We went sledding!

Sledding at the park

 

 

It was awesome! And no one cried :)

First Christmas in D.C.

 

The National Zoo Lights were wonderful

 

 

The Washington DC temple is even more exciting and beautiful at night

 

Inside Gaylord Hotel at the National Harbor

The Tree at the National Harbor-it was amazing! It changed colors every few seconds.

 

Next year we hope to visit the National Christmas Tree in front of the White House.

 

Wish we could have been with family with all that was going on. Thank goodness for FaceTime/ Skype!

Thanksgiving and Zoo Lights

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with our friends.

 

We ended the weekend at the National Zoo ZooLights, and it was awesome.

 

 

And they had trains set up with a Thomas train, and that made little Al very happy.

 

 

Zebra Lights

And the night ended with a dancing Panda bear in a gigantic snow globe, of course.

 

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy

Wow. Hurricane Sandy. It is amazing that weather forecasters were warning us for many days before the storm (Frankenstorm) came.

We had school and work cancelled...and the Governor of Maryland scared many into staying in their homes by saying people are going to die in this storm. Sadly, many people did.

We had LOTS of rain, and enormous amounts of wind.

Now, it is time to clean up the mess. Luckily, no trees fell on our car like last time. We are feeling pretty blessed.

The National Zoo-a fun place to visit!

We are F.O.N.Z.

{Friends Of the National Zoo}

 

Zebras

 

Our friend, the giant panda, Tian Tian. His wife panda had a baby panda the night before

(Sadly, the panda cub died).

He was hiding from the paparazzi that surrounded the zoo, so it was only natural that we try to snap a photo too.

 

 

 

Tortoises.

As Al said, Baby, Mama, Dada.

We are big fans of the zoo. It is FREE to get in, you just have to pay to get there, or pay to park once you are there.

We live by the coolest park

It has the tallest yellow slides

a funky green and blue pyramid to climb on

 

 

and camels 

and woodchips-I love wood chip parks.

 

And it makes my kids {and myself} happy.

Summer Boredom?

We are blessed to have a witty 5-year old in our family, who doesn't let us get too bored.

She has a few ideas on what to do when you are bored

( ♫ There's 104 days of summer vacation
And school comes along just to end it
So the annual problem for our generation
Is finding a good way to spend it♫)

Here is what you need:

 

• a ball
• some pennies
• some kids
• some time

Game 1: Put pennies on your arm and walk across the room-see if you can keep them balanced. Whoever has the most, wins. (Change up how pennies are placed for varieties sake)

Game 2: Put pennies in between your toes and walk across the room. This one can get some giggles. Feel free to try in between more than just 2 toes...tonight was our first night, so we will try more next time.

Game 3: Stack the Pennies (self-explanatory-if you need an explanation, don't be shy)



Game 4: Balance the ball on your head and walk around-don't let the ball fall!

Game 5: Hot potato: Use the same ball used in Game 4 (or a bean bag works too) throw from one person to another because it is a "hot potato"- the idea is to get rid of it. Usually, you have music and someone turning it on and off, but primary and nursery songs sung by the children (or adults) work as well if that is not an option

Other Games include

• Hide and Seek
• Ring around the Rosie
• Duck Duck Goose
• Tag (make sure you have plenty of space)

I hope these ideas will help your family not get the Summer Boredom Bug.

(Disclaimer: All ideas came straight from my daughter. Also, Netflix helps kill the boredom too)