Washington D.C. Weekend

What's great about having a 3 1/2 year old boy? He can drive 3 1/2 hours now. That gives us unlimited fun basically. Living in Virginia is awesome.

We have:
Cities: Richmond and D.C.,
Country: parts of Chesapeake, Farmville,
Beaches: Va Beach, Hatteras (NC)
Super Intellectual Sites like the University of Virginia and Washington D.C.
History: Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown

I could go on and on... VA is just a freakin awesome place to live.

This weekend, we took on Washington D.C. It was the hottest weekend of the summer. 105 degree weather. So you will see lots and lots of my super sweaty family.
Let's Go!

First thing's first! The Metro... and the coolest part? Grady's first time in a "train". I was loving every minute of it. My boy, on a train, taking on the city life!

Putting his fare card in, like a pro.

His face seeing his first Metro train. Was he excited? Yes yes yes!!! Terry was too :-)

Was I excited? Yes, yes, yes!!!

Underground

You can just see the heat! Hey look! Boy Scouts!

It's like I'm touching it.... you know?! I'm such a goober, but it had to be done!

To the Smithsonian Natural History Museum

Dear God, finally, some AC! Hey look! Boy Scouts!

Grady spotted Dinosaurs immediately! RAWRRRRR!!!

Evolutionary Skeletons!

Yeah, this guy obviously had a bad night and is now featured in the new "crime scene" exhibit at the Smithsonian.

"Tracking the Past" of man over time. Hey look! Boy Scouts!

WHAT!! NO WAY!!! How is it possible??!! The worlds of two heterosexual life-mates collide for a sweaty embrace at the Smithsonian! No really, it was just an incredible coincidence.

Yay!!! It's Joanna, Brian, and Daniel!

Back to the exhibits! Hey look! Boy Scout Heads!

Grady said "Mommy, the Giraffe is licking a tree!". He was talking like crazy as he took everything in.

Fish Skeletons are the coolest. Swordfish!

"Mommy, there's Nemo and Dory!"

What? Our mouths are almost as big as Megaladon! Seriously.

Through heat, city, museums, and 3 year old's, my devil horns are still up.
Mission completed.

Until our next excellent, ultimate, D.C. excursion!!! Coming to you in the Fall!

July 4th Weekend

8 - 10 sparklers set aflame in the bonfire pit in the back yard

We had a lot of fun this weekend. As Grady gets older, Terry and I get more "into" holidays than we did at first. Now that we're the parents, it's up to US to make it fun and memorable. So we've been creating little "traditions" and staying up late and basically thoroughly enjoying every minute of fun there is to have. So July 4th has come and gone and here's what we did!

Light Painting with Sparklers

So the concept is pretty sweet. You set your camera on a tripod. Put your shutter open to 30 seconds and flood your aperture to as high as it will let you go. Then move your sparklers, flashlights, candles, whatever light source you have, and "paint" away. The camera will absorb the light that is emitted, and what you get are really neat pictures.

Camp Out in the Backyard
This was Mommy's bright idea, and it was fun... but Grady couldn't fall asleep and finally, he decided he would rather sleep in his own bed. This was a great idea to try out camping with the luxury of the house being right there should things not go as planned.

4th of July Cupcakes for Breakfast

I mean.... you know.... they were right there, and he's a good boy, so....and yeah, maybe I wanted one too. In the morning.

Tripod shots of the Family

*This picture was hilarious, because Krista and I couldn't figure out how to stand next to one another... this is where we were when the timer ran out* (hahahahahha)

I had a great weekend. Even made some jewelry! You'll see it in tomorrow's blog!