Mulberry Street

Once in awhile we make it into Georgetown to have lunch with Eric. This time Genevieve ate in the car, played in the office (while Eric and I tried to eat our lunches without too much embarrassment – Genevieve thought it was great fun to slam doors and run down the halls), then spent some quality time with Daddy along the C&O Canal. We’ve said it before…if we had millions of dollars, we’d buy an old townhouse right off the canal (I think it would be too smelly to live directly on the canal) fix it up and enjoy Georgetown. If only money grew on trees… Genevieve found this old bike and tried to take it for a ride. She thought the purple flowers and pink paint were the perfect combination. We enjoyed the time together along the canal and wished we could have lunch together more often.

For the first time, Genevieve and I went to Cox Farms where they have hayrides, giant slides, fresh pressed apple cider, pumpkins galore, a corn maze and yup, you guessed it - farm animals. We met up with our friends to enjoy the gorgeous fall day and live up harvest fun. The kids probably had the most fun on the giant slides, second only to playing in the middle of the path with the rocks. I can't imagine how dirty a path like this one must be on a working farm. Yuck. I must be grateful however, because while they played Eliza, Brighten, Ashley and I enjoyed our lunch in the shade of a bronze maple tree. It really was a fabulous day. Genevieve and Theo made a new connection at the farm. Usually they play alongside one another, but not with one another. It was super cute. Are they too young for us to betroth them to each other? Okay, that's too far. I still think it was cute. The Hayride WAS bumpy. The straw got stuck in our socks. Some of the kids were ...

Autumn has arrived and it is truly beautiful. I have often thought about how much I like the distinct change of seasons in NoVa. Fall is the exact reason why I love seasons at all. How can you not love the different colors; rusty reds, various blues, darkening greens, summery yellows, and pumpkin orange?! Photos by Alisha Photo date: October 22, 2009

I participated in my first multi-sport event, the Hagerstown Duathlon. It was a fun and interesting experience, considering the cold rain. Eric has been eager for me to participate; he has been trying to convince me to compete in a triathlon for months. I can say that I have learned a greater appreciation for triathletes. I knew it must be hard and I knew it took a lot of determination to complete a triathlon, but I never fully appreciated what it really takes. The format for my duathlon was to run 2 miles, bike 10 miles, then run again for 3.1 miles. I didn’t train like I should have; because well I was lazy and thought I could wing it or rather endure anything for an hour and a half. Cherie convinced me to participate with her…back when the weather was still pleasant at 60 degrees. She emailed me on Friday morning asking if I was still in for Saturday (the forecast was 40 degrees and 100% chance of rain). I told her I was committed and then we strategized what to wear so we didn’t f...

It is cold and rainy tonight. While we were eating dinner Genevieve asked, "Where's Bisous?" I told him he was taking a nap, probably warming up after coming in from outside. When we went upstairs to get ready for bed there was Bisous snuggled on Genevieve’s bed. More and more the two of them are getting to be better friends. I love that Bisous has calmed down or rather lowered his standards.  Maybe he has simply gotten lazy, because he would much rather continue to nap than run away.  Or maybe Bisous tolerates Genevieve because he likes her.

Genevieve ran her first race. At 100 yards, the Pumpkin Dash was just long enough to hold her attention the whole time. She ran with her two buddies, Makenzie and Essence in full costume. Because parents were “encouraged to run” I also dressed up. It was fun to be a clown with Genevieve and people couldn't help but smile at us. The giant scarecrow scared all the kids, of course, and I thought all the kids screaming would make for a funny picture. Unfortunately we didn’t get screams or smiles, only expressions of distaste. Genevieve talked about the race for three days. As a result she learned a couple “days of the week” and gained a better understanding of time. Each morning she would wake up and tell us “I going to run a race!” "I going to run a race Saturday!" "I going to run a race tomorrow!" "I going to run a race today!" Each child received a race bib number, a ribbon and a small pumpkin when they finished. It was a lot of fun and now Brighten...