Super Heroes

Today is the day we honor our nation's heroes, the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom. Yesterday as we got on 395 to go to church, we merged in with a large group of motorcycles headed to the Pentagon, for Rolling Thunder. On the Seminary Road overpass, there was a fire truck with a huge American flag draped over it and firefighters on top of the truck. There was another fire truck at the King Street overpass. It was so cool to see them and very moving. Unfortunately, I didn't get a great picture with my phone.
On much lighter note....

Saturday we attended Evan's Super Heroes birthday party and it was all fun and games.

Saturday morning Wesley was awake at 5:45 asking, "Can I wear my Batman PJ's to the super heroes party?" He did not want to wear his Superman costume. Chris and I finally agreed to let him and Lydia wear pajamas to the birthday party. We cut old shirts to make capes for the kids. At the party, the kids enjoyed the moonbounce. But, this doesn't look like a good idea to me.

Lydia was somewhat calmer in the moonbounce.

Here is a picture of all of the super heroes subduing Cat Woman.

On the way to the party, Wesley asked if he was going to get to roll down the hill in the big ball again. I told him I didn't think the ball had survived. Barry had another fun activity for all the kids. He set up a great obstacle course: crawl through a tunnel then climb up a ladder.
Walk across a table....

Jump off the table onto a big bean bag....

Crawl across a weight bench, run through a brick wall.....

And then make a basketball shot. Needless to say, this obstacle course was a huge hit.

Josiah wore himself out playing with a balloon.

A group shot of the super heroes.

Ronna, Michele, and I have known each other for a long time; we all used to go to the same church. Kristen (on the left) just moved to Virginia a year ago. She knows all three of us but met each of us (and regularly sees each of us) at seperate places. I think that is so cool! Her oldest daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Wesley.

After lunch was served and everyone had a cupcake, the kids played some more. At some point, most of them were back in the basement. This time, Barry had added another element to his obstacle course. Now the kids were jumping off a chair that was on top of the table. Here is the birthday boy having a turn.

Wesley's classmate in mid jump.

It was such a fun party. Michele and Barry are great at hosting and enterntaining.

A Tall Ship

Today the kids and I headed down to Old Town to see Gloria, the official flagship and sail-training ship of the Colombian Navy.
She is one of the largest tall ships still afloat.
Wesley wondered if this guy was climbing up the ropes to look for other ships.

When we first got on the boat, Wesley asked, "Where are we sailing on this ship?" Lydia asked, "When are all the passengers getting on so we can get moving?"

Opps, I forgot to explain that we were just looking at the ship.

I also forgot to take sunglasses for them.

Wesley and Lydia had fun walking around the deck.

Wesley wanted to know if this was a real cannon. I don't know.

They had fun with their friends, of course. Here they are with a junior officer.

After leaving the ship we stopped by to see Susan at Zoe. Yes, we took five kids under the age of six in her stylish boutique.

Then we took the kids for ice cream. Wesley got mango sorbet and didn't finish it, so I let Josiah try it. Josiah made the funniest face after the first bite. but he wanted to keep trying it. He made the funny face after the first five or six bites.

Once Lydia finished her ice cream, she wanted to fill out a little information card.

When we left the store, the kids popped some bubbles.

It was a very fun afternoon.

Dry Ice

One of Chris' brother and his family sent him a package from Omaha Steaks for his birthday. Yum! We were thrilled when UPS delivered the package. The steaks were packed in dry ice and Chris said to the kids, "You want to see something cool?"
At first they were afraid of it, but quickly they decided it was pretty neat.

Then they were willing to get closer and try to touch it. Chris explained to the kids what dry ice is and what happened when he added it to water.

So, we got some entertainment and a couple of dinners out of the package!

Field Day

On Friday, I took Lydia and Josiah to Wesley's field day for a little while. When we got there Wesley was doing a great job on the long jump. Next the kids did a sack race.
The potato sacks were too big for the kindergartens and junior kindergartens but someone had brought pillowcases for them to use.

Next was the marshmallow race. The boys went as fast as they could even if it meant they dropped their marshmallow.

The girls were a lot more careful about not dropping the marshmallow. Afterwards all the kids got to a eat a (clean) marshmallow.

The kids played Duck, Duck, Goose and then had a some free time. Lydia convinced some of Wesley's classmates to play another game of Duck, Duck, Goose with her but she wanted to be "ducker" the entire time. She would love to be in charge all of the time!

I love this picture of Wesley and Josiah.

While we watched the older kids do relay races, Lydia took some pictures with my little camera.

She took this picture of Wesley's teacher.

I think everyone had fun at the field day and I bet all the kids were very tired that evening.

Vegas

Chris' mom and dad kept the kids for us so we could celebrate his birthday in Vegas. It was our first time staying at the Palazzo. We liked it but I think the Bellagio and Encore are my favorites but the rooms are nicer at the Palazzo than the Bellagio. The lobby at the Palazzo had these pretty beautiflies.

I was most looking forward to spending time with Chris. It was so nice to have time for just the two of the us. It felt like such a luxury to be able to go to the gym every morning.

I was also looking forward to nice restaurants! I love to eat, especially in nice restaurants. On Friday we had lunch at The Palm steakhouse and for dinner we went to Todd's Unique Dinning. I had seared tuna for the first time and loved it! On Saturday we ate at the The Burger Bar for lunch and then had sushi in New York New York. We saw KA that night. We first saw it six years ago. I think I liked it even better the second time. The MGM was so crowded that night because the resort was hosting a big boxing match. I am surprised how many people love boxing.

Sunday morning we had brunch at the Bellagio. It is more expensive on holiday weekends because they add crab legs which are already split open. The brunch was great! Sunday night we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Rosemary's. It was as wonderful as we remembered.

The botanical gardens at the Bellagio were beautiful.
It was fun to see the conservatory decorated a different way than how it is every January.
We had a great trip. I don't think the kids missed us at all. They had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa.

In With the New

On Saturday Lydia, Josiah, and I enjoyed walking around Old Town Alexandria. Our main objective was to visit my good friend Susan and her new store, ZOE BOUTiQUE. I am so proud of Susan for following her dream and making it a reality. Susan really is one of the nicest people I have ever known and I am thrilled that she has started her own business. Of course, I had to buy a few things. I bought this top but it looks a little different on me.

I also bought two necklaces, one with glass beads and one with a monogramed pendant.

But, you know, Susan may have another calling... as an interior decorator. When she came over to my house in March to go for a long walk, I asked her to help me pick out a paint color for above our chair rail in the living room and dining room. We used the same color for our foyer and down our stairwell to the basement. We kept the same color below the chair rail.

I think the color turned out great. This is how our living room looks when the afternoon sun shines in. Here is our dining room. Yay, no more builders paint! Well, at least no more on the main floor or bedroom floor. We still need to paint the basement.

Speaking of new...We remodeled the 1/2 bath on the main level in November. I love the sink! I wanted to replace the pedestal sink so we could have some storage. I also wanted a toilet with a skirted trapway (you can't see the pipes from the outside). The only way to get the enclosed trapway was to get the dual flush feature. I am so happy with the new bathroom but I sort of wished we had updated the floor.