We moved to Virginia in March of 2010. We had just found out that I was pregnant with Lucy and were looking forward to starting a new chapter with our family and Jon's job.
Our house on Knollwood Ct:
I cannot believe how little Ari was when we moved onto Quantico....
In October, we moved into housing on Marine Base Quantico just one month before Lucy joined our family:
The first of two babies born in this bedroom.....
We celebrated many birthdays, holidays, and special occasions.....
First Christmas at Quantico!
Ari's fourth birthday
My cakes for my 25th birthday
First Easter at Quantico 2011
Father's Day 2011
Fourth of July 2011
First day of pre-k at Ashurst Elementary!
Halloween 2011!
Checking out Marine 1
The only HMX Ball we attended (the first year they canceled it and had a dining out in February instead which I couldn't attend because I had a three month old Lucy and last year I had a two day old Ruby).
Family Christmas photo 2011
Arianna performing in The Nutcracker Twisted with SDC
Christmas 2011, Jon's dad came to spend it with us!
Kicking off 2012 with some snow!
Ari's fifth birthday party
Valentine's Day
St. Patrick's Day
Spending time in DC
Easter 2012
White House Egg Roll
We made a very special and surprising announcement!
Ari performed in her first recital with SDC
Fishing with dad
Learning to swim
Picnic at a beautiful park in Manassas
Announcing that we would be welcoming another little girl
First day of kindergarten!
First visit to the National Museum of the Marine Corps
Watching an EOD robot
More robots
Walking through the museum
Ari started Girl Scouts
A Blessingway for Ruby and I where I got to meet a longtime friend, Vanessa.
Arianna got to go to Disney on Ice
Halloween 2012
Painting pottery, a last special outing before Ruby is born
The second baby born in our bedroom, Ruby Estelle
I was hospitalized after Ruby was born and realized how many amazing people I was surrounded by as I was lifted up in prayer and support while I recovered.
Getting ready for Thanksgiving
Lucy's first haircut
Lucy's 2nd birthday
Christmas 2012
Little did we know that 2013 would be our last year here (we were expecting to be here until the summer of 2014).....
The new year brought a new and stylish haircut for Lu!
Ari turned six
Ruby's first Valentine's Day
Ari sold Girl Scout cookies (and did very well)!
We made many trips to Sweet Frog! We will miss it when we move
We'll also miss Baylor's Ice Cream
.......and we made so many friends!
Christmas crafts with our first friends at Quantico: Suki, Angelina, and Jocelyn
Two more first friends: Johnny and Sarah!
Ari's fourth birthday party
Memorial Day
Elena's 1st birthday
Fourth of July
Suki's Baby Shower
Celebrating Joscelyn's third birthday!
Noelani's fifth birthday
Joint birthday party for Suki's daughter Angelina and Suki's niece.
Lucy and Kirah at Sarah's baby shower for Una and Ina
Remi's 1st birthday
Kirah's 1st birthday
Halloween 2011 with neighborhood friends
One of my favorite friend memories. Being there with Sarah and Tony as Sarah brought Una and Ina into the world <3 
Planting popcorn in the backyard with Noelani before the Hopfe's moved away :(
Easter 2012 at the Pratt's house!
Hanging out with Micah and Kirah at their new house
Halloween playdate
Saying goodbye to the woman who helped me have a healthy pregnancy and amazing birth, Tammi McKinley, CPM
Celebrating Karoline's birthday
Ru loves Aluria!
Ari's sixth birthday party with friends
Ruby and James existing together while I work at String Beans
Ruby loves Madison
Lucy loves Madison too!
Brice was so sweet with Ruby
My boss
I love this kid
Lucy and Emy
The Balogs are so much fun! This family is our family <3 data-blogger-escaped-a="" data-blogger-escaped-href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahb918/8566306080/" title="We may have had a little too much fun with the boob cake.... @lisamew #PicTapGo by sarahb918, on Flickr">
Meeting Baby Max
Lisa and Ru
Max and Ruby
Ruby and Max
Emy, Max, Ruby, and Lucy
More great friends came to visit us from Hampton!
Hair dye fun!
Having some bounce house fun at Hunter's birthday party
Ari graduated from kindergarten!
And danced in her second and last recital with SDC
Ari and Micah at the mall
Happy fourth birthday, Madison!
Celebrating Kaleigh's birthday
Epic friends weekend!
We got to spend lots of time with Uncle Bob and Aunt JoAnn
But now it's time to move on......
Goodbye, Virgina! I'm glad we got to experience you! Thank you for the lifelong friends that you brought into our lives, pretty nice base housing on Quantico, the opportunity to connect with some of our extended family, the DC experience, Georgetown Cupcake, Sweet Frog, the chance for my kids to experience snow, an amazing church, a wonderful school and dance studio for Arianna, and the career opportunity of a lifetime for Jon. I will NOT miss your traffic or your horrible drivers, your ongoing construction that I'll never see the end of, or your erratic weather (rain in the summer, really??)! Overall, it was a good experience and I'm sure once we are gone, I will miss it.
Looking forward to a change in weather!
We'll miss the rain though
This move is bittersweet. It's never easy to leave behind the people who you've become close to and come to know as family. I didn't love Virginia, but the people we've met here made the experience great and I wouldn't change any of that. We move on to the next chapter of our lives knowing that these will be lifelong friends and we hope to someday cross paths again.
Thank you for the memories, everyone!
Love,
The Bush Fam{ily}
Aww <3
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! :-)