Adventures in

Friday, October 25, 2013

Pumpkin Patch

Six years ago, we used to go to a pumpkin patch (actually, it's just a produce stand) on 15 and choose pumpkins and take pictures. We went back there the other weekend and had a good time showing our kiddos it! And dressing up with Autumn Colors, which for us means HOKIE gear!

Me and Bugga

Me and Megan

Me and Jack

Our Family

Me and my Tweeter

Our kiddos

We purchased 5 small pumpkins for our front porch, some garlic, a watermelon, apple cider for Grandad and 5 flavored honey sticks! So fun!

Pre-Birthday Festivities

Mom Mom and Pappy came down the other weekend! They brought Jack's birthday presents with them and he got to open them then (instead of on his birthday)! He was a riot to watch open the cards and presents and loved them all - especially a fun noisemaker :)

Money from Grammy and Grandpop in Bridgeton

And the boys with their Ravens shirts on!

Fall Sports

This Fall, we signed Jack up for soccer (we signed Kylie up, too, but they didn't have enough teams for her to play) and Megan up for volleyball! They have enjoyed it, but it's made for a crazy busy Fall as we balance having something going every single night of the week!

Megan serving

And playing on her team - Infinity!

Her friend, Emaan, serving

Jack being the captain for a game! He's scored 3 or 4 goals and is a fast kid and great shooter!

And trying out for - and making - the All-Star team!

Jack got to keep score for Megan's game, which he loved and did a great job of!

Megan serving again - she has done a great job with a new sport! She's a great server and bumper and it's been so fun to watch her play!

Jack's also been playing football at school during recess and outside in the neighborhood!

And this is what Kylie has been up to at practices and games...trying to stay warm and playing!

Ben and Sarah's Wedding!!!

Our friends from Kuwait, Ben and Sarah, moved back to DC in August and got married in October! We were so thankful to be a part of their wedding day and LOVED being there to celebrate with them. Ben has been a good friend to Dan for the last 2 years - both at work and at play - and Sarah became a wonderful addition to our Kuwait Family when she moved out last Fall! They are a great couple - and their wedding was wonderful - beautiful, amazing food, great drinks, awesome music.

The Black Keys' "Gold on the Ceiling", Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", "Price Tag", amazing food, Porter, Scotch and wonderful friends from Kuwait...it must be Ben and Sarah's Wedding!

Beautiful ceremony on Capitol Hill

We were reunited with friends from Kuwait and had a wonderful time catching up with them all evening!

Cutting the Cake

I promised Megan and Kylie I would take a picture of Ms. Sarah's dress :)

The Men

Dan, Me, Ben, Sarah, Cara, Zac, Erin and Josh...with Scotch :)

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Last Day in the Hotel and First Day of School

We spent 1 month in a hotel here in Virginia and officially moved into our house on August 31!

Dan and the kids enjoyed 30 days of amazing buffet breakfasts there!

Then it was the First Day of School for everyone!

Megan - 6th

Jack - 4th

Kylie - 2nd

My Three Sweet Kiddos!

Jack and Kylie getting on their bus!

The "Megan's" waiting at the bus stop

And instead of homemade chocolate chip cookies, since we didn't have a stove or sink yet, we picked up some special iced cookies for after the first day of school!!!

Random Pics

While we worked on our house - long, hard hours - our kids helped some, spent time with grandparent, spent time with cousins, played outside a lot and kept busy! Megan and Jack decorated our front walkway with chalk drawings...

Making it look beautiful

And it lasted for quite a while!

Dan and I were able to go out to dinner one night with Mark and Heather, while Abby watched our kiddos

And this is where our kids spend most of their time - we have an incredible neighborhood with kids out every single day - and they love our tree! It's the perfect tree for climbing!

Great Wolf Lodge

We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge for 3 nights - in their Kid Cabin Suite - and LOVED it!!! We've been to Great Wolf Lodge maybe 3 other times? The last time was 5 years ago before we moved to Bangkok, so we've been talking about going back there when we moved back to the States! Although our kids are much, much bigger now, we had a wonderful time! All three kids were big enough for all the rides and we told them that everyone had to ride the Howlin' Tornado at least one time - and made it be our first ride there! Kylie cried and cried and finally did a great job on it - and we made her ride it more times than that :) We had a blast enjoying the tube rides, the lazy river, the wave pool, having the kids climb across the Lily Pads and enjoying being together! We ran into a friend from college with her two girls (her husband was at home working, so we missed getting to see him!) and Kylie and Sofia hit it off right away and were off together having a blast! It was such a good time and so needed after months of moving prep and then 10 days of intense house renovations!