Cox Farms

We went to Cox Farms with some friends last Thursday. It's a big pumpkin patch amusement place in Centreville, VA. 

We met our friends at our PE class in Chantilly last year. They live in Reston, VA, and we wish we lived closer to them, cause their boys are the same age as Carson and Tucker. 

Lots of dust and hay and animal smells; we were pretty dirty afterwards, and I had a big allergy attack the next day. It was a really fun place though, lots of fun slides. They make their own apple cider and donuts and kettle corn. 

Air and Space Museum

We try to go to one of the Smithsonian Museums every week; we went to the Air and Space on Tuesday this week. Above, we were looking at the planet/space exhibit and Carson is using a device to zoom in on the various planets. 

Part of the aircraft carrier exhibit, with front and back windows showing planes landing and taking off. Lots of buttons and switches, very realistic. 

2017 Air Force Air Show

Keith has wanted to take the kids to an air show for quite a while, but the timing never quite worked out and it was always pretty expensive.  The Air Force Air Show in the DC area is free.  This year they were celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Air Force and the show was amazing.  There are so many free or inexpensive opportunities in the DC area.

The event started at FedEx Field - home of the Redskins football team.  There you went through security and took a school bus to Joint Base Andrews for the show.

B-1B Lancer Bomber:




















A demo from the Johns Hopkins Physics department on Comets.  Savannah volunteer to touch the frozen mud-ball they created.



They had a communications booth with various radios and antennae.  Carson asked him about this satellite communications antenna, so we got a demo.



A dancing robot:



An exhibit by Orbital ATK, for whom Keith's brother Ben works:






The Thunderbirds were incredible.  We couldn't stop talking about them after their performance.  You can see them on the runway near the F-22 stealth fighter.



The Thunderbirds flying in formation:

Anderson House, Washington, DC - HQ of the Society of the Cincinnati

The Society of the Cincinnati held a free session for the American Culture merit badge last weekend.  Keith went to drop Carson off and after seeing the amazing place and agenda, he couldn't leave.

The building is a 1920's mansion -- the winter home of the Andersons, which was donated to the Society of the Cincinnati upon the Anderson's deaths.  The building was incredible; it is so tough to imagine people living in such a place.  There were only four Boy Scouts there, including Carson.  Several different adults taught the boys about the Revolutionary War.  They were so passionate about it and had such depth of insight.

As part of the event, the boys helped wax / polish the statue of George Washington outside of the building.

I had never heard of the Society of the Cincinnati before, so it was interesting to learn of it.













The discussions about the Revolutionary War were held in the library room.



This cannon is named 'George'.  It, along with Martha, are two of the first cannons made and stamped by the Continental Army for use during the Revolutionary War.

Random Events

Savannah at the grocery store yesterday:



Our kids archery bow is in a storage unit, so Tucker decided to make his own bow:

LDS Priesthood Meeting

Now that Carson is twelve, he can attend the LDS Priesthood meetings.  Last night, the young men in our congregation all met together at a pizza place, then went to the Washington DC LDS Temple Visitors Center to watch the broadcast.