Halloween

Amy and Ellen threw a fabulous Halloween party. The costumes were amazing, as you can see. Creative friends we have.

I think my favorite part of the night was playing Minute to Win It games.  They are always hysterical, especially ones everyone's competitive sides come out. 

Fall

Fall in the District, I can never get enough. 

Love the rainbow trees. The tops of the trees change colors before the bottom so there are always lovely multicolored trees. The ones on the streets of Georgetown are my favorite.

We went for a Sunday stroll at the old Oak Hill Cemetery.  So pretty and peaceful.

Harper's Ferry

Harper's Ferry is the perfect day trip. It's only about an hour or so away from DC and it is just beautiful. It's an old Civil War town that has been preserved. The scenery is gorgeous and the little town is so quaint.

NYC

We decided to plan a last minute trip up to Manhattan over Labor Day weekend since we had Monday off. It was a great decision. We had a blast! First day we did a boat tour around the whole island. I would say it was one of my favorite things we've done in New York. Such a great way to see the city.

I don't think you can tell, but that's Yankee Stadium in the background.

Oh, the food.

Biking through Central Park.

Although NY is an amazing city to visit, we both decided there is an overabundance of humanity, concrete, dirt, smut and stink for us to want to stay for too long. We sure were happy to get back to the District.

Virginia Vacay

Went camping in Shenandoah with these darlings...

Gorgeous, right? Such a stunning part of the country. Our drive out was amazing; gorgeous farmland and hills and foliage coupled with great company and the Cafe Rio that we grabbed after picking up Tyler from work in the Virginian burbs.  

View at sunset from Skyline Drive.

The boys were successful in scavenging wood. Aren't campfires the best? Especially when you have banana boats and roasted Starbursts to keep your sugar tooth happy.

We started our morning off with a lovely hike. It was so peaceful until we met up with some people some people who told us they saw a momma and two baby bears. And then a few minutes later we saw a bear for ourselves. Don't get me wrong, seeing a bear in the wild is awesome, but I've only ever seen one from the car. Being 15-20 feet away from one with nothing but your water bottle is a bit unnerving. Tyler and Gabe may have been brandishing their knives the rest of the way.

 Our hike was to a 93 foot waterfall baby trickle of water. Not enough rain, I guess.  Luckily the view was breathtaking.

I was so excited to discover that there are "pick your own" farms in the area we were in. We stopped at Hollin Farms and loaded up on fresh tomatoes and peaches.

Nothing like fresh produce. Both the tomatoes and peaches are to die for!

So blessed to have great friends and so many fun places to visit and explore. We have been loving our time out on the East Coast!

Richmond

Our friend Matt and Natalie live in Richmond where he is attending medical school. We had a fabulous weekend visiting them and seeing the sites.

Virginia State Capitol designed by Thomas Jefferson

Church where Patrick Henry gave his "give me liberty or give me death" speech.

 White House of the Confederacy.

We also went to a fun farmer's market, went swimming the in James River, visited VCA's medical campus, ate some delicious burgers and had a blast catching up with Matt and Nat.

Lake Powell

My aunt and uncle have a houseboat in Bullfrog and are kind enough to invite the whole family down to party. I haven't been able to go for the past several years and was so excited when the timing worked out. Unfortunately Tyler had to get back to school so he wasn't able to join us. 

My family headed down a day early so that we could go to Rainbow Bridge. We got up at the butt crack of dawn and enjoyed glassy water and beautiful scenery on the 3-4 hour round-trip boat ride. Rainbow Bridge is truly stunning. It is the world's largest know natural bridge. So glad we make the trek down to see it!

We found the perfect spot for the houseboat. It was in a massive cove that shaded us all day long! It was fabulous and beautiful.

The only downside is that when it rained this happened...

Muddy waterfall. 

Though the waterfall was pretty lovely, we didn't see it as such at first. We were out on the lake when it started raining so we headed back to the houseboat to tie up the boat and put the cover on. My mom, my cousin, Nate, and I were inside the boat putting the tarp on.  When we slithered out we realized that we had a giant muddy waterfall dumping all over our boat and the houseboat. It was pretty terrifying at first.

We hurried and untied the boat and took it out from under the waterfall but the damage was done. Sand was EVERYWHERE. It took about two hours to clean it, but the Moomba survived its maiden voyage to Lake Powell mostly unscathed.

Nate, Peter and Matt sitting under the waterfall.

There was so much to do in our cove: Paddle boat, fishing, hiking, playing in the sand, jumping off the houseboat, riding the buoys down the water slide, swimming, sunbathing, etc. My favorite part was the boating. The boat was out for most of the day every day and it was so fun! I finally got comfortable on the wakeboard and surf board and we had a blast watching and teaching each other and trying new tricks.

It was also a blast to watch these little darlings learn to water ski for the first time! My mom and dad are rock stars with kids and teaching them to ski. I don't know if it would have happened without them!

Cliff jumping in Lake Powell is a must. We later found out that the legal height limit for cliff jumping is 15 feet. Oops...

Cliff jumping crew in the Celebrity.

Thanks to Hal and Cynthia, my parents and grandparents and everyone for making this a most fabulous and memorable trip!

I can't forget to mention the ride home. My mom summed it up best:

"Boot removal off of our car in Bullfrog (for no display of mussel papers) ... $100 dollars

No signature on our boat registration papers ... $325 dollars
No proof of insurance ... $425 dollars
Watching Paul [my dad] be escorted by two park rangers, one sporting a bulletproof vest and a weapon (gun) to the boat decontamination station ... Hilarious.
Having to leave the suburban in Wellington at the Walker Chevron because it basically died ... Who knows how much $.
Spending time with our family in Lake Powell and cramming all of us into the Yukon for the ride home ... PRICELESS!!!

Disclaimer:  They waived all fees and gave us a warning because Paul is the nicest guy ever!  =}."

 Yes, getting home was a bit of a fiasco with some boat drama, serious car trouble, lots of pulling over, ditching the Suburban at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, and smooshing 8 people into a Yukon with 5 seats. Although it took over 8 hours, we cashed in a lot of blessings and were able to get everybody, their stuff, and the boat home safe and sound...at 2:00 a.m. It's those kinds of events that make trips memorable, right? Plus my mom got a new car out of the ordeal!