Cunningham Falls State Park

On Labor Day we headed out to Cunningham Falls State Park in the Catoctin mountains about 1 hour and a half away. We had a nice little hike...

...to a great little waterfall.

 

The girls had a lot of fun climbing on the rocks.

 

 

After the waterfall we headed to the beautiful lake. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our suits so, we were only able to put our feet in.

 

 

Before we left the park the girls had to stop at the play ground.

 

 

 The girls have NEVER seen a playground that they didn't like.

 

It was another great family outing!



Amish Country

On the first day of Labor Day weekend we headed to Lancaster County Pennsylvania, Amish country.

 Our first stop was the town of Lancaster. In Lancaster we stopped for a bit of tourist information and then we noticed a great indoor market...

The market reminded me a lot of an indoor Pike Place. I wish we had more time to explore it but it was an imposable place with the girls; it was very close quarters and packed full of people.

At the tourist information we found out about an old train that would take us through some of the Amish farmlands, we headed straight there. We are so glad that we did. The girls really enjoyed the train and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Another cool thing about the train was that it was coal run!

After we got off the train we did some driving as we searched for a place to eat. The meal that we found was beyond mediocre but, again, the scenery was stunning.

One thing that we were shocked to learn was how big of a cash crop tobacco was for the Amish. We saw tobacco drying in almost every barn we came across.

After lunch we went on search for covered bridges...we succeeded!

We hope the girls had a good time, we sure did.

Happy Birthday Auntie Remy!

On September 1st was Auntie Remy's birthday! Here is Abby and Kera's message to their Auntie...

 

Sisters & Friends

As Kera gets older her and Abby have started to play a lot more together. Of course, they have their fights but, I love it when I walk into the room and they are playing together like friends. Here is one of those moments...reading time on the couch.

Until Next Time

When we first arrived in Maryland we were very lucky to have our friends the Hughes' living about 20 minutes away from us. We first met the Hughes in Chicago before either of us had kids (we both now have 2). After Chicago they moved to Maryland and we moved to Vegas. Now we moved to Maryland and they are lucky enough to finally be headed home to Boston. Thank you Chris, Stacy, Emma, and Jack for another round of good times and hopefully we will be seeing you in the future.

Kera and Jack. As you can see Kera loves Jack but, Jack...not so sure.

Emma and Abby, one last play date...for now.

Count Down to the 1st Day of School!

We were talking-up school so much to Abby over the last several months that she was REALLY starting to get excited. She would continually ask when she was going to start school so, to help her see how long she had until the first day of school...we made an old fashion paper chain.

Now, Abby can count down the days until school!

A Weekend We Wish We Could Redo

The weekend of August 18th and 19th was full of calamities!

On Saturday we headed out for what we thought was going to be a nice bike ride on the Crescent Capital Bike Trail. We parked in Bethesda and set out on the trail towards DC. Unfortunately, Kera had woken up VERY early that morning and by mid-morning she was a whinny mess. We were going to ride around DC a bit but by the time we got to the edge of Georgetown it was time to turn around.

On the ride back to the car Kera took a few cat naps but was still not a happy girl. The only time she was not crying was when I was holding her hand which means...I was riding one handed. It was a beautiful day which meant it was busy day on the trail and it had rained the night before so, it was wet in spots. I took my eyes off the trail for just a moment and when I looked up Jim was breaking and I was about to hit him so; I slammed on my break. Remember, I was riding one handed so I slammed on one break on a wet spot and Kera and I took a tumble, SCARY! Jim had Abby on the back of his bike s,o he was not instantly able to jump off of his bike to help us. Fortunately, I took the brunt of the fall but Kera of course was scarred and her poor hand was scrapped up.

 

Thankfully some nice people stopped to help us and we were able to stop Kera's bleeding hand very quickly. I was more shaken up than she was. After a few min of walking we were back on our bikes and headed to the car. Luckily we made it back to the car without getting a parking ticket, our meter had just run out.

 

Unfortunately, Sunday was not much better. When we looked at the forecast on Sunday morning and there was rain in the forecast but not until the afternoon so, we decided to go to the National Zoo. The day stated out good; we saw a very playful elephant...

 

 

...and a shy jaguar.

 

 

But then the sky opened and it started to pour...not just rain, POUR. We took cover for a bit...

 

 

..but, after waiting over 10 min we had to make a run for the car. By the time we got to the car we were drenched! So very drenched that I was not going to let the girls sit in their wet clothes all the way home (about 40 min.). So...I stripped them down.

 

 

At least there were snacks!

 

Better luck next weekend!