Thanksgiving (Day 1)

This Thanksgiving we were so thankful to have Matt's parents visit us.  They were able to come on Wednesday and left of Saturday.  However, though it was such a short visit it was so much fun and we had a great time together.

 Grace and Grandma Sue began doing puzzles and they ended up putting together at least six puzzles.

 Glen just just happy to be tickled by, and spend time with, Grandpa Steve.

This is the beginning of a wonderful time together.

Just some cute pictures of the kids

Halloween 2017

Happy Halloween from Anna and Spiderman!

Monticello

Living in Virginia we have the joy to be surrounded by our nation's history.  One day in October, Matt had not started his new job yet and I had a day off of work, also the kids were off of school so we decided to explore some of this history.

We drove an hour down the interstates to Charlottesville and went to Monticello which is the home of Thomas Jefferson.  The author of the Declaration of Independence and the President of the United States.

 The tour of the house was amazing and very informative.  Grace loved to compare the tour to the children's tour booklet.  She was very into matching everything in her booklet to the item in the house.

 After the inside of the house we went to look at the kitchens, pantries, and the gardens.

 The house is beautiful and wonderfully kept up.  We learned so much about this amazing man who was knowledgeable about so very many of subjects.

 The gardens were a favorite of all of us because we got to be outside, run around, and learn about all of the plants that were growing on the grounds.

 This is the kids with the man himself!

 But here is the best part of the day.  We went to the Griffin Museum.  This is a please touch me museum that has the kids tryout and participate in the items that Jefferson did.  For instance the blocks below helped demonstrate architecture.

 The cooking pot demonstrated the slave quarters and how they lived.

 Games, sayings, and portraits were everywhere.

 Glen found a cypher that was used to send messages.

 And Grace learned how to weave.

They had so much fun and we were happy to have a day trip as a family.

Grace 2nd Grade

Glen Kindergarten

Pumpkin Patch

 It has become a tradition for our family to find a pumpkin patch in the fall and enjoy what the farm has to offer.  This year once again we went to Back Home On The Farm.  Grace and Glen love it there and actually so do Matt and I.  These pictures are out of order, but it will at least tell the events of the day.  We found the wagon train and Grace and Glen got to go for a nice ride.

 

 But there were so few people at the farm that we got to go again...

 And again.  That is the nice thing about going early in the season (yes, we went in September...I am late on my writing).  So few people means many rides, and no lines!

 No lines for the long, underground slide meant that the kids had ride after ride after ride they slid down, and ran up the hill to do it again.  They were so tired when we got home!

 Glen and I had a rubber ducky race with water pumps.  He won.

Grace and Glen also raced in the "hamster wheels"  When they were racing each other Grace won. 

However, when Grace and Glen worked together they easily beat me. 

 We tried out the corn maze.  I am glad that I thought to have Matt take a picture of the map of the maze before we entered so that we did not get terribly lost at all.

 Grace loved being our leader and holding up our "we need help" flag.

 And as we do every year, we try to get on good picture of the kids in front of a festive scene.

Other activities we did involved watching the pig races, visiting the petting zoo, and many other activities.

I love this tradition and am looking forward to next year.