The National Christmas Tree

This past weekend, we ventured into the city and met up with our friends, Ben and Kelsey. We took a field trip to the National Christmas Tree at the Ellipse in front of the White House. It's a live blue spruce that was planted in 1978 and every year is decorated with lights, along with 56 smaller trees for the 50 states, one District and 5 U.S. territories. Can you name all 5 territories? I couldn't! The U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was new to me!

The National Tree

Yule Log burning all day and night until New Year's Day

Each of the 56 trees are decorated with ornaments made by a school, artist, community group, etc from their state.

Ethan and the Virginia tree

I'm with the Washington tree (and the Washington Monument)

My camera is not so great with night photos but here's the White House. It is beautifully decorated, with more than a few Christmas trees in the windows. We could also see the snipers walking on the roof. How festive!

This is the last post until after Christmas. We fly out to Seattle this weekend for a week-long, much-needed visit. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to our family and friends!

Let it Snow

Winter has arrived! We woke up to snowflakes falling this morning. It's been snowing all day and we now have at least 4 inches.

A Via Family Thanksgiving

Ethan and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving in our new house with the Via's. Ethan's brother and his family, along with Ethan's parents traveled to Ashburn for the holiday. We had a fantastic meal - thanks to help from Marcia and Courtney, dinner turned out great! Along with lots of eating, we had fun playing outside, watching movies, cutting down our Christmas tree, visiting the Air and Space Museum and putting in some time on the Wii.

Here's a link to the Thanksgiving photo album:

Thanksgiving 2009

Turning 5!

One of the many great things about living in Virginia is that we are able to attend family birthday parties. Our nephew just turned 5 and we went to Richmond to celebrate with friends and family at his bowling party.

Peyton and his Star Wars cake

Get your bowling shoes on!

Arcade time

Enjoying one of his presents - flag football!

Fall Fun

Our Brooklyn buddies, Chad and Sarah, recently came to see our new place. We miss them terribly, so it was great to have them stay with us for a couple days. We packed in a lot of sightseeing in a short amount of time, including the Air and Space Museum and a trip to a pumpkin farm - have a look:


The Dulles branch of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is about 15 minutes from our house. We heard there is a space shuttle there, so we had to check it out and see the Shuttle Enterprise. It just so happened that it was trick or treat day at the museum. We walked among little dinosaurs, chickens, superheroes and Star Wars characters.


It just so happened that it was trick or treat day at the museum. We walked among dinosaurs, chickens, princesses, superheroes and Star Wars characters.

The Enola Gay (from Hiroshima bombing)

Up in the observation tower, too rainy to see the air traffic from Dulles Airport.

A little fall color through the fog.

We took part in some Halloween festivities at Great Country Farms in Bluemont, VA. A fun night with approx. 1,500 jack-o-lanterns, marshmallow roasting, a rope maze,and a hay ride. You can't go wrong with a farm that's near Snickersville Turnpike (just love that name).

Jack-o-lanterns carved by local students.

Armed with sticks and ready to roast

Marshmallow roast

We made it through the tricky rope maze in pitch black darkness.

Chad and Sarah - Hay Ride!

Chilly ride

Leaf peeping walk on our neighborhood trails

Virginia has the most vibrant leaf colors!

Chad and Sarah ~ Thanks for coming to visit! We'll be back to see you in NYC soon!

#32

Happy Birthday, Ethan! We celebrated #32 last weekend with some birthday visitors. His dad, brother and family came for the weekend and despite the rain, we had a great time! Ethan said it was one of the best birthday's he's ever had. :) Thanks to everyone for coming to visit!

Make a wish!

Some help with the blowing part from the kids.

Alison liked (and licked) the frosting.

Cake and ice cream, anyone? We recommend trying Edy's/Dreyer's new limited edition called Hot Cocoa. Chocolate ice cream with marshmallows - so good!

The Wii was a big hit - it had been a year since we played any video games and we were glad to put it to good use. Now Ethan is hooked again and is playing Wii golf as I write this blog entry. Practicing for the Thanksgiving tournament...

The Wii audience - we saw some great strikes, home runs, birdies and knockouts!

On Sunday, it was a Roanoke reunion in our house. Ethan's childhood buddies Jim and Chris came over with their wives and kids. Jim and Emily live in Maryland and Chris and Megan live 10 minutes away from us, in Sterling. We are looking forward to seeing them all more frequently, now that we are neighbors!

It's Cookout Time!

Ethan's life is complete again - he has a grill! He is now the proud owner of a Weber Spirit. Let the cookouts begin!

Parents Visit

My parents were in town last week and we saw some cool things in Virginia. It was the first time I've done any real sightseeing since we moved here, so it was nice to get out and explore our new state. One of the perks of being unemployed is that I don't have to use any vacation days so I was able to spend more time with my parents. We went to George Mason's house (Gunston Hall), Great Falls Park (not to be confused with Great Falls, MT), DC, Gettysburg and worked on some home improvement projects.

Mom and I in front of Gunston Hall. George Mason IV lived in this plantation house on the Potomac River in the mid-1700's. Mason is known as the "father of the Bill of Rights", although James Madison usually gets all the credit.

Dad and I with the Potomac behind us.


Gunston Hall

Great Falls Park (on theVirginia side of the Potomac)

The U.S. Capitol Building

Charles Lindbergh's plane at the Air and Space Museum

Lincoln Memorial

FDR Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial


Gettysburg National Park in Pennslvania - you can drive through the battlefields. The Park Service did an amazing job with the visitor center, which has a film, cyclorama (360 degree oil painting depicting the Civil War battle) and an extensive museum.

Confederate soldiers

Union soldiers

Gettysburg National Cemetery, unknown soldiers

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

-A. Lincoln

Monument marking the site of the Gettysburg address.

I like these fences.

View from Little Round Top

I put my parents to work during their visit. :) They are full of handy tips about how to fix things (like one of our toilets) and how to take care of our yard. Our front garden had a raised bed, which was filled with 4 layers of white "decorative" rock and mulch/bark. This needed to be removed, along with 5 overgrown bushes and 2 sickly crepe myrtles. We worked for two days and now the front yard looks great! Thanks for all your hard work, Mom and Dad!

Before

After

We had a wonderful visit with my parents and we can't wait for Christmas in Seattle! We've been away too long!