Another Slow News Week

We took zero pictures this week.  Zero.  As our illustrious President would tweet: "Sad."  So, just to have something to look at this week, here is Ryleigh's official school picture.

We have no official plans for Thanksgiving other than to keep it low key.  Christmas decorations will make their appearance over the weekend.  And, the kids are doing a tumbling clinic on Friday if they have enough kids sign up.  As always, pics to come.

Until next time, cheers!

Field Trips

RJ had a field trip to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens on Monday.  Jip was able to meet him in time to eat lunch together and to hear the lectures on three Native American tribes and ride the tram.  I'm not sure how much RJ got out of the educational aspect, but he got a big boost of happy that his Dad was able to come for a bit of the outing.

The kids had Tuesday off because it was voting day in Virginia.  The schools like to plan their parent teacher conferences those days.  Only Ryleigh's conference was Tuesday, though--I had RJ's conference last week in order to free up time for other parents who don't have a flexible schedule like mine.  Both conferences went well, and the kids are doing great both academically and socially/emotionally.

On Friday, a day off for Veterans' Day, we had our own field trip.  After the kids endured our meeting with our financial planner, we grabbed some lunch and headed to the Virginia Aquarium.  Don't tell the kids, but we didn't even see the whole thing--it is in two buildings that have a very long walk between them, and it was sooooooo cold and windy.  Nonetheless, I think they had a great time in the first building, seeing a lot of fish and other exhibits that explored the Virginia Rivers and coastline.  Did you know that the largest crater in the US is between mainland Virginia and the Eastern Shore?  I didn't either.  The kids (and Jip) got to poke their heads into a dome situated in a Komodo Dragon's exhibit and they got to pet some stingrays.  The tunnel of fish was also a big hit.

On Sunday, RJ got to move up to Senior Robotics.  The instructor told Jip after the first class that they made an excellent decision having RJ move up--he completed a challenge on his own that no one else has ever done solo as the kids are learning the intricacies of their robots.  And, RJ had a great time, so yay!

This week should be pretty normal as far as regular activities.  It finally feels like fall.  I'm hoping to wrap up Christmas shopping and start to focus my efforts on doing the family calendars while the kids and Jip do their things.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

Fall Family Photos

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating on Tuesday.  Agent P (aka Perry the Platypus, aka RJ) and Belle made it until their buckets were nearly full.  They then came back to hand out candy and roast some marshmallows.  

Our pumpkin carvings are below.  RJ chose the howling wolf, Ryleigh chose the cat, and I chose the other one.  Can you tell that the skeleton-looking pumpkin says "trick or treat" with the "or" being the nose and the "treat" being the teeth?  Me neither.  It was hard to get a good picture in the dark--it looked a little better in person.  At least the "trick" in the hat looks good.

We received our family photos from our session with Dyan.  As always, they turned out just lovely.  Here's a small sample.

This week, the kids have Tuesday off (election day, so teacher work day/parent-teacher conferences) and Friday off (Veterans' Day observed).  Depending on how things go, we may make use of free kids' tickets to the aquarium.  

As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

Fall Festivities

Friday was a fun, busy day for the kiddos.  First, Ryleigh had her classroom's Halloween parade.  The kids came outside, sang three songs, and then marched around the parking lot for all of the parents to see.  They then went back to their classroom to enjoy Halloween candy, apples, and more. 

After his lunch on Friday, RJ had Jump Rope for Heart.  I stopped by to watch RJ attempt to jump rope, play hopscotch, and do a little chicken dance.

After school, I picked up RJ and Aless at the bus stop, picked up Ryleigh at school, and then headed to Hickory Ridge Farm for a hay ride, pony rides, duck races, a corn maze, and of course, pumpkin cookies.

On Saturday, while Ryleigh and I went to ballet, Jip and RJ went to Family Day at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.  There are no pictures to prove they were there because camera phones weren't allowed in certain areas.  I'm crossing my fingers that one of the Public Affairs people snapped a pic of them somewhere.

Saturday evening, the kids went to Kids' Night Out at BrickHeadZ and had a great time/totally exhausted themselves.  Jip and I enjoyed a leisurely dinner at Cheesecake Factory, a place we have not had success with the kids.

On, Sunday, we headed to ths first PB&J series concert.  The Virginia Symphony Orchestra put on a great show, as always.  We got there a little bit early, so Ryleigh made a spider.  I'm not sure it goes with her Belle outfit.

You may be wondering about RJ's costume.  RJ is Perry the Platypus from the Disney show Phineas and Ferb.  But, we left his hat, bill, and tail at home.  So, pics of RJ in his full glory will have to wait until next week, as well as pics of our pumpkins and trick-or-treating.  But, in the meantime, here are a couple sneak peaks of the carving process, which began Sunday evening.

Until next time, cheers!

Bar Work

I'm not really sure it was a direct request to see the kiddos in action, but my Dad asking about the gymnastics bar helped me realize that we hadn't really shown what the bar is or what the kids do on it.

We celebrated Ryleigh's birthday on Thursday and Saturday (see my birthday post).  The rest of the week was pretty normal.  This week, Ryleigh has her Halloween parade on Friday.  Both kids will go to BrickHeadz's Kids' Night Out on Saturday.  Then we have our first PB&J symphony of the season on Sunday.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!