Ashleigh's graduation, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden(and a sleepover for the kids)

Last weekend we went up to Richmond to celebrate Chris's sister Ashleigh's graduation from nursing school! She did the same program I did years ago and nailed it despite being in the middle of a pandemic. 

Eleanor and Jane's swim coach had offered to watch the kids overnight so we dropped them off on our way up to Richmond - the first time Chris and I have both had the night off simultaneously since pre-twin days. It was glorious. AND, Santa visited! Which was very, very exciting. They also got to decorate cookies, ride a lawn mower, watch a movie outside, and eat special pancakes. They had such a good time, they've been asking to go back pretty much every day.

The next day we brought the kids with us to hang out with family! We met everyone at Hardywood.

We had to take a picture of all the twins...

The kids drank hot chocolate.

And Eleanor tried to deduce whether her newest cousin will be a boy or a girl.

That evening we went to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens to check out their lights. This was our trip sort of in lieu of doing Christmas Town this year. The girls' favorite part was this unicorn.

We randomly ran into our friends while we were there!

Eleanor saw the BFG.

Ben stared at the trains for at least 30 minutes. One of them he named the Polar Express. He kept asking, "Can I go under there?" The conductor, bless his heart, was so sweet and sounded the train whistle every time the kids pulled it in the air. Eleanor was heavy on the horn, so he got tired for sure. Here was a video, and please excuse Eleanor's attitude toward that random kid who said she was doing it wrong. She certainly isn't afraid to stand up for herself, hah!

Ben and Rosie also like the minion they found.

And Ben enjoyed this peacock.

The lights were great and we were glad to go and spend more time with family! Overall it was a great weekend!