King of the creek

Eric and Mike celebrated their birthdays over the weekend with a fishing outing to Goose Creek.

They hiked back deep into the woods...

Apparently, Eric was "on fire" (Mike's words), and their little fishing trip turned into a several hour ordeal.

Another summer Saturday

We had another jam-packed Saturday morning this weekend. Emilia couldn't wait for swimming lessons. She's been really into trying to dress herself lately, so here is her attempt at putting on her bathing suit:
Once in the pool, she focused on practicing her kicks:

Then, we stopped off at Reston Town Center to see the Unicycle Lady:

Finally, both Emilia and I got much-needed trims:

She crashed as soon as we got in the car, but she managed enough energy to use a tree near the salon as her personal trapeze!

Family weekend in Lancaster

Over the weekend, we spent part two of my dad's birthday celebration. We all met up in Lancaster County, Pa., for a fun time in the Dutch Country.

The reason for meeting up where we did was because my dad's Massey Harris Pacer was on display at the Fawn Grove Old Thyme Days tractor show. We went to the show on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday morning. Emilia got to ride on "Gampa's" tractor...Go on a pony ride...

And more! They had lots of food, arts and crafts, a flea market, music, face painting... it was a great country fair.

Since there was a large group of us and we wanted to be somewhere in between the tractor show and the tourist activities, we rented an 1800s farm house on a working farm, complete with sunflower patches and animals.

There were lots of pretty country roads for Emilia to enjoy a bike ride with Uncle "Coorie" and Gillian...

Lancaster has plenty of things for kids to do -- a lot of which I remember from when I was a kid. We spent the late afternoons on both Friday and Saturday at Dutch Wonderland, which is a perfect amusement park for Emilia's age. She was fearless and went on tons of rides...

She finally warmed up to meeting Duke the Dinosaur... But the real highlight came when she got to meet the Dutch Wonderland princess...On Saturday night, we ate family style at the Good n' Plenty Restaurant, another memory from my childhood. There was soooo much food...

Emilia was in heaven!

It was a great weekend and a lot of fun to all be together. Here we are after we stuffed our faces: Kyle, his girlfriend, Amanda, dad, mom, me, Eric, Emilia, Corey and his girlfriend, Gillian.

You know you've had a full and successful weekend when Emilia doesn't budge from this position the entire car ride home!

Lounging at the lake

Over Fourth of July weekend, we had a special treat. We met up with the Vaughans at Sandra's parents' house in Lake Anna. It was a gorgeous weekend and we had a blast hanging on the dock, riding on the boat and taking dips in the lake.


"Hang on, Mia, we go for a ride!"

It didn't take long for Emilia to get used to the lake:

The boys were a little more adventurous:

All the excitement wore Baby Andrew out:

We took a beautiful boat ride in the early evening: At first, Nathan was sure to hold onto Emilia to make sure she wasn't scared: But pretty soon, Emilia was really getting into it:

And of course, the weekend was complete with popsicles and s'mores:

We were so grateful to have the chance to enjoy such a special weekend. Here are the kids up late getting ready for the fireworks:

Carnival kids

The carnival was in town recently at the Dulles Town Center Mall. We met up with the Hills and Vaughans for an early dinner one Sunday and then hit the rides! Luckily, it was not crowded at all and the kids got to go on a bunch of rides.

The evening ended with an adorable group hug with Nathan and his girls.



Watch all of the action on the Hills' Web site.

Baila baila!

After swimming lessons and a birthday paty in the park one Saturday, Emilia took a 4 1/2 hour nap, not stirring until 6:30 p.m.! Since we knew she wouldn't be ready to go to bed on time, we ventured over to the Reston Town Center for the Saturday night summer concert series. That night was a fabulous salsa band. After eating a quick bite, Emilia went right to the stage to practice her moves.

Blowing bubbles

Emilia's swimming lessons continue. At her last class, she started blowing bubbles in the water. She's starting to get the hang of it.

Twilight at the farm

A couple weeks ago, Eric went to the Nationals game with Corey and Kyle. Emilia and I decided to make our own fun. We picked up Chick-Fil-A and went to Frying Pan Farm Park, which is open late on Wednesday nights in the summer. Dinner outside was a hit, but for some reason, Emilia was more timid with the animals this visit. There was even a "moo" exchange with one very large cow that caught Emilia off guard and brought on the tears. It was pretty hilarious - wish I had it on video. Here she is getting a good look at a sheep.