Robert Goodwin Brinson IV

Our friends in Charleston had a baby boy yesterday, making it to the hospital with a half hour to spare. Whew!

Welcome Dru!

(They have dubbed him Dru for quadruple. I like it.)

Congratulations Rob, Christine, and big sis Sharon!

Richmond

Well, the wedding has dominated the past couple of weeks and rightly so, but it's time to wrap up our vacation post before it is ancient history. We spent the last day in Richmond, where we got to spend an evening with my dear college friend Virginia and her husband Charles, who, FYI, recently published a book - pretty impressive!

Maymont Park

The next day we traipsed through one of our favorite city parks, right up there with Como Park in St. Paul, Central Park in NYC, and Wheaton Regional right here at home.

There were lots of cute baby goats to see, along with their parents and some sheep,

as well as a zoo that includes a black bear, bison, and bald eagles.

After you wander through beautiful gardens, cross the stepping stones, hike up to the waterfall, and then climb up the hundred or so stone steps beyond, you get to this gorgeous garden with a trellis walk just made for wedding photos. Then we cut across hills and over rustic bridges like the one below to finally circle back to our parking lot, where we threw open the cooler and guzzled juice boxes like we had just crossed the Sahara.

Were we on a mission to get the kids tired out? I'm not sure we actually intended to wear out the boys, but they walked probably a couple of miles in this place in fairly intense heat. But I wasn't content to stop there. I knew they would just love...

Tredegar Iron Works & Belle Isle

And they did. The machine pictured at right made little pieces of iron that connected two pieces of rail, and another machine made railroad car wheels. They were quite impressed. We surveyed these relics while Chris parked the car a long way away. David fell flat on his face while we were crossing the street - thankfully no cars were coming! - and then fell again on the other side - fortunately right into a thornless blackberry bush, which was bursting with ripe berries for the public picking. That cheered him up right way! I couldn't believe it, such a thing seemed very un-American (why wasn't somebody profiting from these berries!) but we thoroughly enjoyed them until Chris caught up to us.

Then we called upon the little legs to keep on trucking, over this pedestrian suspension bridge which dangles between a car bridge and the James River, to Belle Isle,

which the boys apparently thought was called "Belly Isle" as Chris observed.

The rapids viewed from rocks in the midst of them were arrestingly powerful as usual.

Naturally we did not let the boys go near them and instead bade them cool their feet in the somewhat stagnant water pooled among the rocks.

By the time they had walked back across the bridge and part of the way to the van, this refreshment was long since forgotten. I had meanwhile trotted up a huge hill to the van to bring it back to meet Chris and the boys. He definitely had the easier part walking down hill earlier! And we once again were drenched in sweat and quenched our thirst with juice from the cooler. Multiple juice boxes on one day is definitely a sign that we are on vacation!

And indeed, the boys were completely tuckered out. It was a good day, and a good way to end our trip. We're thankful for lots of great family memories and quality time together.

A Wedding!

Renee and Del got married Saturday!



I don't actually have a picture of the bride and groom together, but you can see Renee looked like a princess that day.



Here's a happy couple. After the off-site photos we went with some other bridesmaids and friends to Starbucks to chill before the reception.

Joshua and David were the ringbearers. In addition to successfully completing their mission during the ceremony, they simply outdid themselves for joy, obedience, and self-control all day long. My parents took charge of them for the day and had nothing but good to report - praise God!!

The reception was tons of fun. Everyone seemed so relaxed. Joshua asked Kathryn to dance. Almost everyone was out there on the floor having a great time!

I think David was almost asleep on his feet at this point. He hung in there without complaining, and without a nap.

It was a completely wonderful day. Now the boys just have to figure out if they are going to call their new uncle "Uncle Del" or "Uncle Jerry."

Congratulations Renee and Del! It was a joy to be part of your big day!