Vandalia

The Vandalia Festival in Charleston, WV, is one of my favorite events. It is every Memorial Day weekend on the state capitol grounds. Vandalia is filled with West Virginia's finest foods, music, crafts, and people. Here is Benson with two of his aunts, Micah and Ali. At first he called them Micah and MicahAli but he's got it down now.


Many people come to play bluegrass anywhere they can find a spot. Benson walked around til he found a group worthy of his attention and then crawled right up into someone else's empty chair, to watch. He got along great with the man next to him. They had a lot in common.

The food is my favorite part of Vandalia.

The fresh watermelon was Benson's favorite. But he also enjoyed ........

fresh corn on the cob......

homemade ice cream.....

WV's own Bluesmoke salsa......

and funnel cakes!

The handcrafted items for sale are always fun to see. Benson loved this little chair.
There is always great jewelry at Vandalia.

Benson loved these wooden trains and trucks and Grandpa thought a small train was a good early birthday present for Benson.

Although we miss Tristan, we were glad to enjoy one of my favorite sights of West Virginia.

A day at the beach

To celebrate Tristan finishing his first year of law school we went to play at Virginia beach. Since it had been storming all week it was pretty cold....but that didn't stop Benson!

He loved to run along side the waves and then race away as fast as he could after the water touched his toes.

Here is the rescue after a "big" wave sent Benson rolling across the sand.

He found plenty of strangers to walk up to and say, "Hi friend."

He also enjoyed being buried in the sand.

At least for a minute.

Updates on the way!

So... A simple scroll of the previous entries on this blog would reveal that we have never been very good about updating it. However, since I am going to be out of the country for two months, Britt agreed to do more of a regular update. So, whereas before the question from our married friends ("Do you guys have a blog?", which I interpreted as, "Is there a cute place with crafty-looking decorations and a scrapbook-like feel where you post daily news of your family?") had to be answered with a no, now we may at least be able to answer with a tentative yes! (Well, to half of the question anyway--and not the crafty half!)

Benson's haircut and newest pics

March

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. March has brought with it Kira's arrival, more plans for the fall, and a Spring Break split between West Virginia, Williamsburg, and D.C. It was great to see friends up in D.C., and Benson has loved having Kira to play with!

The last semester of my first year of law school is winding down, and finals are a month away. We found out this weekend that I will be spending the summer in Brussels, Belgium for an internship. Brittany and I are looking forward to spending a week at the end seeing Paris and London for our third anniversary! After that I will come back to Williamsburg to do some international law research.

Benson is doing well, and is a real joy. As his second birthday approaches, he may be more maddening at times, but he is also more precious at times than I could every imagine. He loves to cuddle and is very affectionate, loving to give hugs and kisses. He is also very thoughtful sometimes, going out of his way to help on occasion without ever being asked. All in all, he is a great son, and we love him very much!