We moved the music player and playlist to the very bottom of the page. It's easier to view and control things like the VOLUME in the new layout. Hope you enjoy our tunes...
So the cornerstone was laid in 1885, the Chapel was dedicated in 1889, we were married in January 2010 and when we returned for a visit during fall 2010, the Chapel was finally 100% wheelchair accessible. Jefferson would be proud! We definitely are happy. Yes, you remember the construction that was underway during our wedding earlier this year? How could you miss the bright orange "decorations" that surrounded the Chapel? (It added "personality," right?) Well, the entire ground around the Chapel was excavated and raised and beautiful brickwork walkways were installed to make the entrance flat and easy to roll in and out. It looks like it has been there the whole time!
Enjoy the photos and make the Chapel a "must see" on your next trip to C-ville.
We enjoyed a bit of a longer summer than we had expected when Mike's sister, Melissa, and her family came for a long weekend visit. Since the weather was still nice we were able to get in the water and play a bit. Mike took everyone on a boat ride (Savannah LOVED her own life jacket but Tatum wasn't especially fond of hers) that included a tour of the neighborhood homes. The ride was great until Mike managed to run out of gas (yes, a first) and some friends had to tow the pontoon to the gas dock. Both Charlotte and Davidson had kid fairs complete with rides, games and bouncy houses. During what little down time we had (yes, the kids were either full steam ahead or asleep) Andy helped Mike complete his seemingly endless house to-do list. The brass doorbell has never looked better (and it now works, too). Here are a few photos from Summer Camp Part 3. Our next guests roll into town for Turkey Day!
Savannah enjoying a ride at Charlotte's Festival in the Park.
The Lombardi family takes a lake dip.
Tatum enjoying her first pony ride at Davidson's Festival on the Green.
Time flies! Yes, it was just over 6 months ago that we were a bit chilly and very happy in Charlottesville. It's warmer now but it still feels like yesterday that our bodies were frozen (but our hearts were warm) in the cold Blue Ridge Mountain air. We think it might have been one of the only weekends of the entire winter that it didn't snow! Remember? Anyway, looking back at some of our older posts made us realize we promised to post a few real live wedding pictures. Since we still need to get started on our wedding album, we carefully selected these five just to share with you!
Two smiles say it all!
Looking quite stately near the Rotunda and the Chapel.
The Human Vuvuzela cheers on Italy during the World Cup!
Mike pilots Sarah, Mom and Michelle (guess who took the picture) on an aquatic tour of the lake homes.
Rock stars stroll through Davidson College (guys not pictured).
Our summer began with a great visit from Mom, Jim and Michelle (Mom and Jim came from Idaho by way of Michelle and her car on the East Coast). Thanks SO MUCH for spending a great week with us, for helping make the house our home and, of course, for cheering on every single opening round game of the World Cup. Hey, the temperatures WERE in the 90's and it was WAY too hot to be outside all the time.
2 on the tube (Sarah and Thomas) - full steam ahead!
The biggest (and cutest) smiles on the lake!
2 happy swimmers share 1 noodle.
Hale and the boys relaxing on the water.
Bob and the little men!
So as you can see by the photos, no sooner did our first set of house guests say "au revoir" then our second set arrived. We were SO happy that Bob, Hale, Thomas and Matthew visited us as they began their summer adventures. Summer camp became a kid friendly place and we had so much fun on the water and playing in the yard.
Our door is always open and the boat is full of gas and ready for more high speed aquatic adventures so come visit!
Wow, time certainly flies and we really have gotten sidetracked – you might say lost - from our blog since the Big Day just a few months ago. It seems that recovering from a wedding and honeymoon, settling into our home, introducing the dog and cat and building a life together has taken top billing over blogging and sharing updates.
Fear not, dear family and friends, we are found and have a fun little lost and found type story to share.
