Showing posts with label Virginia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virginia. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Great Falls and Catoctin Creek


There are a lot of nice things about homeschooling, and one of them is that it's easy to take a day off. To celebrate Brian's birthday in October, we took a Wednesday hike on the Virginia side of Great Falls National Park, and then went to a distillery in Purcellville. Great Falls is always a delight, and so close to us. I'm so happy that the boys still love being outside and making adventures wherever they can. They love bounding around the rocks (a little nerve-wracking for us) and climbing up anything they can. We discovered that the Catoctin Creek Distillery makes the best gin we've ever had, and we got an education on the distillery process. 










 

Great Falls Park on the Virginia side -- I give it 4 shouts! It could be better if it had tables to eat at, but overall a super fun trail along the river.

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Family Hike: Harper's Ferry

We took a summer day trip to Harper's Ferry National Park in West Virginia. It was hot. But the day was so much fun, and it was fun to not only show the boys some historic landmarks, but also challenge them to quite a long hike with a breathtaking view. Most of the hike is shaded, so it wasn't too bad. We went all the way to the overlook, where you can stand in Maryland and see into Virginia and West Virginia-- so three states at once. I think the hike would be more pleasant in the spring or fall, but definitely a fun family excursion. Watching the trains and the river-floaters was fun from up high. We all enjoyed ice cream, a picnic dinner, and some wading in the river afterward. The boys turned their wading into all-out swimming and only annoyed a couple fishermen. 



osprey nest on the bridge


Standing in Maryland, looking over West Virginia and Virginia!

My mountain goats

Stacked rocks in foreground, people floating down the river in background






 

Friday, August 29, 2014

Finding Cotton Candy in Richmond, and other Shenanigans

 My aunt and uncle live in Richmond, and this past weekend we payed them a little visit.

The boys were especially looking forward to spending time with Uncle Pierre, because, well, his nickname is Uncle Party, so you know he likes a good time. He and Brian took them golfing on their first ever real golf course. They wore their "golf clothes," which Clark made sure were carefully folded in their suitcase for the trip down. We enjoyed delicious food and drink with them, as always, including peach cobbler and potato salad made the way that only my mom and Aunt Anne can make it.

Uncle Party bought them all kinds of glow things for the first night we were there: hats, bracelets, necklaces, sticks. They went on a glow stick parade down the street. Anne and Pierre also got them silly putty and sidewalk chalk, which got a lot of mileage over the weekend, and Anne wore her celebration pants for our arrival. There are glow stick hats in my freezer right now.

For Teddy there were the dogs and the stairs. He thinks dogs are hilarious and always wants to be in their faces. Blackberry and Izzy showed great patience this weekend and let him do a lot of stepping on tails and feet. Teddy is also obsessed with stairs and Anne and Pierre were creative with gate-making on their deck, which involved bungee cords and various household items and freakishly tall tomato plants.

Once when the boys were two years old and we were down in Richmond, during the pinnacle of their ceiling fan obsession, and Pierre made a "ceiling fan" out of painters' tape on their deck. Well, it is still there. It is nearly all peeled away and very faded, but you can still see it. Well, this time they went over the tape lines with sidewalk chalk and then proceeded to draw ceiling fans all over the rest of the deck as well. They've actually digressed in their ceiling fan art. They used to draw better ones.

2011- Uncle Pierre makes the fans with tape when the boys were two.
It is very exciting!
We love Uncle Pierre!
Fast forward three years and sidewalk chalk is on the tape.
And fans that look like turtles are everywhere.
And Teddy is kissing the dogs.
We went to a Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball game-- I know! The Flying Squirrels are a real baseball team! Pretty great. They are a minor league team in the San Francisco Giants organization. Teddy is a fan (not the ceiling kind). Not necessarily of baseball, but of being around a crowd. When people cheer he either claps his hands with them or throws both arms straight in the air. He enjoyed his first cotton candy, courtesy of Uncle Party. He's quite fond of it. During a rain delay we found  out, thanks to an official Flying Squirrels radar gun, that both Cal and Clark can throw 31 miles per hour. The Squirrels won and then we had peach cobbler.

