Trying to get a nap...

We parked the car for about 15 minutes last week while waiting to pick Colin up. I was on the phone and when I hung up, I had 3 sleeping kids in the car (apparently, summer can wear you out!).
I HAD to take a picture of Connor napping because as a stomach-sleeper, I have TROUBLE getting comfortable and sleeping anywhere beside my bed. I can absolutely understand that this was the most comfortable position he could find. I felt bad when I had to wake him up before I could drive home. I know vehicle safety has necessarily come a long way but I remember sleeping in the front seat with my head next to the steering wheel as a kid.
Sweet Dreams Connor!

Fusion

Last week Colin attended Fusion (youth group camp). He had a blast! They spent the week doing skits, small group activities, bowling, bar-b-q-ing, sports, water games, hanging at the water park, and going to Six Flags. They also spent a day doing community service.
One of Colin's favorite parts (shown in this picture) was his first funnel cake. Sad he had to go to camp to experience funnel cake?! We dropped the ball on that one. And apparently, they have come a long way...his had caramel and chocolate syrup along with the powdered sugar. What a great summer memory from an awesome camp week.

We enjoyed time at the pool all weekend. What a great way to spend Memorial Day: pool, family, fun, friends, veterans, and food!

"Different" (AKA Myrtle Beach Day 1)

We arrived in Myrtle Beach last night and today was our first full day on the beach. It was an awesome day (Praise God the weatherman was NOT correct in his forecast)!

“Different” is the key word for our trip; different than the other trips we have taken down to the beach because:

• · This time it’s not just the Simon Family, our great friends the Oswalds have joined us for vacation. We met Joel, Shauna, and Kylee almost immediately after arriving in Northern Virginia and we have been friends every sense. It’s always great to spend time with your friends, particularly when it’s fun stuff like: sun, surf, sand, and swimming. But, also, when you go on vacation with friends and you spend 24 hours a day together, you get to know each other on another level. You appreciate even more what you have in each other; already, I have learned more about my friend Shauna. I love how we are the same and I love how we are different.
• · This time the ladies started vacation without the guys. We departed on Sunday with all the kids and the guys will join us on Tuesday night. (A late departure for the guys was the best way to ensure that both families could go on vacation and that we wouldn’t need to bring 3 cars down to the beach.)
• · This time, the drive from DC to Myrtle Beach took about 2 hours longer. We stopped a bit more because of Cooper’s age, the toddler’s potty breaks, and the POURING rain (I could only drive 50mph for quite a while due to visibility---and I am not a slow driver).
• · This time, we are planning to Putt-Putt while we are in town. Myrtle Beach seems to be the Golf Capital of the World. And, I think that they have more miniature golf courses than any other city in America. Anyway, we have never putt-putted while in Myrtle Beach and this time we will hit one of the many, intriguing, creative, “over-the-top” courses. Now we just have to decide if we want to golf among waterfalls, fire-breathing dragons, pirate ships, or dinosaurs.

· I am sure that there will be other parts of this trip that are different than our other adventures in Myrtle Beach but the one thing that will not be different is that we are going to have a good time~

Wordless Wednesday

National Firearms Museum

Today, the kids and I went to the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, VA. The museum is co-located with the National Rifle Association (NRA). For any who aren't aware, my oldest sons are gun enthusiasts! They read about guns, they write about guns, they play army, army, and more army. They own at least 2 Air-Soft pellet guns each and are always asking for more. They have large (encyclopedia-like) books about guns and read them frequently. You might ask, does this bother me? No, it doesn't bother me at all. I sometimes get tired of hearing about guns but...they enjoy it, they are learning, and we often utilize this keen interest to help them set goals in other areas.

I grew up around guns. I think I was probably 9 the first time I shot a weapon (probably at a empty soda can, a fence post, or a cow patty--I was visiting my extended family in Texas). By 13 or so, I would go to shooting ranges and "practice." And, later I had to "qualify" with an M-16 as part of my annual Army requirements (as did David). So, you might say that I am uniquely-likely to have sons that would have such a great interest in weapons. At any rate, we decided that today we would go and see the museum. Admission is Free and it's close to our house so, it made for an easy Day Trip.

The Museum Exhibits are nice, the collection of weapons is well organized and informative, and there are historical references in order to both educate and give context to weapon development. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I was impressed. There were many more weapons than I expected and the history was very interesting to me.

For instance, I didn't know that until WWII, General grade officers had to provide their own pistol!?! That seems ridiculous! And now, a pistol is issued to each General and they are the only weapons issued by the United States Armed Forces that do not have to be returned. It's a cool little tidbit of information and there are many more like that.

