Our decorating is pretty lame. This was Susan’s idea for a ghost. A stick with a bucket on top of it covered in a sheet.
Blog
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Reston Halloween Trick-or-Trail
The Reston Walker Nature Center puts on the best Halloween Trail. They have educational stops along the entire trail and the Walker Center is transformed into an eery lab complete with dry ice demonstrations, microscopes that look at goo, and most importantly a Star Wars themed dance room.
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Parker bed time story
Parker and I often have long storytimes at night and he likes to add to the story.
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Columbus Day Camping
The kids and I went camping for Columbus Day weekend. We had another family that was supposed to join us but had to back out because of a funeral. Nonetheless, we had a great time.
On our way in we crashed a party for Fairfax Water, so the kids got some cookies and some time in a bounce house. Random!
We checked in and then located our camping spot. Skylar and Parker helped me unload and get the site setup. Everyone foraged for wood, and we were lucky enough to find some big pieces as well as plenty of kindling.
With the tent up, car unloaded, and wood situation under control, we drank some water and headed out to explore. We found the playground close by and spent an hour playing with other kids. Campgrounds – especially on holiday weekends are a magnet for young families.
Once it got close to 5:00 PM we went back to start our fire and prepare for dinner. We ate canned baked beans, cheese infused burgers, garlic and butter corn, watermelon, and of course… smores! After dinner the sun had completely gone down, so my two little tour guides led us on a walk through the woods on a trail to the bath house.
Since the campground was at capacity there was no hot water left, and we each screamed as we took a nice cold shower to get the sweat and dirt off prior to sleeping. I was hoping that with us a week into October the weather would be nice and cool, but it in the 80s during the day, and only dropped to about 72 at night, so I slept next to the door of the tent with it cracked to let a breeze in.
I think I got about 4 hours sleep, which is way more than any other camping trip. The kids had a blast and now it’s time for a nap…
Driving a mini-excavator from FFX water. 
Playing on FFX Water Equipment. 
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Family Camp
This year we attend family camp at the end of summer instead of the beginning. Skylar and Parker had tons of fun and lots of mom and dad time. Parker even tried out his first ‘thrill’ experience – going up to the first platform on the tower of fear, and daring to free fall with the gaint swing.
Skylar continued her independence and went up the zip line (over 80 feet high) all by herself while Parker and I were practicing archery! But the best time was at the bay. Sunday, we hit low tide at the perfect point and had a nice breeze to whip up some waves. We kayaked out about 200 feet from shore and found ourselves beached, ankle deep on a sand bar.
Other families were parked there and the kids had fun fighting the waves. On our way home we stopped by a giant pumpkin farm. What do they feed those things?!?!
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Daddy Day – RoundTop Mtn
Skylar and I had a daddy day one Friday and we went to RoundTop Mountain for their adventure tour. We ran like rats through a maze, traveled down the mountain in an “OGO” ball filled with icy cold water, zoomed sideways down a water slide, and climbed, climbed, climbed through a multitude of nets, slack lines, climing walls, etc.
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Hershey Park
We went to Hershey Park to watch Skylar’s song & dance troupe put on a performance. While there we checked out Troeg’s brewery, made our own chocolate bars at the Hershey Museum interactive lab, rode a couple roller coasters, and then cooled off at the pool.
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Skylar 7th Birthday
Aunt Sumi came to visit for Skylar’s 7th birthday. We went to I-Fly and the kids flew like Superman via indoor skydiving! Then we had birthday cake and gifts. Skylar is growing up so fast!
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Skylar soccer
Skylar played a lot of soccer this year. She participated in skills training twice a week and also had games every Sat. She had a lot of corner kicks in this particular game. Go Skylar!
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Outer Banks 2017
We traveled with the Sanglier’s to the Outer Banks for our 2017 beach trip. The kids had fun trying out surfing (ok, dad hang 10’d the most since it was a cold-water day), riding bikes along our community, bumper cars, putt-putt golfing, eating ice cream, and playing on the beach.
Jockey’s Ridge was awesome, although it felt smaller and I confirmed that the dunes have fallen from 140 feet to 90 feet over the last 10 years. Enjoy it while you can – mother nature may reclaim that area! On the way back we stopped in Lexington for a couple days for the 4th.
