thesellers.net

As we have done for the past five years, we went to Greenway Farms in Woodbine to cut down our Christmas tree. Again, we opted for a White Pine (which they sell for only $25 regardless of how tall it is!). So, we made our way to the row of White Pines and looked for the best one. Here are Jen and the girls in front of our pick.

Unfortunately, when I went to cut it down I found a problem. It had 2 smaller trunks that split just above ground level. Had I cut it down, I would have ended up with 2 disconnected trunks that happened to be tangled up. Fortunately, we had gone back and forth between this one and a different one, so it was easy to make a different choice.

Here they are with our final tree. This one did have a split, but it was up near the top. So, it wasn’t a problem. If you think the tree looks big, you’re right. It measured 10 feet 4 inches from the ground. Our family room has a 9 foot ceiling.

The tree farm is next to a horse farm. So, naturally Molly wanted to pose with a horse.

Tune in next time to see how our giant tree fit in our house.

A couple of weeks ago we realized it had been a long time since our last real photoshoot. With the need to print Christmas cards arriving soon, we picked the warmest available day we could and planned an outing. Jen and I looked through lots of locations, but ended up choosing to go to Rockburn Branch Park.

Give me a kiss!

Suddenly, Leah became much older than she was a few minutes ago.

These girls manage to always have fun. This can make it hard to stay on task sometimes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jen thought it would be fun for the girls to wear their hats. I thought I might wear one as well, and then suggested Jen join in the fun too.

This picture made it onto the back of the Christmas card.

And this picture was the big winner for the front of the Christmas card. Jen got a crate and some letters for the perfect extra touch.

Note that the hats did eventually come off.

As the sun went down, it started to get colder. The girls let me take one last picture before heading to the car to warm up.

This is just a taste of the photoshoot, but you can see all the great pictures on Flickr.

We had a mostly free Saturday, and the girls wanted to go out and do something with me. We ended up deciding to go ice skating. Yes, our ice rink is open in August. So, we escaped the heat for some frozen fun.

Note that while it was cold, it wasn’t that cold. I took off my jacket and skated in jeans and a t-shirt. Leah eventually took off her jacket (though not her gloves or scarf), but Molly refused to remove her winter-wear.

The girls and I had a great time. Molly skated on her own the entire time, while Leah switched between using the walker and holding my hand. Leah may have needed some support, but that didn’t slow her down. She went around so fast I could hardly keep up.

Our time on the ice was grand, but it was not enough frozen fun for us. So, we made a quick stop at Yogi Castle for a chilly treat. Between the ice rink and the fro-yo, we certainly beat the heat.

Molly’s school had an outdoor movie night a few days ago where they showed Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. In preparation for this night, we checked out the original Night at the Museum from the library for the girls to prep. They loved it, so we looked forward to seeing the sequel outside.

We arrived early to set up our seats and play a bit. As is commonly the case, the school mascot was there to join in the fun. Leah has long been scared of costumed characters with giant heads, but no more. She walked up to me and asked if I’d take her picture with the wildcat. She’s clearly not scared any more.

We all enjoyed the movie, and the girls did great staying up super late to watch it.

On Memorial Day, Larriland Farm opened their strawberry fields. All of us (G’Mom, Grampa, Jen, Molly, Leah, and I) made the trip to pick a few pounds of them.

It’s important to sample the fruit your picking to make sure it is up to your standards.

The girls frequently showed the interesting-looking ones to us.

You’ve got to get down low to pick strawberries. Consequently, I mostly let everyone else do the picking while I took the pictures.

Here we all are with our haul. We ended up with 16 pounds which is a lot. Next time, we’ll get more though, as you get a discount if you go over 20 pounds.

After picking the strawberries, we headed to the Red Barn on the farm to see what else they had for sale. The girls got some fudge, and sampled it quickly.

Outside the barn, they had some goats and alpacas that the girls fed. This little alpaca was just the right height for them.

It was a fun (and delicious) morning outing.

Cousins came to visit for the weekend, and we decided to show them the fun that is the National Zoo. Emmie was excited to enjoy the beautiful day with her cousins at this fantastic (and free) zoo.

We started checking out the big cats. A bunch of lions were out chilling.

Here are a few of the lions they were watching.

They checked out the turtles, as we have done before.

We took a break for a snack in the sea lion show seats (they had no shows that afternoon, sadly).

JJ, an expert snacker.

Molly helped Emmie cool off.