Sybella's favorite part of the museum was the computers; most of the display cases have too much in them to have descriptions on placards. So, instead, there are computers where you type in the case and item number to find out what the item is, it's maker, and the history of the weapon. Sybella LOVED typing on the keyboards. She would then repeat the name of whatever weapon the boys were talking about (as if she had actually looked it up). The boys also enjoyed the computers but they used them to confirm that they had accurately named a weapon. I was downright surprised at how versed they are in WWII weaponry. I hear them talk about guns but they were actually able to pick them out!

Obviously, we enjoyed our visit to the museum and much to the boys' delight, they sell Air-Soft pistols in the gift shop! The boys used their allowance money to purchase a Sig Sauer and a Walther P22, which they are in fact using in "target" practice outside right now. What a great day!

***Don't forget that if you click on the mosaic or any other picture, it will enlarge for better viewing.

Summer in the Pool

This summer has been a great opportunity to spend time at the pool. The pool is a sorta "magical" place where age doesn't matter. Many activities we partake in are designed for 'little' kids and at those times, my awesome older kids indulge all of us by genuinely participating. Then there are activities or sporting events that are for the older kids. For these, we just take the little ones along with lots of snacks and toys and try to disrupt nap time as little as possible. There are some events that all of the kids can enjoy, but even these take some planning and thinking about how to maximize the experience for each of the kids.

However, at the pool, the age challenges all just wash away (pun intended). Whether you are 11, 8, 2 1/2, or just a wee baby, the pool is for you! The older kids can hang out with their friends, swim, practice new tricks off the diving board & all around enjoy themselves. Sybella loves the baby pool and playing with all the water toys. And, now, she is tall enough to stand in the shallow end of the big pool (with her floatees of course), which she also thinks is great. At the mandatory 'rest break' the older kids have to get out of the pool and they always come find their sister in the baby pool and play with her. And now, even Cooper is 'chillin' in the pool.

P.S. This year was the first year that I have gotten swim shirts for the kids and can I just say that those things are awesome! I am so much less nervous about sunburn.

CCH Sharks Swim Team

This year our family joined the local pool; we weren’t able to do this when we lived in Vienna because there was a waiting list for memberships. We joined Country Club Hills Pool. One of the exciting opportunities that comes with being a pool member, is that the kids had the option of joining the swim team. I swam on a team for 2 years when I was a kid and it is an experience I wouldn’t trade. Colin did not want to join the team (I understand, he would have been swimming with kids in their 5th year of competitive swimming) but Connor was interested immediately.
The CCH Sharks is a great team and they have an Awesome coaching staff. Coach Scott is the head coach; he is knowledgeable, has a great manner with the kids and parents, he keeps the focus on team spirit and learning first, and he teaches the kids about how they should conduct themselves while still competing to the best of their ability. Coach Katherine is the assistant coach and does a great job as well.

On June 15th, the CCH Sharks had their First Meet of the season. It was a “Developmental Meet” which gives all of the kids a chance to participate. During regular meets, only the top 3 swimmers get to compete—which will often leave out the new kids. At a developmental meet, each child can compete in 2 events and has the opportunity to swim for improved times, experience, and feedback on their stroke style. Connor swam the backstroke and breaststroke at this meet. He did awesome!
He has a great backstroke and a fast breaststroke (the hardest stroke technically). He will continue to work on form through the season which will invariably increase his speed as well. Above all, he had FUN. One of his good friends Will also swims on the team so they have fun no matter what.

Water Water Everywhere...

A few candid moments while the
boys 'soaked' in the great weather
here in Northern Virginia.
As much as they can be 'all boy'
I love to watch them have fun and just be brothers. It is also great to live in a neighborhood where they have tons of kids their age to play with.

~David

Football

Colin signed up for football this year. He went to football camp last week and practices officially started last night. They started with helmets only, but by Wednesday or Thursday they will be in full gear. Practice is 5 days a week from 6-8:15pm; they will cut back to 3 days a week once school starts in September.

It was neat to watch the practice, they did lots of drills and sprints. The coaches will do evaluations this week in order to split the kids up into teams. Vienna will probably have 6 teams in Colin's weight class. Colin did a great job. He was exhausted by the end of practice.

I spent much of my youth in Texas so football is in my blood. Football is a cornerstone of daily life in Texas--some kids start as young as 5-years-old. But, watching Colin last night was strange. Strange, in that I realized how old he is---he is a young man now, a pre-teen. I hope we are ready for this! (the man part, not the football injuries that he may get---actually, guess I better be ready for that too. You know moms have to be calm and cool, they can't flip out if their son gets hurt.)

