Lunch

This is lunchtime at our house.  Everyone sits at the counter to eat.

even Joey.

Pests

In mid July we discovered this in one of the cedar trees in the front yard.

This humongous hornets next was about 15 feet in the air and was home to hundreds and hundreds of very large hornets.

Gross, yet amazing.

We called in a pest control service and for a mere (cough, cough, choke) $250

 

they happily put on their bee keeping suit,

put their can of toxic, smoky chemicals on the end of a very tall poll, knocked down the hornet nest and

provided about 45 minutes of entertainment to Xandra and Theia during naptime.

At the end of naptime, the nest was gone.

So was $250 and naptime.  

What a bunch of pests those hornets turned out to be!

Ridin' A Bike

She's learning to ride a bike.

and

soon she won't need our help!

Stayin' Cool at the Pool

It was hot when Grandma and Grandpa were here.  That made it perfect weather for a trip to the pool. 

During the safety checks, we ate crackers

and grandpa played with his crackers.

When Joe got off work, he joined us at the pool,

just in time for Grandpa to treat pizza for dinner.

Joey liked the peppers best.

Our evening of fun was unexpectedly cut short by an approaching thunderstorm that mysteriously never caused any rain.  Joe felt confident it was a ploy by the pool workers to get off work early.

We headed home for some promised popsicles

and clean up before bed.

Men In Charge

This kind of stuff only happens when the guys are in charge.

Sing-a-ma-Tim

He's my father-in-law.  He's a little crazy.  And he never ceases to amaze me.

A Colonial Kind of Day

On Saturday of Grandma & Grandpa's visit, we drug the whole crew to Mt. Vernon.  In the almost four years we've lived in the DC area, we've never visited.  The day started with lunch just outside the grounds under a shady tree.

Then we made our way inside to the visitor's center.

Everyone liked it but Joey, who was briefly confined to his stroller and very unhappy about it.  It's hard to be the baby. 

Here's the mansion, under construction.

Evidentally they were rustificating old George's house.  You can read about it below.

One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was a stop in to hear Mrs. Washington talk.  They had someone dressed as her who was talking and answering questions about their life.  Very interesting and also air conditioned.

While Mary, Tim and I toured the mansion, Joe was on kid patrol.

It looks like they enjoyed their time overlooking the Potomac.

Other highlights of the day were the blacksmiths (Joe) and also helping winnow the wheat from the 16 sided barn.  The people below are historians who work for the Mt. Vernon estate.  They dress like this everyday and spend their time working in the fields, winnowing wheat, and educating people like us about the ways of the colonial folks.  Fascinating, really.

The property included some beautfiul wooded areas that we hiked through on our way to the museum.

The museum had more information than one person could absorb in a week.  They also had a fun interactive area for kids that we found much too late in the day.

The best part of the interactive kids room was the dress up.

The girls thought this was grand.

After this shot was snapped, the kids and women headed home

and the crazy, ambitious men among us headed to Manassas for a guided tour of the battleground there.