I say this every year, but in my opinion, 2013 has been the best yet. We made new friends, welcomed new family members, and spent time with old ones and ones that we don't see too often. Oh, yeah -- and we bought a house! All of that in itself would be a busy year but on top of that, we did as much exploring as we could, all over the Tidewater area, and saw/heard/ate/experienced some amazing things.

It was hard to pick, but here are the highlights from our jam-packed year (you can visit our archives for a full rundown of everything we did).


In January, we road tripped to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and walked the boardwalk trails at Kiptopeke State Park.



In February, we visited Air Power Park in Hampton and posed with the Mercury Capsule.


In March, we discovered the Fred Heutte Center in Ghent. Also, Anouk turned two (and we couldn't believe how time was flying).



In April, we hiked around the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.



In May, we went strawberry picking at Cullipher Farms and made some delicious strawberry flummery from a colonial recipe book.



In June, we made our way up and down the Outer Banks of North Carolina, from Bodie to Hatteras to Ocracoke Island.



In July, we explored Rosewell Plantation ruins with friends, and also did some more work on our backyard Pollinator Protection Project.



In August, we we were enthralled at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio.



In September, we started renovations on our new house. We also rode the renovated Pokey Smokey mini train at Portsmouth City Park.



In October, we made our annual visit to Bergey's Breadbasket, in search of pumpkins and baked goods and fall festivity.



In November, we spent some time at the Armed Forces Memorial in honor of Veterans Day.



In December, we hit up holiday events all over the #HRVA area, beginning with seeing scuba Santa at the Virginia Aquarium and ending with a festive visit to the Yorktown Victory Center.

Looking back at this list, I'm excited to see what the new year holds for us. Wishing you a happy, healthy, and adventurous 2014!

It's the third day of Christmas, or as it's know around our house, birthday season! Mine was yesterday, James's is tomorrow. And as you know, birthdays mean cake. So I thought this Friday Five should focus on our five favorite cupcake places around #HRVA. In no particular order, here we go!

1. Ethereal Cupcakes and Coffee Shoppe (Hampton): We stumbled across Ethereal Cupcakes during a marathon shopping session at Peninsula Town Center a year or so ago and it's been a go-to ever since. Visiting EC is a true culinary experience, complete with staff to guide you through all of their many cupcake choices (standard, gluten free, vegan, even spiked!) Their vegan orange coconut cupcake is one to try, even if you're an omnivore (their website lets you know the daily offerings before you go). Their lattes are also delicious.

2. Carolina Cupcakery (Norfolk/Chesapeake/Outer Banks): Carolina Cupcakery also offers a selection of vegan and gluten-free cupcakes (though it's best to call before you go if you're looking for one, since they don't offer a selection every day). They also feature other assorted baked goods besides cupcakes -- their (vegan) mini doughnuts are worth stopping in for just by themselves.

3. Naa's Bakery (Norfolk): Naa's is an old-fashioned bakery -- you won't find any diet-specialized offerings here. But you will find colorful, delicious cupcakes that are gorgeously iced and decorated (their Easter offerings this year were particularly adorable). A great place if you're looking to buy a lot as their prices are super-reasonable. The icing on the cake, so to speak? Their staff is as sweet and charming as their wares.

4. Twisted Sister Cupcakes and Sugar Shack Cafe (Virginia Beach/various locations): Twisted Sisters's Sugar Shack Cafe in VB is the perfect place to pop in for a sugar fix but they also can be found all over the Hampton Roads area in their food truck (the day's routes are posted on their site and they're very good about updating their location on Twitter). Their peanut butter blossom cupcake is our fave, the perfect marriage of salt and chocolate, yum. (The picture at the top of this post is their peanut butter and jelly option, also delish).

5. Jaime's Bakeshop (Virginia Beach): You've got to special-order your cupcakes from Jaime's but I promise it's worth it. They've been a staple at all of our family parties, including my graduations from college and law school and our wedding, to boot! Their amaretto cake is rich and moist but the icing (thick, sugary) is the real star. Jaime's is the place if you have a serious sweet tooth.

Where are your favorite places to find cupcakes in Hampton Roads? Please share in the comments, we're always looking for new places to try.

Happy weekend!

This was our Christmas card this year and if I had all of your addresses I would send you one to  say thank you for reading and encouraging us on our adventures and to wish you the happiest of holiday seasons. For those of you who are celebrating Christmas/Kwanzaa this week (or birthdays, like me and James!), be safe, be happy and be sure to eat lots of cookies (the cookies are the best part, besides the joy). We'll see you back here later in the week for a fun Friday Five. :)

PS: For those interested, I took our holiday photos this year at the Holly Garden at Norfolk Botanical Garden -- the bribery I had to do to get these pictures was astounding and probably really unhealthy but worth it in the end.