Locking Doors

Today, we had a new adventure. Sybella, who loves to play with the doors in the house, found a way to shut her bedroom door and get it LOCKED. Unbelievable!

She had opened and shut the door a couple of times when all of a sudden, she had a different tone in her voice and started saying, "mom, mom, mom." As soon as I checked the door knob and realized what happened, I started laughing. Her brothers however began to lose it.
The panic was quite cute. They wanted to know how we were going to get her out. Colin wanted to break down the door. I assured them that a paper clip would do the trick but they were more distraught because the paper clips are in Sybella's room! So, I sent them to "find a paper clip" while I grabbed the mini-screwdriver. Voila! In about 10 seconds, the door was open and Sybella was ready to try it again.

The whole event was funny but the funniest part was the boys assumption that I had never done this before. How do they think I honed my lock-pick skills???
Now they know that I have done this for them before when they were little.

Field Trip #2- The Washington Monument and The World War II Memorial

Friday the kids and I had our 2nd Field trip of the summer. We went to visit the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument.

None of us had been to the WW II Memorial before. It is young, it was finished and dedicated in 2004. The Memorial is beautiful. There are 2 fountains and pillars as well as many wreaths that are expertly crafted in metal. We enjoyed walking thru and talking about the history surrounding both the war and the memorial. The boys are big fans of history, particularly wars, and WW II is their favorite to study. This may be because many of their great-grandfathers served in the war. Their favorite story is of my grandfather, Oscar Hahn, who served in the war as a spy. He was German-born but immigrated to the U.S. with his family at a very young age. He was in the pre-curser to the Secret Service and also served as an agent to VP/President Truman during the war.

Next, we took a tour of the Washington Monument. Did you know that one of the stones on the interior wall is made of Jade and is worth $3 million? Neither did we! When you descend the Monument in the elevator, there are 2 different places where the elevator stops and you can see the internal walls. We did not get a picture of the Jade stone But, we got some other stones...As you can see in this picture, stones were sent from many places; this one arrived "From Otter's Summit, Virginia's Loftiest Peak, to Crown a Monument."

Here are some more pictures:

Nationals Game

Tuesday Night the family headed out to the Washington Nationals Game. They lost to the California Angels. They don't often win.....but it's good summer family fun!!

Summer Days with Friends

The boys are enjoying Hot Summer Days with their friends:

Summer Solstice

Sol + stice derives from a combination of Latin words meaning "sun" + "to stand still." As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky.

As a major celestial event, the Summer Solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year. The Northern Hemisphere celebrates in June, but the people on the Southern half of the earth have their longest summer day in December.

How did you spend the longest day of the year?

We were invited by our friends Damon and Denise to hang out at the pool. Lots of fun and a great way to start the weekend.

DID YOU KNOW...Evening weddings were performed under the moon during Summer Solstice and very popular in ancient times. During the ceremony they would serve a fermented honey...thus creating the term, "Honey Moon" for the mead made from fermented honey that was part of wedding ceremonies performed at the Summer Solstice.

The Library of Congress

Over the Summer, I have planned field trips for the kids. Since they have only lived in Northern Virginia for 10 months, they have not yet had the opportunity to visit many of the sites. They are excited to experience the history of this area and "play tourist."

Today was the first of our field trips: The Library of Congress.

Facts about the Library of Congress--
1. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world.
2. The Library is the oldest federal cultural institution in the Nation.
3. It is housed in 3 buildings. The Thomas Jefferson Building (which we toured today) has 13 stories of shelved books below ground.
4. There is over 600 miles of shelving for storing items.
5. The Library has more than 128 Million items including: maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints and drawings, musical scores, digital materials, etc. Of these, there are over 28 million cataloged books and there are items in 460 languages.
6. The library, established in 1800, is 208 years old.
7. Interestingly, it is the only library of it's kind that allows for same-day "Reading Card" registration and materials access. Comparable libraries in Europe have waiting lists for "Reading Cards" that are 5-7 months long.
8. The Library has possession of one of 4 known "perfect-vellum" 42-line Gutenberg Bibles left in the world.
9. The library holds in it's Bob Hope Gallery, the late comedian's 85,000 page "Joke File."

In Summary, one visit to the Library of Congress is not enough, the 45 minute tour and accompanying video are invaluable, the architecture is AMAZING, and the kids enjoyed themselves, as did I. The Library is a wonderful representation of the United States, Democracy, and an open door for Learning.

Enjoy the pictures!!