Gymnastics and cousins

We are in Indiana this weekend for a rhythmic gymnastics meet, and since it is not (so) far from St Louis, Mark's parents, sister and the 3 cousins came out! Haley (6) and Abby (4) watching with Gryphon. Not pictured in Emma, who is 2 and not so enthralled with rhythmic meets!Rowan had a good meet, here she is with her hoop. Actually, with *Nicole's* hoop, since I left her equipment back in Virginia. Whoops. Good thing they are about the same size!

Here's the whole team post-meet, from left to rt, Becky, Olga, Coach Konstantza, Brianna, Valentina, Giselle, Rowan and Nicole in front.

With her ribbons- she got 4th all around.

A very bad picture of Rowan getting 2nd place in hoop.

The girls in bed, watching High School Musical post-pool.They had so much fun!

Thanksgiving, DC style

We went to the Old Ebbitt Grill for our Thanksgiving meal, as has become our DC tradition. Once again, the girls and Mark had "Thanksgiving food" and I had...crab cakes! It was great, again.

After our pie and coffee, we swung by the White House, just because. The Old Ebbitt is right across from the White House.
Then it was off to the recently re-opened American History Museum. Gryphon was super excited to see Abraham Lincoln's hat, since its been closed for 2 long years for a remodel.

The remodel was underwhelming, though. All we could see that had changed was the central staircase (its glass, making wearing a skirt sans tights a little, uh, risky!) and the area where they keep the Star Spangled Banner. That was cool, though, they have done a much better job of preserving this historic flag in its new spot.

And Abe Lincoln's hat was *not out*!! Not until January, which had Gryphon quite sad. We did see all the usual things- the ruby slippers, Kermit, Seinfeld's puffy shirt. All in the 60s-era decor of the American History Museum, which had changed not a bit after 2 years and millions of dollars. Kinda stumped by that one!

Then we drove around DC in the beautiful late afternoon light, and later went to see Bolt. (Bolt is very sad- I cried, Rowan cried, Gryphon cried. Too much crying, though it has a happy ending.)

Aunt Kim

Aunt Kim had a layover in DC, so we got to meet her for lunch down in Georgetown. It was great to see her again- the girls talked her ears off!

New leotards and fun stuff

We had gym pictures last week- it took until midnight! But the girls had lots of fun, it was the first time dressing up in their new leotards. One of the girls on the team has a mom who sews, and so Rowan got a new leotard she picked out herself this year.(Last year she got moved to the team after they had been ordered, so I got her a used one on eBay that was nice, but she didn't get to pick it!) Its her favorite color- blue! And the stars were her idea, too. Gryphon may compete later this season if she gets more flexible (ouch...!)so she has a fancy leotard, too. Hers is from eBay, and she loves it.

The flash dies while Rowan was posing, so while the photographer got batteries I snapped some cheesy photos of my own of her. Gryphon had no flash malfunctions during her photo shoot, so I don't have any pics of her . I'm sure I'll have gymnastics pictures ad nauseum later though, never fear! ;)

OH happy day..!

Been dancing around to this song gleefully all morning. Polling places are packed from coast to coast, and the times they are a changing.
http://www.last.fm/music/Bob+Dylan/_/The+Times+They+Are+A-Changin'

Click on the link and sing along with me if you want.
Happy, happy, happy today.

Halloweenies

Its that time again! We went outside in the beautiful fall weather for some Halloween costume pictures

Rowan is Sleeping Beauty, she adores her wig. When she puts it on, she walks very primly and strokes her hair. Its hilarious- the poor kid is obsessed with long hair.

Look! No Harry Potter, for the first time in years!!

Both girls went to a costume party last week with a costume contest, and Gryphon went as a headless cheerleader. Her *real* costume is of Marley the Yellow Lab (from the book Marley and Me) but we didn't get around to making it until today. Its homemade, by Gryphon. She is very proud of it- I prefer the headless Cheerleader myself for the hilarity!
More pictures this weekend of Trick or Treat and some more fun fall stuff we have planned!

