:: Here Comes Da' Queenie!

Yesterday was Matt's day off, so we headed out as we usually do on a walk around da' Burg. But just as we were leaving, it started to rain, so we got in the car and took a drive out to Surry. To get to Surry, you have to cross the James River on a ferry. It's neat, but a bit time consuming. You wait 10 or so minutes to board. Then the ride is 22 minutes. Then you wait another 5 or so minutes to leave the ferry. But it's all good and fun if you don't have anything else to do. We'd ridden over before, but never ventured around Surry. We heard it was pretty and there was a castle there, not to mention the famous ham shoppe, so we headed over to do some tootling around.

The whole time we had in mind that we needed to be back by 5pm to catch a glimpse of the queen. (If you don't know, Queen Lizzy is here for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown...there's a wee bit of irony there. Pretty funny.) So anyways, here are some pics from our tour of the great town of Surry.

Some birds bidding the ferry farewell...


Just incase...


Almost to the other side....


Ooooh! Surry IS pretty!


Bacon's Castle that really isn't a castle. Looks like a big house to me! HA! It was built in 1665, so that's pretty impressive, but I wouldn't call it a castle. Where's the flippin' moat and tower thingy?! And dragons! Ugh! HA!





So Surry was fun, but we forgot about giving ourselves enough time to get back home to go see the Queenie. We were boarding the ferry at 4:35, so we knew we wouldn't get back in time. We were beginning to wonder if we would even be able to get back to the house since they were expecting a mongo crowd to be gathering in da' burg! HA! Surprisingly, we pulled in our driveway at 4:55. We quickly restocked on sippy cups and food and raingear, strapped Scout in the stroller with some lima beans for the ride, and headed up the street. We were surprised to see there weren't many people bustling around town. Then we rounded the corner to Duke of Gloucester Street and oh my. There were a bazillion people. We had to walk through security just to get to the street. We walked right up the sidewalk and found a great spot to our amazement. We were only one row back from the barricade. We waited for 40 minutes or so, and then she finally made her grand entrance! I wasn't like super excited about seeing her or anything, but we just decided to go since it was a once in a lifetime kind of thing. And it would be dumb of us not to go since we live right here at it. But oh man...when I saw her I was so excited! It was so funny! I guess when you're in a crowd of people that have been waiting for years for this event, the excitement just rubs off on you! I was waving as hard as I could. I think she saw me. Bwhahahaha!

Here are some folks that were NOT Colonial Williamsburg employees. Yeeeeah, they just dressed up like this for the heck of it. I think they thought they would get a closer spot or something. HA! Regardless, we HAD to take Scout's picture with them! HA!


Here comes da' Queenie!!


See! I told you she waved at me!! HAHA!


Matt got some GREAT pics with his new camera! (His zoom isn't that great...this was just cropped)




There were 3 carriages that followed. I don't have a fat clue who was in them, but I waved anyway! Ha!




Then came lots of SUVs with Secret Service and lots of guns! Eeek!




I thought this horse looked like cement...


The Queen was dropped off at the W'burg Inn, then the carriages (all but her's) came back through for one last hoorah. Hoorah! Here's Scout given a shout out...






And followed by the Colonial Band...




State Police being thankful that there was no riff-raff...



And that's it for our adventure. Scout and I are heading out today to see if we can catch another glipse. Queenie is having lunch at the Governer's Palace just up the street, so we'll see if we can sneak a peek! Ha!

:: These feets are made for walkin'...

Yup...Scout's finally figured out what her feet are for! She's been walking along the furniture for some time now, but just this week she started, reluctantly, taking a few steps with our urging. But yesterday, she let go of the wall on her own and took off towards me! Ha! So now, that's her new game. Amazingly, she hasn't fallen down much. Well, until she was holding my hand walking in the driveway this afternoon...she scored her first knee "boo-boo". She's one tough cookie, though. She didn't even cry. Just looked severely irritated! Ha!


We were heading out to eat at Moe's (whoohoo!) and Matt snapped this in the driveway before we left tonight...cuuuuute Scout.


Go Scout! I'm so proud of you and your new "skill"! :)


I still have much catching up to do here on the bloggo. Much has been happening. Mom and Dad came 2 weekends ago, and Ralph & Regina came this past weekend...so it was WONDERFUL to see them! Have a great weekend!

Prayers for the Hokies.

:: Happy Birthday, Lindsay!!

Today is Lindsay's 26th birthday! Yay! Happy birthday, girl! Hope you have a rockin' day!

:: Bye-bye recording studio...

...hello new camera! Matt decided to sell all of his recording equipment so that he could embark on a new hobby in photography. He sold his drum machine, microphone, and MOTU on ebay over the last couple of weeks. He did much better than I did. I sold a pair of shorts for .99 -- whoo doggie. I'm really happy that he was able to get this camera. His schedule hasn't allowed him to really record much anymore...plus, with Scout around, it's hard to have an absolutely quiet atmosphere...haha! But I think he was just ready to start something new, anyway. So this has been good for him so far. We walked down to Colonial yesterday and he snapped a bunch of pics. We live in stock photo 'ville! Plenty of opportunity for great picture taking! Well, if you have a need for colonial peeps. Haha!











And of course, I have been having to play with it, too! Scout's a great model! Haha!




He is actually out now shooting some pics. He took Scout with him so that I could get some work done. I'm working on a logo and product labels for a soy lotion company here in da 'burg. So, it's nice to be able to work without interuption. Oh wait...yes, I am working on my blog, aren't I? Well, I came to a good stopping place and I wanted to brag on my hubby's new photogaphy venture! Haha! He shot a photo of a lily for the label and it turned out awesome. (the lily was the customer's request) And we didn't have to pay $50 for a rights managed stock photo, so YAY!! I'll post pics of the finished product later.

Okay, signing off...

:: Week of March 5...Trip to G-Vegas, cont.

So for the 2nd leg of our trip to G-Vegas, we headed to Ralph and Regina's. Here's Scout hangin' out with Grandmama...

Auntie Ange...


and Poppa...

Monday was actually Scout's birthday, but we had the party on Tuesday. Ralph was flying in from Oregon on Monday and we didn't want to chance him having a flight delay and missing the party.

Happy 1st Birthday, Scout!


Chillin' with Ange before the party...


Jamie made the cake and did an unbelievable job! It was SO cute!!




And mom made her banana cake to play in. She was a little timid at first, but it didn't take her long to dig in!














"I think I'm done with this..."


"Uhhhh, excuse me!!! I said I'm flippin' DONE with this!!"


"Ohhh, presents! Now this is more like it...and a lot less messy!"






"Cool mom. Olivia says this is her favorite book and that it's not scary!"


"So Olivia, what do you want to bust into now?"


"Ohhh, hey, hey, now. That one's off limits!"


"Hey Scout! Did you see this one?"


"Great-Mother, did you see all the cool stuff I got? Now, can I have that sweet necklace?"


"I am burnin' up! Too much partyin'! I need to kick a breeze up on this bus!"


"Thanks for the bus, Ma + Poppa! I love it!"


Scout partied a little too much that night and came down with a fever and stuffy nose later on. She was pooped. Ange was going to take us all to get a family picture made the next day, but we had to cancel since Scout wasn't feelin' much up to it.


Feeling better already...


Silly kids...






Here's Stephanie and her proud auntie! What a doll! We were so happy we got to see her for the first time!


The whole family...I think they want about three more, right Holly? Hehehe!


And back home again. Scout loves her school bus. Yay!


With all of her birthday loot.