The big 6-8

Last night Dave and I trekked up I-95 to celebrate my dad's 68th birthday!  It has been 11 years since I've been able to celebrate any holiday, large or small, with my parents, so it is nice to be able to take them out for their birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, or just because it's Saturday.  We have a lot of time to make up.

On our way up we stopped by Miller Farms Market - I love this place and couldn't drive right by it on the way to their house without stopping!  They grow seasonal vegetables, and also stock meats, cheeses, and dairy products from other local farms.  The owners are so nice, and it's just a cozy place...

I was very excited to see pumpkins!  I think it's the first sighting for me, since there aren't many roadside places in Richmond on my normal routes.

I picked up some tomatoes, peaches, a butternut squash, some Bone Suckin' Mustard (tastes great on top of a cold pork loin sammich!  And Dave got a little something special for being a good sport:

Everyone knows I'm not a coffee fan, but this stuff smelled up the car and it was fantastic!  I guess I've been swept up in pumpkin-flavored-everything season.  Dave's out picking some some pumpkin-flavored-beer as we speak!  I keep reading about Southern Tier Imperial Pumking Ale, and when I asked Dave to go to Total Wine and pick some up while I continued to sit here in my pajamas, I was shocked when he said ok.  It's like Christmas!

After we gathered our Miller Farms goodies we headed out to my parents' neighborhood.  On the way home from our trip to see my nephew in August someone suggested having dad's birthday dinner at the clubhouse on the lake where they live, so that's what we did.  We sat outside on the gorgeous Virginia fall day and watched the sun go down while stuffing our faces with Maryland crab cakes and key lime pie!

Looks like I'm flipping off the camera - I was just holding my glasses funny, I guess :)

After dinner we walked around the clubhouse area - we spent almost every weekend at this lake when we were growing up, so it was fun to go back and see how much things had changed, or really how everything was exactly the same.  We walked over to the beach area and a light bulb went off!  I hadn't gotten my toes in the sand yet this summer!

We went to a beach in Chicago but there were like 100 steps to go down to get to it, which meant 100 steps coming back up, and Dave and I both poopoo'ed that idea and took pictures from the top of the hill.  Lazy wins every time! :)  We didn't make it to the beach this summer, either, since we were saving our pennies for Chicago, so I was ready to write this bucket list item off...luckily I didn't have to. :)

I got so excited at my revelation that I slapped Dave pretty hard to get his attention to walk with me down to the beach!  He hadn't heard the conversation in my head, and was a bit thrown off at the slap - haha.  It was Elaine's GET OUT push!

Jeans at the beach is the new bathing suit.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Now we'll switch back to the regularly scheduled Chicago day-by-day rundown posts!  Three more to write - unless I can get Dave to write one.  Or two.  *evil laugh*