We walked up to the elephant outpost at the bottom of the hill, which can be an excellent place to see the elephants up close. Sadly, they were hanging out at the top of this hill. But JJ managed to get a view of them from afar. We got to see them closer later, after hiking up the hill.

As we got up to the top side of the zoo, JJ spotted the giant stuffed panda at the Friends of the National Zoo booth. They were nice enough to let him hold it for a second.

We made it all the way to the top to the front entrance on Connecticut Avenue to take a picture in the zoo sign, as we have done before.

On the walk back down, we stopped into the gift shop and the kids each got a souvenir. Leah liked the lions so much, she got one of her own.

All the kids did great with all the walking (between 4 and 5 miles, according to my pedometer), but occasionally got some help. JJ got a ride on Aunt Jen as we headed down hill back to our cars.

As always, the zoo was lots of fun for all involved. We look forward to more visits to come.

For Christmas, Jen got us tickets to a Chocolate Tour of DC in Georgetown. Here’s our fabulous tour guide, Linda, at our first stop, Sprinkles.

Sprinkles is the cupcake place founded by the lady from Cupcake Wars. According to several folks, they’re better than Georgetown Cupcakes. After trying them, I think I agree.

The second stop on the tour was my favorite - Thomas Sweet. We had some of their fudge - dark chocolate with caramel in the middle and salt on top. It was outstanding - so good that I may have had a second helping.

Next stop - Godiva for some basic chocolate.

We then headed to Olivia Macaron for some delicate French macarons (not to be confused with macaroons). Note that macarons are commonly filled with chocolate ganache, which is why they qualify for the chocolate tour.

Our tour guide was nice enough to take a picture of the two of us. It took her a second to do so, however, as she was interrupted by a woman who had followed us in off the street to ask Jen where she bought her dress. She was sad to learn that Jen had made the dress herself, so there was no chance of her purchasing it.

Our next stop was Dean & Deluca for some fancy chocolate from Bolivia.

Our last stop was Pie Sisters, a great place with pies of all kinds. We had tiny chocolate pecan pies which were fantastic. And thus ended our delicious afternoon of chocolate. We didn’t have time to linger, though, as Jen had planned a fancy dinner immediately afterward.

For dinner, we went to the very fancy Farmers Fishers Bakers. Jen got the Ahi Tuna Poke Salad and I got some very yummy Corvina.

My favorite part of the dinner was this Hibiscus Lime Rickey. I knew it would be tart, but it exceeded my expectations. Wow!

It was a wonderful outing for the two of us. In case you were wondering where the girls were, they spent the day having tons of fun with Aunt EA and Uncle Scott who live pretty close to Georgetown. Their day included duckpin bowling, toys, Ledo Pizza, watching a movie, and eating cake. Thanks Aunt EA and Uncle Scott!

On our third attempt to do some bike riding this Spring, we finally got a perfect day. Leah took advantage of it and was riding her bike without training wheels in no time. Great job, Leah!

Here she is in action. This video shows a bit of her progression after she started to get it.

In the beginning, I would run alongside her in case she started to fall, but it didn’t take her long to decide she wanted to do it on her own. She was happy to get a little help to start (which Jen gave her here), but then the parent had to stay put while she zoomed around.

It was a great day of bike riding. We can’t wait to do it again.

Saturday, the girls broke out Twister and insisted that G’Mom and Grampa join in the fun. Moments after this picture, Molly took a tumble.

That afternoon, we decided to head to the rink for a little roller skating. Molly’s an old pro at this point.

Leah’s doing pretty well skating as well. She especially loves skating holding both of our hands. She had such a good time, she lasted much longer than Molly.

Not sure how long it’s been since Grampa was on skates, but he was happy to get out there and roll around.

G’Mom was doing great skating as well. Well, at least until she decided to go around one more time before we left…

On G’Mom’s final lap, a young girl darted in front of her, causing her to fall on her wrist. This led to an ER visit, revealing a very bad break. In order to line up the bones before putting on a cast, they hung her hand from this odd contraption.

They put her arm in a cast and a sling, as you can see here. This was just a temporary measure, though, as she had to head to the orthopedic surgeon when she got back home for surgery to insert a plate and screws to hold everything together.

She’s home recovering from surgery now. We hope you feel better soon!

Molly’s school held a Bingo night last week, and we took the whole family. Leah really wanted to win a round (spoiler - she did not, nor did anyone else in our family).

Our table included our family plus G’Mom and Grampa in town, as well as our neighbors/friends.

Molly abandoned us to sit with Jordan at the other end of the table.