Busy week!

It's only Wednesday, but we've already had two big days of adventures here. We're a little worn out, so we decided to scrap today's original plan (children's museum) and have a slightly quieter day.

On Monday, we drove with friends to visit Montpelier. I'd never been there, so didn't know what to expect. We were there about 3.5 hours, but could have easily spent the whole day. We didn't get a chance to explore any of the forest walking trails or many of the areas outside of the main home.

We took the house tour. It wasn't exactly a "kid friendly" tour - mostly geared toward adults - but the kids were great. They were quiet and polite; we even got a few compliments from others in our group about how well the kids behaved. Wow!

Before the house tour:

Looking out from the front of the house...not a bad view...

These three called it quits before the house tour was over. Before we had any meltdowns, Cindy and I took them out. Bella finished out the tour with her grandmother.

The had a couple hands on activities for the kids. One - outdoor cooking - is closed during the week. We still got to watch the archaeologists, try out a kids' archaeology dig, and experiment with some of the period tools.

knife sharpening:

Brick making:

Wood shaving:

We strolled through the garden on our way out. I love these pictures of Ru and Ben. As soon as we got there and met Cindy's mother-in-law, Ben introduced Rudy with, "This is my best friend."

We had another adventure yesterday, when we decided at the last minute to ride along with James on his business trip to DC. I packed the camera in the bag that I ended up not taking, so I have not photographic evidence. (I have to say, it was nice not to have to try to get pictures in the masses of tourists!)

Before we left, I printed out the Smithsonian guide to seeing the displays from Night at the Museum. We did see some of those highlights (the giant squid and the Smithsonian's version of the 'dumdum head'), but we also explored the new ocean exhibit at Natural History and checked out the very fun SparkLab at American History.

Today - I think we finally have to break down and go to the grocery store. I guess that's an adventure in itself!

Attack !

Dad, resting peacefully on the couch...

Watch out!

Half Birthday celebrations

We keep Brady's actually birthday pretty low key, since it's right after the holidays, and celebrate instead on his half birthday. He loves spreading out the celebration (and the gifts!) and being able to have a pool party.

We were a little worried because they closed down the pool due to thunder just before our party was supposed to start. We had reserved a clubhouse room for the beginning; luckily the storm had passed by the time we finished all of our inside activities.

When I'd asked Brady what kind of cake he wanted, he was very prompt in telling me a book cake. "Because he learned to read this year." (Everyone awww appropriately!)

Tony modified the covers of two of Brady's books and we had them printed on sugar paper at the grocery store bakery. Turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself :)
After the gifts, we are going to be all about Star Wars and Transformers around here! Brady was thrilled!

Dress up relay race:

They were all very excited about this cake, apparently!

You'll notice there is a significant lack of pool pictures from our pool party. That would be because both of the kids spent an hour at the pool in FULL MELTDOWN mode. We called it quits and headed home - where they both behaved beautifully the rest of the [very late] night.

Brady thanking B&R for the very cool pop-up Star Wars book:

Real baseball bat:

Very excited about a new Star Wars shirt. He also got a shirt taht reads, "I survived the Loch Ness monster" from my parents. I remember getting one of those long ago when I first rode it, and he was pretty happy to get one of his own!

Rudy didn't want to go to bed, but couldn't quite manage to keep his eyes open either...

All smiles with Oma, the morning after the party:

Airplane shelf reveal

Independence Day celebrations

To celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary on July 4, my brother and I took them on a mini-vacation to stay at the cabins at Westmoreland State Park (very 5-star around here, we are!).

The weather was perfect - not too hot or humid, which was amazing for the time of year. We had two 2-bedroom cabins and one 1-bedroom, but all three were fairly close to each other. We had a great weekend with hikes, fishing, beaching, and lounging...and lost of smores!

We were the first to arrive. I put the boys in charge of unpacking the kitchen stuff. They took their jobs very seriously and were quite organized in their efforts!

We had time for a short hike to a small pond before my parents would arrive. The boys are great hikers; their camelbak packs are one of my favorite things for them (I should really look into Camelbak stock...between these packs that we all have and our water bottles, we're doing our best to keep them in business!)


We didn't have much of an agenda for the weekend. We decided not to drive to the town upriver to see the fireworks and instead headed over to the beach on the Potomac, which was the right decision. There were very few people on the beach and we were able to see the Colonial Beach fireworks and could also watch no fewer than a dozen other displays across the river in Maryland. Even so, I think Brady and Rudy were more impressed with their glow sticks!

Water colors:

Checking out the big river:

A little disturbing, to come out and see the boys with their hands on these!

Love the expressions on their faces!

Chillin' around the campfire:

Happy campers:

We had a fire at least 3 times a day, whether we needed it or not. (I'm not sure if James, Papa, or the kids had more fun with the campfires!)


We had some tasty meals prepared on the campfire. Pie iron pizzas, hot dogs, sausages, burgers, steaks, ribs, potatoes, corn on the cob...mmmm....

And we ate a lot of smores. A. lot. I think it's possible that the boys each ate his own weight in smores!

Camping is hard work for the pup too!