Our plans were to leave last Friday morning for Fredericksburg, VA and spend the weekend with Lauria, Jim, and grandchildren.  My rheumatologist appointment was Thursday afternoon but early Thursday morning the office called and asked if I could be there in one hour.  I whipped on clean clothes, brushed my teeth, and headed to Tennessee for a 9:30 appointment.  We were back home by 11:30, had lunch, pulled the clothes from the dryer, finished packing and hit the road a few hours later arriving in Statesville, NC around 7 pm for the night.  Breaking the drive up was a much better way to travel.  Friday afternoon after checking into our hotel in Fredericksburg, we spent the rest of the day with family.  Hayden, Sofia, and Grant are 13 now.  Olivia is 9 and Ben will turn 9 in September.

Ciao!  Our favorite thing...........eating!  Especially Italian.  Finisci di mangiare!
On left.....Cliff, Sofia, Grant, and Jim.  Ben at the head of the table.
On right....Lauria, Olivia, Hayden.

                      Ben, in red and white, sparring in his TKD class.

                      Hayden, center in white TKD uniform with yellow belt.

                                 Back of Grant in black.

                                 Olivia doing yoga.  I can't do that one!

We walked old town Fredericksburg.  Ben and Olivia wearing historical masks.  Actually, the masks were a little spooky causing their faces to appear distorted.

                                     Visited an old graveyard.

 Toby and I did some relaxing yoga.......modified "down dog".
One afternoon we played the longest game of Uno................never thought it would end. I never offer to play chess anymore with these children because their strategies have me beaten before the board even hits the table.
Wonderful time spent with family.  Next time we visit, we'll travel in September or October when it's cooler and school is in session.