Virginia in the summer concludes

Even though we were in Virginia for 2 1/2 weeks, it always goes by so quickly! There's always stuff we wished we'd done at the end! Here's a run down of our last week...in reverse order.

The girls at Walney Pond.

We went on a walk through the forest trails and over streams around Walney Pond. Kyle wanted in those creeks sooo badly, just like the brothers! When we finally found a spot that was still and barely wet, we let him walk through it too. Happy as could be...until we continued on our tail...oh was he mad!

The boys pretending to be General George Washington in battle. As my dad mentioned in his comment, their play shifted from deciding who was Obi-wan to who was the real George Washington. They loved the book, When Washington crossed the Delaware from Grandma!

We also got to visit Mount Vernon this year (hadn't yet taken the kids)! Mount Vernon is George Washington's home. It was the perfect year to go! Not only was the weather absolutely fantastic...puffy white clouds, blue skies and not hot...but the boys were at a point where they understood more and actually enjoyed the visit! A few of the things they enjoyed seeing most were George's real sword and his fan chair. I thought his dentures were pretty fascinating!

There is a fantastic museum there with a few movies to introduce General and President George Washington. So inspiring. What an influencial and important man was he! Thank heavens for George Washington! We wouldn't be the same without him!

In the museum, there was a children's section where they could dress up and do other activities. Once the kids were dressed up, a host lady led them through acting Aesop's fable, The Lion and the Ox...a story George listened to as a lad. Oh and...they loved their George Washington Tri-cornered hats from Grandma...but Ryan wore two hats most the day. Goof.

Can you imagine riding up to this Estate in 1770's? Imagine the grandeur!

We went to the Zoo too. How bout you...you...you? We never get started early enough to see the Orangatans swing on their O-line! They have snake lollipops...that were bought thinking they were rubber snakes in honor of the reptiles being their favorite of the day. Sean loved seeing a Skink but was sad it was sleeping so we couldn't see it's blue tongue. Ryan loved that there was a picture of an Eyelash Viper, his favorite, but sadly they didn't actually have one. The anaconda was pretty neat too.

Kyle had fun too, excited to see the animals!

And we got to have some play dates with our friends too...visiting the water park (it really wasn't ever that hot and so Sean spent most of that time laying in the sun on the cement, trying to warm his bones).
We had a yummy dinner...Kyle was stealing fruit from the kid's plates.

Until the cute little girl in the green shirt came up to me saying, "Um...I see a real skunk." She was so matter of fact. So quickly we gathered the children and told them to come quickly and quietly...they were all over the yard and by the time we started gathering the skunk was in the middle along the back fence. Crazy! This picture was actually the next night, we watched and he came out again!






The boys helped Grandpa rebuild his model 55 Chevy.

We got to visit the National Gallery of Art (oops...forgot to prepare my children not to touch and as soon as Ryan saw a 1514 Tapestry of Jesus on the cross and I told him it was a rug...he touched it! The museum guards and I called out DON'T TOUCH! at the same time. They watched us like hawks in that hall afterwards...luckily we moved on quickly!) and the Smithsonian's American History Museum which had been closed for renovations for years. The boys were excited to see a real Van Gogh painting and recognized some Manet from Little Einstens. This is Abraham Lincoln's hat...the last hat he ever wore.

Ryan got to help reenact the making of the flag that inspired the National Anthem...and then we got to see the real thing. The story of that flag is awesome. Ryan loved singing our National Anthem in the car after the 4th of July. Randomly he asked about who wrote it. I think we're creating a history buff. Love it!

This guy was juggling an 8 pound bowling ball, a basketball and a tennis racket... on one foot! He got some of our change.

The littlest Mud and Mot. Fun to get our kiddos together! We dream of someday being in-laws :)














We loved our visit! We had such a great time visiting family, friends and neat places! Thanks for having us mom and dad! As usual, it was so so so great! We love you infinity!