Catawba, VA

We  went to dinner at the Homeplace restaurant in Catawba, VA, which is only about a 10 minute drive into the hills from where Dixie Caverns was. If you look closely, you'll see the flagpole with the confederate flag. Saw lots of these flags everywhere and lots of

Roanoke and Salem, VA

We have been wanting to check out Roanoke for a while now, so we finally went there this last weekend. This was a farmer's market they have downtown. We bought some raw honey from a man who lives in Catawba, VA. This is some honeycomb we tried eating;

Bethany Beach, DE

On the drive to the beach, we had to cross over water and had to go on these crazy bridges. The drive there was beautiful, as always, the countryside is full of green fields and lots of old farmhouses. In order to find parking, you have to get to the

Nationals Baseball Game

The Washington DC Library summer reading program is pretty amazing.  After eight hours of reading, they reward each child with a book of their choice, a voucher for a meal at Chipotle, and two free tickets to a Nationals baseball game.  Each of our kids completed the reading easily, leaving

Service at Hidden Oak Nature Center

To work towards Carson's Citizenship in the Community merit badge for scouts, we called the Hidden Oaks Nature Center a few days ago and asked if there is work that he could do to help. They asked us to help pull some weeds from one of the trails.

Breath of the Wild figures

The kids got a Nintendo Switch recently and have been playing the game "Zelda: Breath of the Wild". Carson saw a DIY video on making a Breath of the Wild felt figure, and here are the results: Carson's is called a "Korok" in the

Village at Shirlington, Arlington, VA

On our way back from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, we stopped at Village at Shirlington, close to our Airbnb apartment.  It was a cute little main street style area.  We walked around for a while, had a delicious dinner, then some frozen yogurt.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Although we have been here for over a year, we still hadn't seen the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  The rain subsided today, leaving nice cool weather, so we decided to go.  It was pretty impressive.

New apartment for the month of August: Shirlington Stay

We moved out of the NW DC basement apartment yesterday and are now living in an apartment in Arlington, VA in the Shirlington area. We'll be here for August. This place is much more urban than the DC apartment, which was in a quiet suburban neighborhood. We park

Rock Creek Gardens

We went for a walk around the neighborhood this evening and saw the Rock Creek Gardens -- a community garden area.  There were so many varieties of flowers, vegetables, and herbs growing.  Despite the rabbit fencing around most of it, we saw several small rabbits hopping around enjoying the feast.  Adjacent

Our Nebraska Avenue DC home

Right through that white door Main common area with couches and table (Tucker and Savannah are looking at a little remote control robot car on the ground) Small kitchen area

Carson's Time at Goshen Scout Camp

I went to scout camp two weeks ago. It was fun. I earned five merit badges: Rifle shooting, Robotics, Canoeing, Space Exploration, and Chess. We woke up at about 6 in the morning and ate at 8. Then we went to Rifle shooting then Robotics. After that we went to

carson

Walking around the neighborhood

We went for a walk through the neighborhood this afternoon and caught this candid picture.

tucker

Tucker's Birthday

Today was Tucker's day; he couldn't contain his excitement as his birthday party approached. We decided to celebrate his birthday this afternoon. Instead of a birthday cake, he decided that he wanted to make his own piñata.  With Angela's help, he made a paper

Pi Pizzeria, Bethesda

We love trying out the restaurants as we explore new areas.  Last weekend we went to Pi Pizzeria in Bethesda, MD. As we entered, the scent of the baking dough assured us that this place was going to be great. I've never looked forward to pizza with zucchini

Lafayette Elementary School Playground

We were shocked when we saw the local elementary school.  It was a large beautiful building.  Angela said that it looked like a college campus.  We are accustomed to the typical utilitarian schools so common across the country. Lafayette Elementary is a few blocks from our airbnb. The kids loved

savannah

Family Workshop at the Peirce Mill at Rock Creek Park

While visiting the Peirce Mill, some generous volunteers hosted a Family Workshop.  They offered to help children make various old time crafts outside of the Peirce Wagon House.  Savannah decided to make her own corn husk doll.

Peirce Mill at Rock Creek Park

Peirce Mill is a water powered gristmill built in 1829 in the middle of what is now Rock Creek Park.  It operated continuously until 1897 when the wooden turbine shaft broke. Several years ago, they completed the restoration and now operate it briefly on Saturdays at 11:00am.  We were

Rock Creek Park Nature Center and Planetarium

We have wanted to visit the Rock Creek Park Nature Center and the associated planetarium for quite a while.  Now that we are just a few minutes from it, we decided to try it out.  Overall, it didn't live up to the hype.  Fairfax has a lot of

Exploring Rock Creek Park

We are temporarily staying in an Airbnb in DC.  So our first weekend here, we went for a walk in Rock Creek Park - about 1 short block from our place.  It has beautiful trails and streams.   Is this how you imagined the middle of Washington DC?

carson

Carson's Birthday Party

We celebrated Carson's birthday at home with a delicious frozen custard cake and some presents.  Thank you everyone for sending the presents! He received a wood burning kit and has been making some neat creations.

Wildlife in the Yard

We routinely have deer and fox in our yard, but this is the first time I have seen them together.  Fortunately, I was able to capture them in this picture:

The Georgian Hightree by Tucker Knight

One day, there was a tree called the Georgian Hightree. It was very tall. It was the tallest tree in the forest! But another day, when it saw that it was tallest tree in the forest, it started to brag to his neighboring trees like Redwood. Thinking that he was

Good Knight Art

Tucker's Bob Ross paintings Carson's Bob Ross paintings by Savannah Savannah's family portrait

Going to Utah

Here are our pictures from our trip to Utah! They will be out of order, yay! I can't figure out how to put them in order in the file folder, and there are about 200 of them, so I am just going to load them on the blog