first day

These funny guys had a great first day back! Zoe was hoping we'd let her get on the big yellow rumbly thing too, but no dice... she sure is happy to see them in the afternoon!

good list

A new license plate for the Yarn Fan Van was an early birthday treat from J! ;)

Aiden started his "orthodontic journey" with an expander with hopes that his canines will make their way the right direction... fingers crossed.

Keaton's second grade teacher had a bad motorcycle accident at the end of the school year and missed all of the end of the year parties, and these second graders worried about her... So she very nicely threw them a party at the park to reassure them that she was doing better after an eight week recovery (she was still barely walking and couldn't write with her shattered wrist - She'd broken her shoulder and femur too!) 

Sleepy puppies like to rest right on top of the knitting bag...

yarny party

Cupcakes and Bubbly! Yarny BINGO and photo booths! So many favorite things all at the yarniest happy place, fibre space! The perfect way to ring in 40 if you ask me!  I had party pins for the LaFiDkWobu winners and party favors I block printed with 40 knit stitches ;) 

good list

Top: Welcoming back the teachers with a breakfast with a theme ;)

Bottom: Catching another great Cirque de Soleil show under the big top tent up at Tysons...

tidbits

We caught a bunch of visits to Skyzone (lotsa jumping!) and raft night at the pool this summer!

kennedy

It was a really nice day to enjoy lunch of the roof at the Kennedy Center and see Aladdin (with the same Jafar and Iago we saw on Broadway last year).

tidbits

Top left: a shot from the police visit to our National Night Out block party...

Top right: The first band night at the pool with Furst Try back together with a new drummer for some hard rock... J was happy to be back on guitar (since he plays bass for Hello Newman to make that 90s rock interesting...)

Bottom left: a new batch of Skylanders from a very nice wish family... and a baby puppy with her cone on recovering from her surgery
Bottom right: J spent some time in Chile for his book... They lost his luggage so he bought some new clothes after he arrived...but he was still ready for all the interviews and press meetings.

birthday

A surprise at the end of a great birthday!
Genuine thanks for the birthday wishes! Sam and Tre, thanks so much for going out of your way to make my day! Wow, closing out another decade... and I feel so grateful for all the people surrounding me with their love, laughter, and even their tears. It’s been such a joyful and heartbreaking year full of lessons on how resilient people can be. When I ended a great birthday yesterday (at what I thought was going to be my friend’s welcome back party that they turned into a surprise birthday treat for me! Whaaat, I’m so grateful for all those birthday hugs!) and the thunder showed up uninvited at our pool party, we just rolled with it and moved that party inside... and that’s what I’m going to continue to do: roll with the thunder and try to catch some lightning on the way!

birthday fred

It was such a nice treat to visit FredVegas! Campus was getting ready to open up for students and everything looked so nice and spiffed up! Caught some knitting time in the adirondacks outside my favorite dorm, the farmer's market downtown, and a Goolrick's milkshake (which has sadly changed since I don't think they get whole milk ice cream from the local dairy anymore)... Then one of my big goals was to visit the Mary Ball Washington sites, which I'd visited many years ago.  The highlight for the boys was the super creepy huge leeches at the Apothecary that they let J pet...eek!

bday eats

Birthday treats! Kicked off with Sugar Shack donuts right off campus down in Fredericksburg! It was a treat to go down for the day to visit - Sammy T's for lunch with a great crab cake sandwich ;) A stop over snack for this potato kabob thing... Oh man!

smash con

These goofs at Super Smash Con! Check out the not so subtle Cup of Noodles advertising ;) Aiden's buddy Franklin joined in the fun too, and they already have plans for next year!

Testing out my new photo booth app before they left:

petricks

Another fun summer visit from the Petrick's in town all the way from Jackson, WY! It's always fun to hang out...

gtown

So grateful to have time to spend with my dear friend... We test drove and rated all the chairs across campus at Georgetown...I taught her to knit... and we had a chance to meet up for dinner with other old friends ;)

cone puppy

This poor puppy had quite a summer adventuring in Ohio, and then staying with his very sweet aunt and uncle, and cousin buddies while we were on the cruise, and then her spay surgery... She handled it all really well and was so excited to see us even with a cone head on... Just a week later she was healed and happy.

photos

So, so many spiffy photos from our seven night cruise on the Harmony of the Seas...

dining

RC was celebrating a birthday and gave our special treats one night.  We came with our funny disguises from Gran and Pop another night. We really had a great time in the dining room.

cruising

We scored second place in the Family Scavenger Hunt! Our ship had ice skating available (same spot had two fun skating shows too!)

planes

The famous beach on the edge of the airport landing strip was really something... You could feel them take off too.

beach

This very calm beach in St. Marten was the perfect spot to relax!

iguanas

Feeding these iguanas was pretty memorable!

st marten

We visited both sides of St. Marten so were technically in the Netherlands and France in the same day. It was a very pretty tour around the island (we even say "island sheep" roaming - who knew there are Caribbean sheep?!)

towel animals

Towel animals!

shows

The ventriloquist and the musicals (Columbus and Grease) were especially relaxing after dinner.

dining magic

So many laughs and treats in the dining room!  The mini magic shows are always fun... David nailed it on the right ;)

underwater

We took a submarine around the bay which was really neat. Then enjoyed the indoor submerged areas.

coral world

Coral World was a cool stop in St. Thomas...

st thomas

Matching hopping off at St. Thomas!

mini golf

Fun at mini golf on the top deck!

dining

Look at all these spiffy guys during the first formal night!

aqua shows

The open air theater off the back of the ship is a highlight! The night time water show from the splash zone was a favorite.

climbing

The boys rocked out the climbing wall!  Aiden was especially excited to get to the top.

ship fun

The parades, the shows, the seven story dry slide called the Abyss, the dining room (would you like a side of cookies with your cake?!)... can't decide what is the most fun!