia for a total of 64 hours. I was solo this weekend since J was on call and couldn't leave town. He is never happy when I leave but tried to have some fun catching up with friends Mary & Steve for dinner and going to his first gun show. Yes, I know. A gun show. That is what I get for talking about the end of the world and being prepared for emergencies.

I flew into town late Friday night. This is Cleveland as we were flying by. I just love flying and seeing everything lit up at night is so neat. Kinda like looking at an ant farm.

Dad was flying in from NYC and met me at the airport to take me home. With all the airport rules I couldn't meet him at the gate. But seeing my Dad at work in his Captain's uniform is still just as cool as when I was little and he brought me to work with him to see what he did.  :) We picked up pizza and headed home where I talked with Mom and Dad until I fell asleep on the couch. There is just never enough time...

On Saturday I was up early and on the road to meet the girls. What originally was planned as our annual weekend away was adjusted to one night in Richmond. This would be the first night Liss was away from her baby boy and I needed to see my Grandparents who haven't been doing so well recently. Even though it was only one full day of girl time, it was wonderful. We stayed with Courtney in her condo which she bought a few years back, walked all over the Carytown enjoying the shopping, eating, and drinking!

And as always there was a little bit of silliness...

Yes, hair extensions and masks. The talking was nonstop and Kiliaen and I about died giggling before bed for who knows what reason other than more silliness. And just like that it was time to hit the road. But not before a quick stop by my brother's place on the way out of town.

He is going to kill me for adding that camera photo... hehehe!

On Sunday I brought lunch over to the Grandparents and visited with my Uncle Connie who was also over that afternoon. Mom and Dad came by too. Unfortunately Grandpa slept the whole time... he didn't have a good night and slept through my whole visit. It is so hard to see how fast he is deteriorating... it seems like yesterday that they were smiling away at Julie's wedding or dancing together at mine.

I made one more visit over to the rehab center where Great Grandma Connie is progressing with her compression fracture therapy. I hate to see her away from her home but she is getting stronger every day and can move her legs so much now! She was basically only speaking in Spanish and giving me a hard time for not being fluent and  for not having babies yet. After another too short visit, I headed home for dinner. Mom made chicken pot pie and Natalie, finally home from overseas, spent the evening talking with me at the kitchen table... just like when we were teenagers.

My phone for some reason deleted the rest of my photos from this trip with the exception of one... me lovin' on my littlest nephew before I had to leave town and head back to Ohio. 

And just like that, my tour de Virginia was over. On Monday after a morning of coffee and talking in the family room with Mom and Dad I was fighting back tears at the airport when they dropped me off.  Sometimes being a grown up sucks.