THE B ROLL: monticello!

we are back from our road trip to charlottesville, va! our first big family (of four) trip! and i have a newfound respect for everyone who travels with children and even more so for people who take photos + video of their travels with children. it is not an easy feat! we are still figuring it out. and while it was definitely a little crazy and the trip felt way too short for all that this area has to offer, i know that this is one of those trips that we will cherish in our memories. i can't tell you how much i fell more in love with my kids and our family on this trip. and even though having a baby sleep in the bathroom (in a travel crib) is not ideal, i think i could totally get used to living in one room as a family all together. it's so much fun! haha, of course it's also fun not having to prepare any meals in that room!;)

the kids were phenomenal on this trip, over all. for the amount of time we had them sitting in carseats alone, they deserve gold stars, and then they hardly even complained about it! which was like hallelujah! all that time spent driving to/around atlanta from the suburbs has paid off;) on the way up, we broke the drive up into two trips. wednesday night we drove up to charlotte, nc and stayed with j's sister and her family, which is always so much fun for all of us. wilder especially loves getting to see grandma, grandpa and his cousin beau who is only five days older than evie! tonight at bedtime i was telling him that grandma and grandpa were going to come stay in evie's room next weekend and then he asked where were great-grandma and great-granddaddy (who we visited in roanoke, va on sunday) going to sleep? i think he is like me and would prefer if all his family could just live all together in one big house! the highlight of his trip was definitely being around family. :)

on thursday we drove to charlottesville, got settled into our hotel and visited with one of j's childhood friends and had the best coffee of our trip at shenandoah coffee, which looked like nothing special on the outside but was really the best we had while we were there. then on friday morning, we drove out to see thomas jefferson's house, monticello. i was a little regretful at the time that i had done the tour of his house. haha! is that crazy or what? because now i'm definitely glad that i did. but at the time i felt so rushed and was worried that i hadn't really had time to take in the sites or enjoy playing with the kids there. the tour is forty minutes long, so evie and i went on the tour while j and wilder played on the grounds. i took a few photos of the grounds afterwards (no photos allowed inside and i'm not enough of a rebel to sneak some shots;), and then it was time to grab a quick lunch at michie's tavern (another cool—but overpriced—must-do there!) before we had to make it back for evie's nap. i was really strict about nap time because evie was already getting a lot less sleep than usual, and i felt so bad for her. so when we had to rush back after the tour, i was a little disappointed. now though i'm glad i did it. his house is so cool! and he was (obviously) such an amazing, interesting person. i highly, highly recommend visiting monticello and charlottesville in general. we had so much fun. (a lot of craziness and crabbiness ensued, too, don't you worry;). but overall, it was a really good trip.