Istanbul

A few pictures of Ben's Istanbul experience...the pictures on the water were from a cruise he took on the Bosphorus which separates Europe from Asia. He was lucky enough to get in some sightseeing early on, but is pretty much working nonstop now. But that means the end is in sight...


















(Their idea of American food...buns filled with hot dogs, fries, and pickles and drenched in tomato sauce and mayo...fortunately, Ben has been able to eat a lot of really good Turkish food.)

Fall frolicking on the farm.

We spent the afternoon at Cox Farms, one of our favorite places for fall festivities. It turned out to be a perfect afternoon...we managed to avoid the surrounding storms and the usual crowds.

Slides, slides, and more slides:





(This slide emerges from a chicken-filled barn!)






(In typical 4-year-old form, Amelia emerged from this slide and proclaimed "the dinosaur pooped me out!")

They have a great hayride. Both of the girls loved it:




Amelia LOVED doing the rope swings:






There is a fun corn maze with lots of silly things throughout:


The goat village was a favorite of both girls:














Eating apples and drinking apple cider:








Performing...Amelia could have stayed here much longer, but the farm was closing:

Jump Rope Jump Off!

Experience the National Children's Museum’s second annual Jump Off! at National Harbor this Saturday, October 3.

The Museum will present an afternoon of free, outdoor exhibition performances by four nationally renowned Double Dutch jump rope teams along with other family friendly activities.

The event is FREE and will last from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Click here for more information.

National Book Festival

This morning we headed down to the Mall for the National Book Festival. It's a pretty incredible event. There were over 70 authors and illustrators there speaking and doing book signings. (John Grisham, Judy Blume, Sue Monk Kidd, Jodi Picoult, Jeannette Walls, Nikki Grimes, Tim O'Brien, James Patterson, and Ken Burns to name a few.)

Listening to authors speak and waiting in LONG lines for book signings wasn't really at the top of the list for the kids, so we spent most of our time in the PBS Kids area. Amelia loved seeing so many of her favorite PBS Kids characters. She didn't want to actually stand with any of them for a picture, just near them.










Speedy Delivery! We totally met Mr. McFeely!


Amelia got his autograph!


Making crafts.


Amusingly, one of the longest lines was a line to have your picture taken with the Target dog. Even Amelia wanted her picture taken with him. We love Target, but we didn't wait in line.


We took a break to sit and read some of the free books that were handed out.


Elsa tried dilligently to get out of her stroller. Notice all the tote bags hanging from the stroller. Everywhere we went, they were handing them out. We ended up with 7.


Riding the metro.


My two curly heads enjoying the scenery on the metro ride.

Photobooth blocks

Pretty much anything that involves a photobooth is going to be a good project.

To make these photobooth blocks, scan in your photobooth strip and then adjust each picture so it will fit on your block. I used 2 in x 3 in linoleum blocks, found at an art store. Print and cut out your photos, and then apply Mod Podge to the back with a foam brush and stick them on the blocks. Spread a thin, even coat of Mod Podge over the top and sides to seal the photo.

Stack 'em any way you please.

You could do this with pretty much any photo and any size blocks. A fun change from the regular old picture frame.

Next up: Puzzle blocks

Our day.

"Should I not be in here?"


Amelia learns about Johnny Appleseed at school on "red day" (Johnny wore a pot as a hat).