We spent our last weekend before Christmas at the Yorktown Victory Center. There was a lot we wanted to see but the thought of experiencing a Colonial Christmas seemed so fun that we moved it to the top of the list. It turned out to be kind of a bum day for cultivating a holiday spirit -- rain threatened and the temperature was a soggy 80 degrees, not exactly the perfect weather for huddling by a woodfire.

But we still had a great time exploring. In the working farm, Anouk chased chickens and turkeys while J. and I talked about colonial cooking with the "townspeople." That's one thing I have to say for Yorktown that's especially impressive -- the staff really know their stuff. We went on to help dip candles and dumped dipperfuls of water on the colewart in the garden and then peeked in the wood houses at tables set for a holiday meal.

Over at the army encampment, we held our ears while the soldiers showed off their artillery, including muskets and a great booming cannon. Of course this was James's favorite part (but not Anouk's. As soon as she saw the soldier walk over to light the cannon fuse she said, "Mama, I want to go inside RIGHT NOW." We ran, but still heard the tremendous boom.)








The holiday entertainment won't end on Christmas Day; Yorktown Victory Center will feature 18th century Christmas music from Dec. 26th through 31st (more about that here).

Hope you're having a merry Monday!

My favorite part of the holidays so far this year has definitely been our playgroup Christmas party. Last Wednesday, we moms of the group got together and threw a big shindig (that was probably just as much fun for us as it was for the little ones). The lovely Molly hosted and everybody brought something to eat or drink and the result was the perfect way to celebrate the season with friends. I feel so lucky to have all of these folks in our life.

I thought I'd share some pics from our fete, including eats and crafts (we made snowglobes and "gingerbread" trees) and a visit by Santa to hand out gifts! If he looks familiar to you, it's probably because he shares a strong resemblance to somebody you see around these blog parts fairly frequently. But rest assured this was the real deal Santa. We have North Pole connections, you know.

Hope you make the most of this last weekend before the holiday! Click here for some local Christmas fun you might have missed.

In last week's holiday post, you got a glimpse of our presents under the tree and I promised to write about them -- the wrapping, at least, the stuff inside I've managed to keep secret so far this year. I think I've mentioned before on the blog how I used to be a wrapping paper junkie. I would search high and low for interesting paper and hoard it throughout the year. But then I read an article on the environmental effects of the wrapping paper industry and was a little turned off. I converted to kraft paper a few years ago and have to say that haven't missed my old stash.

I don't set out every year to decorate our presents in any unique way but we always end up having a theme which I like, because it helps me remember that Christmas. For instance, I will always remember that in 2011 we used glitter, because it took most of 2012 to clean it up. Last year, we broke out the stamps; this year, I wanted something fun that Anouk could really help with. We ended up making tons of teeny tissue paper "rosettes" (for lack of better word?) to put on our presents and it was so easy, the perfect toddler craft. Just pinch a little bit of tissue paper in whatever color you choose. Scrunch, twist at the base, and glue in a pattern or at random.






Anouk loved this one. It's not the most elegant present wrapping idea, but it's festive and it always makes me smile to see the flashes of red and green on our brown paper packages sitting under the tree.

How do you wrap your presents? Do you DIY your wrapping?

We've been out walking in a winter wonderland already this year and enjoyed it so much that we decided to visit the one at Portsmouth Art and Cultural Center, too. So we headed out last Wednesday with a big group of friends -- five moms, seven kids -- all bundled up against the blustery weather. It was the perfect kind of afternoon for sleigh bells and reindeer and maybe even a little snow, too.

The Portsmouth Center's Winter Wonderland is a bit of a local legend -- I remember visiting the installation at the Coleman Nursery as a kid and being enthralled at the panoramas of lights, decorated trees, and animatronic figures, dolls, and elves. It's a feeling that translated through the years. Our kids were rapt from the very first moment we saw the bright blue turrets set up outside the entrance and didn't stop oohing and ahhing as we made our way in and up the stairs to begin our tour.






A little later we were back on the ground floor again, having found all of the items on the scavenger hunt sheet that staff handed out, and we headed back outside again just in time for "snow" to start falling from the balcony overhead. All of our northern friends were bracing for the real thing and we were feeling a little left out, so a few frosty flakes were just what we needed.

The Winter Wonderland runs through December 31. Click here to read more about the history behind the Coleman Collection.