Water, water everywhere!

Well, this weekend Gina and I got to experience real rain. The sprinkles started on Thursday afternoon, and by Friday morning it was a complete downpour. Now, I'm used to Wyoming where it only downpours when I am trying to cook outside on the grill. I mistakenly thought that it would only rain for a few hours, so I was surprised to see that it was still raining cats and dogs late into Saturday afternoon. We noticed on Saturday that we had a small pond accumulating on the back patio, which I got to clean up later that day. I thought about keeping it there and raising trout so that the neighborhood kids could come over and go fishing, but I wasn't sure Sydney would be able to stay out of the water. So, things have pretty much dried out and we will be better prepared for the next time the forecast reads "scattered showers."

In other news, we had a great weekend of fellowship with some new friends we've met here. On Friday, we had the Perez family (David, Lorena, Kristin and Daniel) over for dinner. We met them at one of the churches we visited, and we have gotten together with them a couple of times. They are a great family, and we seem to have a lot in common with them. David works for an outdoor gear company and loves biking and soccer. My kinda guy! The two children seemed to have a good time playing with Sydney, as well as playing my old Activision video games. Sydney, of course, was the star of the show, and she only tinkled with excitement twice. That's pretty good for her.

On Saturday we made plans with another couple, Fitz and Rachel Greene, who we met at a different church we visited. They are both new to Charlottesville, and Fitz is a graduate student at UVA in Religious Studies. They are grads of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. We were supposed to go to Carter Mountain Orchard with them to pick from the new crop of Granny Smith apples, but the rain made us postpone that activity until a later date. They came over for dinner, and yes, Sydney was the main attraction once again. She only lost control of herself one time. All I can say is, I'm glad we have hardwood floors!

Well, this week should be business as usual. I don't think it will be as exciting as last week, when the Rolling Stones were in town, but that is just fine with us. The traffic was backed up 15 miles on the interstate with people trying to get their glimpse of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Gina and I passed on that opportunity. The only change it made in our daily routine was that they cancelled all bus service and we had to walk home. It's pretty close from UVA to our house, and it was good to get a little extra exercise.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well. Come back soon for more news from Virginia!