Who's ready for warmer weather, short sleeves, flowers and spending time outside without shivering? THIS GIRL! Well, its the beginning of March and I'm ready with all the spring things, but of course no one notified the weather of Virginia. So even though I was ready, it was still cold and chilly outside. That's okay... we moved forward. Mama was ready with popsicles and we blew up the Jump-a-roo and set out to see all the flowers we could (even with our jackets on).
Chris is thrilled because the boys have started to have a greater interest in playing games... and not your usual Candyland or Chutes and Ladders, but strategy games, which they really seem to love. Their favorites are Sleeping Queens and Ticket to Ride. We still have an occasional tear when someone loses, but we are working on that!
We are still continuing with our weekly adventures... some are better than others and some please mama more than the boys, so the following week I try to make it up to them. One of our favorites this spring was to Luray Caverns. Who knew a huge cave existed in Virginia? We certainly didn't and we were pleasantly surprised!
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| The huge lake where the reflection was quite amazing! |
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| These formations were called curtains and they were fascinating. |
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| They could not resist touching this one! |
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| They also had a mining for gems area and the boys were in heaven. |
Another fun adventure was to Wheaton Park... these slides were huge. The boys enjoyed one of the first "warmer" days of the new year and it was beautiful!
Of course Easter is always one of our favorite things about spring. This year we had a twiggy tree in our front yard that was just begging to be an egg tree. The boys loved it!
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| Our backyard is truly amazing in the spring. This is one of my favorite trees! |
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| I remember these yarn eggs to be easier to make when I was little, but the boys were still impressed. |
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| One of our favorite traditions... peeps smores! They love them and so do I! |
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| And of course, egg dying! |
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| Love these bright colors! |
And the following two adventures were planned strictly for me, but I took the boys along. The first was the beautiful and ever famous cherry blossoms. I have been looking forward to seeing these ever since Chris told me we were moving here and they did not disappoint. The whole tidal basin was a sight to see! We decided to take the Potomac Water Taxi so the boys would be a little more interested and so we didn't have to fight traffic (which was horrendous)!
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| I just love this of the five of us! |
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| Adorable! |
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| Just amazing! |
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| My sweet boys! |
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| Loading the water taxi |
The next morning was Easter and we had a wonderful day... church was lovely and we spent the afternoon with our new friends. It was just perfect.
A true blessing we have found is the homeschool ministry at our new church. Once a month on a Friday night we play organized games in our church gym and we meet weekly for running club. The boys have really enjoyed it!
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| Stretching before running club |
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| Gym Night |
I apologize now for the picture overload, but I just can't help myself. Another adventure that was more for me than the boys was to see the tulips. I have always wanted to go to a tulip farm and it was exactly what I imagined. There were tulips everywhere and the colors were spectacular!
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| Abram's favorites were the yellow ones |
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| I mean, they were gorgeous! |
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| Such bright pink! |
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| Just look at them! |
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| This mama was in heaven! |
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| The ones we picked at the farm. |
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| And then once they got in a vase. |
We love our house here in Alexandria for so many reasons, and one of the reasons is this amazing garden thats on the side of our house. We spent one Saturday at Home Depot and then came home and weeded, planted, and put down new soil and it just looks great! And thanks to all the spring rain we have been getting lately, everything is just taking off. We should have tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peas, carrots, squash, cucumbers and bell peppers soon!
And of course our last spring adventure was camping! We finally went camping for the first time since we left Jacksonville and we have missed it. Our first trip was to Harpers Ferry, WV. It was only an hour and a half away which was just perfect. The campsite was just lovely and on the Potomac River and another added bonus was that we camped next to a family with kids and the five of them played the entire weekend. We also had a fun day exploring the town of Harpers Ferry and going on an amazing hike.
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| The town of Harpers Ferry |
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| Before our hike... |
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| We made it to the lookout! |
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| We were so proud of them. It was a four mile hike and they did an incredible job! |
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| Playing with their new friends. |
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| Eating hot dogs on the water |
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| There is nothing better! |
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| Our morning view when we woke up! It was pretty amazing! |
And finally the weather has sufficiently warmed up for this tropical girl. I can now go outside without a jacket and stay awhile. We are finishing up school and then we are looking forward to our fun summer!! Hopefully with no cold fronts!
