Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving with my parents. The boys spent most of the day playing with Grandad's trains. Brendan had the day off from work, but we still put him to work carving the turkey. We all played games and just enjoyed being together.

Meredith turns 10!

To celebrate Meredith's double digit birthday, we invited 2 of her friends and took them to the Philadelphia Zoo. Afterwards they made pizza bagels and ate zoo cake.

modeling the new birthday outfit from Grandma and Grandad

Washington DC

November 2 was Election Day, so the Delaware public schools had a day off. We decided to spend the day in DC. Grandma and Grandad went with us. The kids were excited to ride the metro into town. Our first stop was the Air and Space Museum.

Meredith enjoyed seeing Amelia Earhart's plane.

She did a big project in 3rd grade on Earhart.

After lunch, we took the long, long walk down to the Lincoln Memorial. We stopped by the Washington Monument, but didn't go up in it. Next time.

The kids were really dragging, and Jason even got a ride on Daddy's shoulders, on the walk back to the Museum of Natural History.
It was a long, fun day. There was too much to see in one day, so we'll definitely be planning some more trips down there.

Halloween

We celebrated Halloween this year several times. The first was a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo for "Boo at the Zoo." The kids got to dress up and trick or treat around the zoo. It was a beautiful fall day - no need for coats.

Even the lego penguins got to wear costumes!

Our second opportunity to party was the Harvest Party at church. They were supposed to wear "fun, friendly" costumes, so the witch and Darth Vader were out.

The annual North Star Elementary Vocabulary parade was next. Instead of wearing regular costumes, the kids are supposed to create a costume based on the vocabulary theme for their grade level. The third graders were supposed to be a body part. Jeremy used his skeleton costume and labeled many of the bones.

Lastly, was Halloween night itself. The kids had a great time carving their pumpkins (with help from Dad of course). They even made a "headless Meredith" to decorate the front yard. And then went out trick or treating.

October Birthdays

Brendan and Grandma both have birthdays in October, just one day apart! So we celebrated together, starting with dinner out at Texas Roadhouse. Then we returned home for birthday cake and presents.

Jason helped make the cake.

He also supervised the present-opening.

A great picture of the kids with Grandma

That's an awful lot of candles!

Jason Turns 5!

Had to have penguins on his cake

building the Knex monster truck with Uncle Kurt and Jeremy

On his new bed (the top bunk!) with his new quilt made from his fabric choices

Summer's End

All of our planned summer activities and camps were all over by the last three weeks of August. So we spent several days here and there at my parents house while they were in California for 6 weeks. Kind of like several mini-vacations. We also took the kids roller skating - first time for Jason. We had a blast! We also took another trip up to Lancaster to go to Dutch Wonderland Mini-Golf, since we couldn't fit that in to our day at Dutch Wonderland in July.



Then it was time to meet the kids' new teachers at school, pack up their backpacks and start the new school year. Meredith is now in 4th grade; Jeremy is a third-grader.

July and August: Beach Trips

While Jeremy and Meredith were each away at camp, the rest of us took trip to the Delaware Seashore State Park and Rehoboth Beach boardwalk.

July and August: Summer Camps

This was a summer full of camps. July brought Sports Camp and Vacation Bible School at church. Meredith and Jeremy attended Sports Camp, spending their mornings learning archery, frisbee golf, street hockey, basketball, wiffle ball and volleyball. VBS was the last week of July, and all three kids enjoyed the High Seas Expedition program. Meredith brought a friend all week. The church put on a fun fair with a moonbounce, several waterslides, a dunktank and hot dogs and cotton candy.

Jeremy and Meredith each got to spend a week away at Bible camp, Cedarbrook Camp in Pennsylvania. This was a first for each of them. Jeremy's week was first. Meredith went two weeks later, the first week of August.

Jeremy and his counselor, Scooter

Meredith ended up in the same cabin and exact bunk as Jeremy

Meredith and her counselor, Rosie Spoonbill

July 16 - Dutch Wonderland

The kids are in the back two seats of the coaster.

July 12 - Jungle Jim's Water Park

Exhausted at the end of the day