camping trip to Luray!

In an attempt to get caught up on blog posts (thanks for the push, Chris), I am realizing I never blogged about our totally awesome camping trip to Jellystone Luray back in early August. Shame on me!  It was such a fun, awesome week spent with my Mom and Robby, and with some friends of ours, the B family.  It was spectacular!

This was our super cute camping cabin. Will be hard to tent camp ever again, after having A/C, a fridge, a real bed and our own bathroom!  Mom and Robby had their trailer right behind our cabin so we were close by and ate all of our meals together!

 

Our cabin faced towards a huge field where the kids could play and run!

The boys played laser tag everyday!

Inside of our cabin..

Outdoor group cooking...

 

Cornhole!

 

My friend S at the bonfire...

She made awesome Jello shooters!

 

best waterslide ever!

 

 

We played games during 'happy hour'

 

And played kickball, baseball, and soccer

 

My Mom made a totally awesome bubble solution that made GIGANTIC bubbles!

We rented golf carts for the week, one of the best parts of the trip!  We were constantly taking spins around the campsite, the kids loved it.

 S made brownies that looked like hamburgers...

 

 

We even watched the season opener Redskins game outside...

 

On Friday (day 5) we checked out of the campsite and stopped at Luray Caverns on the way home. Fantastic!

Such a great vacation... it was close, easy, relaxing and not too expensive either.  I think we'll do it or something very similar next summer!

cousins unite!

A few weeks ago, our super fun, super cool cousins from NJ came to visit.  C and K have boys the same ages as our boys, so it was a six day slumber party playdate extravaganza.  They did some fun sight seeing type day trips from our house, and we did some fun stuff together, including daytrips to Great Falls, and Gettysburg. We also had a lovely evening dinner picnic at one of our favorite local vineyards, Sunset Hills.

We hadn't seen them in a couple of years and time flies... the boys are all so grown up together now and besides my brothers' kids, these are our boys' only other cousins.  It was great to see them bond again and get to know each other as 'young men'.  Loads of fun, we love them dearly.

 

 

Easter 2013

Easter this year was a little more low key than usual.  I downscaled the amount of junk in the Easter baskets, and we had a nice French toast breakfast and quiet morning at home.   I think we were all still mourning the loss of Bella.  Plus the weather has been so cold, I knew we couldn't do an egg hunt outside.  In fact, it was rainy Easter morning and we all slept in!

During the afternoon, we headed over to my Mom and Robby's to join my brother, stepsisters and their families for an Easter egg hunt and dinner.  We don't all get together very often so its always fun to see how much everyone's kids have grown and spend time visiting.  We also celebrated birthdays for my Mom, brother Chris and Dylan (who turns 10 on April 14th).

Here's my Mom and sister in law, Jess..

 

 

Some great family friends for years and years, Betty, Leo and David..

 

 

Logan gives Maya an Easter smooch...

 

 

 

Jasmine and her boyfriend Wayne..

 

 

 

 

My brother and Jay..

 

 

My brothers fancy homemade delicious fruit tart...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jay and Heather's adorable 19 month old daughter, Violet.

 

 

 

 

 

My Mom makes the most incredible homemade cards! This one is Minecraft, the boys current obsession.

 

And fancy, yummy Easter cookies from Grandma Celia that we shared with the crowd.

 

 

Hope you had a wonderful Easter.  Its time to bring on Spring!