Birthday Week

 Grandma and PapPap came to Virginia to celebrate Nicholas and David's birthdays.  Beautiful weather (it is now pouring down rain as I type but we enjoyed a good 2 weeks of sunshine and 70 degree temperatures) and we took full advantage.

We finally made good on Mommy's promise to Nicholas to camp out in the back yard:

And visited Mt. Vernon:

 (Nicholas was our navigator)

they are looking at the sheep.  Claire kept saying, "Baa!  Baa!)

And of course, celebrated birthdays:

 Mommy made dragon cupcakes for Nicholas for school.

 Waffles for dinner.  A birthday tradition?

 and David's favorite, plum dumplings!

 Grandma came through with the dragon-themed birthday:  balloons...

 and cake!

 Nicholas got lots of cool presents

 for David's birthday, we celebrated with a grown-up night at Capitol Prague in Georgetown--yummy Czech food

Labor Day Traditions

Yes, Labor Day Traditions.  It's not normally a holiday for traditions, but every year we've been in America, we've joined in David's childhood tradition for Labor Day weekend:  The Machak Family Reunion and the Canfield Fair.  Last year, Nicholas talked about the fair for a good 6 months afterwards.  This year, he got to go on rides as well as see all the animals.  Lots of fun!  It was a little tough jumping right back into work after a weekend away, but we managed to have a little energy left over for some fun last weekend.  We enjoyed a family day at the annual Taste of Falls Church Festival, and then Christy and David had date night with another couple at DC's Beer Fest at National's Park.   We are looking forward to a visit from Grandma and PapPap and some birthday festivities!

 Canfield Fair tractors

Claire liked her particular pony and did not want to switch.

Grandma braved the spinning dragons with Nicholas!

ice cream treat!

PapPap rented a scooter to make it easier to get around all day, but everyone took turns.  Nicholas and Claire thought it was a blast.

 We have pictures in some of these same places last year so it's fun to see how they've grown.

The Machak Family reunion was a beautiful day and a success.  

This year the first day of school was a breeze.  No tears this time!

In addition to tasting, the Taste of Falls Church had a kids area with all sorts of fun bouncy houses, and pony rides!  A first for Claire, she loved it.

they also had a fire truck, that was pretty cool.

Finally, Beer Fest!  Those are mustaches, by the way.  The mustache beer is actually pretty good too.

Ohio Vacation

We took a whirlwind trip through Ohio for our summer vacation.  We enjoyed visiting friends, and even got to "camp" and play at the "beach" at Salt Fork State Park--home of Bigfoot, in case you were wondering.  

First stop was Mt. Vernon for Melanie's baby shower.  It was great to have two Denison girls' get-together's in less than 6 months!

next stop was Granville to visit the Crum Family, our Denison Church family.  The twins,who were 6 when we met them, left for college the next day!

Andrew reading to Claire--so sweet!  Andrew was born Christy's senior year at Denison.  We can't believe it's been that long!

Next stop was to see Chris and Megan DelGenio and the kids in their new home.  They recently moved near Columbus from Niles.  The kids loved playing together.

 

 On the way to Salt Fork we swung back through Granville to spend some time at Denison.  The new Olympic size swimming pool and expanded Mitchell Center looks amazing, but we also enjoyed some more familiar sights.  We even went in one of David's old dorms, Crawford--they have not updated that in the last 10 years!

 Past and future Denisonians

 Quick stop in Granville for lunch at Brews and frozen custard at Whit's.  Brews was nice but completely redone--not the Brews we remember.  Also missing Victoria's and their grilled cheese sandwiches!

 Then it was on to Salt Fork for our "camping" experience--we rented a Lakeside cabin.  We did have a campfire and s'mores, though!

 Captain Nicholas loved the boat ride!

 Claire did not like the boat ride, or her life jacket

 45 minutes later.....

 the pool at the lodge was fun too!  The baby pool was perfect for a mommy-train ride.

 and the "beach"

After Salt Fork we went back to Niles and spent a few days relaxing at David's parents' house.  We enjoyed the pool and a trip to the Grove City Outlet Mall for some back-to-school/fall shopping.  The kids had a great time playing mini-golf, too!

Yes, that's the ball in Claire's hand. 

A great time was had by all.  We arrived home Saturday morning about 2 am.  Moe cat left us a present in the hallway, so that was a fun clean-up for Christy while David was unloading the car.   It was good to be back home. Saturday afternoon we took a 3 hour family nap!  Moe cat must have missed us because he even let Claire tell him to "sit" (like Caesar) and tolerated her petting him for several minutes without running away.  Nice kitty!  We can't believe it's the last week of summer.  Christy starts in her new office on Monday, so it's time to settle in to our new routine.