Kate and John's Visit to VA - Oct 19-21

Without a doubt, my sister is my most favorite person on the planet. Yes, there are many very close seconds (Mom, Dad, Ken, Nana, John, Brooke, Evelyn, Lexi, Nicolai, etc.), but Kate, she's my lifeblood. I'd be lost with out and treasure every second with her (even when we're fighting!). She's like a hero to me.

So as you can imagine, I was soooo excited for her and her family to come visit me in Virginia. To make it happen, took quite a feat. I had a 23 hour chaos-filled trip home from the UK, via Frankfurt and Boston (oh my - though lunch in Frankfurt was a small delight in the midst of the madness). Kate and John fought traffic after traffic and got in at 3AM. But we all made it and were all together at my home in VA.

Kate and John slept in Saturday morning while Evelyn and I went to a park. That was lovely. Well, up until the point where I backed Kate's SUV into a light post! Fortunately Kate and John only made a joke of it and we continued our day. We took Evelyn to the National Zoo. She's been watching the pandas online, so it was so neat to see the look on her face when she got to see them in real life. She loved every moment.

Sunday was the Shenandoah Balloon and Wine Festival. I LOVE this event and have gone every year now for at least the last five. It was neat to share it with Kate and John and Evelyn really got a kick out of the balloons. We met up with Mary, Jon and some others. It was an added joy to see all of them... and to introduce them to Kate. We watched Evelyn on the carousel, tried some wine, got some kettle corn, watched the balloons fill up and take off, and just hang out. It was the perfect day.