NOVA for the Holiday

Thanksgiving means people travel.....and sometimes they travel somewhere it's easy for us to travel to! The Jeffers Clan gathered, so Shane and I joined the party!

Dan and Shar are currently living in Nebraska. However, he got called in for a big project in Boston. He's been making a ton of overtime money and felt like splurging. He bought his family a VR system while he was in town!

Shane got to try Beat Saber!

I tried it, too, but there's no video of that. Suffice to say, I would have been ashamed if I hadn't beat my 7 year old!

Dan has the same system in Nebraska. He was pretty good, but Shar was far and away the best.

Neat thing about VR: No one can block your view.

John showed up and joined the party while Bill trayed to shoot 'weiner dogs.'

Unfortunately, Igor was busy. His house is under contract and he and Casey are planning on moving to a house they're building in Colorado.

Benjamin had been sleeping when we first arrived. He was up soon enough.

Benny is the first of the Jeffers grandchildren.

Bill and Jill are doing a great job.

Cute babies are cute to the non-sleep delirious.

Shane somehow decided Marcus was his favorite to pick at while all this happened. Ironic, since Marcus is the largest guy in the house (Thankfully, he's the least combative from growing up, so there is that!). 

Shane actually got in trouble for trying to trip Marcus as he was carrying the dog, Oreo, out of the room. Shane timed the trip just right and it was almost bad. I made him sit in the kitchen until he apologized to Marcus.

Which took longer than advertised, because Oreo had explosive diarrhea as Marcus carried him! I can't make this up!

Marcus got changed, forgave Shane, and John showed off his models when our next pair of visitors arrived.

Matt was back in town! He brought Aiden over to say, "Hello."

Diane had been telling me that Matt "STILL" hadn't brought the baby over when he called.

Random: This is the only picture I managed to get with Ashley. She arrived late for the family picture and then left with Marcus and his girlfriend Lauren to see a movie.

But back to the kids.

Shane was by far the oldest. Benjamin is a month younger than Wolfie and a year younger than Aiden.

Random 2: I wasn't the only one trying to take pictures!

Honestly, I was tired from trying to keep track of all the commotion.

There were a lot of people, a lot of conversations, and a lot of noise to concentrate on and filter out in turn.

We stayed there with the Jeffers for most of the day. I believe we got there around 10:30 AM and didn't leave until 5:30 PM.

Shar had to catch a flight back to Lincoln and Bill and Jill were driving back, so it was time.

Plus, we wanted to visit Megan's crew!

Shane and B are a good fit. They're both raging extroverts! They started the night reading to each other.

Megan tried to get them interested in a memory game, at first.

Their attention spans didn't last.

Kathleen called and they all attacked to see her on Facetime.

Shane and B went down to the basement to set up some traps. Then they asked us to come and see them. Shane popped up behind Megan and rolled a yoga ball down the stairs behind her as she went down!

I would have died laughing except my 'Dad' reflexes kicked in when I heard the tink of glass. There were a a group of empty wine bottles sitting on the stairs the boys hadn't cleared out...

Nothing broke, Hallelujah! I had to give Shane a "Be careful" warning even as I mentally gave him a point for creativity (He won't know unless he reads this, though).

Megan had a game where there was a bomb the kids had to defuse before it's timer ran down. The boys loved it. B wanted to rescue her and Wolfie, as well.

I got to do a little uncle time with Wolfie myself.

Big B left to see a friend who was shipping out. I was drafted to keep Wolfie happy while Megan did some dinner prep for the boys (They had a lot of leftover turkey!).

Shane and I headed out when it was B's bedtime and went to Jama's. I tried to call Carrie and even logged in to WoW to see if she was on, but she'd fallen asleep early. I ended up playing tech support for Jama, farting around on my computer, and staying up later than I should.

Especially considering Shane woke up by 6:30 AM. Jama's new coach made for better sleeping for me....what I got of it, anyway!

Jama came down to greet us and escort us up to Ed's for breakfast.

Shane and I played Go Fish while Jama cooked.

Jama sent us to church well fed. We went to our church from Chantilly, New Life. We met up with John for lunch at Wegmans.

