Fall Fun w/ Friends

Wild Wagon ride at Sharp Farm

Cow herding

Bee class

Wizard of Oz kids 

Church FallFest with Super Friends

Trick or Treating with Neighbors

rest of reunion weekend

Kids sporting new USMA shirts from Nana

Janelle's last day we enjoyed brunch at Broadway Diner (a DDD  diner)

enjoying free day at Baltimore Zoo

boys' hiking trip with Daddy

it's fall!

tractor driving at the zoo

While KG and I were off in NYC, James and the boys had some boy time. I joked that they were going to eat lots of vegetables and go to bed early and they laughed.

3 generations of girls

I started to title this USMA 15 year reunion but 3 generations of girls really fits better. We'd been planning this trip for a little while now and I'm so thankful that we went. What a great trip. The two day reunion stretched into 10 days of fun with friends and family. Janelle and her little girl flew in a couple days early and we got to see our other roommate from West Point. Janelle posted tons of great pics here and here but here are a few

Kristen, Nana, and KG at the awesome new tennis facility

the whole gang- two Nana's, two roommates, two cute little girls

enjoying lunch in NYC on Thursday- KG loved the squid

three roommates and our youngest girls

Inner Harbor- we had a great trip to aquarium

6 USMA 96 grads

me and Coach Peck- Patriot League Coach of the Year many years in a row

We had such a super trip- a few days here in Baltimore with Janelle and AG. a terrific day in NYC with 3 generations of girls. a wonderful 2 days at West Point, then a couple fun days with Nana here in Baltimore! Good times!

beach trip

we're loving homeschooling- especially when it means we can go on a super beach trip when it's not so hot & not so crowded. when we can learn math through nightly battleship games, learn music through gospel brunch at the House of Blues, practice PE through swimming in many different pools, ...
we were blessed with good traffic as we drove down Friday to Myrtle Beach and met my parents here.  it was chilly here our first day so we enjoyed the playground and indoor pool. James got here Saturday night and we went out to a yummy brunch Sunday morning for "church."  After relaxing and board games, we went to the cottages for swimming, bocce ball, shuffleboard, and a cookout with birthday cake. Then ended the day with more games and 1940s cartoons.

we had several more days of fun in the sun and sand. we're loving days with no housework! but lots of time to enjoy swimming, sand castle building, floating down the lazy river, & KG's favorite: hot tubs. Tuesday night we became pirates- at Pirates Voyage. We even got to be part of the show: C got to go meet Kim the sea lion; Nana and I pulled K and T across the sea on a boat. Wonderful trip!

salute to heroes fall festival

We were so blessed to be able to go to Summers Adventures Heroes salute. We had a wonderful trip to a pumpkin patch, complete with hayride, pumpkin donuts, big orange bouncy thing, tons of farm animals, apple shooting, hay maze, beautiful weather, pumpkins, ...

State Fair!

We are having a great first week of school- Monday birthday celebration, Wednesday end of August celebration at B and O Railroad museum, and today- the state fair! It was terrific- everything you think of at a fair: tons of animals, tons of rides, yummy greasy food, the only thing missing was the crowd! There was a crowd as we were leaving but not really until then. We really had a great time. We got there before 2 and headed to the 4H booth first. The kids (and James and I) were really amazed by some of the things the 4H kids made- tables, chairs, neat displays, amazing cakes, ... K is counting down the days until he can join.

Then we saw tons of animals- cows, pigs, alpacas, sweet baby ducks, sheep, chickens, rabbits. We watched sheeps being sheared, cows being showed, but my favorite was the baby animal section. We saw a 2 hour old baby calf. We got to watch him trying to figure out how to nurse- he got to try to learn with C cheering on the sideline- "you missed! That's a knee!"  He finally figured it out so we were able to continue our day at the fair. The kids pet chicks and a baby pig.  K and C even milked a cow. They loved the soybeanbox (like a sandbox with lots of digging tools). The kids each got to do a ride and game. Time to eat! We tried lots of yummy fair food- popcorn, chips, a turkey leg, a lam gyro, a lamb BBQ sandwich, fried nutterbutter,  fried oreos, fried buckseye (PB & Chocolate), french fries, a funnel cake, cotton candy. And on Sunday one nice green leaf.

Washington DC

 we went on a short trip to DC this weekend.  Although this year's Ambleside history isn't focused on the American Revolution, my boys (especially K) and our area (Baltimore) is, so I am too. We've all (especially K) been reading tons of books on Revolutionary War, we've been many times to Ft McHenry and civil/ revolutionary war reenactments, so when James was able to take a day off work, we immediately thought of lots of great places to go- Philadelphia, Harpers Ferry, Valley Forge, ... we finally decided on Mount Vernon and we were not diasppointed. DC isn't very far from here but somehow it seemed harder than a day trip- the traffic can be horrible. when James told me we had enough hotel points for a free night, we were sold.

We decided to get the yearly pass to Mount Vernon and I'm glad we did. Mount Vernon was so pretty and the yearly pass was less expensive than going twice. We spent about 6 hours there- we saw most but not all of the out buildings. We went on the quick, but interesting mansion tour. We really enjoyed the farm area- I knew George Washington was a farmer but didn't know how big a farmer we was. The wool spinning, dying, and barrel making spots were really neat. We only got to see part of the Education center since it was closing time- how did the day go so fast? We did eat a late lunch in the Inn- I wish I had a picture bc it so fit our kids' eating- K ate a hamburger and didn't really want to try anything else, C and T ate everything in sight including their turkey pot pies, James' duck and sausage cassoulet, my salmon patties, and bowls of peanut soup and strawberry soup.

worn out baby girl napped through the end of Mount Vernon

Off to bed after pizza, cookies, and family movie night so we could start early today. It was amazing how empty DC was at 9 am on Saturday. We found tons of empty parking spots and parked right across the mall from the Smithsonian castle. Our plan to learn lots of American history in museums went out the window as our kids were so excited about all the monuments and we had absolutely perfect weather. So off to the monuments- Washington, World War II, Lincoln, Vietnam, Women's Memorial- then the White House, and finally we did make it to the Museum of American History. We got to see the original Star Spangled Banner, a few more history exhibits, and a play spot- Inventions. Then we dragged 4 tired kids back home. What a great trip!

the only picture we got of the six of us (that's my shadow!)