Weekend Getaway: Norfolk

This past holiday weekend, I learned a few things.

First: Norfolk?  Not half bad!  It's the new home of our dear friends Dave and Meredith, and their little guy Soren.  It's hard to believe it's been a year since we had the boys together.

Two pumpkins straight from the patch.

The boys in the bath one year ago.  The tub was slightly more crowded this time around.

Besides being home to some of our favorite peeps, Norfolk also has an awesome zoo, truly impressive botanical gardens, and surprisingly good cuisine.  Any town with a bagel shop featuring tempeh bacon is alright in my book.  There's something to be said for not living directly outside of a major city.  Dave and Meredith have a house that is literally five times the size of ours.  It's RIDICULOUS.  I think I may have said that like nineteen times over the weekend.  Four bedrooms and an office, three and a half baths, original details like coal-burning fireplaces and ceiling medallions, and a kitchen that John is seriously coveting.  It's pretty awesome when two families of three can all sleep under the same roof and not feel even remotely crowded.

Save a horse; ride a rhino.

This was not easy to achieve.  But I think the results speak for themselves.

The second thing I learned is that I might be a wee bit of a control freak when it comes to Jack.  I already knew I was a neat freak, but apparently it's worse than I thought.  I think Meredith nearly died when I whipped out Jack's full-torso smock for mealtime.  I mean, is it wrong not to want to change Jack's outfit three times a day?  And sure, I may have used the hand sanitizer about eight times at the petting zoo, but it was a veritable petri dish up in there.
Jack is also capable of so much more than I give him credit for.  Apparently he CAN ride a tricycle and climb a rope net.  He knew how to play basketball without me showing him (not that he could reach the net, but he tried).  He knows how to share.  By the end of the trip I felt like Marlin from Finding Nemo: "You think you can do these things but you can't, Nemo!"  Actually, he can.  He doesn't have a gimpy fin.  He's a pretty capable little guy.  This weekend I learned to stand back and let him try, even if it scares the stuffing out of me.

I was worried about finger crushage, but Dave wisely pointed out that would probably be a big deterrent at a Children's Garden.

Requisite photo of Jack with animal statuary.

Soren gets to raking while Jack greets visitors.  They're totally ready for their own place.

And thirdly, I learned that if you're going to a petting zoo, wear shoes without a lot of tread.
Otherwise you'll find yourself cleaning goat feces out of your toddler's Converse with a Q-tip.  It's not pretty.  Trust me on this one.

And here I'm thinking, "Please don't eat my child's finger."

Jack offers a single blade of grass to the goat.  The sentiment was sweet, but sadly unappreciated.

Never one to be deterred, Jack goes in for a kiss.  Note the lovely chip o' sh*t that later ended up in Jack's shoe.

Thanks to Dave, Meredith, and Soren for a lovely weekend!  We can't wait to visit again soon!