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The drive to the D.C. area, was very "eventful". Tired Mom became Terrified Mom on a long 100 mile stretch of lonely road in the mountains of West Virginia. Why you ask? Because it was the middle of the night and there was a BLIZZARD. And, not a hotel to be found for 100 miles. The longest 3 hours (felt like a week) of my life. Almost going off the road no less than five times made for more scares than are ever necessary for a human being to endure in one night. We did eventually make it to a hotel (which ironically, was just outside where the blizzard was really hitting).
This was the snow covered view from the hotel room.
Danger Boy and Kid Catastrophe camped out on the floor.
Super Spy was happy to be out of her car seat (after 13 hours) and enjoyed her "hop crawling" around on the floor.
After a rocky start, we eventually made is safely to Aunt Weesie and Uncle Bryan's house the next day. The roads were so clear the next day, it was like it had not snowed in a week.
In other news: Super Spy is a road warrior! She does not nap very well in the car, but she rarely cries and is Super Happy for most of the trip. E & T loved playing with their baby cousin. They kept saying how cute she was, and loved it when I took a shower and they were put in charge of her. Super Spy loved all the attention from her cousins, and from everyone else!
The first day the kids played and opened their presents from their Aunt & Uncle. Here the boys are playing with nerf guns on the playground. Other than the blizzard in WV, the weather was very mild for winter. 
Kid Catastrophe is modeling her jewelry picked out by her aunt.
One of our first sight seeing trips was to see the Air and Space Museum near the Dulles Airport. The kids had a blast! Planes, helicopters, and space shuttles, oh my! There was lots of walking around to get out some of the wiggles from the long car trip. Super Spy was traveling Kangaroo style for all the museums.
Views from the upper floors of the museum.
The kids really enjoyed the "control tower" with a view of planes landing and taking off from Dulles Airport. The kids posed for a picture with the Super Cousins. 
And then, there was the Frostival!
One of the highlight of the trip was a local indoor carnival called "The Frostival" where the kids got to run around all over some HUGE bouncy houses, and ride rides, and eat good food, and generally have a super fun time. The Frostival was lots of fun, and the moms had fun watching them (Tired Mom and Aunt Weesie).
All the smaller kids enjoyed the ball pits while Cousin E went to go rock climbing on the indoor rock climb they had (a little too hard for the younger kids).
Tired Mom's camera batteries pooped out for the Natural History Museum we went to on the third day, but Danger Boy (aka Dinosaur Boy) finally got to see some real life dinosaur bones! They were awesome. At one point, DB was walking under a T-Rex bones display (HUGE) and I say "Look up!" and DB does, and his jaw just dropped! It was hilarious and a very cool experience. At the same museum, Tired Mom got to see the Hope Diamond (world's largest diamond). The Super Kids were not as impressed though. Next time, we hope to walk to see the monuments, but that will probably have to wait for a warmer summer trip since they are all outdoors.
It was sad to leave the cousins on New Year's Day, but we have to go home some time and all good things must come to an end. We hope to visit the P Family many many more times while they live in the D.C. area!
Just when you think everything is going fine, BANG! Your daughter falls off the back of the couch, and almost goes out a window. I was thinking just moments before how my little daughter looked so grown up, and how she is becoming less clumsy and more agile (like her brother), and so I was letting her play up on the back of the couch with her brother.
Right after she fell, Kid Catastrophe started crying and Danger Boy immediately comes to his sister's rescue and pulls her up since her legs were hanging out the window. Score one for Danger Boy! I rush over (trying to remember to breathe! And not have a heart attack!) and expect to see BLOOD. I look over Kid Catasrophe and I see NOTHING. She's still crying, the entire bottom part of the window is busted out so I know she must have hit it hard enough with her legs to break it. I do eventually find a scrape (not bleeding) along one shin on her leg. Kid Catastrophe comes through another kid caused natural disaster with little/no damage!
You ever hear the quote "there's a separate god for children"? I think it might be from "How To Kill a Mockingbird". I don't think the quote means that there are several gods, just that God has a special place in his heart for our children and looks out for them especially. It seems like every parent I've talked to has a story where their children should have been seriously hurt, but managed to come out virtually unscathed.
If there are Christmas decorations up the day after Halloween, I take full responsibility. My overflowing joy at the sight of all things Christmasy makes the store people do this, I'm sure of it. Tired Mom's super power must be making Christmas come earlier and earlier every year. This year, we got our first REAL TREE. It is AWESOME. I might be addicted to real trees, but we'll have to see how annoying the pine needles are by the end of the month.
As usual, Danger Boy & Kid Catastrophe were ecstatic to decorate the tree. They enjoyed looking at the naked tree for a day, but they were stoked when Paranoid Dad finally arrived home from work so we could start decorating.
