Mother's Day on the Big Screen and at the Garden!

 What a perfect movie night for us :)

 On Saturday, Mimi, Bampa and I took the boys to the Manassas Air Show!  We've gone the last few years, and it ended up being a really nice day, so we ventured out.  The only part that is tricky each year is the shuttling to and from the parking lot.  Getting TO the air show was fine, but getting back to our car was a huge headache :(  It was really a bummer to end a fun day with long lines, bad attitudes (by other people) and disorganization.  But, we really had a great time!  The boys wanted to try one of the inflatable right away, and they were lucky to have Mimi and Bampa there to make that happen ;)  It was a pretty cool space shuttle slide...

 Jackson under the plane

 In front of the Abraham Lincoln!

 It did not take Jackson long to thrown the football through the hole!  They boys got cool water bottles from the Army!

 Someone brought a Flat Stanley!!!

 We relaxed after getting home and then headed to Red Robin for dinner!  Always a favorite :)  

 Another fun outing on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day!  We all had such a good time at the Meadowlark Winter Walk of Lights this Christmas, that it seemed like such a fun idea to enjoy the Garden during Spring!  The Fairy Garden was the first thing we saw, and it was just adorable!

 We all had a great time!  We stopped at The Vienna Inn for lunch--a great choice!

Hanging out back at home.  We ordered Chinese for dinner to round out a really fun day :)

My Birthday and Cinqo de Mayo

 Josh bought an inflatable kayak to try out while deciding how much kayaking he'd really do.  Luckily, he realized he would do a good amount of kayaking if he had his own before this one got a hole :(  It was not patchable, so...

 We bought a kayak while on my birthday date with Mom and Dad who arrived in town earlier in the day!!!

 Josh did a lot of research and found a great option to allow him to secure the kayak to the top of the Prius.  We love our ATP (All Terrain Prius)!

 After that adventurous outing, we had a delicious dinner at Coastal Flats followed by adult milkshakes at Ted's Bulletin.  Such a fun day with my favorite people :)

 Yesterday was a tad complicated...  I dropped Mimi off at Pattie to have lunch with Jackson, and right after picking her up from that, I headed over to preschool for Graham's Mother's Day Tea!

 The classes sang some adorable songs, and Graham just looked SO happy to be up there performing for me!

 Our Tea Time!

 There was a scramble at our table for the carrots, celery and dip!  LOL

 THEN, we picked up Mimi and went to Chick fil a for lunch :)

 To round out a really fun day, we decided to brave El Paso for dinner!  We knew it would be crazy, so we sent Mimi and Bampa ahead to put our name on the list and have a drink.  Surprisingly, the wait didn't end up being that long and Josh and I went over with the boys and we had a really fun and delicious dinner!

 Graham had just earned this new train, and it kept him busy during all of dinner!

 Cinqo de Mayo dinner!

Stories with Mimi :)

Mimi Saves Our Sanity!!!

Mimi's trip was planned, but we had no way of knowing when we scheduled it that she would arrive at the end of #snolycrap and in the midst of EIGHT days off of school!!!  Our first adventure out of the house with Mimi was to our favorite Barnes and Noble location with a fabulous train table, a huge selection of books and lots of yummy drinks :)  On Saturday, Kristyn, Arturo, Diego and Aurelia stopped by on their way to visit other friends and stayed for brunch and some playtime.  

 On Sunday, we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History!  The main dinosaur exhibit is closed, but they had a smaller area to visit open.  Someone was a very happy camper...!

 Our goal was to go to Red Robin for dinner after the museum, but traffic was not on our side.  We convinced these yahoos that Five Guys would be a suitable replacement.  I think their faces call that a success :)

 Sees Sucker faces!

 The long-awaited day was finally here when our brand-new neighborhood library opened!!!  We were so excited Mimi was here to go see it with us for the first time!  The building is beautiful, there is underground parking, and the whole place is just so bright!  The boys are standing in the front lobby after riding the elevator up from the parking garage.

Jackson found this fun rocking chair in a little area that will be used for storytimes.  We chekced out quite a haul of new books to read at home.  That was the best part for me: ALL OF THE BOOKS ARE BRAND NEW!!!

Boxing Day

We don't really celebrate Boxing Day, but does sound so much more interesting than "The Day After Christmas!"  We headed to one of our favorite spots that is nice and close: The Marine Corps Museum!  First, we took advantage of the crazy weather and took Mimi and Bampa (and Daddy and Jackson, for that matter) for the walk along the trail by the museum to complete a Whereigo cartridge (a Whereigo is a type of cache that is an interactive scavenger hunt asking for information along the way leading you to the final ending spot).  Everyone enjoyed the beautiful walk and fun cache :)

Then, we headed inside and straight for the fishing area!

Check out that little face peeking over the top of the Jeep!

Not quite tall enough...

I think this captures their personalities PERFECTLY!

Christmas with Mimi and Bampa 2015

There was a nice visitor who took a picture of all of us :)

Reading one of his new books before the grown-ups escaped for one last dinner out together!