The fair!

Nathaniel and I went to the Fredericksburg fair today to see the monster trucks. We were especially excited because one of the trucks there was Stone Crusher, the one we made the poster for in Virginia Beach.
So as soon as we got there, we were excited to see the Stone Crusher truck. The driver, Bryan Wright signed the back of Nathaniel's Stone Crusher shirt (Steve Simms, the main driver signed it in Virginia Beach).

Nathaniel with Bryan Wright

Beside a very muddy monster truck tire

After we did that, we saw the rest of the fair. He liked the pig races, but was not to keen on the cows. There was a booth for the National Guard and the guys there were so good to Nathaniel. They had a basketball hoop game that he was not able to hit standing on the ground, so they just lifted him right up there! And he got a cool looking towel to boot.

Before being lifted

After with the National Guardsman standing by ready to help!

Before leaving, we saw a neat acrobat show that was a mom, dad and their three daughters, ages 8 to 2!

He loves his Legos!

As I was sitting down to play with Nathaniel and his legos, I saw this and just had to laugh - it was such a cute combination! The "visitors" to the police station are from our last visit to Abingdon and he added to them to the police station.
I just wish I knew the punchline to the joke that came to mind "so a computer geek, a jungle boy and a hippie were walking out of a police station"

Southwest Virginia

What a great weekend had visiting the family in Southwest Virginia. The country side there is so pretty, I didn't really appreciate it when I was younger.

On Saturday, Nathaniel had a good time checking out his Great Aunt Mary's ducks.

The ducks and the countryside

Sunday, we took a tour of Abingdon and checked out the wolves with my dad - so pretty, all of them. 

The wolf by the library

By Berry's lumber yard. It has the Constitution written on it.

Then we visited my new cousin, Emaleigh in Kingsport, TN. So beautiful and so tiny! My cousin, Beula and her daughter Amanda (Emaleigh's mother) were so gracious to us, having a small feast for us and sending us off with goodies (the wreath looks great on our front door!)

We had a fantastic time visiting everyone! As always, my mom and dad were awesome! Thanks!

My mom, Nathaniel and Emaleigh

Beula, Gary (aka the grandparents), Amanda and Emaleigh

Nathaniel and I with Emaleigh

Lost his first tooth

Nathaniel has finally lost his first tooth! He has been wiggling it for weeks and yesterday while eating ice cream it came out. He has one more that is loose with a tooth growing in behind it already! Our little boy is growing up.

I have noticed that you can tell he is missing the tooth when he talks...too cute!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

This day 74 years ago, my dad was born, Bobby Eugene Bolling. I love you Daddy!

Ahh! Your feet!

When I came home this afternoon, I got a glimpse of Nathaniel's feet, especially the bottoms. I just had to take a picture of them! They illustrate how much he has played in the garage today (hopefully not the condition of my floors!)

The tops

The  bottoms

He wanted me to show you that he wasn't all dirty!

After the extremity photo shoot, we decided to take pictures of us:

My idea

His idea :-)

Farewell, Praise God and Happy 4th!

It hasn't been too long since my last post, but a lot has happened. We have said goodbye to several beloved people at where I work, the Imaging Center for Women. Two Radiologists have retired and our manager has taken a job to be closer to her family. We will miss them all.

Some of the ICW crew with bow-ties to honor Dr. Fish, one of the retirees

The Praise God part was how God protected us during the massive, quick storm we had on Friday night. He kept us all safe and directed a huge tree limb to land in our yard away from our porch, our dog and our house. He protects us always, sometimes, it is just more apparent than others!

And finally...we went to Steve's mom's house yesterday to eat and celebrate the birthday of the USA. We had lots of great food, got to visit with Bill's dad and stepmom and play with sparklers, a new adventure for Nathaniel. This year, he actually held them, after much coaxing!

Steve showing Nathaniel

Nathaniel watching, from the safety of inside

Marcia and Bill Sr.

Steve AND Nathaniel with Sparklers

Name that part...

What is this? Do you know? I surely didn't, but Nathaniel did! It is a piston (for a small motor). Steve got it in the mail for one of his motors and had asked Nathaniel what it was. It took him a second, but he knew!

He is a budding mechanic!