Kid Catastrophe opened a box full of decorations and showed it to Paranoid Dad. She asked "what's in this box?" Paranoid Dad thought it was a funny question (since it seemed pretty obvious what was in the box) so he said, "that's where we keep the drugs!" Kid Catastrophe then walked over to where I was putting lights on the tree with Danger Boy and said, "this box is where we keep the drugs!". It was pretty funny. Paranoid Dad got the fake death glare as I said, "Daddy was just joking sweetie!"
Danger Boy kept trying to grab an impossible amount of the "glass ball" type ornaments and making Paranoid Dad go into Paranoid mode about how bad broken ornaments are, and how he does not even want to think about what would happen if certain events were to transpire involving lots of broken glass, flying elves, indoor tornadoes and other unlikely freak accidents ;)
One of my favorite moments! When PD picks up the kids and they all put the angel on the tree. I think this will be much harder next year when Super Spy might want to get on this angel action.
Stinkin cute kids! 
Super Spy could not help much with tree decorating, so she mostly took turns watching from PD and TM's laps. Silly willy Christmas fun!
Dun na na na, DINOSAUR, du na na na, DINOSAUR!
What every boy needs for his specifically requested DINOSAUR BIRTHDAY is a huge brontosaurus. Seriously, I thought everyone knew that? You too can make this wonderous (dare I even say SUPER?) party decoration with 3-4 hours, some tissue paper, flour paste, and a TON of cardboard. All of which we had on hand (except the tissue paper which cost only $1). Danger Boy of course loved it. What more could a Tired Mom ask for?
On a side note- who let Danger Boy become SEVEN years old? That's just crazy! Seven years old was when Tired Mom moved to our house (that Granny still lives in), we had a dog named Chibby (who tortured my 2-3 year old baby sister by nipping her heels), and my 2nd grade teacher was Mrs. Pokorny (pretty sure that's spelled incorrectly, but still, I remember the name). Anyway, rant over.
The cake did not come out quite so well, since Danger Boy insisted the dinosaur be a "rainbow dinosaur". It mostly just looks like the vague outline of a dinosaur instead. The chocolate chip spikes were a nice touch though, I must say.
And then, we were on to the presents. Surprisingly, What's a birthday without at least a few presents?
Trains! Danger Boy loved this train set. Tired Mom is always surprised by the wide range of toys the Super Kids will play with.
Danger Boy has never been given toy guns before. What were we thinking for this serious lapse? Every boy needs to learn the importance of some fake plastic semi-automatic firearms so he can dream of being a police officer, or a soldier, or James Bond. 
And, of course, the obligatory, DINOSAUR!
Tired Mom and the Super Kids put on our walking hats, grabbed our Nature Walk Kit we ordered from the library, put on our walking back pack, and set out to the Watershed Nature Center to celebrate Veteran's Day. 
Super Spy needed to be nursed before we left, so I took some pics of the kids hanging out in the car. Is this one of the cutest baby pics ever or what???
Tired Mom suited up with the baby sling, and off we went. (Danger Boy took this picture, can you believe it?)
Part of the nature walk kit included a big catcher, a pair of kid sized binoculaurs, magnifying glasses, and a ton of books. The books stayed in the car after Tired Mom had to go back to the parking lot TWICE for Kid Catastrophe to use the restroom. The idea of reading books about nature out in the woods sounded good, but fell to the inevitable cold hard truth that carrying a baby and a big plastic case with 13 books in it was going to be too tiring. 
Every view on the nature trail looks just as cool as this. The whole place looks like something out of a travel brochure, and we enjoyed it immensely. The weather was perfect! 
It was funny that the binoculars matched KC's hat. She looked like quiet the stylish little nature lover.
The kids found tons of things to climb on and play with on the many little side trails off the main path. Danger Boy thought this little creek was great fun. He "accidentally" got his feet wet a few times.
Super Spy was more interested in gnawing on Tired Mom's sunglasses than looking at nature, but she was good the whole 2 1/2 hours we were out, so no complaints here!
Yep, I made the boy take his turn with the Tinkerbell back pack!
Danger Boy found a giant leaf and wanted me to take a picture. He was pretty proud of it. This Tired Mom cannot think of a better way to spend a day off from school with her kids. Plus, we came home and read the books out of the kit. We snuck some learning in there too!
Here's Super Spy trying to learn how to drink water, but mostly pouring it on herself.
Yum, tasty bowl of sweet potatoes!
Wait, which end goes in my mouth?
Beans! Nom nom nom nom.
This was the snow covered view from the hotel room.
Danger Boy and Kid Catastrophe camped out on the floor.
