#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!

Soon, I promise.

Some of you may be checking our blog and wondering where the new posts are. Sorry that the number of days beween posts seems to grow each month. Life has been busy since we moved and it's hard to find time to blog.

My parents were in town last week and we have lots of great photos to post. I will get to it once my 3 day "working interview" is complete at the pediatric dental office. Hopefully I will also have good news to share about the potential job.