Visit to Sarah in NoVA

A couple of weekends ago the kids and I drove up to visit Aunt Sarah.  My Mom drove down and we did our Christmas with her.  We saw Aunt Sarah's new apt...it's a perfect place for her!  Just the right size, close to fun shops and restaurants and convenient to work.  We went and played at the school playground.  Unfortunately we couldn't go in the school and see her classroom....we did peak in the window through the crack of the blinds.  :) 

Dillon looks like he has fangs in this picture.  LOL

Sunday we went into Washington DC....we were hoping to go on the metro, but they were doing work that would have had us change to a bus and back to the train.  So, we're planning on a fun train trip the next time we are up there.  So, we drove into the city...which turned out to be great!  The ride was only about a half hour and really easy.  We parked, after having our id's checked and the undercarriage of the car checked with mirrors, under the Ronald Reagan Building.  This building is right around the corner from the National Museum of American History.  We picked that museum to be the focus of our visit this time since it had fun things in it like Dorothy's shoes and Kermit the Frog.  There were several MLK activities that weekend as well.  We saw a very moving 'skit' that was supposed to be a training session for a civil rights worker.  I say moving, because I felt the emotion and incredible injustice that was going on back in 1960 when the black men sat at the white counter in Woolworth's.  The kids loved seeing all the neat exhibits in the museum...we didn't even see it all!  I think the highlights were Dorothy's shoes, Kermit, the first ladies dresses, and a neat Abe Lincoln exhibit.  After this museum we walked on the mall for a bit and went into the Natural History Museum (which is next door to the American Museum).  The kids loved seeing the stuffed animals and dinosaur bones.  We also saw the Hope Diamond.  It's been reset temporarily and we all thought there were too many other diamonds around it.  I couldn't even get a good picture of it!

We were sad to leave on Monday, but will be back up there to visit Sarah and go back into the city again.

It's hard to get everywhere we want to go...GA, CA, VA, PA, NJ, NC!

A HUGE dollhouse!!

Abe Lincoln's hat.

The battleship Philadelphia...was underwater for 150 years before it was brought up.  It's from the Revolutionary War!!

 Mary Washington's dress

 Julie Childs kitchen.

Giant sloth!!

Bridget is standing in front of a whale.  It's the image of a living Right Whale.  I didn't know it, but they are very endangered.



Fancy Nancy at the Children's Museum

On January 8th, Bridget, Dillon and I went a special Fancy Nancy party at the Children's Museum.  There was a dressup room, face painting, storytime, craft (they made crowns), and tons of fun in the rest of the museum.
"I like your stamps!" said Dillon to a tattooed man at storytime.  I love the innocent, simple and unfiltered perspective of kids.  I htink some adults could use some their 'wisdom' too!
Here are a few pics of the fun!

New Year's 2011

We went out to a yummy dinner at Lonestar Steakhouse. Then we had a game night with the kids....chutes and ladders and Yahtzee. It was fun! After the kids went to bed, Brian, Sarah and I played some more games and watched the ball drop.
The New Year's Man made a stop at our house and brought Bridget and Dillon a $1 each in coins. It's fun to look for the coins on the tree. The New Year's Man brings money for luck in the new year. I'm sure that 2011 is going to be a great year.
Some of our goals for the year are: Get this house ready to sell (and sell it!), find a new wonderful home for us, finish Kindergarten with a bang and start 1st grade off well (wow...1st grade already!), work on Dillon's alphabet and letter recognition, and have fun of course!! I know that the time we have together is so valuable, and so fleeting....Bridget and Dillon are growing up so fast. They have become such independent, fun-loving, imaginative, creative, and fun little people!!

Dillon quite enjoys attacking my back when I'm down low.  Piggybacks are his favorite.

Not the best picture, but the best one we got...we were having some fun and crazy piggyback dancing!  LOL

 

New Year's Man!!

Christmas #2

We headed to the NC coast for Christmas #2 with the Marshalls and Hancocks. We stay at Jon's Aunt's house when we go over that way. It works out perfectly b/c they have 2 houses attached with a breezeway, so it's our own space, and enough room for the 4 of us, Ann and Dick.
We had a really yummy Christmas dinner at the Hancock house on Tues Dec. 28th. We haven't seen Jon's parents in a long time, so it was nice to get to spend some time with them.
On Wednesday we went to the NC Aquarium with Ann and Dick for a couple of hours. The kids love it. There are several huge tanks of fish, and the otters are always fun. It's neat b/c the fish and animals are all indigenous to NC.

After the aquarium we met Tammy, Jon and the boys back at the house and had our Christmas with them. We had a fun time! There were lots of great presents (meaning happy kids)! It was great for all of us to be together!