Weekend recap....

It's starting to feel somewhat like fall around here.  It's been a little less humid, and we have had some nice cool days.  Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch in Surry, VA the first weekend they were open to stock up on our pumpkins and goards.   I love that pumpkin patch so much!  We have been staying busy lately.  Dave is on evening shift most of this month, which can be good and bad.  Good because he's home during the day and can do school activities with the kids, but bad because by the time I get home he's gone to work, which always puts me in sad mood.  I try to stay upbeat and be happy he only has the do this every other month, but I sure do miss him during the week.

We took advantage of the weekend and packed it full of fun family activities.  We went back to Hallow-scream at Busch Gardens, after going last weekend for a little bit.  Friday the girls had half days, so we got there right after lunch and didn't have to worry with crowds or long lines.  We had a such a good time we didn't leave until late that evening, and only left as it started to storm.  The girls handled the scary stuff pretty well, we just kept reminding them it was all "dress up".

Saturday we had a tball game that got rained out early on, so we used a Groupon for Regal theatres, and took the girls to see Hotel Transylvania.  We all really enjoyed the movie and the awesome deal.  I just love those daily deal sites!


We spent the rest of the evening and night at our good friends house for their daughters birthday party.  We always have a good time at The Dame household, and every time we hang out with them I get sad knowing that one day they will be transferred away since they are Coast Guard.  I know they will eventually come back, but when ever they have to move I am not going to handle it well.  Our kids all love each other, and Dave and I have really enjoyed a Polly and Jason's friendship and love how we all can tell each other anything and be real with each other.   They are friends that I don't feel the rush to clean my house up before they come over.

So other then that my other big news is I took a leave from Junior League this year.  I don't know if I will go back.  I thought about doing it this year, and last year, but thought I would hang in there again.  Right away though it's been too hard.  This time I wasn't going to make myself go crazy about it, and miserable. Right away it was harder with the kids in more activities, and having more homework, harder with my own work schedule, and harder with the husbands, and with me selling ThirtyOne now, that adds some schedule conflicts too.  Also, when I was busy with it I wasn't enjoying it as I was bummed I was missing out with something with my family, and though I know the League does amazing things, I didn't feel like I was doing much good or contributing.  I just went with my gut this time.  To be honest I have not even told Dave yet,  that I took a leave, as I know he would encourage me to still do it, and I don't want him to think it's his job stopping me.

The good part of all of this is now I can be there for all of the kids activities now, I have time to volunteer more for the schools.  I am now heading up labels for education at my older girls school, and I am chairing movie night.  Also, later this winter swim team boosters starts up, and I am helping out with that as well.  I already feel like I am making more of a difference, and I don't miss out with anything as it's all things that help my children.

DC Recap

I am so behind on posting about our DC trip, but better late then never.  We had fun, did everything we set out to do (we didn't eat at the cupcake shop, we went but the line was out the door and around the block!).

First of all, our hotel was perfection.  Great location, had secure parking (we did have to pay, but worth it), we also had a metro station underneath our hotel, so we just had to take an elevator down stairs to get to it.  I found the hotel with a Groupon, and it did not disappoint!

We left early Saturday morning, checked in, and hopped on the metro for the Zoo.  We had some confusion with figuring out how to purchase metro tickets (you have to get them from a machine rather then a person), but we figured it out, after some people felt sorry for us, and showed us.  The girls loved the metro, and thought it was super cool to ride a train under the ground!  The Zoo was fun, honestly though, the Norfolk Zoo is better.  Not as crowded, and seemed like there was more animals to see.  It was a good Zoo, I guess I was just expecting more.  Everything there is super spread out too at the DC Zoo, and easy to get lost in there.  The Panda gave birth the day after we left, but sadly the baby cub recently passed away.  We didn't see the momma Panda when we were there though. She was no where to be seen, but maybe she was nesting or whatever momma pandas do when they are about to give birth.  So sad to hear about the loss of her cub though.

We rode the metro back, and walked to the White House to see that.  On our walk back we saw the Ford Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was shot, and then had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.  We grabbed some frozen yogurt, and headed back for the night to the hotel where the kids swam on the roof top pool for a little bit.

The next morning we hit up two museums - The American History one, and Natural History one.  We then did some site seeing with the monuments, Washington Monument, WW2 Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial Wall, etc.

It was a ton of walking, so I am glad my kids survived with little whining.  It was a good family trip, lots to see, and all of the museums are free to visit.  We all went back to school and work the next day, which was rough as we were zonked.  The girls have really enjoyed looking at their DC books since we have gotten back.  I am sure we will do the trip again one day!  I think we are going to start looking into more Groupon get aways though that are not too far away, to do with the kids  in the future.

Heading to DC

We are just a smidge bit excited about our trip to DC this weekend.  It's only one day, but we are pretty excited, and have a crazy amount of plans.
We hope to head to the National Zoo the First Day

Grab dinner out, and then get dessert at:

And ride the metro (the kids are more excited about that then anything I think)

Spend Sunday at some museums, and then head on home!

Weekend activities....

This weekend, I got up and got ready for my 31 open house fall brunch.  Everything looked pretty, and tasted amazing.  Unfortunately, I had zero guests.  It's kind of humorous.  I would have just canceled the thing but I had a bunch of RSVPS.   I am not sure which is ruder, when you don't RSVP either way, or when you do and you don't show up lol.  It wasn't completely wasted though, I had enough orders from people who couldn't come to still be able to submit it as a party, and  I  made a yummy breakfast for my family to at least enjoy, and it looked really pretty, and gave me a chance to use my new table for a beautiful spread for the food.

After I cleaned everything up from my non open house, I figured I might as well bust out the Halloween decor for the inside of the house.  I will wait until I get the pumpkins before I do much outside.  Halloween is my favorite holiday.  I love the decorations, I love all the festivals, and cooler weather, and I love how virtually stress free it is.  Christmas is fun, but just so stressful with the shopping, and running around.  I feel stressed out pretty much all Christmas season.  But not Halloween!

I put out I think everything, and here are a few pictures of what I did this year.

The rest of the day was spent at a birthday party, and then some fun at Bay Days, where we had a ton of fun, and were able to still see the fireworks, despite a big storm that came afterward.

Emily's 4th birthday party

Summer is over and school has started.  The last weekend the pool was open we celebrated Emily's birthday early with family and friends, as Emily begged for a pool party.  It went well. I made cupcakes for the kids, attempted a cake two times, but had "issues" so bought a cake for the grownups.  We grilled burgers and dogs and just hung out. She had a great day, and I think everyone had a good time.  I made "ocean water punch", and Dave and I made the cute little Mermaid sign for a decoration.  On her actual birthday we will do something as a family :).

Emily's first day of school....

She's growing up so fast!