Friday night, Brooklynne and I acted on a whim and invited our new friends, Matt and Amanda, on a last-minute dinner outing. After dinner, we realized we were enjoying the conversation too much to part ways, so we moved the party back to our house for a great game of Settlers. It was really fun to be spontaneous and to spend time hanging out with and getting to know new friends. Sometimes it seems like everyone is so busy, it's hard to get together on short notice like that. 

Fresh off that fun night, Sunday we got to catch up with more friends. Hailey and Kristen called Saturday night to make sure we would be around, and then stopped in for a visit on their way from Seattle to Norfolk. Hailey is one of Brooklynne's best college buddies, who you may remember from this post and this post about her vet school graduation last May (sorry, no pictures because I haven't reloaded them from the old host yet). She now works with dairy cows in Vermont. Kristen is her younger sister, and she is currently enlisted in the Navy. Recently, her home station switched from the west coast to Norfolk, so Hailey flew out west and drove with her cross-country. That brings back memories.... Anyway, the girls arrived late Sunday and stayed until this morning. Activities included: lunch at the Thai Cafe (which I will soon add to the where it's at map), a short shopping trip to Morgan Imports and Brightleaf, ice cream at Marble Stone Creamery, pilates at the Y (not me--I stayed at home with Halleigh), and a late night of pizza, buffalo wings, cheese sticks, hot tea, and card and dice games. Much fun was had by all.

What all this reminds me of is how great it is to have unexpected visits. So to all our friends who read this blog, this is a standing invitation--the door is always open.