charlottesville

a few days after sage and i returned home from seattle, our alma mater played the university of virginia's football team. a three-ish hour drive? of course we went. 

we rented a bright red suburban with matt and belize, squeezed our kids' mondo car seats across the back row, and went road tripping. we left at night and thought the kids were asleep as we pulled into the cookout drive thru for some corn dogs and mint-oreo-reese's shakes. right as we began our order, a chorus of "milkshake?!" came from the back row. caught!

 i wanted to make richmond, virginia a stop on our trip, so we stayed the night there and had breakfast at perly's the next morning. let me tell you, it was some good suthun' cookin'. a menu full of carbs, fresh biscuits, and stewed cinnamon apples. 

 we were decked out in our blue and white already

we stopped at monticello, thomas jefferson's home and plantation, before the game started. 

the crowds were a sea of blue and white, and we ran into six people we knew. the grounds were beautiful, but we were told the tours were all filled up (with byu fans) and we wouldn't be able to see the home. if i were anything like my father, i'd just walk right into the place and act like i own it...but i'm not. luckily, nate is. i would say maybe don't take your hot, hungry, tired, curious toddlers to this place, but i'm really glad we squeezed in a speed tour (4 out of 43 rooms counts as a tour, right?).

but really, monticello is so cool.

we got a little stadium-quality domino's pizza in us, sage was jazzed when the cavaliers had an actual horse galloping on their football field as the mascot, and i even got excited about the game, despite the fact i still don't understand this game as well as i should.

...and then...

the sky became a little darker. 

the announcer advised everyone to leave the stadium on account of lightning. "yeah right," we thought, and just sat in our seats until the security guard made us leave. turns out that lightning/rain/craziness came full force. we sat in the dismal concrete barracks tunnel for two hours waiting out the rain. our car was over a mile away and the storm didn't let up, so we decided to wait. good thing i happened to have stickers in my bag. belize's body became the kids' art canvas.

we finally got the green light to sit back down in our seats, only for the rain to start again a half hour later. since nate is the true fan, he stayed to finish out the game and we took the kiddos back to the car, drenched and sweaty. some classy fast food at chick-fil-a hit the spot. 

i want to remember that all our phones were almost dead. with 1% battery life and 3 dead cell phones, we found nate standing on a corner. 

i'd call southern road trip #1 a roaring success!

life in durham

a little bit of our life here according to my iphone...

 
arriving in north carolina and she knows the drill. we're in the sixties for sage's flight count.

 nate's first day of school. i tried to make him pose, but i guess he's too old for that or something.

 high heels and more than 500 square feet to run around in? pure joy.

 a little duke tour when my family was in town for the wedding. the campus is gorgeous!

 wagon riding. the good life.

steve-o skipped with the girls all the way to duke chapel, where our stroller brigade and gang of kids didn't interrupt the silence at all of course.

 it feels like we moved in twice--once with a chicago haul and once with our singapore shipment. yikes! sadly, my beloved balinese buddha head lost an ear lobe on the boat ride from asia.

everything seems to be a first for sage--first lick of brownie batter, first dance class, first time tasting a donut, first backyard, first ride in those ridiculous target carts, first day of preschool.

 i asked her to show me a dance move. not bad, S, not bad.

 belize and i took the kids to krispy kreme on national "talk like a pirate day." it was pretty anti-climactic when the teenage worker looked at us and said, "i can just give you the free donuts..." the kids yelled yo ho! anyway.

 nate was out of town, so i let sage have a sleepover in my bed. i woke up with her face in my face as she asked, "want some breakfast, sweetheart?" i hope this lasts.

