Evening at the Loudoun Fair

First stop at the fair...food...of course.

Jeremy's parents, grandparents and Aunt Janine joined us.

Luke was not letting go of the lemonade. He even found a way to maximize his lemonade experience...two straws.

After that, we went to look for a friend's pig that they were showing at the fair and auctioning later. Carter got to go in the pen (nice shot pig).

Then we headed to look at the chickens, bunnies, goats and sheep.

Carter, Luke and their (great) Aunt Janine were determined to do some rides. They picked a fun house. This picture is of them thinking about wherever or not they could do it. Luke and Carter lead Janine through it and they were all smiles coming out at the end.

They also did the giant slide and one more ride.
Watched the auctioned while enjoying ice cream. Brayden held on to my cotton candy (an absolute must for me).

To finish off the evening, a camel ride.

These two goofballs.

And the best cheeks ever.

Theater in the Woods

Wolf Trap for a Puppet show.

We walked back to the Theater in the Woods.

Carter and Luke enjoyed the puppets, which were all dragons. They decided which ones were their favorites but each time a new one would come out they would change their mind.

Brayden seemed to enjoy it at first but then feel asleep.

After the show we had a picnic lunch and played by in stream.

Oh and the boys purchased dragons like the puppets.

Football Camp and Coach

Carter, Luke AND Jeremy have football camp this week. An evening camp for their fall football program.



Carter will be playing tackle for the first time.




Luke playing flag (although he wants to tackle someone) for the first time.


Jeremy coaching Luke's team thus helping with the camp.

The garden keeps on growing

Our garden is full of zucchini, squash, tomatoes...growing watermelon, cantaloupe and pumpkins.

Carter takes on the responsibility of picking items from the garden. He looks carefully for the ones that are ready. And watches the progress on each plant.


Gander circles around, sometimes trying a little tomatoe but she does not care for them.

Finally Luke's Tooth!

Luke's has been waiting (not so patiently) for that first tooth to come out.

It has been wiggly for a few weeks. Last night it was ready. I asked him to come in the family room for me to pull it...but I was denied because he wanted Carter to pull it out.

So he did. Carter pulled out Luke's tooth.

Luke was so excited that he declared that I should call everyone I know. He did call his Grammy (my grandmother) and asked he if the tooth fairy was rich.

He asked me to help him write a letter for the tooth fairy and he placed it under his pillow. This morning at about 5:45 a.m. he can in to let me know the tooth fairy did come (and he did not go back to sleep).

Day at the Museum

Since Carter and Luke have seen the Night at the Museum movies, they have been wanting to go. We did not go to NYC we did go to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC.



Carter, Luke, Brayden, Brayden's nurse Christina and I headed in to the museum. All the boys had a great time.

We wandered the museum. Ate lunch and watched a 3D movie about dinosaurs. Of course Carter and Luke said they liked it but they never let go of my hands.

They acted out each dinosaur or animal they saw.

We spent time in the Discovery Room, where kids can touch, smell and look at so many things. Carter and Luke were fascinated by the microscopes. Luke carried around the magnifying glass to look at everything. Brayden got in on the action, really liking the abacus, raking his fingers across it. He even held a skull.

Carrie in NYC

A weekend away for Carrie in NYC with a friend.

Our mission...to see the shows. We came with tickets to see Promises, Promises, starring Sean Hayes and Kristen Chenoweth (they were amazing).

But we stood in line at this...two more times.














Got tickets for Mamma Mia and South Pacific, both shows really good.






In case you did not know, I oh so enjoy musicals.

We did the tourist thing. Went to Rockfeller Center's Top of the Rock and a NBC Studios tour.



















Got the Hop on, Hop off Tour Bus, rode all the way around Manhattan, seeing most of the major sites. One day hoped off for a street market in Soho.









We stayed right in time square (our hotel entrance to the bottom right of the picture). All the lights, sounds (smells), people, the full NYC experience.

Of course we ate pizza, a couple of real restaurants and some sweet treats (hit up some infamous cupcake shops).


















We did see Zarin Fabrics (next time we will go in). If you have no idea what this is, do not worry, you are probably better off.

And our celebrity spotting...

We were walking back from the Lincoln Center after seeing South Pacific, kind of off the busy streets of Time Square. About 11:30 p.m. and a little blond walks by us and to an ATM. My friend and I looked at each other...it was Kristen Chenoweth (the star of the Promises, Promises and guest star on Glee). Of course we hovered for a minute, then a guy walked her to a old green suburban with a little white dog in it. They drove off. We did not get up enough nerve to say something after all being approached by a complete stranger, late at night in NYC, while at an ATM...not really the best time. After the fact we realized that the guy might have been her reported boyfriend, Lane Garrison (we googled for pictures and it did look like him).
Regrettably, we did not get any photos.