Catching Up

I meant to post about this last week but never got around to it... Last weekend and the beginning of last week, my longtime friend Susan, from Atlanta, who I've known since I was 5, came to visit us in Williamsburg! She is about to deploy to Iraq and so this was a sad occasion because we won't see her for a little while (more than half a year, but we're not sure yet how MUCH more). However, it was also fun times just hanging out together. We didn't do a whole lot--we were rather lazy, in fact--but we did get to the Jamestown and Yorktown areas and rode on the ferry. We watched the second Narnia movie as well, looked at pictures, and just talked a lot. It was pretty cold while she was here, but the sunset one night was very pretty; I have to give her the credit for those pictures since I didn't take my camera with me on that outing! Here are some snapshots from her visit:

Above: Sunset on the James River (from Colonial Parkway)

Above: Susan and me on the banks of the James River

Above: Same place, but Ben and me

Above: The pretty sunset again, over College Creek

Above: A hawk perched atop a tree along Colonial Parkway; he posed quite nicely for Susan.

Above: Headless Ben? (Being silly at Yorktown Battlefield)

Above: The James River, from the ferry

Above: Cormorants hanging out at the ferry landing

Above: Susan and me on the ferry (it was super windy--her hair really isn't that poofy!)

Snow in the 'Burg!

It snowed today! Since it hasn't really snowed at all this winter, it was very exciting to us, especially because the flakes were so big, and the snow was not predicted in today's forecast. It was so weird, too--it snowed for about half an hour really hard and then all of a sudden it slowed down, the sun came out, and it stopped entirely. Now, just an hour later, you'd never know it snowed at all. Sort of sad--it would be fun to get an actual snow storm where we get a few inches accumulated, but I guess we'll take what we can get. Anyway, here are a few pictures and a video:

Mount Vernon

Here are pictures from our Valentine's Day trip to Mount Vernon--it was a beautiful day, if a bit chilly, and we had fun seeing the home of our country's first president. It was the anniversary of his birthday the day we went (he'd have been 277) and so they had a guy decked out in colonial garb acting as Washington (you'll see him in the photos--and yes, Washington was tall like him, 6'3" to be precise). The very best parts, in our view, were the animals. Washington prided himself on being a farmer, and the estate today has sheep (lots of 'em), bulls, guinea fowl, hogs (very funny looking), and horses/mules. The barn area also had tons of cute little field mice. They were adorable, and so much so that we took a video, which is below the pictures. Overall, it was a great time, and we definitely recommend a trip to Mt. Vernon to anyone who likes American history. Also, the attached Mount Vernon Inn, where we went for our V-Day dinner, was great, though the prices were a bit steep.

Mount Vernon - 2/14/09

Video of mice (be sure to watch to the end!):

A Tiny Glimpse of Spring

Well, I figure since it's 70 degrees outside now, it's time for the first blog entry to say something besides "Burrr!" What beautiful, warm weather we are having here in these early days of February! We know the cold weather will return again, but for now at least, these 60-something-degree days are a nice little foretaste of spring. (Tomorrow it's getting up as high as 73, I think!)

Nothing that interesting has been happening of late, which is why we haven't blogged in awhile. (Well, some things have been interesting, like with work, job stuff, etc., but nothing we feel comfortable blogging about, such that anyone in the world can read about it.) I had to actually TRY to find something to take a picture of so that this entry wouldn't be blank, as I haven't taken pictures since sometime in mid-January! The only thing of remote appeal around here are the nice yummy Valentine's cupcakes that I made a couple days ago. I made them Sunday so that they would last the whole Valentine's week. I think we're on pace to finish by Saturday :) I love the red sprinkles that are inside the cupcakes, plus the ones on top.

And the fact that I'm blogging about red sprinkles is further proof that our lives really are rather boring at the moment :) I guess the only thing interesting coming up is that we're going to Mount Vernon for V-Day to take a tour of the home (George Washington's, for anyone who doesn't remember) and eat dinner. We'll take pictures there, I'm sure, and have some to post when we return. Until then...