60th Birthday Party

Last night we had a 60th birthday party for Luke's mom. There was a great turnout, and I think she was really impressed when the limo showed up to whisk her downtown to her favorite restaurant.

Luke's sister and I spent the morning cooking at a friend's house in the neighborhood. This was perfect. Each of us had two kids that were five and under, so the six kids played together and ruled the neighborhood all day. After the party, while we all cleaned up and returned everything we borrowed, the kids ran around in the sprinkler naked and ran from house to house imagining they were pirates, babies, and monsters. I am so excited because thanks to the party Abi now has friends her age in the nieghborhood and she couldn't be more delighted about it. I think this is going to be a fun part of parenting. I like having friends over!

Happy Feet

One of my favorite things about Lily is how she is starting to express her little emotions without words. The best is her "happy feet". If she likes dinner, her right leg starts kicking rythmically in delight. On a walk in the stroller, her little leg gets to going so fast while she just smiles and looks at the world around her. I remember doing this same thing in chairs before my feet could hit the ground. How many times did mom or a teacher ask me to stop kicking when I was full of energy and anticipation?

Virginia is for Lovers

Hi people that have been following the adventures of the Jones family! Our voyage ends on May 6th. So maybe you were worried that the Joneses would no longer be Journeying. We simply couldn't let that happen.

So stay tuned because in July the Jones fam will be heading to the opposite coast and setting up shop in Charlottesville, Virginia. Luke is going to continue working with Semester at Sea through ISE, the Institute for Shipboard Education. We'll keep you up-to-date as we get ready for this move - and please let us know what you know about Virginia. Neither of us have spent much time on the East Coast, so we're looking forward to hearing from anyone who has!