Harvest Dinner and Lake Time...

On Tuesday, September 20th, Katy and I met up with our friends, Lindsey and Cade, on the outdoor mall to eat dinner and watch Matt Kearney in concert. That is one of the wonderful things about Charlottesville is that they have a great music scene and get a lot of good shows to the area. On Thursday Katy and I joined Josh at King Family Vineyards for their annual Harvest Dinner. We enjoyed a variety of excellent appetizers and some sparkling wine in the tasting room, and then we were able to tour the winery and sample some petite verdot juice that had been fermenting for just four days after being picked from the vine...it was extremely sweet, which was exactly what Katy and I like. For dinner we enjoyed a three course meal with wine at each step of the way. The main course consisted of four different cuts of pork served with braised parsnips and chard and then barley cooked with walnuts and apples. The best part was desert where we were served a pear tart that was absolutely delicious. The caterer that prepared the meal buys all of his food local and organic, including the pork. It was an excellent meal and a great way to spend the evening....good food, good wine, good company, and an absolutely gorgeous setting.

On Friday our whole family gathered down at Smith Mountain Lake for a relaxing weekend. Friday was a rainy evening so we sat around inside eating pizza, chatting, and playing rummikub (one of our favorite games) before calling it an early night. 

Saturday was spent watching football, swimming in the indoor pool, throwing football and hitting some volleyball, and taking a long walk down to the water to let the dogs do some swimming of their own. It was a beautiful day outside and we spent as much time as we could enjoying the nice day. That night after dinner we played some more rummikub and once again hit the sack early as both Josh and Seth were getting up early to head to work...Josh at the vineyard and Seth at church.

The rest of us stuck around until noon before heading home. We were able to take Kylie and the dogs on a nice long walk before saying goodbye to the lake. That night was Seth's big Youth Kickoff at church, so we all headed over to the church to join in on the fun. Now that I am not only helping out with Youth group but also substitute teaching in the county schools, I have gotten to know a lot of the middle schoolers, and boy are they a handful! Its a lot of fun, but definitely a tiring way to spend your Sunday evening. 

More of the same...still wonderful!

Katy and I have now been home for six weeks and the theme seems to be, "Friends and Family." This has been great, but its definitely evident that the reason we were able to spend every single weekend in California and Oregon exploring somewhere different was because we did not have much of a life outside of work other then each other. Here in Virginia we've been spending lots of time doing family dinners, going to birthdays, weddings, and parties....and so far neither of us are complaining as we are loving it!

On Monday, September 12th we joined our close friends and second family, the Dishmans and Holbrooks, to celebrate Fred Holbrooks birthday. We had pot roast, stuffed peppers, baked fruit, fresh green beans, warm rolls, and a carrot cake for dinner, and I have to say it was one of the best meals I had eaten in a long time...partly because of the company it was shared with, partly because it was homemade, and mainly because it was just plain delicious!

On Thursday Laura Holbrook was in Charlottesville so she stopped by the house to visit with us (although I think her main motivation was Kylie!). After visiting with Laura we headed down to Fishersville for a family dinner with my family and our good family friends, the Coltranes. Phil and Beverly had not seen Kylie yet, and so we enjoyed dinner with them and being able to show off our newest family member.

On Friday Seth, Brittany, Kylie, and myself drove to Bridgewater to visit with our Great-Great Uncle and Aunt, Lowell and Peggy. Lowell, who is 94, and Peggy, who is 90, is Kylie's Great-Great-Great Uncle and Aunt, which makes them really great (corny, I know)! We spent a couple hours visiting with them, and spent a good part of the conversation listening to Lowell talk about his service during WWII where he spent time in both the European and Pacific theaters and how he earned a silver star in Italy.

 That night after leaving Bridgewater we met up with a group of friends in Staunton for dinner and Katy went and spent the night with her mother to spend some quality time with just the girls. On Saturday we met up with Katy and drove to Massanetta Springs Conference Center to do some work in the gardens. Massanetta is a place that holds a special place in all of the Lovell family's hearts as we have all been involved there in different capacities for years. Mom and Dad have started spending a lot of time up there volunteering in their gardens, and so Katy, Seth, and I joined them for the morning to do some weeding and mulching. After working up an appetite we went to the best place to get a chili dog, Jesse's Quick Lunch...hands down the best. 

That afternoon a good friend of Katy's from graduate school, Lindsey, and her husband, Cade, came over and spent the afternoon watching football with us. We then went into town and grabbed some pizza together. It was a great evening and especially nice since UNC won!

On Sunday we went running at our favorite spot, Ridge Road, and then met up with a bunch of people at King Family Vineyards to watch a Polo Match...a first for both Katy and I. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed a picnic with wine and good company....a perfect Sunday afternoon.