This story recounts the lost and found adventure of our custom, photo filled wedding guest book. If you were with us in Charlottesville in January, you more than likely enjoyed seeing the variety of photos and reading the crazy passages and poems we included in our personalized guest book. You probably signed it, too. (At least we hope you did!)
Why is this book so important to us? We wanted to make our guest book a personalized wedding memento rather than a more traditional “sign your name on the line so we have proof you ate your meal and owe us a gift” kind of book. Being the crafty and creative ones, we designed and printed a one-of-a-kind keepsake.
We never expected it would disappear on our wedding day.
Here’s what happened. The book arrived from the publisher a few days before the wedding and we entrusted it to the safe keeping of our two junior ushers, (under the watchful eyes of their parents). We gave them a couple black and blue Sharpie pens (so guests didn’t have to use crayons) and they gave us their word that they wouldn’t draw mustaches on Mike photos or give Sarah dark sunglasses before others had a chance to sign. They also promised us the book would make it to the wedding and not get lost beforehand. Faith, faith, faith…
When the Big Day arrived, we were relieved and excited when we saw the book at both the ceremony and reception and guests were signing it (we even put a jar of candy near it at the reception to entice unwilling guests). People complimented us – they enjoyed our creativity - and we had another reason to smile and be happy.
Later that evening, when we got to our hotel room, we were met by boxes full of keepsakes, cards, flowers, gifts, etc. (Our wedding coordinators and families were definitely on their game and delivered everything to us in a timely and professional manner before we even arrived in our room.) We figured the guest book was in one of the boxes so we went to bed eager to awake the next day and see what everyone wrote.
The next morning was an emotional one. We awoke, finished our warm bottle of champagne, ate leftover chocolate strawberries and searched for the book. After digging through every bag and box, we realized the book was lost and no one (including the limo driver who was on our call list) knew where the book went at the end of the evening. After a quick and unproductive search of the reception site, we came to the emotional conclusion that our guest book – the one customized piece of wedding memorabilia we really looked forward to reading - was lost for good!
Fast forward a few months and cue warmer temperatures and the arrival of spring. The mounds of snow from a rare, cold and hard mid-Atlantic winter had finally melted (believe it or not, our wedding weekend was one of the only weekends all winter it didn’t snow in the South) and family members who drove to the wedding were finally able to open the frozen car they had not driven since January. There, sitting in the back seat, was the guest book. It was found!
Our little story has a happy ending!
So…we are back and so is the guest book. (By the way, we finally enjoyed reading it together one night recently as we also flipped through our wedding proofs.)
It’s all good now and, with the arrival of summer, we have new energy to reach out and reconnect. You can find us at home – please come visit – and maybe we can flip through the guest book together. Just promise you won’t hide it on us, OK?
While we sort through the many, many amazing wedding photos, we thought we would share a few taken by friends and family. The image above is just one of about 300 cool candids that are over on halebob.net. Check out the link below! Thanks, Hale!
It's not warm and sunny where we ARE right now but it definitely was warm and sunny where we WERE just a couple weeks ago on our honeymoon. In fact, no sooner did we arrive home then a half foot of snow, sleet, frozen rain and ice blanketed our 'hood. In the south, where little storms like this are rare, the ground cover hung around for a while.
On a positive note, we had time to begin sorting through photos from the wedding and honeymoon. And since it is still winter, and we miss our already faded tans, we thought we would start by sharing honeymoon images to make everyone (including us) jealous. There is a cut/paste link to our Flickr photo set (at the bottom of this post) where you can see almost all of our photographic handiwork. To get things started, here are a few images....
We were welcomed to the Caribbean by a bottle of champagne,
toured the El Yunque rain forest in Puerto Rico,
struck cheesy tourist poses in places like Bridgetown, Barbados,
soaked up the sun on breathtaking overlooks like here in Antigua,
Check them out on a cold and cloudy day, OK? They will warm you and make you dream of exotic escapes! If you decide to go anywhere warm, why not take us along? We miss the sun and want to make more memories!
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