Travels

Last Thursday and Friday we hosted Hannah, who's mom had to be in school to give her teacher evaluations, but the kids didn't have school. We had a great time and made brownies, played dress up, went to the farmers market, and read to each other.

On Friday it was the Big Apple Circus for us in the evening. It's in a real big top! It was also 12 inches of rain that day and I learned a lesson about putting off buying new tires and riding on a spare too long during the 35 mile/2 hour trip to Dulles to see the circus. I also managed to drop Pete's and my dinner down the back of the tent and had to head out into the rain to replace our concessions. The kids had a terrific time though but if we hadn't bought the tickets in advance, I would have preferred to stay warm and cozy at home!

Saturday it was still raining and I let the kids have a break from cleaning up the disaster in the basement to go play in the river of water heading down the front sidewalk.

Yesterday we made a last minute trip to Fredericksburg with our old friend Suzie, who's working down there this week. We took a tour of the old apothecary shop where Katie and Zack were grossed out by Real Leeches and a description of what they need to do to remove cataracts and unhealed broken arms--yuck!

Suz and I were fascinated by the descriptions of the herbal remedies a many of which are used in some forms today to treat the same ailments. The kids liked being able to smell the herbs and tinctures. The tour guide was great particularly because we were the only people there for the second half so the kids were able to ask questions and see everything up close.

Today we went to the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) for a tour set up by a HS group in Arlington. We ended up knowing one family from Sleepy Hollow Preschool days and another mom and I think we've met before but can't remember where. We split into small groups of about 8 each and we're given a 45 minute tour. The kids and I also stayed for lunch--I had buffalo stew, yummy, and to see the great movie presentation upstairs. It's a great museum and even though it seems like there's not much to it, considering the huge building, we always see something new whenever we go.

When we got home the house smelled great from Pete cooking Loubi all day. The kids begged me to take out the Halloween decorations and we put up all the indoor ones. It's still raining, so we'll hold off on the outdoor ones. Now they're working on some Halloween activity books that I picked up on sale last year, threw in the decoration box and forgot all about.

Hope your neighborhood is getting spooky too!