Harper's Ferry

We went on a fun little adventure Sunday afternoon to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. It's only about 40 minutes from us and it's where the Potomac & Shenandoah rivers come together. The Appalachian Trail also runs through Harper's Ferry. There's a little town there at the bottom of the hills, called "Lower Town" that has been there since the late 1700s. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, etc. traveled through and there are several Civil War battles sites around. I'm not a history buff, but it was still really interesting and just a very picturesque, quaint stop. On our way there and back we passed at least 4 or 5 wineries/vineyards, several horse farms and saw lots of deer running around the hills. It was a beautiful drive and I'm sure we'll be back out that direction again. We've heard that lots of people like to ski in WV, so maybe we'll check it out in the winter. Anyway, the pictures we took don't do it justice at all, but here are a few of them anyway.

We were doing sidewalk chalk again the other day and I turned around and saw that Aubrey had written her name. We really have barely worked on this, so I thought this was a pretty good attempt. She said, "I was going to do a "R" but I did a lollipop instead."

The Town Center

One of our favorite things about our new neighborhood is the Town Center. It's at the front of our neighborhood and only about 2 blocks away & a 5 minute walk. There's a grocery store, CVS, gas station and then a little square with several restaurants, Starbucks, Panera, a dry cleaners, a mail place, a couple salons, etc. We've been walking down there a couple times a week for either lunch, dinner, or a smoothie...

I think the kids favorite part is the water fountains. There are always kids running around in the fountains, half in their swimsuits and the other half just run through in their clothes.

There's also a little amphitheatre behind the fountains where they have live music once a week. The kids have fun dancing and running around on the grass.

Petting Zoo

A few weeks ago we went to the Reston Zoo while Gigi was in town. Unfortunately, I forgot my digital camera. So, I bought a disposable one from the gift shop and just now got it developed. Here's Aubrey & Rob feeding a goat a bottle

Aubrey and a little monkey

Aubrey & Gigi feeding more goats

Will's turn to check out the goats

As you can tell, the goat feeding was their favorite part, but we also went on a train ride to see some zebras, camels, deer and alligators, etc. This is a smaller zoo, but great for younger kids.

It was so fun to have a visitor so soon after we moved here! We had a fun day with Gigi, followed by going out to dinner. The next day the movers came & she came back to help us unpack. Thanks for a great visit, Gigi! We miss you!

Will is sniffing & making his bunny face in this picture

More parks while Robert was out of town last week.

This was the cutest thing last week. Will was going through my wallet and finding all the pictures of me on my driver's license & Costco card, etc. He'd point to it, say "Mama", then kiss my picture and then hug and rock it. He did this over and over again, I loved it!

Aubrey loves to color and of course Will wants in on the action. Anytime he sees the crayons out, he says, "boo" or "purble" and runs to his high chair so he can color, too. I have to watch him like a hawk because he always has to take a bite of each crayon after coloring with it.

Yes, I have two thumb-suckers. It was getting close to bed time, so they were both on the floor with their thumbs and Aubrey didn't seem to mind that Will's foot was on her forehead.

We actually had a pretty good week last week while Robert was gone. The kids were pretty good for me and slept well and I was motivated to finish organizing our guestroom and even got a few things hung on the wall. We are very glad to have Robert back in town, though!

Weekend

The weather has been incredible this weekend so we decided to spend time outside and go for a bike ride. The high yesterday was 82 and today it has been 77!
There's a bike path right behind our house.
This is the "view" behind our house. You can't tell very well in this picture, but you can see lots of hills in the distance.

Will loves to use utensils now. As you can tell, he sometimes drops some on his shirt, but he's getting pretty good at making it to his mouth. We've given up on bibs b/c he pulls on them the entire meal and doesn't eat nearly as well. Good thing I do a load of laundry every day...

Playing in the water table at Nick's house and being silly, of course

Will & Zach in the sand box, they kept sharing toys and handing shovels back & forth to each other

Will's new thing is to say, "Goal" and stick his hands in the air like this.

Other news:
-We no longer own 2 houses! The buyers closed on our house in TX on Friday, thankfully. We had several little things come up the last week. Our window treatments were missing at the buyer's walk through (they were there when the movers left) so it appeared that someone came in our house and took them down afterwards. Very strange. Thanks Ruth for shopping for the replacements for me! Then, last week I find out our sprinklers weren't running for several days and our lawn was turning brown. Great. We're just glad to be done with trying to keep it up while we're living 1500 miles away.
-Robert is on a plane to Austin right now for business. He'll be there until Friday. We're a little jealous and homesick, but we'll make it. We do miss our friends & family and we've also been craving some Rudy's and some good Tex Mex. We're planning on coming with him for the next trip.

This is what you get when you combine sidewalk chalk and a sprinkler...fun!

County Fair

We had a fun time at the county fair yesterday with some neighbors. Here are Aubrey & Nick checking out the pigs.
Aubrey loved getting a shooting star glitter tattoo.

Enjoying a picnic with hot dogs, chips & lemonade

Aubrey & Nick watching the circus show

Playing a bean bag toss game

We were attempting to get a group shot with all 4 big kids and 4 babies, but this is what we got with only 2 pairs on the blanket... We decided it wasn't worth it. The kids had a great time, but I think everyone was ready for a nap by the end of it!