Cunningham Falls

When spring break comes along it is important to have several activities planned so the kids and I still love each other by the end of the week.  A whole week home with nothing to do would be a disaster.  Fortunately several of the families we hang out with feel the same.  We planned all sorts of activities for the week.  The first one was hiking at Cunningham Falls.  After having such warm weather for March when spring break hit of course thing cooled off.  We took the warmest day, high 50s, and headed north.  Cunningham Falls State Park has a lake, playground, eating area, but most importantly falls.

We got there around lunch time so we ate and played first.

This was our beautiful lunch spot.  Of course most of the kids headed straight for the beach area with water.  The kids did stay dry at this body of water.  The waterfall is a different story.

I was totally impress when Tade made crossing the monkey bars look easy.  I didn't even know he could do the monkey bars.

We went up with quite a large group.

Carter and Seth scoping out the rocks around the falls.  I think their minds were trying to figure out the best way to climb up.  About two seconds after this picture half the kids took off for the rocks.  It was a very steep climb.  There were many nervous moms watching.

Kellie and I were not among those nervous moms.  We took off after the kids to get some good pictures.  We are obviously the blogging moms.  This spot  was at the bottom.  It took a while to cross over the river to get to the bottom or the falls where we needed to climb up.  Kellie and I were the ones with the hiking backpacks which made climbing tricky.  I think everyone thought we were crazy.

We made it up.  I must say the "up" is not what concerned me.  It was steep, but I could lean forward which is easier with the backpack.  The "going down" is what would take some imagination.

Kellie and Claire half way up the falls.

Shelley came up because she was nervous.  It was really hard to keep and eye on all the kids from down below and there were plenty of big drops to worry about.

My cute Seth.  He was having the greatest time climbing around.  The falls were pretty dry.  Actually in a month or so they have a park service person posted at the bottom keeping people from climbing because it's not safe.

After a while the kids started heading back down.  You can see a few of them down below.

Now back to the "going down" part.  Do you see that arrow?  Well that is the very steep part we went up which was doable leaning forward.  Going down was another story that I must say Kellie and I had all figured out before we even went up.  We were going to take the backpacks off and lower Claire and Andelyne down to each other.  It totally worked, but looked awful.  EVERYONE was looking at us both friend and foe.  Seriously all eyes were on us and everything got very quiet while people watched.  We got down just fine.  It was still funny watching people hold their breaths though.

Here is Kelsey sliding down the steep part with Weston catching here.  The only way down was to slide.  It was a lot steeper than it looks.  I just zoomed in for this shot.

When we got down to the bottom this is what we found.  Most of the older kids decided it didn't matter that it was in the 50s.  They wanted to play in the water so they did.

I don't even know why Tade is trying to figure out which rock to step on.  He's already soaked.  Just step in the water already.

This is when the cold started to sink back in.

It was a chilly walk back to the cars.  We had a blast with some wonderful friends.  This was a great start to spring break.

April Fools

There are so many fun things to to with/to your kids on April Fools.  This year I thought the kids were finally old enough to enjoy some of it.  I had grand plans of making an April Fools meal with grilled cheese, peas, and juice, but in the end I was only able to pull of the grilled cheese.

This is my non grilled cheese grilled cheese.  It's toasted pound cake with yellow frosting in the middle.  Looks pretty good doesn't it.

I I used the pound cake to make fried too.

Then I died their milk green.

I wish I had the video camera out because Tade's reaction was far better than I could have ever imagined. 

He first looked at the french fries and realized they were cake, but this didn't make him think that maybe the whole lunch was off.

Then he took a bite and as he chewed his face slowly changed, then...

...LIGHT BULB!  Hey mom, this isn't a grilled cheese.

After that he trusted nothing.

Then Seth came along and didn't even notice anything was off.  He took his first bite.

Then he took his second.  It wasn't until he noticed frosting all over his hands that his brain turned on.

Then he went for the green milk.

I used whole milk.

Seth loves when I use Andelyne's milk.

He REALLY loves it.  Green milk mustache and all.

I Told You I Couldn't Get Enough

Andelyne is my favorite subject for pictures lately.  She doesn't look at the camera very much, she rarely smiles for the camera even though she always smiles away from it, and she is always running away.  Still I have so much fun take her picture.  I think a lot of it has to do with the adorable clothes they have out there for girls.

See, how can you not want to take a picture of that adorable drees and those perfect shoes.

She just loves jumping on or off the trampoline.

Our daffodils usually are up in time for our Easter egg hunt.  This year with our early spring they came up almost a month before Easter.  I needed a couple flower shots so I took Andelyne out to be my model.

  

Lately she has gotten into dressing up.  She loves putting on skirts, hats, and necklaces.  Nothing comes close to her love for shoes though.  I will have a separate blog focusing on those.

Cherry Blossom...Sort Of

We had a plan of hitting the Cherry Blossoms in DC on our way home from Mount Vernon, but when we saw the traffic and how crowded it was we decided against it.  This turned out to be a good decision because we spent longer at Mount Vernon than expected.  I was determined to get to the blossoms with Andelyne though.  Friday unfortunately was the last warm sunny day.  The cherry blossoms peeked two weeks early this year due to the unusually warm weather.  One of the reasons with was so crowded the day we went to Mount Vernon was because that was the last good peek day before thunderstorms rolled through.  Rain and cherry blossoms aren't a good combination.  Anyway, I decided I didn't car if most of the blossoms were gone.  I was going to take Andelyne anyway.  We have pictures down there with the boys from previous years, but Andelyne has never been there.  With some big moving changes in the next couple months in our lives I am at the point of trying to fit everything in that I can.  So we let the rain do its damage over the weekend and on monday Andelyne and I headed downtown.  Yes most of the blossoms were gone and it was rather chilly.  It was nothing like our 80 degree day three days earlier at Mount Vernon.  Andelyne and I had a wonderful time anyway.  We walked a ton.  My original plan was to just walk a little of the tidal basin, but in the end we walked the whole thing which is quite a ways.

This is where we found most of the blossoms.

There were a few stragglers left in the trees.

Mostly up by the FDR Memorial.  It was a little more protected than the trees directly on the tidal basin.  It was really windy while we were there so those tree were totally empty of blossoms.

Andelyne loved all the petals all over the ground.  She walked around kicking them up with her feet...

...or picking them up and throwing them in the air.

The best trees we found weren't even part of the ones around the tidal basin.  They were actually across some street.  I saw them and though maybe we could get some good pictures.  Unfortunately Andelyne was too short and the best branches started too high.  We got one with a lower branch, but that was it.

The main reason we ended walking the entire basin is because of the Martin Luther King Memorial.  It is a really new memorial and I had never been to it.  I didn't even realize it was on the tidal basin so when I saw it at about the half way point I figured we'd go see it.

Towards the end of our walk around there was a tulip garden.  The colors were beautiful.  It made me want to go visit the Netherlands.

Andelyne and I had a fun trip.  We got some great exercise and some okay pictures, but nothing like one of my all time best pictures from a couple years ago.  Nothing holds a candle to this one.