Hi-Ho Bauer Take Three

America's favorite Doctor, Dr. Bow wow visited the great state of Virginia once again this past Wednesday - Friday. He is now a proud member of the three-timer club that includes the likes of Betch, Sigakis, and Borgie, as well as my entire family and Linsey! The primary goal of the visit was to take in a Twins game, potentially the last Twins game we will see before checking out of DC. But the Twins game was just one piece of the 36 hour adventure, that included award winning bbq beef at the Woodgrill (I suggest anyone living in the DC metro area to try it, it is tres bien), and a round of Golf with James. I give props to Bauer for coming mid-week to watch his ball club play!!

Shenandoah National Park

Lou, our buddy Justin and I escaped to the great outdoors this past weekend to celebrate my birthday and to test out our new camping gear. We made pit stops at Whitehall Vineyards and Barboursville Vineyards, one of Lou's favorites from his days at UVA. On Queen Elizabeth II's recent visit to the US to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement, she was served wine from Barboursville......ie..it is good stuff. After wine tasting, we drove up to Loft Mountain in the Shenandoah National Park along Skyline Drive and scouted out a camping spot. For those of you not from the area, the Blue Ridge mountains are about an hour and a half drive from DC but feel like a world away. The weather was also nice and cool, giving us a pleasant break from the humidity. We had a great time enjoying the finer things in life.....hot dogs, smores and beer complimented by a side of fire.

I miss sleepovers!

On Saturday night, James and Marissa invited us to an old-fashioned sleepover at the Reynolds's in Fairfax......well it was actually propositioned as a bbq, but when you throw in two fabulous hosts (James's parents), great food, flowing wine and childhood friends in one location, someone is bound to jump through the fountain of youth.

(James, Scott, Ken, Lou, Marissa and me)

(Marissa, Sharon and me)

The Lake Part Deux

While in lake mode, we also made a pit stop at the Borgestad cabin. The pictures speak for themselves as there are no words to describe 1) the backwoods nature of Siren, WI 2) why no one ever knows how to get home after alleged visits to local establishments and 3)the magic in the hats.

The Lake

After living on the East Coast for four years, we can tell you that the thing we miss the most aside from friends and family is the lake. So instead of a nice tropical honeymoon somewhere (once we settle overseas this fall we will take one or two :) we went on a family vacation to the lake the week after the wedding. Yes, this may seem odd. Thank you to the many people who told us so. But it was soooooo relaxing. Thanks to Senor Sigakis, every night turned into Iron Chef America where each couple took a turn making a gourmet feast. The remainder of our days were spent on the pontoon and playing cards and sand volleyball . Pretty perfect if you ask me.