Washington D.C.

At the beginning of October, we made our annual trip to Washington D.C.  Each year we (usually Rich these days) go to run the Army 10 miler in honor of our friend, Major David G. Taylor, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.  This year was the 5th anniversary of his death and so there was a big get together with friends of his from all parts of his life.  While in D.C., we try to partake in all things D.C.  

 The kids had a fun time trying all out of the equipment at the Army 10 miler expo.

 Terefech was unusually good at flying a Blackhawk in a simulator.  She did manage to run over a few soldiers while driving in a Humvee simulator.  

 We also headed over to the Natural History Museum. 

 We went into the butterfly house while there and saw some amazing butterflies.  This one though Dave's butt was a great landing place.  He stayed there most of our time in the house and had to be brushed off before Dave left much to the chagrin of the woman working there!

 All kinds of cool dinosaurs...

Just had to share...

The kids with our next door neighbor...not sure what they are but they are having fun!

Caves

We met some of our favorite people at the Schiele Museum in Gastonia to visit their Caves exhibit.  The kids had a great time climbing in the cave, climbing the cave and seeing all the animals at the museum.  Much of the museum is still what I would call old fashioned in that it has lots of things to just look at.  The kids didn't seem to mind as they dashed from huge animal to huge animal.  There is also a "farm" outside with some real animals running around.  They thought chasing chickens was a great game...don't think the chickens agreed.

 Yep you needed to see this picture twice!

Terefech turns 6

Terefech turned 6 in September and had a Super Hero birthday party.  We decided to go with a more retro theme, more bang, pow, zonk!  She had a blast jumping over tall buildings, lifting heavy barbells, and flying around the back yard!

 One of her favorite gifts, Rahel, a doll from Ethiopia.  

 Enjoying Miss Jess cupcakes...the best cupcakes in the world.

 Wow they are strong!!!

Tree climbers

The kids love climbing trees at Grandma and Papa's house.

Goodbye Neighbor

We had to say goodbye to our long time neighbor Bree.  We will miss her so much...in fact we already do.  The kids often look longingly over at her house and wonder what she is doing in her new home...

Rich ran the Warrior Dash and earned his horns.  He of course didn't take the camera with him to the race so no pictures of him knee and chest deep in mud or stained red from the clay.  Great time...good thing he had fun because he broke his foot a week later trail running in his five finger shoes.

The kids love playing with their neighbor, Mary. Their swing set gets tons of use and is definitely a well used gift from Grandma and Papa.

Still here...

For those of you, like my mom, who actually check my blog, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I am having a hard time loading any pictures and it looks like I might have to buy picture storage in order to put any pictures on my blog. If you know of a way around that, tell me!!! Plus, working full time has basically left me no time to do anything else. Rich and I are often on opposite schedules so I am single parenting it many weekends and evenings. So, hopefully sometime soon I will figure this out and get some pictures up!