Week after Thanksgiving through December 2

All the grandparents stayed the following week after Thanksgiving with Grandaddy leaving for his consulting job in Harrisonburg early Monday morning and returning on Thursday night. The grandmothers watched Indigo while Melanie and I went into the office. They did a marvelous job!

On Thursday Ellen and Sarah came over and we packed a picnic lunch to take to Clemyjontri park. It was practically vacant so the girls had the run of the place and both had so much fun trying out so much of the playground equipment. On Friday night we met Ruth, David and their girls, Anna and Sarah Grace for dinner. While the grandparents were with us Indigo loved to read with Granddaddy, Granny and Grandma Lee - notice a theme? She also loved to "share" Grandma Lee's cereal. On Saturday Granny and Grandaddy left in the morning for the drive home and we went to brunch with Grandma Lee. We then went to the Chinese take away to order food for the Chinese family lunch the next day.

We drove Grandma Lee to Dulles airport and then onto Zoo Lights at the National Zoo. We met Mary, Terry, their boys Alex and Adam and another family. Later at the Zoo we met up with Pam, Robert and their girls Elizabeth and Catherine. This is the first time the Zoo has held this event. Indigo and all the children seemed to enjoy seeing the different animal light displays. We then walked back through the Zoo and onto a restaurant for dinner. While the guys picked up one of the cars the three girls had a blast running in the empty parking lot in their snow suits - if you can call it running when all bundled like that. It was another late night for Indigo who didn't go to bed until after 10:00 p.m.

The next morning was a big day. Finally, all the families who had been gathering had their babies and we were able to gather with all of us as complete families for the first time (well, complete for now). We were thrilled to meet Erica, who had just come home from China with Toni and Tom. Kristi & Eric's rented their clubhouse so that all the children could play. It was the perfect location and we all had a great time. We made another attempt at a couch photo - somewhat more successful than our effort in China but there is still room for improvement. We also took a photo of all the mums with their daughters. During the gift exchange, Indigo received a talking toy vacuum cleaner so she can now copy her daddy when he is using the real vacuum cleaner. It was such a fun occasion to celebrate.