Goodbyes and packing

Things are going well here as we wrap up our final days in DC. We had a nice weekend visiting friends, family and some local favorites. Our very first outing here in DC as a family was to Brookside Gardens so we stopped by there on Saturday to commemorate our year. It's amazing how well we know the park now!

We also had a chance to visit with my Uncle Eric and Aunt Donna one last time. It's been sweet seeing them this year and the girls just adore them. I was thrilled that Eric was able to take some professional photos for me so I can use them for work purposes. After my mini photo session we stopped by the Silver Diner to eat dinner (also another first when we arrived). The girls ate SO much that I think they must be growing. Either that or they are starving because we have no food in the house. Ha!

Packing is going well. I only have to finish up the kitchen and then it's entirely done and ready for the truck on Thursday. The girls have been super helpful, even carrying stuff to the garage as we stage things. We'll have some professional help come Thursday. Turns out our landlord made a mistake and told the next tenants they could move in the day before we were moving out. Opps! To make it a little more of a speedy process, they agreed to hire guys to help us load the truck that morning which means we'll be out by mid-day. Sounds good to me!

In the mean time we're busy saying goodbye to sweet friends we've made up here. The girls are having their last play dates and we had our last family dinner with our church community group. I'm so grateful for their friendship and encouragement. Anna and Paige also helped our neighbors across the street with some weeding and they presented them with thoughtful and lovely gifts to remember MD. As I told the girls, goodbyes are hard, but that's only because God gave us blessings. 

Billy Goat Trail (Great Falls, VA)

I heard about the Billy Goat Trail months ago and only recently came across a note written in my planner. It reminded me that I wanted to take the girls over and check it out. We're always up for a hiking adventure! 

Only a 30 minute drive away and along the Potomac, it was both easy to get to and scenic. They call it the Billy Goat Trail for the amount of rock scaling on the "path." The girls were scrambling like little mountain goats and absolutely loving it. It was medium in terms of intensity, but had scenic overlooks, shaded parts and wasn't too populated in the middle of the week. The girls' only complaint was not being able to wade in the water, but the Potomac has very strong currents which could easily wash you down the river. Overall, we all gave it a hardy two thumbs up!

We finished our adventure with some ice cream at a local shop and play time at a park. I'm not even sure how they had more energy for park play time, but some how they mustered it. 

Taking care of business

Our days have been slow, but steady. We're taking care of business around here. Doing the work! Last library books are going back. The Goodwill run needs to happen. Anything that can be boxed is being packed. (The kids are making fun of me because they'll ask for something and my reply 9 times out of 10 is "packed it!" Ohh and Patrick did have a midnight search for batteries which I had a already packed. Opps!) Really all the things are in place to get this truck on the road. We just need to wait for the actual moving date...NEXT WEEK!

In the mean time, the girls and I have been swimming, playing with family, encouraging potty training for my nephew, catching insects, playing outside, building forts out of whatever supplies are not boxed up, etc. I was able to take the girls to a bounce house place with sweet friend, Olivia, and they all were so tired at the end. We will miss Olivia's awesome family, but I have a feeling they will be forever friends.

Paige has also had quite an exciting few days with insects lately. She found this silk moth, the largest moth in North America, on our lawn the other day. It doesn't live long so we knew it was only a matter of time since we saw it during the day. Paige quickly scooped it up to put in her new bug catcher and we will share it with her class when we return to SC. Seriously, the wingspan on this sucker is 6 inches!

We also had a bit of a run in with a bee at the pool. She was trying to rescue it from drowning, bless her heart, and it thanked her by stinging her finger. Anna quickly retaliated and killed it because "nobody stings my sister!" She also reported it was not so much a bee as a yellow jacket or hornet. Yikes! Paige is a bit sensitive to insect bites so her little middle finger has been swelled up to the size of a Vienna sausage for the last day. I'm hoping with some Benedryl we'll see some progress tomorrow. It doesn't seem to have slowed her down much and she still loves bugs so that's good.

So that's the report for now. Just waiting and anticipating...

Happy Father's Day!

This guy. He's pretty awesome. There are so many people in his life that value him: co-workers, friends, family. But no two people look up to him more than his girls. The truth is he's a pretty great dad and he puts a lot of effort and heart into doing his best in that category. I'm grateful for that.