Super Spy was happy to be out of her car seat (after 13 hours) and enjoyed her "hop crawling" around on the floor.
The first day the kids played and opened their presents from their Aunt & Uncle. Here the boys are playing with nerf guns on the playground. Other than the blizzard in WV, the weather was very mild for winter. 
Kid Catastrophe is modeling her jewelry picked out by her aunt.
One of our first sight seeing trips was to see the Air and Space Museum near the Dulles Airport. The kids had a blast! Planes, helicopters, and space shuttles, oh my! There was lots of walking around to get out some of the wiggles from the long car trip. Super Spy was traveling Kangaroo style for all the museums.
Views from the upper floors of the museum.
The kids really enjoyed the "control tower" with a view of planes landing and taking off from Dulles Airport. The kids posed for a picture with the Super Cousins. 
And then, there was the Frostival!
One of the highlight of the trip was a local indoor carnival called "The Frostival" where the kids got to run around all over some HUGE bouncy houses, and ride rides, and eat good food, and generally have a super fun time. The Frostival was lots of fun, and the moms had fun watching them (Tired Mom and Aunt Weesie).
All the smaller kids enjoyed the ball pits while Cousin E went to go rock climbing on the indoor rock climb they had (a little too hard for the younger kids).
Just when you think everything is going fine, BANG! Your daughter falls off the back of the couch, and almost goes out a window. I was thinking just moments before how my little daughter looked so grown up, and how she is becoming less clumsy and more agile (like her brother), and so I was letting her play up on the back of the couch with her brother.
Danger Boy kept trying to grab an impossible amount of the "glass ball" type ornaments and making Paranoid Dad go into Paranoid mode about how bad broken ornaments are, and how he does not even want to think about what would happen if certain events were to transpire involving lots of broken glass, flying elves, indoor tornadoes and other unlikely freak accidents ;)
One of my favorite moments! When PD picks up the kids and they all put the angel on the tree. I think this will be much harder next year when Super Spy might want to get on this angel action.
Stinkin cute kids! 
Super Spy could not help much with tree decorating, so she mostly took turns watching from PD and TM's laps. Silly willy Christmas fun!
What every boy needs for his specifically requested DINOSAUR BIRTHDAY is a huge brontosaurus. Seriously, I thought everyone knew that? You too can make this wonderous (dare I even say SUPER?) party decoration with 3-4 hours, some tissue paper, flour paste, and a TON of cardboard. All of which we had on hand (except the tissue paper which cost only $1). Danger Boy of course loved it. What more could a Tired Mom ask for?
The cake did not come out quite so well, since Danger Boy insisted the dinosaur be a "rainbow dinosaur". It mostly just looks like the vague outline of a dinosaur instead. The chocolate chip spikes were a nice touch though, I must say.
And then, we were on to the presents. Surprisingly, What's a birthday without at least a few presents?
Trains! Danger Boy loved this train set. Tired Mom is always surprised by the wide range of toys the Super Kids will play with.
Danger Boy has never been given toy guns before. What were we thinking for this serious lapse? Every boy needs to learn the importance of some fake plastic semi-automatic firearms so he can dream of being a police officer, or a soldier, or James Bond. 
And, of course, the obligatory, DINOSAUR!
Super Spy needed to be nursed before we left, so I took some pics of the kids hanging out in the car. Is this one of the cutest baby pics ever or what???
Tired Mom suited up with the baby sling, and off we went. (Danger Boy took this picture, can you believe it?)
Part of the nature walk kit included a big catcher, a pair of kid sized binoculaurs, magnifying glasses, and a ton of books. The books stayed in the car after Tired Mom had to go back to the parking lot TWICE for Kid Catastrophe to use the restroom. The idea of reading books about nature out in the woods sounded good, but fell to the inevitable cold hard truth that carrying a baby and a big plastic case with 13 books in it was going to be too tiring. 
Every view on the nature trail looks just as cool as this. The whole place looks like something out of a travel brochure, and we enjoyed it immensely. The weather was perfect! 
It was funny that the binoculars matched KC's hat. She looked like quiet the stylish little nature lover.
The kids found tons of things to climb on and play with on the many little side trails off the main path. Danger Boy thought this little creek was great fun. He "accidentally" got his feet wet a few times.
Super Spy was more interested in gnawing on Tired Mom's sunglasses than looking at nature, but she was good the whole 2 1/2 hours we were out, so no complaints here!
Yep, I made the boy take his turn with the Tinkerbell back pack!
Danger Boy found a giant leaf and wanted me to take a picture. He was pretty proud of it. This Tired Mom cannot think of a better way to spend a day off from school with her kids. Plus, we came home and read the books out of the kit. We snuck some learning in there too!
