Great Falls National Park

Well, that snow was short-lived earlier that week and by weekend the weather was gorgeous!  We ventured over to Great Falls National Park in McClean, VA.  These falls that run through the Potomac River are nestled in suburbia, absolutely gorgeous and only 25 minutes from our house.  Brad, Sam and the kids hiked down to the riverbank and found a cool cave to climb around.  Note, this is a very popular destination, especially on beautiful days...go early!

Snowquestration

March 6 brought a late winter snowquestration of sorts to Northern Virginia.  Knowing school would be cancelled the night before, we bunked with our friends so the kids could hang together on the day off school.  The forecast led us to believe we'd be facing a foot of snow.  The government offices were closed, schools shut down, lots of closures.  As the snow fell on the warm ground, thick slush formed.  It looked white and fluffy from a distance but was really just like playing in puddles.  Everyone was soaked when they came inside!  We spent the rest of the day playing games and watching the "snow" fall.  Towns farther west did get a bit more accumulating snow so school was rightfully delayed the next morning as well.  

Blue and Gold Dinner

Last year I volunteered to run the annual Blue and Gold dinner for Alex's Cub Scout Pack.  Well, if you've hosted one Blue and Gold dinner, how hard could it be to do it again?  My friend Missy and I co-chaired the event this year for more than 150 people and it turned out great.  We had lots of help from friends with set up and decorations and it all came together splendidly.  Everyone enjoyed the slide show recap of the year and the Italian dinner was delish!  The cake contest is always popular here and this year did not disappoint.  Alex enjoyed helping build this Pinterest-inspired Kit-Kat Bar Cake!  The planning committee had a lovely post-dinner celebration at a local wine bar and agreed we would not probably host the event again next year.

Supergirl

Hello?  Superman?  Are you there?  

A Visit From Grandma

Grandma Eileen came to visit in February around Brad's birthday.  During her visit, she and Abby celebrated at a birthday party in Abby's room for one of her many imaginary friends!  While they were occupied doing that, Alex and I rearranged his room to make more floor space available for building with Legos.  We celebrated Brad's birthday at P.F. Chang's with family and Ray's the Steaks just the two of us.  We spent Sunday at the American History Museum and LOVED it!  What a fantastic museum!  Alex was enthralled with each exhibit, reading all the signs and looking carefully at the displays.  We stayed for hours and still hadn't seen everything.   We had a fun visit and look forward to her return visit in June!

Looking back at these pictures, the Washington Monument no longer looks like this.  It is currently fully surrounded by scaffolding to repair the damage from the Aug 2011 earthquake.

Special Delivery

Carrot People!

Carrot stuffed animals can only mean one thing, Miss Amy!  Amy, from Amy's Organics, sent these to the kids along with 12 small bottles of local Illinois honey for Jackie's High Tea bridal shower.  She's the best!  They certainly miss her weekly deliveries of local produce and meat/fish!

President's Day Parade

The kids were off for President's Day.  Surely there would be something fun to do in our nation's capital?  The country's largest President's Day parade in Alexandria, VA did not disappoint!  We had a brisk, but sunny day to take the metro a couple of stops up to King Street and walk down to where the parade was being held.   The parade was almost two hours long!  Our kids were even featured in the Alexandria Times the following week!