building museum + a birthday

Oliver turned TWO a few weeks ago and we celebrated with a trip to the National Building Museum to check out the new exhibit Play Work Build. We spent some time in the Building Zone first and then headed to the new exhibit. It was really cool (and had just opened the day before so everything was still in pristine condition). The kids especially loved the giant blue foam building pieces. And a Monday afternoon visit turned out to be a perfectly uncrowded time.

There are some great photography exhibits going on as well. The large scale photographs by Andrew Moore of abandoned buildings in Detroit were beautiful and fascinating. I highly recommend taking a peak.

We made a little path for this ball which Oliver loved to whack with his foam stick.

In this part of the exhibit, your body shape fills up with blocks and then gets knocked over.

When we got home, Oliver opened presents (with lots of help from his sisters) and enjoyed a very simple donut cake. Clearly a step down from last year's owl cake. He didn't seem to mind.

Oliver is awesome. He has a killer laugh and loves to be tickled. He's incredibly independent and always wants to be left wandering on his own (he has never liked to hold hands). But he also has some separation anxiety issues. Ben is his favorite person in the world. He loves to dance whenever he hears music and he's still obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba. He loves to give hugs. He's still rather attached to his pacifier (which he affectionately calls his "fire") and drags his green blanket everywhere. (We're working up the courage to ditch the pacifier soon.) He has a knack for finding every playground when we're driving and yells "playground!" (right now he's equally excited about spotting all of the Christmas lights). He screams with excitement if he finds a bug. His vocabulary is expanding every day and he currently loves to sing Jingle Bells. His sisters adore him. Except when he's destroying their elaborate Polly Pocket set-ups.

weekend getaway: richmond

The weekend before Thanksgiving Ben and I were able to get away for the weekend (two whole nights!) while our generous friends watched the kids. We love doing weekend swaps with them and the girls are always thrilled when they get to stay overnight with friends.

We ended up back down in Richmond for the weekend and had a great time relaxing, eating, and exploring.

We had a delicious dinner our first night at Europa in the Shockoe Slip neighborhood (a mix of Italian food and Spanish tapas). They had these bacon-wrapped dates that were amazing.

We spent the next morning wandering around Carytown and enjoying some leisurely shopping without the kids (the used bookstore browsing was particularly nice). We also had to make a stop at Dixie Donuts and couldn't resist getting a dozen to sample all the varieties. The surprise favorite was an apricot cardamom donut.

Our quaint, historic hotel downtown.

A stop along Monument Avenue.

We wandered around the Hollywood Cemetery which is a huge cemetery overlooking the James River. It's the burial place for several well-known people, including a few U.S. Presidents and a LOT of Confederate generals. The fall colors were still stunning.

Definitely in the South. A Confederate general with a cannon coming out of his grave.

We had amazing sandwiches for lunch at The Black Sheep.

We did some furniture shopping in Shockoe Bottom and then walked along the canal.

And we made a stop at the State Capitol.

We went to an Indian restaurant in Careytown for dinner and then attempted to go to a movie but every single person in Richmond was at the movie theater and parking was nonexistent. So we gave up and did a little Christmas shopping.

We are so grateful to have friends willing to watch our kids. These little getaways are priceless. Thanks Nielsons!