My little colonist and the big 13

Last week was all about getting ready for Colonial Day at school for Claire. As a fourth grader you learn all about Virginia state history. It's fun to learn it all along with her. She definitely knows more than I do. She had a project to prepare for a colonial era job fair. She was a gardener and made flowers for kids to plant. She did a great job. I was excited because I found a sweet deal on amazon for a colonial girl costume ($15). It was pretty funny when she showed up and maybe 1/3 of all the girls had on the same exact dress. :)

She got a lot of use out of it because they had a big festival on Friday. They danced the Virginia reel, made butter, made dreamcatchers, and did lots of other fun crafts. I was just glad to have it all over with. Now we are prepared for Halloween next year. haha!

Yesterday, Chris and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. We were such babies when we got married. It's crazy to think it's been so long. We've grown up together and I'm grateful for it. We have three beautiful babies and a fantastic life together. I know life isn't always going to be smooth sailing, and we've already had our share of bumps along the way, but I'm thankful for having my best friend at my side. This year he brought me home a gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers. Here's to many more years ahead.

                                     

Adventures with Grandma

Our last few days with my Mom were pretty fun. We enjoyed our gorgeous weather and went exploring. We took a walk through Arlington National Cemetery. It's such a special place, and it was particularly beautiful with the fall leaves. We watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier as well as a wreath laying ceremony.

The next day we headed back into the city for more exploring. We checked out the Museum of American History. We saw the star spangled banner, and walked through the exhibits about the Presidents and First Lady's. I love seeing all of the old dresses and china from past administrations. 

We had a picnic lunch and then walked around the White House. We took lots of pictures and checked out the DC souvenir vendors. Then we walked to the Washington Monument and let the kids roll around in the grass. We ended our adventure with the WW2 Memorial. Lots of walking, but such a nice day for it!

Finger trouble, patriotism, and trophy

While slicing up carrots with a brand new knife I totally cut right through the tip of my left ring finger. I immediately knew what happened although I didn't feel any pain. It was very strange to see the little flap of skin with my fingerprint on it next to the pieces of carrots. The bleeding made it pretty difficult to see what the actual damage was. It took two and a half hours for the bleeding to slow enough to put a bandage on it. Unfortunately, the pain only got worse and the bleeding kept coming back. I ended up going in to the urgent care. They put a fun foam packing into the wound. Thankfully, it will be ok. I won't be too deformed.

The next day was election day. Here in Virginia there is no mail in balloting. You have to go into your local precinct and fill out your ballot behind a piece of cardboard. I really like the convenience of dropping my ballot in the mail, but there was something fun about going in person. Like I was actually fulfilling my patriotic duty. Thankfully there were no lines. It would get really unpleasant to wait for hours just to vote. (I've heard that happens in presidential elections.) As it turned out our senate race was really close and part of the national drama regarding control of the senate. It was pretty fun to feel like your vote really counts for something.

Finally...soccer is over! Yay! No more Saturdays ruled by games. Grace and her Orange Fireballs did fantastic this year. She really improved a ton. By the end she was aggressive and scoring lots of goals. I'm so proud of her effort. I think she had a ton of fun. She was really excited to finally get a trophy, although in the picture she is fighting back tears. Sad that the season is over. The girls had a fun post game bagel and juice party. She is already looking forward to playing again.

Tour Day

Our day at the Capitol arrived. It's kinda too bad that they are restoring the dome right now, so there is lots of scaffolding all over the place. It won't be done until the next presidential inauguration.

We took the official tour, which was fun to do with the kids. The artwork is amazing and it's such a huge building! Very impressive. Afterwords we were able to visit the gallery in the House of Representatives. Pretty amazing to stand in the room that I have seen so many times on tv. I loved it. Too bad no pictures were allowed in there.

Where are the leaves?

We were really looking forward to our trip up to the Shenandoah National Forest to see all of the gorgeous fall leaves. Unfortunately, we missed the peak. There were some pretty colors on the drive up there, but at the higher elevations most of the trees were already bare.

This is our first stop at an overlook. It was really windy and in the 30's. Pretty darn chilly, but still beautiful.

Then we headed to the visitor center where we bought our favorite lolly pops, saw some deer, and got directions to the hike we wanted to do.

Next we headed to our hiking destination. The map said it wasn't too difficult, but it was sorta up the side of a mountain. It wasn't steep or anything, just a steady climb. We ALL made it to the top! The views were amazing.

It was a fun day! Lots of physical activity in the cold meant we all slept good that night too!

Day of the Dead

Before a very cold and blustery soccer game we took Grandma downtown DC to see a few sights. We decided to visit the Native American Museum. They had dancing performers that day which was fun to see. There was also a fun craft to make: the masks to celebrate Dia De los Muertos (day of the dead).

Then it was off to a freezing cold game...brrrrr! We were all excited to leave!