We also went to an awesome park in their neighborhood that the kids loved. Good weekend.

And now on to the weekend before the boys begin kindergarten... breathe, breathe...

Teddy on the road-- happy traveler! 
Sleeping travelers
Clark discusses the intricacies of glow-hats over a glass of Merlot.



Glowing ceiling fan!



Golfers getting warmed up on the porch
All ready to go
Look out, golf course
Poundin' some milk before the Squirrels game
Somebody (else in the family) loves baseball!
Squirrels score!!
Uncle Party does cotton candy
Here Teddy, try some cotton candy.
Oh, that feels weird.
It's so...fluffy and...sticky.
Look, it sticks on my finger!
Let's see...do I like it?
YES I DO!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Catching Up is Hard to Do: Our Months in Pictures

So many fun (and some not fun) things have happened that I haven't written about. So, instead of writing about them in any kind of  detail, I'm posting some pictures and captions for posterity and moving on with my life. Here are some things we've done lately.

Highlights: My parents visited from Idaho in October and Aunt Bean (my sister Crystal) is visiting from Ecuador on her way back to Idaho. Blastball (pre-T-ball) ended, basketball class ended, hockey is in full swing- the boys skating is improving by leaps and bounds. Thanksgiving went well-- here and in Richmond. We got two new nieces! Teddy has started jumping and eating solid food.

Cal became a farmer at Cox Farms' fall festival.,
Teddy fell asleep on Papa at Cox Farms
The boys are going strong with hockey-
so much so that Clark does push-ups to get ready.
How often will this happen? All three boys with all four grandparents
at the last Blastball game of the season
Teddy's cheeks getting some quality Uncle A time
We threw together an early Thanksgiving dinner with relatives
from the area...however for this picture we missed four of them...
We named it Thankstoberfest.
We lazily abandoned our Halloween plans of making the boys into a refrigerator
and a toilet (their requests) for Halloween and instead got horrible fake teeth,
fake blood and fake scars and put them in their hockey gear-- mean
hockey players who escaped the penalty box!
This was Teddy's first time meeting Papa!
Mom and Dad took the boys to Toys R Us for early Christmas
presents, including this hockey game that is ALWAYS in use.
Plenty of piggy-back ridin'
Goofy
Conducted experiments and made art
with Halloween candy
Aunt Bean came to town!
Cal, Clark, and Teddy got two new cousins in November!
Here is little Clara at Thanksgiving dinner. We will
meet little Ivy after Christmas.
We went to Richmond for  our traditional day after Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving dinner.
Uncle Pierre made wooden swords...yaaaay...
Did some skating at the downtown Richmond rink
Uncle Pierre found a hockey player.
Aunt Bean brought a hat from Peru for Teddy.
...and Ecuador soccer jerseys for Cal and Clark
Morning coffee/hot chocolate with Aunt Bean
Football with Aunt Bean
Some hardcore Candyland complete with a little trash talk
Decorating the living room wall with Spidermen? Thanks, Bean.
I got a picture of all three boys smiling.
A superhero and a cowboy took a nap at my  house.
Teddy got a Jumparoo!
We had a striped pajamas party.
Teddy had his first solid food. He only likes applesauce and pumpkin pie.
Brian took Cal and Clark in full hockey gear and Teddy grocery shopping.
Teddy met fire. And liked it.
Aunt Bean tie-dyed shirts with Cal and Clark.
Only a little dye strayed from the shirts...
Final products!
Teddy went on the bus and metro for the first time.
He is ambivalent about them and declines comment.
Did some museuming and Christmas tree-looking downtown with Aunt Bean
Theodore Crosson, concerned citizen, took his
concerns to Congress.
He is optimistic that his concerns will be addressed.
And his hair is also excited about having done
its civic duty.
One Monday Teddy woke up frumpy.
That about sums up October, November, and the first four days of December. Next time I'll actually write some words. Maybe.
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