SNOW Much FUN!

While we were in Washington DC (which got a dusting of snow.....) back home we got a few inches of snow!! First snow this winter. The kids were glad it was still on the ground when we returned, so they could play for a bit before the sun melted their fun away!

Two cute snow bunnies ready for some fun

  Showing off their snowballs

Thomas Babies & Baptism

Saturday morning we left our DC hotel at 9am, headed to Columbia MD to drop off the Grandparents for a visit of their own, then traveled onto Annapolis MD for the baptism ceremony!

 Impromptu shots!

 Tracey and Will had twin boys, 10 days old at the ceremony, Cole and Jackson.

Both were good weights as twins (5+ and 6+ pounds each!) and are healthy!

 Look at that, we got to attend an event together!! Not a wedding, but it was in a church!

 Maddy giving Uncle Will some love (they are family to the kids, and have been around the kids continually between CA and VA)

 Our two families of four!

Next time we are at the same duty station together, we will need a MUCH bigger table when we go out!

 Will and Mike one last time before we head our separate ways!

Washington DC

We took a surprise visit to Washington DC this weekend.....on my birthday coincidentally!

Our close Navy friends announced a last minute baptism of their newly born twins in Maryland, and we took the opportunity to meet the babies and see our friends one last time before they head back to Japan and we move to CA!

It worked out great because my Grandpa's sister lives in Columbia MD, so we were able to drop them off there for the day while we headed to the baptism on Saturday! So Friday we got to DC at noon and hit up the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of American History, before heading back to the hotel in a cab since it was snowing! We stayed overnight, had a fun birthday dinner, and headed for Maryland in the morning.

Kids first trip to DC! In the car on our way!

 Pushing through naps.......time for lunch!

 Walking between museums in the SNOW!!!

 "Grrrrrrrrr" Watch out for that bear!!!!

 Maddy was a bit wiped out and caught a ride on daddy!

 Maddy enjoyed the bronze statues in the Natural History Museum and insisted on interacting with each one!

 Checking to see who's hands are bigger.....theirs or the BEARS!!!!

 I told them to try and pick up the rocks!

 Try explaining evolution to a 5 year old.......I was a bit dumbfounded on converting it all to her level but she LOVED every single bit! She's been talking about it all every since we got back.

 Checking out the HUGE dollhouse int he American History Museum

 Blending in with the statues at the railway

 Copy cats!

 My birthday dinner crew! We walked two blocks and ate at the Capital City Brewery downtown where we were staying.

Such a great trip to DC! Museums and snow!!!

Can't wait to go back in a few years when we are East coast again......they will be so much older and able to understand it all in a totally different way.

Reiss Winter Visit

My Grandparents were here all this last week visiting from California!

(The girls great-grandparents!!)

They had a LOT of fun.....learned a few things, and even taught Grandpa a few things!!

 Teaching Grandpa how to use the leap pad!

 Just a little game of WAR!!! Grandpa introduced her to the deck of cards!!

First he had her practice her counting by having her count the deck.

Then they got busy with a game of WAR which Abby LOVED! Especially when her card was higher!

 

Grandpa also sat down and worked with Abby on some of her written counting!

He helped her get all the way to 100! Which she spent voluntarily re-doing over, and over all weekend!

 Aunt Amy and Aunt Sarah are going to have to find their own back scratcher!! Maddy slipped right in and took over their spot for some r&r!

Snuggly Girls

Maddy has a new habit of going into Abby's room first some mornings and climbing into bed with her.....instead of running to my bed to tell me is morning time!!

Its cute, but I'm sure Abby isn't amused since she usually gets up after Maddy daily!

I caught them like this one morning after I got up and realized no one was out of their rooms yet....so I thought! They were in Abby's bed snuggling and giggling!

Winter Beach Girls

It was 50 and sunny yesterday, what else would we do but head to the beach!!
Of course the kids had a blast as usual and we had to force them to leave.

My BIG Girl

 Abby has been growing her hair out......but it is still quite the task to convince her to let me "do" her hair for school each day. Most days even clean and brushed she looks like a ragamuffin.....But on the rare occasion she lets me put it in a ponytail, she looks all grown up! 

This morning I convinced her to let me do braided pigtails. Now I'm no hair guru so I did my best. It lasted all day at school, and she got a ton of compliments just walking down the hall to class today! 

BONUS MOMMY BROWNIE POINTS: On the way home from school in the car she says "Mom can we do braids again on Friday??" Guess my talents are good enough!! Maybe the boys in class told her she looked pretty :)

Bubble Fun

We had a rare warm (high 60's) day last week. So after school I let the kids out front to blow bubbles.

Its not often you get to play outside in the sun in Virginia in January.....so we jumped at the chance

Second to blowing bubbles, they love re-catching the bubbles too!

Maddy was inspecting the bubble she miraculously caught!!

Great Wolf Videos

Here are some fun videos from our recent visit.

There is little to no audio, the new camera has a special waterproof case that muffles most of the noise, which in this case with all the water splashing around, is probably a good thing. 

ENJOY!

Abby floating on her tube in the wave pool

Mike going down the orange slide off the fort.....Abby finishes right after on the green slide next to him

Abby with more tube fun in the wave pool

Abby goes down the blue slide on a double tube with Mike

Family raft ride down the green slide

Abby goes down the slide in the kiddie area

Abby climbing up the rope netting on the fort

Following Abby as she climbs up thru the water fort (this is how you climb to get to the green/orange slides)

Abby going down the orange slide while Mike videos the process from above

Abby videos her ride thru the water.....as Mike carries her! Fun idea!

Big bucket falling on Abby!

Great Wolf Lodge Trip 1/4/12

We went to our happy place one last time before we move and before Mike deploys again.

This time we brought our new waterproof camera that added to capturing the fun in and out of the water.
 

ABOVE: The girls and Mike last week

BELOW: The girls and Mike 10 months ago when we went in March.....a little more grown up now

Mike and Maddy floating down the lazy river together

 Thank goodness we have one kid who LOVES to swim and ride the slides. It makes every visit here worthwhile. This time around we realized both girls can ride one of the two BIG group raft rides with us, so we all went as a family once! Maddy begged not to do it twice :) No surprise there. But we were proud that she muscled up the guts to try it. (Video to follow on next post)

 About to leave the hotel room to start day #2......ready to swim!!

 In the family hot tub warming up! (there's another adult only hot tub just above this one)

Maddy and me in the hot tub!

Cheese!!

 

 Abby floated down the lazy river ahead of me....and narrowly avoided the dumping buckets!

 Normally on our trips we only swim.....this time we let the kids play in the arcade after dinner (which they LOVED.....and Abby even hit the jackpot on one of her games winning 500 tickets at once!) And Abby begged to color once before we left so they did! Cute color stations in the lobby!

 And Maddy and I checked out the view of the park from within! 

And then we left to head home. The End.......of LOTS of fun!