 

on her way down the street to preschool (and by preschool i mean an hour of socialization with other two year-olds once a week)

girls' nights with the mba wives

i've been eating bowls of crunch berry cereal and roasting vegetables in my OVEN--things we missed for two years! i leave trader joe's in a state of bliss and can't believe how many options there are for anything and everything. oh, and fall weather! the mornings get a little cooler every day. but, in the back of my head i'm thinking about mid-autumn festival over in singapore and all those diverse celebrations i love. 

our life has been split in two year increments thus far.

i think it's gonna be a good two years in durham.

short and sweet in seattle

although it wasn't always fun living thousands of miles and a 20 hour journey from family while we lived in asia, i lived for those long vacations in seattle. two weeks of hanging out with my parents? done. yes, please. 

this summer, five days felt way too short. after the beach house, we flew to seattle sans nate with my parents, sister, and SIL. i was shocked at the difference in treatment flying here vs. flying in asia. no red carpet for families with kids in america--status or not! those days were jam-packed with wedding reception prep, festivities, celebrating my grandmother's 80th birthday, juggling kids and cars, and being exhausted and pregnant. no photos from the second wedding reception--it was busy! chan chose non-traditional asian food and all his favorite desserts. i loved seeing people from every stage of his life at the party.

my mom is the sweetest grandma. she had matching beach towels, matching outfits, matching bows, matching shoes, matching coloring books, and new toys for her grand kids.

this woman is hardcore. skiing, water skiing, playing tennis, and doing it all at 80. sage is always drawn to great grandma kay.

we had a family program where the littles sang for grandma, we watched a slideshow of her life, and celebrated this lady that we love so much. a barbeque in the park with all her friends and family afterward made the day a great one.

i could use another dose of seattle right now.

ocean isle

while chandler and stephanie honeymooned in florida, we vacationed on the coast of north carolina in ocean isle. my parents rented a big beach house and a menagerie of cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents piled in for a party. unfortunately, nate got one day of vacation then had to drive back to school, but we partied in his honor.

we played extreme bocce ball, complete with a bracket my dad carefully compiled. we played midnight bocce ball on the sand by the light of the moon too. one night, my dad ran into the house to get us because the sea turtle eggs in the nests along the beach were hatching. we watched with crowds of people as the little turtles made their way to the ocean. pretty incredible actually.

my grandad got down in the sand and taught the kids how to properly build a sand castle. he played in the sand and jumped in the waves with all his great grandkids for what felt like hours! glad i caught some of those sweet moments.

S asks to play with grandad and dance with grandma at least once a day.

first popsicle. 

the flavors in singapore were so weird: corn, red bean, yam, durian, etc. 

she was popsicle-deprived until now.

we all took turns making meals, and uncle blake made this beauty along with fresh boiled shrimp. we ate well!

sage's morning routine was to wake up and start calling every cousin's name. she was in heaven with all those playmates. 

my dad is the most fun.

our view for the week.
one day after we'd all been swimming in the waves, the guy on the beach next to us caught a good-sized shark...right where we'd been! jaws scarred me. i can't do sharks.

also, my sister was nanny of the year. she helped so much with all the little kids--especially when akasha and i were husbandless.

at the end of each school year, a bunch of the duke families head to the outer banks. i'm already looking forward to it after this taste of the coast. 

thanks mom and dad!

chandler's wedding

a mere two weeks after we moved to north carolina, my brother happened to marry a girl from raleigh...perfect! i can't think of a better match for chandler--we are so excited to have stephanie in our family. the wedding ceremony and reception were beautiful. 

little sage danced the night away with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. she finally fell asleep at the end of the night in belize's arms while dancing (i've since put her in dance class). blush pink and ivory were popular wedding colors this year because we got to wear our wedding attire twice! i sadly didn't pull out my camera, so iphone photos are all i have...

 

chicago + salt lake city

we briefly stopped in chicago to tie up all loose ends with nate's job, get cell phones, start figuring out our life, wean ourselves off vacation mode...just kidding, but not really. we adore that city. there's something about the first place you move far away from family--so much of how we think and who we are was shaped by our time in chicago. the highlight was of course meeting with friends (and trying new restaurants!) and soaking up chicago's best season.


we tried little goat with lots of friends

 
and said hello to the bean!

our next stop in the great move to north carolina was salt lake city, utah.
nate's darling sister got married at the end of july...and this is what i have to show for it:

the wedding was beautiful, the party was fun, and we really like josh. plus, mckenna picked out gorgeous little flower girl dresses.

i got to lunch at café rio with these singapore friends! our time together is never long enough.

we fit in some cousin time too. sage is so enamored with her cousins, especially sweet aspen.

and THEN on to north carolina...