I forgot my phone charger at Jama's so we all went back to spend some time with her and then go on a walk. We found a snake soaking up some of the fleeting, Fall sun.

We killed a lot of time and hung out in a Korean bakery before saying our farewell to John. I gave Shane my phone as a distraction and he took a picture of me.

Given more time, I'd have tried to meet up with Megan again, Matt G, Travis, Drew, Gen & Chris, Ken....You can't live in an area for twenty years without making some connections! I love this holiday. I'm always thankful for a chance to see family and friends.

NOVA Day 2

I would have preferred a cheap hotel like last time, but alas. Vacancy was limited and prices were up. There was some sort of event/protest/march in town for the weekend. Shane and I found ourselves sharing a bedroom in an older couple's house in South Riding.

I heard Shane moving around at 6 AM. The kid went to bed an hour late and woke up an hour early! I ignored it and prayed he'd go back to sleep. At 6:10 AM I rolled over and saw him peeking at me over the edge of the bed.

"Go back to sleep."

"I can't!"

"Try!"

I gave up at 6:45 AM. 

Shane spent the night in a sleeping bag. He'd been really excited about it. He even chose it over the bed!

Shane went to playing with his new Transformers toys once the lights went on.

I read and planned our next move. The early wake-up call hadn't been part of the formula.

We left the airbnb around 7:30 AM. Our hosts were still sleeping. I didn't know if there would be breakfast or not, but I didn't know how long I could keep Shane contained in our room. I didn't want to roam in a stranger's house.

I also wanted coffee.

Churches have coffee. I wanted to visit our old church anyway, so Shane and I left to go to the 8 AM service at New Life.

We were running early, so I asked Shane if he wanted to see our old house. 

We drove by his preschool, the playground, and our old street. I don't know how familiar everything looked to Shane. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane, though.

It looks like the family who moved in to our house chose to attend New Life!

I doubt they were at the 8 AM service. It was spring break week for Fairfax County. Attendance was light. I wouldn't have recognized them anyway.

We left in a rush to meet Matt, Renee, and Aiden at their church. Matt texted me a warning I had the time wrong. There was an hour to spare!

I took Shane to grab a breakfast burrito at a NOVA staple.

Shane only wanted to whine and complain, though. I eventually forced him to try a bite. When he didn't like it, I audibled and went to pick up bagels (twist my arm!). 

We beat Matt and Renee to their church. Aiden had a surprise poop they changed before going out the door.

Shane was eager to meet his newest cousin.

This was our first chance to see the youngest addition to the family.

Matt and Renee stay very busy.

It was a long church service. Shane joined us for the music, but then left with the other kid's for Sunday school.

I pulled out my phone to amuse Aiden and grab a few selfies.

You'd think he'd never seen a smart phone before!

We got to talk for a little bit afterwards,...

...but then it was time for Aiden's nap.

We met up with the gang at Uncle Julio's for a birthday lunch.

Shane didn't get the Final Fantasy reference, but he knew a Charizard when he saw one!

There was a lot of talking. Sitting, talking, and eating is not really Shane's thing.

He did really well all things considered. We played some more "I Spy" and he burned the little battery I had on my phone.

I took him for leg stretch interlude after he ate. We were sad the giant chess pieces weren't out.

We hopped from wall to wall. I encouraged him to climb up the sign.

Then I encouraged him to have his fun and get out before we got in trouble.

We rejoined the group, said our farewells, and then headed out. Only then, Shane needed to poop. We said our true, final goodbyes after he made his deposit.

Jama's was next.

She wasn't home, though.

There was a USMC band performance many of the residents had gone to. Shane and I left a note at the front desk for her.

Which was not long after Carrie started calling us and saying, "When are you going to be home?" Carrie had spent the weekend working at Grandma and Grandpa's while we were out. She missed us!

We made time to stop by a certain Korean bakery on our way out of town.

Shane crashed.

He started to open-mouthed drool.

I let him nap for half an hour. Then I put all the windows down and woke him up. It took a while for the noise and cold to do it's job, but rouse he did. Monday was a school day, so screwing up the sleep schedule was a no-no.

We made it home before 6 PM. That gave us some time to rest and unwind before bed. For Shane, that meant a video game on the computer (Transformers: Devastation). For me, a recliner.