One of my favorite things about Patrick as a dad is that he is a great dad to daughters. He may not always understand the moods or tears, but he's never shied away from doing the hard work of raising them up. Whether he's chasing them in the yard playing "cheetah and gazelle" or getting us tickets to see The Sound of Music at the Kennedy Center, he can play it tough or show his softer side.

So we had a great time celebrating him on Sunday. The girls and I woke up early to make peanut butter and chocolate chip muffins (I voted for triple chocolate, but was quickly reminded it wasn't my day). We even put together a little sign that said "I'm muffin without you Dad!"

The girls made a video on iMovie with their Legos. They even took the time to make a house and little figures that looked like us. My favorite part was the original song they wrote and sang with music. Needless to say, we all enjoyed watching the final product.

A Happy Father's Day banner with all the things Dad likes-snow, steak, potatoes, running...

Gary, who's in town visiting, joined us for church and it was nice to have another important dad along to celebrate. (We had a fun family dinner the night before to acknowledge him.)

After church we quickly came home to eat lunch and head to the Kennedy Center for The Sound of Music. Patrick purchased tickets for us as our family Christmas gift and it was finally time to see it. I was pumped!! It is my all time favorite movie. I might have teared up a bit at the performance. So good.

such great seats!

Then the girls and I treated Patrick to the "best wings in DC" at Duffy's Irish Pub. Turns out it is a hole in wall legit bar. Thank goodness the business was really slow that night or else I might have cringed a bit to take the girls inside. Also, we were mostly still dressed up from they play so they probably thought we were a strange sight. Regardless, Patrick enjoyed his wings and that's all that mattered.

We ended our day with some ice cream cones in the backyard and some fun family lawn games. Happy Father's Day to all the dads in our lives. We are so grateful for all you do for us!

Summer days

I love the summer. T-shirts, pool time, lazy afternoons...what's not to love? Here are a few snap shots of our summer days so far.

watching my two fish as the neighborhood pool

play-doh play time with Carson

Planet Earth viewing...Anna actually fell asleep for a nap which is unheard of! 

(turns out she had a cold)

spa masks in the backyard

park picnics

I was able to take the three big kids to the local trolley museum. Trolley's were used back in the late 1800s and early 1900s in DC. They were the first Metro! It was neat seeing all the old cars and even taking a trolley ride. The kids really enjoyed it. 

A day in PA

We've done lots of historical trips, but on Saturday we went a little somewhere different. I told Anna, "Today we will not be seeing any old dead guys. Nope! Today is a day for Mom and Paige!" It was an early morning, but we managed to get to our first destination right on time. The PA Wolf Rescue Center houses wild wolves and wolf dogs. You get to walk around and see the packs while learning information from the volunteers. I was fascinated at how many used to be pets! And of course, Paige was in heaven.

Our next stop was a nearby town in Amish country called Lititz. It's home of the oldest commercial pretzel making shop, Julius Sturgis Pretzels. We got to take a behind the scenes tour and even try our hand at twisting our own pretzels. We all agreed the soft baked pretzels were so yummy and might even try making a batch at home.

Next we walked around the Lititz Spring Park where there was a cute little duck stream, market and playground. It was an excellent stop for our picnic lunch although there is a fine for feeding the ducks anything other than the duck food provided at the park. The park also had an original B&O Railroad car.

I could have meandered around the sweet little town all day, but we had to get to our next place...the Hershey Story Museum! Chocolate heaven I tell you. We found a groupon for the small, interactive museum that allowed us to sample 6 hot chocolates at the end. The girls were so funny deciding which ones they liked and which ones they did not like.

After that we drove a short way to Hershey World where we hopped on the free ride that shows how chocolate is made. It's also conveniently located in a very LARGE chocolate store. The girls were allowed to choose out one small item and they were paralyzed with all the choices! I picked up my treat from the Hershey Hotel not too far away.

Not the treat I chose, but holy cow that's a big Kit Kat

On the way home, we stopped into Frederick, MD and walked the main street to a pizza shop. The second largest city in MD (crazy?!) was abuzz with Saturday night concerts and revelers. It was fun to walk along the canal and hear live music. But soon enough we had to get back to Silver Spring for bed time.

What a fun day! It was beautiful country with lots of little places to take things in....plus chocolate!! We rested up and then enjoyed Sunday where we presented our testimony to the whole church on seeing God's blessings for us this year. The service ended with a church-wide picnic and it was such a nice way to spend one of our last Sundays with our DC church family.