Hanging out in C'ville

We are continuing to enjoy living in Charlottesville and spending lots of time with family and friends. Even though we have not been doing all the touristy stuff we did while out west for seven months, we are still finding our schedules completely full most weeks.

On Tuesday, September 6th, Katy and I took all three dogs and ran about four miles with them on Ridge Road, a scenic dirt road with gorgeous views of rolling horse farms and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. That night we met Dave and Sherry in Waynesboro for dinner and then on Thursday we went to Fishersville and had dinner with my whole family. On Friday we had some of our close friends from college over to spend the evening hanging out and catching up. Dave, Naomi, Chance, and Jessica are two couples that we spent a ton of time with during our time at Bridgewater College and friends that we really miss seeing on a regular basis. It was great seeing them and being able to spend some long overdue time together.

After catching up with old friends on Friday we were back at it again on Saturday. We attended the wedding of two of our good friends from both high school and college, Kurt Walling and Jo Beth Coyner. It was a beautiful wedding and a great time to chat with people that we had not seen in years. Katy and I left the reception a little early so we could make it back to Charlottesville to hang out with Scott and Kristi who were at the house watching the UVA game, which they won on a last second field goal...gotta love this time of year and college football!

On Sunday, September 11th, Katy and I taught the senior high Sunday school class. We talked about the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 and it was very interesting to hear about what these kids remembered about that day, if anything at all. Most of them were just in preschool or kindergarten when it happened. It is hard to believe that it has been so long since that tragic day, but it was nice to spend part of the anniversary at church remembering what that day meant and still means to all of us.

 After church Katy and I headed to the winery Josh works at, King Family Vineyards. We went with Brittany and Kylie and had Josh do a tasting for us. It was great to finally see where Josh has been spending so many of his weekends. While Katy and I were out in Napa and Sanoma we made it to 16 different wineries, and this one definitely rivals them in terms of the scenery. This vineyard was gorgeous, and to top it off the wine was very good (not that I know that much about wine). I highly recommend stopping by if you are ever in the area of Crozet, Virginia.

 After visiting the winery Katy and I drove over the mountain to Bridgewater to celebrate our nephew, Charlie's, four year birthday. It was a fun time and nice to see the whole Herr family. After the party we joined Ron and Jessica for dinner in Harrisonburg before heading back to C'ville.

Katy has officially submitted her application for her Colorado license so preparation for the next phase of our adventure has begun. However, we are going to focus on enjoying the rest of our time here in Virginia as we have about ten weeks left, which doesn't seem like nearly enough to spend with our family and little miss Kylie!

Labor Day

 Katy and I have now been back for over four weeks, and Katy just finished up her third week of work. Last week I was also able to find some work as I had a four day substitute assignment for a technology teacher at a local middle school. School just started August 24th here in Albemarle County, so I did not expect to get many days over the first two weeks, so getting this assignment was a pleasant surprise. In the evenings Katy and I continue to love being around little Kylie and making room for lots of family time. On Tuesday night we met Dave and Sherry for dinner in Waynesboro and on Thursday we went to Mom and Dad's for dinner with the whole crew. Dad made a Mac n Cheese dish that uses butternut squash that you run through the food processor instead of using butter and cream...it was delicious!

On Friday Katy and I left straight from work and headed to Camp Hill, Pennsylvania to spend the night with my Grandma and Grandpa Lovell. We got to PA around 10 and sat around until midnight chatting. On Saturday we met up with my Aunt Leah, Uncle Fred, and cousins, Brianna and Hope for breakfast. After visiting with our PA family we left around noon and headed to Trenton, New Jersey to meet up with my other side of the family, the Felix clan. We stayed with my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Charity and were able to spend time with my cousin Justin and his girlfriend, Heather, and my cousin Jessica and her husband John and their one year old son, Steven.

 

After a wonderful long weekend visiting with family, we headed back south on Monday, and amazingly enough made it back to Charlottesville in close to five hours, despite holiday weekend traffic and passing through Baltimore and Washington D.C.! After arriving home Katy zonked out for a little while as she was exhausted from the weekend, and then we met up with Mom and Dad at a wonderful little restaurant in the Belmont area of Charlottesville called The Local. I highly recommend it...its menu is seasonal and based around produce and meat that has been grown and raised in the Charlottesville area. 

So far in the month that we have been back home we have been having a blast, but doing very little in the way of touristy things like we did every weekend in Oregon and California. It just goes to show how important and fulfilling being around family is and that you can have just as much fun hanging out with the people you love as you can snowmobiling in the Cascades or kayaking off the coast of Santa Barbara. Don't get me wrong, those things are terrific and are priceless memories, but nothing can replace the joy of just being around family. We're glad to be back home for these next three months before heading back out west to continue our adventure!