Secret hide-away...

I have NO IDEA where this is.  It's somewhere close to our house, and Frank and Alex love to go hang out here.  Their special place together.  And I love it. 



 

National Air and Space Museum

We went to Arlington to visit our good friends Jeremy and Sarah for an evening in early March.  They suggested we all go to the National Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport.  It was awesome!!  We saw lots of amazing things:  a space shuttle, the Enola Gay, and tons of other aircraft.  I didn't even know that this branch of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum existed before going there...what a great family outing!!

 

 

 

Camp Out!

Daddy took Alex camping at Pocahontas State Park for two nights. They stayed in a cabin, grilled out, ate s'mores, rode mountain bikes, and had lots of boy fun!
Daddy is so cool!!

Ripley's Aquarium

During our visit to see YiaYia and Fonder this January we took a day-trip to Gatlinburg to visit the aquarium. The boys loved seeing all of the weird fish! Alex was even able to touch the stingrays!
What a fun day!!!

Who wants an apple?

The boys and I went apple picking with Nana when she was here visiting in October. It was a gorgeous day and the trees were LOADED with apples! We picked almost 30 pounds of Pink Ladies! Yum!
After the picking (which took a lot less time than you'd think 30lbs. would take) we enjoyed some apple cider and apple cider donuts (again yum!). We love apple picking in the fall!

Segway

Last year, Frank and I won a silent auction for a night stay at the Richmond Westin and a 2 hour Segway tour of Richmond. We finally had a chance to use both when Nana was here. Thanks for watching the boys, Nana!
It was nice to have the night away...we had an amazing meal at Millie's, drinks at the hotel bar, and a night without two rowdy boys to take care of. It was great!
The Segway tour was lots of fun, although I did feel dorky wearing a helmet and motoring around the streets of Richmond on one of the things. Nonetheless, it was a good time!



Riding this Segway makes me feel....sad?? What is that face I'm making? I definitely was nervous, though. I was totally afraid that I wouldn't be able to make the Segway work. Don't worry....I figured it out!

At Tredegar Iron Works.

He'd ridden on a Segway before and was totally comfortable on it. Well, as comfortable as you can be after standing up and shifting your weight forward and backward for 2 hours!

Virginia State Capitol

Bowling Party

Alex chose to have a bowling party this year (actually he wanted laser-tag, but I nixed it when I found out how expensive it was!). Seven of his closest friends joined him and everyone had a blast! Frank and Hunter bowled on their own lane and the rest of the kids had the other two lanes. Fun, fun, fun!!!
It was so hilarious to watch the kids and all of their super-awesome bowling moves. They told me before we started that none of them needed the bumpers up, but each and every kid proved that they most definitely did need the bumpers - it would have been 2 hours full of gutter-balls otherwise!!
Bowling, hotdogs, french fries, lemonade and cupcakes topped off with some time in the arcade. How can you go wrong???


Listen up, everyone. This is going to be a super-fun party!

Woot woot!! It only took 7 minutes, but my ball finally hit down a pin!! And the guy didn't even have to come and rescue my ball from the middle of the lane this time!!

Alex's first strike!!!

Yummy cupcakes, Mom!

VA State Fair

Frank took the boys to the State Fair this year - by himself!!! They had a fantastic time - seeing all of the animals, riding a few rides, eating some yummy food!
A fun boy's day out!

Nascar 2010

Daddy took Alex to a NASCAR race again this year! Both Daddy and Alex had a great time!!! The seats are apparently great (Mommy and Hunter stayed home because Mommy isn't into NASCAR at all!) and the company is even better! I'm sure they are both looking forward to next year's race!

Summertime in Tennessee

At the top of Round Knob Mountain. Such beautiful views! The drive to the top was scary...very narrow roads that seemed to go on forever. And look, Fonder! There's that elusive frog!! Just a side note, be sure never to trip around me...I'll probably push you down farther!

Smoky Mountains

The views were really breathtaking!!!

We had such a nice visit with YiaYia and Fonder this summer!! The mountains, the movies, good times with family.

Dave Matthews Band

Frank gave me tickets to a Dave Matthews Band concert for my birthday. After months of waiting, the concert was finally this last Friday, at Nationals Stadium in DC. It was such a great time!!! Our good friends watched the boys and we had the night to ourselves. Other than the ridiculous heat, we couldn't have asked for a better time!
Thanks, Frank, for such a wonderful gift!! We'll have those memories forever!

Exploring the Children's Museum

Water fun, super blocks, painting, picking "berries", riding the train with friends, digging for treasure, giving hugs to Charlotte, and climbing in the jungle. The new Children's Museum was tons of fun for Hunter and Mommy on a hot summer day!

NY Summer 2010

We had a great vacation in New York this summer.  We started in Binghamton with Grammy.  Playing in the backyard with water, going to the Discovery Center, a Binghamton Mets baseball game, fireworks, Taughanock Falls and dinner in Ithaca.
Then, on to Nana and Papa's house.  Gigi's house for dinner, Aunt Norma's house to see all of the cousins and Guppy for dinner (Daddy made a surprise visit!), lunch at the mall to get out of the heat, Aunt Erika's house for a cool break, dinner with Aunt Erika and Uncle Paul, time at the lake, Old McDonald's farm, swimming, goulash, kumquat pie, a fire and marshmallows, a paddle boat ride, and Cheese World.
So much fun!  Despite the ridiculous heat we had a great time!

Does Anyone Recognize These Boys?

We went to dinner tonight at a Japanese Steakhouse with some friends. Along the way we came across these two unusual looking boys. I have no idea who they are. They sure do look funny though!
The middle one looks a little like Mr. Potato Head!

Dinner with Friends

All the kids.

All the adults.

All the crazy moms who wanted to prove that we can do back-bends just as well as the little girls. Two of us forgot we were wearing skirts though and all the kids got a good laugh out of seeing our underwear.