Roadtrip to Norfolk

Last week AnnMarie (our babysitter) was vacationing in Florida with her family so I also got a much needed break from work. My dad came up and hung out with Aiden for a couple days so I could clock in at least some time at work. His visit conveniently overlapped with our anniversary (4 years!) and so Brent & I were lucky enough to get an evening out alone. We enjoyed dinner, music, and some fancy coctails at Pazo Restaurant. Amazingly, we discovered we still had things to say to each other that didn't involve work or our baby. After averaging a mere 15-30 minutes of quality time a day, the night out together was a real treat. Thanks, Dad!

On Saturday Aiden & I said goodbye to Brent & Baltimore and Dad took us on a roadtrip down to Norfolk. Click on any of the pictures below to see the full album from our trip. You'll find pictures of the Saturday night soccer game at Dad's alma mater, ODU (just by coincidence, they played Baltimore's Towson University); both Uncle Andrew & Uncle Patrick joined us for that. On Sunday I went horsebackriding at a farm belonging to a friend of a friend of my mom's--it felt so good to be back on a horse again, even if "Skeeter" was an almost 17 hands high, off-the-track giant. Let me tell you that after nearly two years out of the saddle, muscles from my neck to my feet were complaining for a few days afterwards....but it was totally worth it! Anyway, Aiden loved watching his mommy ride and meeting some horses for the first time; he wasn't scared a bit when we got him up on Skeeter! Those pics are on my mom's camera and she promises to send them soon (right Mom?). On Monday with Mom at work Dad & I took Aiden to the Virginia Zoo in downtown Norfolk where his experience with the lions prompted him to start "roaring" (which he now does in response to the question "What does a lion say?" as well as plenty of other random, unprompted times). Monday evening I caught up with some old friends from high school, Tim and Andrea Fox, who now have two beautiful children, Sebastian (4) and Cecilia (6 mos.). Tuesday, after giving an invited presentation to a group of clinical psychologists at my mom's work, she & I took Aiden to the beach. He worked through some initial timidity and eventually was laughing as we each held a little hand and helped him jump the waves (such as they were--this is the Bay we're talking about here). Wednesday Aiden & I took the train back to Baltimore where Brent was waiting for us. Although he claims to have missed us, a report of the weekend included a night out to watch college football with the guys as well as a pool & beer night with some friends. Enjoy the entire album of photos from Aiden's & my trip to Norfolk by clicking any of the below.