A Weekend in Charlottesville

As some of you may know, Charlotesville, VA holds a very special place in our hearts. We first visited when Els (now affectionately refered to as "Auntie Els") was going to law school there, but continue to come up with excuses to visit. Well, "Uncle Jonathan" has been training for months to compete in the Monticello Man Triathlon with Team in Training in an effort to raise money for Lymphoma. We decided early on that we wanted to be there to support him, which for John, meant actually participating in the race.

Coincidentally, Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Russ were also planning on traveling north that weekend, so we arranged it so that they could meet us in C-ville and stay the weekend with us. When you pair best friends, with loved family in a city you adore, it's bound to be an awesome weekend:) We went to the "Mall" and enjoyed Mudhouse coffee, some awesome cupcakes and the characters that are the residents of Charlottesville. We also had a wonderful dinner out (the first time John and I ate out since Kaiya was born) at a converted garage called Zinc. Sunday we spent the day supporting our men at the Triathlon and concluded the trip with a lovely lunch in the sun at Beer Run, home of the best sandwiches in C-ville.

Some highlights of the trip:

Kaiya got to meet Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Russ for the first time:

John and Jon completed the triathlon. Jon finished in under 3 hours and John finished (which is AMAZING considering he didn't even train for it. Crazy man.) And yes, Uncle Jonathan did perform his run wearing a cowboy hat, a tradition I hope he continues in future events as it makes it much easier to pick him out from a crowd.

And finally, Beer Run sun:)