September Fun!

September was a busy month with birthday parties and a trip to Virginia to visit Maitoni. It was very nice to get away and Mike got to relax a bit before he started his new job. Virginia is so beautiful - so green and certainly didn't seem as crowded as California. I love the homes in the East Coast. Alyssa fell in love with Flora - Maitoni's dog. She was the first and last thing Alyssa spoke about each morning and night. Flora is a great dog, incredibly mellow and PATIENT. Alyssa was harassing her during the whole trip and she was so good about it. I'm sure she was glad when the crazy toddler who took her toys, who followed her, hugged her, etc had gone home.

Maitoni shares our love for wine. So not even minutes after Maitoni came home the day we arrived, I had to break the news that I will not be consuming any alcohol during this trip. She guessed right away that I was pregnant. While in Virginia, we took Alyssa to the zoo, went to the mall, spent some time in DC, and last but certainly not least we hit Georgetown for some yummy crabcakes that Mike had been dreaming about. Tina and Russ drove up from Delaware and stayed overnight one Saturday evening. We celebrated Tina's birthday and Tina and Chiara met Alyssa for the first time. Chiara and Alyssa hit it off instantly. They played so well together. Alyssa did great while we traveled until the last evening when she fell ill with diarrhea and some sort of stomach bug. We had a rough last night there as she couldn't sleep well and as a result we didn't either. We were there for 5 days and as with all vacations, it seemed too short.

Here are some pictures from the trip.