Friday, November 20, 2015

Cox Farms

 We had the opportunity to head to Cox Farms in Fairfax, Virginia for free, but sadly we did NOT plan for DC traffic.  We pulled in with only 45 minutes until closing.  Which was NOT enough time to see and do everything there.  Thankfully, there wasn't a ton of people there so lines for the slides weren't long.  We tried to run through most of the stuff once.  It was a really cool place!  We'll head there again next year and plan ahead for traffic!








 Even Mike got into the fun!


Now, I'm all caught up and ready to post lost of pictures from our trip to NYC for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade next week!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun with the Spearmans

We were thrilled to learn that we were going to get to hang out with the Spearmans after Brian's conference in DC.  They headed our way for an outing to a local Pumpkin Patch.

We picked some pumpkins...


 took a few pictures,





had a hay ride...

 took a few pictures,




took a few pictures...

explored a corn maze...

 carved our pumpkins...


 took a few pictures, 

 and then went out for pizza.

Since Grandma used to get us matching outfits for Christmas, it was so funny when we showed up to the pumpkin patch wearing virtually the same thing.  It's been bred into us! 

 Can't wait to see this crazy family again at Christmas!



In October...

In October, I traveled with some girlfriends to Roanoke, Virgina to attend an Extraordinary Women conference.


Judith, as mentioned in a previous blog, was Miss Crawford's class first Shark of the Month!


 On a Jewish holiday in the middle of the week the kids were out of school.  They spent the majority of the day outside exploring and catching this frog which is a day better spent than most days in the classroom, in my humble opinion.


I got to chaperone Jonas' field trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.


The boys got to pet a sting ray.


Jonas really loved waving to the divers.


This was a crocodile in the Australia exhibit.  We also so a really cool demonstration with the Archer Fish in that exhibit.


 A giant sea turtle!


They were a pretty fun group of boys.


Judith lost her second tooth!


 Judith was a cheerleader at school on Halloween.  This was taken after the parade when they came back inside for their party.



Jonas AKA Darth Vader with Mrs. Dabrasky.
 

Three members of the Moll family were in DC for Halloween so we met up with them on Capitol Hill for a small street fair and then grabbed some grub at District Taco.




Always so good to see our dear friends from Germany!


Jonas' football team made it to the playoffs, but lost their first game. Here he is emerging from the tunnel (number 22).  He made it almost the whole season without an injury.  He was sidelined the last few minutes of his last game because his fingernail got torn up.  He ended up losing the whole nail a few weeks later.

Here we are on Halloween.  We trick-or-treated our street.




Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Other September Happenings

Judith was the second Student of the Week for her class (and the very first Shark of the Month).  Here she is working on her "All About Me" poster. 


She was so excited to present the poster to her class.










Mike also took me to the Air Force Ball for the first time this year!


 Jonas lost his 4th tooth (2nd top tooth) at Ezra's Cub Scout kick off party.


Camping in September

During the first weekend in September we enjoyed our 2nd annual AlliStawaSmith campout at Jellystone in Hagerstown, Maryland.  We shared a campsite with our neighbors, the Stawas family, and our neighbor's sister's family, the Smiths.

 

Judith kissed this frog hoping it would turn into a prince.



 Jonas' lost his 3rd tooth (the first on the top) when he bit into a smore.


 We had fun on a glo-stick hayride with Boo-Boo.


On Saturday, the kids made tie-die shirts.






There was a small splash pad area with lots of cool, squirty things, two tall water slides and of course the pool that the kids spent lots of time at.



 On Sunday, Susan and I snuck away to enjoy Chartreuse.  There were barns filled with antiques and shabby chic decor. 


In the mornings Yogi met the kids at the flagpole for the Pledge of Allegiance and some light stretches and calisthenics. 






 Then we headed over to the mini golf course.



We had to get in a round of Lazer Tag before we left.


Such a fun weekend with friends!