Richmond Date Day

Abby flew into the Richmond airport on Saturday, and Benji was spending most of the day volunteering at Habitat for Humanity, so Kevin and I decided to make a date day of it in Richmond. We started back at the Queen's Library for tea because they had sent us an invitation to come back for free after our last visit:

From there, we decided to check out the John Marshall house, which was only a block away and is owned and preserved by the city of Richmond. We ended up being the only ones on the tour, which was led by an historian and was very interesting:

We ended the day picking up our girl and taking her for Ethiopian food and now we are all looking forward to a festive holiday season.

Kevin and Franck

 Alex's father insisted on taking Kevin to lunch on Tuesday when he went into Richmond to pick up our van from the mechanic. They took this selfie outside the restaurant:

Wind Ensemble Fall Concert

 

Soloists standing for recognition

Grandpa Steve's 80th Birthday Lunch

On Sunday, we had a birthday lunch for my dad at Posa Posa, which was one of his favorite restaurants when he lived in NY. Most of the family came out and it was a lovely afternoon:

Josh, Gavin, Colin, Kathy, Dawn, Mark, Nick, Barbara and Sara  

Kevin and Benji

Kevin with Amelia (she was excited to show him her drawing)

Ruth and Grandpa Steve (not pictured at this table were John and Joey)

Hattie's Bat Mitzvah

Our first even of the weekend was the Bat Mitzvah of my cousin Scott's older daughter Hattie. It was a beautiful service and a fun party and I took very few pictures:

Grandpa Steve photobombing our attempt to get a family picture during cocktail hour

Payne family photo

Plus Kathy

Josh and Grandpa Steve

Scott helping to lift Hattie for the ceremonial chair dance

Christmas at LaGuardia

We flew in and out of NY this weekend for family events, and LaGuardia was delightfully already decorated for the holidays. Since our flights were delayed both ways, we had ample time for a few pictures:

Spot, the Robot Dog

For Abby's capstone project, she is working with a donated Boston Dynamics robot dog. This weekend they took the dog out to the track for some races:

Abby said the kids love spot!

Neil DeGrasse Tyson at JPJ

He did a program called "Delusions of Space Enthusiasts" at JPJ on Wednesday, and Kevin took Benji went with the tickets he got for his birthday:

Veteran's Day 2025

Annual performance at the Albemarle County ceremony:

Kimberly Akimbo in Richmond

These tickets had been Kevin's birthday present to me:

Benji's Marching Band Senior Night

Band's Instagram did a senior spotlight

Decorated stadium (this was before most spectators arrived)

 

Benji and Katherine lining up (Poole comes right after Paquette)

In line-up family photo (we traded with the Pooles)

Up next! (we recruited a few different friends for pictures, so we have lots of them from all different angles!)

Honor tunnel

Handshakes and hugs with Mr. Hackworth, Andy Jones, and Dr. Malone

Band seniors/parents group photo (hoping we get a better one of this from the official photographer later)

Post-festivities, they were back on the field for the anthem and fight song

One last time playing stands tunes

Benji said there were some tears and hugs back in the band room post-game