Fun Times with the Uncles

Trips to Virginia combine some of Matthew's favorite people with some of his favorite modes of transportation and this trip hasn't disappointed.  The other day we decided to meet Uncle Matt at the Capitals practice rink for a skate night they were holding for their season ticket holders.  It first involved a trip on the metro.  Matthew was pretty jazzed:

And fit right in with the commuters as he grabbed a newspaper and began reading:

 Really mom, no pictures!

 We had a run-in with an escalator at the airport so the metro gave us plenty of practice on the escalators.  Matthew now thinks they're pretty awesome and jumps off them with a "woohoo!" and a fist bump.  Once we made it to Ballston we stopped in to see Slapshot:

 And then we got ready to skate:

Matthew wasn't much for putting any weight on his skates and gave Uncle Matt and me quite the workout.  In about an hour we made exactly two trips around the rink, most of it with a toddler that was shrieking the whole time.   He thought throwing his head back was pretty hilarious!

 Uncle Matt and I definitely learned that we need to brush up on our skating before we take Matthew again.  At least little man found our bumblings comical:

 Most importantly, Uncle Matt taught little man how to pound on the glass.  I think Matthew's ready for a Caps game next time we visit!

The next day we headed to the Capital Trolley Museum.  Matthew probably could have thrown the lever and watched the model trolley all day long.  

 But they had lots of other things for us to do.  We attended story time and Matthew and Catherine were ready for arts and crafts with Uncle John and Pas:

 The kids are now ready for the Fourth with their new flags.  Catherine may not have been that helpful in making (and not eating) her flag, but she had fun hanging out:

 However, the coolest (well, hottest considering the outdoor temps!) part was the trolley ride.  The museum has about a mile track on which they run some restored trolleys.  

 Catherine was very attentive when the motorman was talking:

 After our ride we got our tickets stamped and headed over for a tour of the trolley garage.

 It sure did tucker the kids out!  Matthew didn't even make it through his new book (or the parking lot) before he passed out.  

After all that fun Uncle Matt took us down to Bath County.  As you may have heard, the East Coast got hit by a crazy storm and unbeknownst to us, we were driving through it the wrong way, north to south and on the interstate through the red.  This storm took us by complete surprise.    

Matt and I thought we'd outsmarted Northern VA traffic by leaving after dinner as I-66 AND I-81  were moving quickly.  Right as it was getting dark, Matt's phone started to go crazy buzzing with Tornado alerts.  We spent a good bit of time trying to pull over and find some protection if not from tornados but from the flying debris from the rest of the winds and/or potential hail.  We crept along from sheltered area to sheltered area until the storm moved past us.  The storm left quite a bit of destruction in its path and it was even slower going as we avoided downed lines, trees and branches.  I was duly impressed with the number of citizens who were out with chainsaws and tractors helping to clear the roads well before emergency services were out.  It appeared that power was out along the last 90 miles of the trip (though its hard to tell in a rural area if the power's out or everyone went to bed early) and was definitely out at Mom and Dad's.  Though there was lots of damage nearby, our families and friends have thus far been very lucky and sustained minimal property damage.  26 hours later our power's back on and we're good to go but still hot.  More pictures of the creative fun we've had in the meantime coming soon :-)

Parks and Rec

Our trip to VA continues to go swimmingly, never with enough hours to see all the people and do all the things we want to do.  However *knock on wood* both kids are at great ages to travel.  Catherine's still easy going enough to chill out in the backpack a lot and is pretty happy crawling over, under, around and on anything.  Meanwhile Matthew's excited by just about everything.  I had a lot of anxiety about this trip (and I certainly miss James and Montana like crazy) but I'm glad we came for the length we did as the kids are just soaking it up.  The other day Mas took us to Burke Lake and both kids were pretty jazzed about the train:

 This boy kills me!

As does this goober, who has been very proficient at "raspberries" all week.  Don't worry Facebook friends, this was the face. . .

 a few seconds before this awesomeness to be kept for the future suitors:

 In addition to the train, Matthew finally had a successful carousel ride.  In his words "the horses are scary.  maybe fall off" so he chose this very safe lion and was pretty happy:

In addition to raspberries, Catherine's rediscovered her bellybutton which is good because I need all the help I can get picking the dirt out of it:

We had some of James' cousins over for dinner and Matthew thought cousin Connor was the bee's knees.  He was pretty enamoured:

 And the boys had a great time just being boys:

After a very exciting dinner, both kids settled down with snuggles and books from Pas:

The next day the kids and I ran some necessary errands and Matthew finally got to have this nectarine he'd been coveting for snack for a few days (I know, life's super exciting around here!):

 Catherine meanwhile exhausted herself emptying Uncle Ed's shelves of dishes before falling asleep:

The excitement didn't end there as the kids played with Pas on the floor:

 But Matthew eventually convinced Pas a walk down to the park was in order.  Matthew's weird about new shoes and basically all sensations regarding his feet (he gets it from Amma I think) including going barefoot pretty much anywhere.  I've unleashed a monster now that he's more than happy to get his feet/sandals super muddy AND went barefoot in the mulch.  We're all about the tiny victories in this house:

 Then it was a quick stop off at the playground where Catherine immediately headed toward the abacus:

And in Matthew's love-hate relationship with the swing we're back to love:

It's amazing how much can change in the 2 years since I last remember taking Matthew down to that park:

Matthew had been trying to wear the hat from the picture above all week and though it was too big 2 years ago, it's too small now so Mas got him an awesome upgrade (pictured below).

The park excitement didn't end near the stream as we got to spend the day with Uncle John today.  First we headed over to check out the construction at Tyson's.  Matthew could have stayed and watched all day:

Afterwards, Matthew chose to go back to the "cars" park that we had gone to Monday with a friend.  Uncle John helped him to use the awesome ramp:

 And needless to say:

 The boy was hooked:

 Catherine meanwhile got super dirty crawling the sand, but loved the rocking horse.

 Funny story - when we were at that same park on Monday with a friend we kept running into another mom/nanny who kept fussing about with Catherine.  The first time she lightly brushed the sand off Catherine's face, the second time she tried a little harder and the third time she took it upon herself to go across the park to get a wet wipe and gave Catherine a seemingly head-to-toe wipe down.  She left without saying anything, but she probably wasn't headed off to nominate me for mother of the year :-)

After our most recent visit we decided it was time for Matthew to experience a slurpee so Uncle John treated us.  I maybe should have gotten Catherine her own as she was pretty jazzed about mine!

 I also learned something new about my super-mild-mannered-wouldn't-hurt-a-flea husband when I found his "Book About Me".  I guess I'm now warned :-)