The National Zoo

The Saturday after Christmas, we all went to the National Zoo in Washington DC.  Friday we had picked up Ellie's two friends from Logan, Harley and Maddy.  I'll post all about their visit later.

 With the Komodo Dragon

 Maddy, Harley, and Ellie

Following Elephant footprints.

Christmas

Christmas morning and we were all spoiled rotten!

We had a beautiful day of doing absolutely nothing but playing with our new presents, building Lego sets, and basking in the "animal warmth" of our family.

Ellie got a 3-man backpacking tent.  Drake got a backpacking backpack.  Dane got video games and another erector set, and Adelaide got an American Girl Horse, and books.

Mark got a 1-man tent for his scoutmaster duties, and then blew me away by giving me A LOOM!  I am still so stinking excited  I wove a scarf on Christmas day.  

Christmas Eve

Christmas came before I knew it, as usual.  It a really good thing Mark remembers to shop early!  We had a crazy as usual run up to the holiday.  But Christmas Eve finally came, and we got to spend it with  Brandt and Julie and 3 of their 4 boys: Christian, David, and Andrew.

First we went to the Air and Space Museum annex near our house, then out to eat at Cafe Rio.

We came back to our house for the making of Christmas cookies, and the nativity.

After the nativity, we had cheese fondue and lots of other yummy goodies.  When Brandt and Julie and Family left, the kids opened up their packages from Nana (Grandma Redd).  New PJs for everyone!

Trumpet, Piano, and Costumes

This month Drake had his first band concert.  Recognize the trumpet, Judy?  Drake is really enjoying band, and his band sounded really good!

He had to buy a tux shirt, and we thought he looked really sharp!

Also with the help of my brother and a kind ward friend, we were able to pick up a piano I bought off of Craig's list for $50.  It was badly out of tune, but otherwise a really good piano.  Just had it tuned this week and it sounds much better.  It even had a bench in great condition, which usually costs more than $50 alone!

And just for fun, Ellie was dressing up as Elsa from the movie Frozen.  What do you think?

Snow Day

Monday was the first snow day my kids have ever had.  We lived in Utah for 11 years, had tons of snowy day and cold days, but the most the kids ever got was getting out of school 2 hours early once.



Sunday night here in Virginia we had freezing rain, and school was cancelled for Monday.  Tuesday morning we got a couple inches of snow, and school was cancelled again!  We loved it!

Ellie took these amazing pictures of the ice on Monday.

Billy Goat Trail

This Thanksgiving weekend, Mark found us a great trail to hike.  It's in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park.  (Pfew!  That's a mouthful!)  The park contains the old canal and locks that used to get boat traffic up and down past the rough parts of the Potomac River.

Dane at a lock

The terrain is rocky, and you can see why there had to be a better way for boats to get by.

The day was cold, but beautiful.  The kids didn't have time to get get tired, because the rock scrambling was so fun.  We went on Billy Goat Trail A, then back along the canal.  There are two other parts too I'd love to try sometime.

On the way Back

Our "Frozen" moment.  We just watched the movie!

the Canal

Wildlife

Sunset

At the Falls at Sunset

Slug Update and Halloween

I got a few people to try the "stewed slugs" on Halloween.  Way to go brave Maddie who was the first, and Lacey who came back for seconds.

I have to admit, they looked really gross.  Michelle wins points for not hesitating, despite the appearance.

The kids costumes were all great.  The Joker was the spookiest because he was always in character.

Joker and Samurai,

Jango Fett, Knight, Spy

Vampire and Mad Scientist

And Imagination.

I love Halloween for the costumes.  I don't really like the creepy stuff, I don't nee the candy, but dressing up is the best!