While opening presents on Christmas Day 2022 at Elizabeth’s (Nat’s sister) house in Pittsburgh, we got a call that water was pouring out of the sides of our house. With the helpful intervention of some fantastic neighbors, the water was cut off and we found ourselves on yet another unplanned end of year road trip back home. Thankfully Pittsburgh to NOVA is a roughly 4 hour drive which gave us the opportunity to find out that Nat is excellent at emergency coordination while in transit. Long story short, after a complete gut rehab of our master bathroom, bedroom, closets, laundry room, and garage; your boys got a crash course in how to design a remodel on the fly. While we hope to never have to remodel under such circumstances again, we are thrilled with the results.
In February (house still in the throes of construction) we hopped on a set of flights over 36 hours to Wellington, New Zealand to kick off our honeymoon — Nat was elated to find that United Airlines had reinstituted their ice cream sundae cart shortly before our trip. As soon as we got to Wellington, we knew there was something special about New Zealand; we were soon to find out, our hunch was correct. Our time in New Zealand was split equally between the North and South islands, with the first week in Queenstown of which we aptly have relabeled, the Key West of New Zealand. We fell in love with the alpine landscape and the lakefront High Street filled with great shopping, food, and cocktails. We were also lucky enough to overnight on a boat in Milford Sound in which we were surrounded by sights that are near impossible to describe. The incredible beauty and scale can’t be appropriately captured in photos, but of course we tried anyway.
During our sojourn from Queenstown to Milford Sound, we determined that John Henry does not play the role of “Passenger Princess” very well and decided that navigating the switchback roads of the south island would be better suited via planes and helicopters, as what will not come as a surprise to any of you; we did that too. If our love for flying wasn’t already at unhealthily high levels, it certainly reached it then.
We couldn’t fly to the opposite end of the globe and not incorporate some horseback riding, tennis, and wine tasting… A LOT of wine tasting.
In March, construction wrapped up at the house and we were FINALLY settled back into a more normal routine. We were also lucky enough to visit The White House along with our friends Peter, Gene, and their son Tristan. Having been our first time visiting, we were surprised at how quaint the building is. In typical Northern Virginia fashion, our 10-month vineyard season started promptly in March and rest assured, we began taking advantage immediately. Aside from the weekends spent sipping wine and enjoying watching the vines grow, our Spring was filled with fun folks as we hosted our neighborhood at a Loudoun United FC game, had one of John Henry’s best friends, Jessica, and her husband visiting from Detroit, Chuck (Nat’s dad) and Baxter (Chuck’s dog) stopping over on their annual migration from Maine to Key West, and a copious amount of backyard parties with neighbors, tennis, and soccer matches. The season was capped off, just in time for summer, with the delivery of adirondack chairs, handmade by Chuck (Nat’s dad) over covid that we kept forgetting to get for over 2 years.
We made our way back to Europe over the summer for a family trip to Ireland. Chuck and Jackie – in all of their wisdom – rented a beautiful house in Westport, Ireland and sent out the siren call to their children: “Come.” We spent a lovely week with the family enjoying horseback riding, golf, adventurous driving on the wrong side of the road, and decent (if not continental) food options. A highlight of the trip for both of us was the day spent with Chuck trotting around the beach with a couple of borrowed horses capped with a delicious Guinness. Ireland is calling us back, and John Henry may or may not have begun searching for work opportunities that will include an excuse to visit the Emerald Isle more frequently.
We capped off our international adventures for the year (2023 was a light year) with a quick trip north of the border to visit Luc and Marce Robinson at their home in Toronto. Having never spent more than a layover in the city, we were quickly enamored with the walkability and neighborhood vibe of the city. The Blue Jays reminded Nat who was boss with a thorough drubbing of the Red Sox as well.
It wasn’t all ball games and beers over the full course of the year though. In the late fall, Nat was able to cross “visit the ICU and survive to tell the tale” off of his bucket list when a late season yellow jacket – those guys are MEAN – visited him (quite intimately) on our back deck. Fortunately, we live an 8 minute (John would argue ‘6 minutes when pushed’) drive from one of the region’s best hospitals. A shot of Epi, more Benadryl than you can count (the bill literally listed “Benadryl” as a line item…), and a night being passed between the ER, ICU, and IMCU later, Nat was well aware that he has a new, and not so fun allergy for his life. He’s embarking on a five year term of allergy shots and is adjusting to being a ‘crossbody bag gay’ to ensure he always has his Epinephrine with him. Oh the joys of adulthood.
We wrapped up our year with a series of holiday celebrations. We spent Thanksgiving in Middleburg, treating our Brady lady to a few days away from the house and ourselves to a few great meals. A highlight of the break was a (too) quick visit from our friends Doug and Trey who were in the area visiting family. We wrapped the year up with our first annual Behrens-Hewett Holiday extravaganza – introducing 50 of our closest neighbors to the difference between ‘Iced Tea’ and ‘Bourbon Old Fashioned’ and a 14 hour drive (each way) up to Maine to spend Christmas with Nat’s family.
All in all, a successful year was had by all! We are still loving Northern Virginia and all it has to offer. John Henry is enjoying his new adventure as a small business owner, recently helping his first client bring his idea to production for the very first time (keep your eyes out for “Bear Maple” if you live in New York)! We are excited to have even more adventures in 2024. Stay tuned for updates from Montreal, Maine, Singapore, and more in the year ahead. While our dance card is slowly populating, we do have many wonderful (and golfable) weekends open over the peak Spring-to-Fall season. Don’t hesitate if you have space on your 2024 docket to come say “hi!”
With love, that’s all for now.
-Nat & John Henry (& our little dog too)
Definitely a busy and adventurous 2023.
Hope 2024 is prosperous, happy and healthy. 💙