We are now official residents of Virginia! The kids and I arrived on July 29th by plane and Cliff arrived 2 days after that by car since that was the only way we could transport Enya. We spent the first 2 weeks with his parents before moving into our house. It was over 100 degrees almost the whole time we were there!
Fun at Nanny's (Grandma) and Papa's (Grandpa) house:
We moved into our lovely new house on August 12th. All I can say is, I love it here, the city and our new digs!
We live in Fairfax, a suburb 20 minutes southwest of Washington D.C. It is very scenic, lots of hills and valleys and all of the roads seem to wind through miles of forest. It's surprising how much forest is still left considering how densely populated this area is. It's quite beautiful here, and I'm looking forward to exploring it all. We've met some wonderful neighbors. Our neighbor directly across the street have 4 kids; 1 is a teen, but the other 3 are 6, 4, and 2. Sawyer has had several play dates with them already. The boys love to ride their bikes up and down the neighborhood.
One thing that stood out to me is how much shopping there is. Every major retailer you can think of has a presence here. Groceries alone, there is Wegmans, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Harris Teeter, Costco, Safeway, Giant, etc. all within a few miles of our house. I was also thrilled to discover just how many Asian and international grocery stores there are, something I missed quite a bit while living in Florida. Since this area is approximately 27% Asian, finding delicious Asian food is not hard at all! The demographics here remind me very much of the SF Bay Area.
The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. We spent our 2nd weekend here at Cliff's parents lake house in Lake Gaston, North Carolina. It sounds far, but since they live in Southern Virginia, it only takes an hour to get there from their house. Sawyer had a blast! It was his 1st time swimming in a lake, but he was a pro. I think he had the most fun when Nanny (Grandma) took him on the pontoon boat with a bunch of people. He met 2 little boys, Brady (5) and Travis (2) and hit it off with them. Lake Gaston is filled with kids of all ages during the Summer and it feels like you're at Summer Camp. Cliff grew up going there so I got a tour of his old stomping grounds.
One night, we went to eat in a house turned restaurant that was built in 1792. The front of the restaurant is the original house and had a very distinct smell. All I can say is, it smelled like 1792!
Cliff's friends Paul and his wife JJ came over our 2nd day here with a car load of food and cooked us a welcome to VA feast. It's so nice to live near good friends!
My best friend Tomomi also surprised us with a beautiful fruit bouquet from Edible Arrangements!
I've already found a new preschool for Sawyer! School starts right after Labor Day.
