Revisiting

St. Mary of Sorrows Historic Church

Because I lived in VA for so long, I've got a huge list of things I'd like to do, places I'd like to go. We went to mass at the church Bill and I were married in. It's on the historic registry for Virginia. This building was actually used by Clara Barton during the Civil War. We arrived late, so we had to sit in the sacristy, which was a shame, but we did get to look around after mass. While we were hanging out waiting for the kids to get the camera from the car (why would I have left that in there????), I saw a family friend go by. I have not seen this lady since our wedding, I think. So after running to catch up with her and scaring the bejeepers out of her, I got a really cool chance to catch up with Mrs. Lowther and see how her kids are, introduce her to my kids. What a great meeting. Yeah!!!!

Cemetary

After talking with Mrs. Lowther, we spent some more time on the grounds and looked at the gravestones. There are some very old graves in the cemetary, and the kids were fascinated with looking at the stones and seeing how long ago these people lived. There's even a grave from a confederate soldier. There's no death date, though, so we're not sure if he died in the war or later.

Inside the Church

I just love the inside of this church. It's not a large space, but it is absolutely gorgeous. The pastor was the presider, so we even got to meet him after mass. He asked if our kids were old enough to be servers, and we explained that we were out of town. He threw a lot of snark our way for having left town. He was a fun guy, I'm glad we got to have a little chat.

After mass, I took the kids on a bit of a driving tour of my places. We drove by the main church, did a drive by of my high school, hit my grocery store, took a look at my parents' old house (it's not blue any more!), and then made our way over to Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria where we met up with buddies. I worked as a day care summer camp leader for several years, so there are a lot of places I've visited and explored, but I can't figure out how or why I would have heard of this park. It's amazing, it's a wetland habitat in Fairfax County, but it's not necessarily where I spent a lot of time. At any rate, I've known about this place for more than 20 years, and Cici went to elementary school just down the street from the park, so she was excited to meet us there and have the chance to show her kids her old elementary school and the house she lived in so long ago.

Frogs

G took this picture for me. It was cool to get to see all the frogs. We also got to see tracks in the mud, which the guys at the visitor center were happy to identify for us. The boardwalk is a nice half mile loop that takes you right over the water. We searched for birds, frogs and toads, dragonflies, beavers, otters, and possibly weasels. Bill sat looking for some little beastie for quite a while, but never got a second glimpse of it. When we were at the visitor center, Bill talked to the guys there, and they handed him a field guide. When he told them he thought it was a weasel (originally we wondered whether it was a muskrat), they said they haven't seen one there in a couple decades. Hmmm.... But he definitely saw something of that size, so who knows? It might have been a mink, but those sightings are also rare.

Turtle!

G on the Boardwalk

The boardwalk hike is just a fun little jaunt. We got to see turtles, too. I can't believe I forgot the turtles! They were so cool. We got to see three of them right in a group. It was pretty amazing that we got to see any wildlife, since we had seven kids behaving like lunatics. Which was fun in its own right, but they weren't the best nature observers that day.

As Good as It Gets

This is a fantastic picture for this bunch. I'm so glad they all get along. I remember having to meet my parents' friends when I was a kid, having to play with their friends' kids. It's not always a smooth thing. But all the times we've hung out since January, all the kids have played well without any awkwardness. Cool.

And we've got plans with more people and to see more things while we're in the area. I'm very excited.