Visiting Friends and Family Bonanza!

We have spent the past 2 months visiting people back in the east. In Virginia we stopped in Waynesboro, Charlottesville, Richmond, Chesapeake, Stafford, and Occoquan. From there we headed north stopping in Cherry Hill, PA, Brooklyn and Queens, NY then made our way to Matthews parents house in Hampden, MA. It was whirlwind of love and fun to see everyone. We are very well fed, and kept warm through the holidays. Here are some random photos:

 Grand caverns, small but impressive cave in VA

 Matthew on his birthday! That cake was phenomenal

 Love this shirt almost as much as the kid

 Getting spoiled downtown in Charlottesville

Exploring the USS Wisconsin in VA Beach

 Had the best time playing this dance game with Tatiana

 out to drinks and dinner with one of my oldest and best friends

 Getting in some climbing

Father and daughter being cute

in DC before the Army Christmas show

 Dancing with June-bug to Matthews sweet jams lol

Matthew and Damani racing at the movie theater

singing (and nap time) with friends in NY

 Snow on Christmas day!

sweet little Christmas tree

Ok the following photos get a little more explanation. We went to Old Sturbridge Village in MA. It is a living museum, with everything based on the 1830's. It was really cool to walk around the village, meet people in period clothing working on various projects. We met some ladies cooking over a fire, a guy working in the tin shop who made a cookie cutter while we were there and gave it to me. We went on a very cold day, about 8 degrees that day, so not too many others around. We are hoping to return in two days as they will be processing a pig. I won't take photos for that... most likely. It's very cool, they have cows, chickens, sheep, pigs, gardens and everything they were cooking was from there with the exception of a few things they would have been able to buy back in the 1830's. Ok, so here are the photos.

 Very cool pieces made from burls

 horse ride, we skipped it

 oh yea and they make there own cloth

One of the ladies talking about the food she was making in the fire behind her 

 Braving the cold, neat covered bridge behind me

I bought a copy of the book the ladies were using, we cook on the fire often so it should be useful. The heart cookie cutter is the one made at the tin shop for us. I used it to make Earl grey cookies and I'm planning to take a few when we go back to share with the guy who made it. 

We've had a lot of down time and I spent some of it mending holes, making a new headband out of worn wool shirts, baking cookies and going out hiking whenever we can. I've also been looking into our next adventure! We are a little up in the air with where to first, not too surprising I know. We are definitely heading west, we are unsure if we will go straight to Arizona or Colorado for skiing. We have also been upgrading some things on the car before we head out and tomorrow we find out just how bad the clutch is. Depending on what they say and how long it takes will determine which way we go. Anyway, it's been two months and I thought I should update this thing.