I Have Editing Issues or NYC post 1

I can't narrow down the pictures.  I tried.  And I tried to figure out how to do a Picasa collage, but am way too stuid to figure that out.  So here are, once again, a lot of pictures.  We drove up to New York and stayed with the wonderful Gibbs family in Westchester.  This is where I spent a year of my life as a nanny.  I had some great times and it was very exciting to revisit my old haunts.  And, as the Gibbs were a large part of that year, it was so great to see them.  The Gibbs and Taylor families go way back.  In fact I was a toddler at Mike and Linda's wedding.  They are family.  So it was so great to stay with our Gibbs family, although we missed Chelsea who is at BYU right now.  Anyway, after we arrived they took us to Larchmont manor where the sunset was amazing and we got to view Long Island across the sound.  Then we ate pizza at Nicky's a place Challey and I liked because of the hot guy that worked there.  He still works there, but like me has aged.  The pizza was as good as ever.  And we taught Lucy how to eat her New York pizza New York style.

I'm So Going!

I love this man.

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First Day of Pre-School

My baby started preschool. I know from personal experience that the time between the day they start preschool and the day they start fifth grade goes by at light speed. I can't believe we have already reached this point. She used to be my bald little baby.....

Farewell Winnie

My parents dog, Winnie, died last week. She will be missed. I am not a pet person in general, but Winnie was one of the family and I loved her. She loved "walkies" ( I believe we stole the term from Wallace and Grommit) and whenever anyone mentioned the word she was there wagging her tail ready for an adventure. She always knew I would take her for walkies and would look up at me expectantly and I usually gave in. She was a great dog.

My Labor Day: DC and the Giz

Clara was begging to be allowed to go backpacking with the kids, but frankly, can you imagine a worse nightmare? So she stayed home with me. And with some bribery was quite happy. She got to stay home and play with playdough. That soothed her and she played for hours.

On Monday morning she and I metroed into the city.

She rode the carousel:
Ate PBandJ on the mall:
"Softed" many a fountain (it is her word for petting and she often says, "mom can I soft the water?":

We toured the National Gallery:
Clara got a cookie:
Then it was on to the East building:

After the art we walked across the mall to the botanical garden where there was so much water to soft that Clara was drenched by the time we left:


We meandered up to Capitol hill and since all the tourists seen to have vanished we hopped in line for an impromptu tour of the Capitol building:
Shaka:

Their Labor Day: Riprap Trail

Some of the gang wanted to go backpacking. Clara was among them, but she wasn't really invited. So Rob and Courtney took the three oldest backpacking in Shenandoah on Labor Day. The report was: "It was awesome."

The kids did great, the ticks were minimal (deet and sock tucking seem to actually be a good solution). The weather was perfect and their were even vistas to enjoy. There was no complaining and the cup o' noodles were apparently far more delicious than anything they have ever eaten (eww).

Out and About

I know that my blog has really devolved into nothing more than a travel log lately. I kind of hate that. I used to blog about stuff that was kind of interesting, but well, at this point I'm just trying to keep up. So anyway, here is a quick recap of some adventures from the last couple of weeks. One Wednesday Rob had the day off so we did a half day of school and then drove down to Montpelier, the home of James Madison (the Father of the Constitution). It's pretty cool, because Anders had just been learning about the Constitutional Convention and about little "Jemmy Madison". Anyway it was a broiling hot day, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. It is strange to go places now that tourist season has slowed down and there aren't billions of tourists.



One of the highlights of that trip was this amazing Southern barbeque:
One day we went up the street to our little main street museum:

Another day we drove down to Fredericksburg and took a tour of the Civil War battlefield. It is a tragic place. So many men died here at the sunken road. Heartbreaking. There is so much to do in Fredericksburg. We plan on going back.



And there you have it. Some of our recent tourist activities.