Concord

Today we went to Concord, and it is the *cutest* little New England town! Like driving through a calendar. The foliage was spectacular. We walked around Walden Pond, and took in the beautiful scenery and Thoreau's cabin sight.

While at Walden, we noticed what looked like swimmers in the far side of the pond. As we started around, we met this amazing man coming out of the woods. He was 91 this past August, and swims in the pond every morning. In winter, he has to break the ice to get in the water! Must be something in the water- he was really neat.

We also visited Louisa May Alcott's home, Orchard House. The tour was spectacular, and the girls (especially Gryphon) loved hearing about the plays put on in the Alcott's parlor.
We went to Concord's Sleepy Hollow cemetery, site of the famous Author's Hill. (No relation to the headless horseman Sleepy Hollow, though we saw a man taking pictures of himself with his head tucked into his shirt who apparently didn't know that!)

We saw the graves of the Alcott family, Thoreau, Emerson. Wow! And of course, lots more cool cemetery photos for me!

We also went to Minuteman park, where the girls raced over the North Bridge. They also played Paul Revere- Gryphon is the horse, and Rowan is yelling "The British are coming!". A quick stop to Lexington Green rounded out the day.

More Boston adventures tomorrow!

Well, crap.

I turned on comment word verification due to spam. Sorry, I know its annoying, but...Bob the Builder on the last post forced me to. Its a testament to my low readership how long it took to get any spam here. ;) Would that it lasted forever!

Boston in the fall

We are here in Boston, with Mark's parents, for a little fall vacation. Today we started out at the public gardens, where I tried to get some fall portraits of the girls. The swan boats were put up for the winter, but the fall foliage was beautiful!From there it was off to Boston Common and the Freedom Trail. We walked all over Boston today.


Rowan's favorite part of the Freedom Trail: The Old North Church. Gryphon's: Paul Revere's house
Mark most enjoyed the Old North Church, as well. My favorite was of course the gorgeous graveyards!! I got some beautif. ul photos of headstones

We're off to Concord tomorrow!

A Virginia Fall Tradition

We drove out to Centerville, VA for our annual trip to Cox Farms on Sunday. The weather was beautiful- not as hot as last year but still in the 80's.

This year we went with buddies, Gracie and Libby. The girls had a blast.

Did all the regular Cox Farms stuff- rope swing, slides, ate too much kettle corn.

This year they added a corn maze, with The Vortex. That was actually not so cool- it gave me the worst motion sickness! Of course the kids went through it a dozen times, but once was more than enough for me!

We'll miss Cox Farms next year, its gotten to be a fall tradition around here!

Coolest Field Trip Ever!

Today we went to Damascus, Maryland, to a horse rescue! Its called Day's End Farm, http://www.defhr.org/ and it was *so* neat!
First, we heard all about the amazing work Day's End does to rehab and adopt out horses taken by animal control due to abuse and neglect. Very sad to see some of the photos of the resident horses as emaciated skeletons.
With the economy in a downturn, the neglect cases rise, because horses are very expensive to keep. This guy in the barn, above, has a bad case of "cribbing", repetitive motions horses do to calm themselves if they are stressed. He spent most of his life locked in a manure filled stall in the dark, so he is quite stressed. Physically, he's fine, which is the good news!
The girls learned about caring for horses hooves and coat, feeding and watering.

Then the girls got to groom some horses.Next it was time to ride some of the rehabilitated horses who are up for adoption. Most of the horses at the farm make full recoveries, though some cannot be ridden they can be companion animals. I wish we had the room and money to take one (or four!) home.

For animal loving girls, it was the Coolest Field Trip ever. I got a kick out of Gryphon- she knows a surprising amount about horses!

*Gryphon got into...something...and has a terrible allergic reaction right now on her face and neck. The doctor said its some kind of contact thing, but what, exactly, we don't know. SO while she looks really scary, she is fine except for some itching!*