Meet Virginia.

Last week, Evelyn made her inaugural visit to Virginia, that blessed state that boasts my beloved University and the homesteads of Ev's great-grandparents, great-aunts, great-uncles, numerous cousins, and other friends to boot.  We drove all the way to northern Virginia (Leesburg, specifically) to celebrate the marriage of Ailsa (my first cousin and Ev's first-cousin-once-removed) and John (her fella).

For the first leg of our journey, we hopped in the station wagon with Honey and D (and by "hopped in," I mean "loaded down the back with all of Evelyn's gear and then stuffed ourselves and her carseat into the small amounts of space remaining toward the front") and trekked east on I-40 and north on I-81 and then a little more east until we arrived in Lynchburg at the home of G.G. and Grand-D.  They were so gracious to host us on our journey both there and back, and we had such fun staying with them in their beautiful house and spending time with them over the course of the wedding weekend!

Where are we here?  The Tavern, of course, one of my fave Charlottesville breakfast spots.  We swung through C-ville on our way to the wedding, stopping for brunch and for some short-but-sweet visits with some dear friends of mine.  I wish I had some pictures of Ev playing with Lane, Lauren, William, and Milo (the first three are people and the last one is a dog); suffice it to say that she has four new pals in the C-ville area.

We all made it safe and sound to Leesburg, eventually, and checked into our digs for the weekend.  After a lovely bridesmaids' luncheon,  I returned to our hotel room and found this waiting for me.  Awwwww.

 

The Saturday of Ailsa's wedding was sunny and beautiful and not TOO hot, which was a good thing, since we are all obviously sitting outside.  It was a beautiful setting, and such fun to catch up with lots of family and introduce them to Little Bit!  The man on the left in the foreground of the picture above is my great-uncle Preston Orr; sadly, I don't have a picture of Preston Orr and Evelyn Orr, but they definitely hit it off.  Birds of a feather, I guess:)

 Look at these two all dressed up.  I love it!

 The beautiful bride!  

 Evelyn and D spent some quality time waving together...

 ...and Evelyn also made the acquaintance of numerous family members, including these two sweet cousins of mine, Emma and Ezra.  Emma and Ezra seemed to make a particular impression on our girl when they so generously allowed her to chew on their clothing and water glasses.

Now this is a girl who has lived it up, I'd say.  All tuckered out after a night of socializing.  See that add-a-pearl necklace?  Honey and D presented it to Evelyn on her baptism day--so sweet!

What a fun adventure....lots of time spent hanging out with all sorts of family, catching up with old friends, and generally just eating, drinking, and making merry together.  Oh, and lots of time spent in the car, too--it's a long way from Nashvegas to northern VA and back:)