Wordful Wednesday: Day of Fun!!

We took a day trip to Gaithersburg/Bethesda MD. We started our day with a movie at The Rio movie theaters. The boys have been wanting to see Turbo. It was a cute movie and even had me laughing more than a few times. The boys really enjoyed it. 

The boys and I had never been to the Washingtonian Center so we decided to walk around. They took a train ride on the Choo Choo Soul Train. They really enjoyed the ride. My youngest loves Choo Choo Soul and was singing right along to the music playing!

 

After more walking, a lunch break, and more sight seeing, we got back in the car and drove 10 more minutes down the road to Bethesda. We had tickets to go see Peter Pan at the Imagination Stage. We had previously tried to go watch the play weeks before but, they had to cancel the show due to an actor injuring his foot.  So, needless to say the boys were more than excited and eager to see the play.

The play was excellent. The actors/actresses were amazing. Both the boys couldn't take their eyes off the stage. They laughed and even shouted out to the actors when they asked questions. They haven't stopped asking about Tinkerbell and how she was really magic. We really enjoyed ourselves. After the play the boys met some of the actors. Imagination really knows how to put on a great event. We can't wait to go back and see another play.

*Tickets to Peter Pan and Wendy were a prize from a contest through Macaroni Kid. We thank Macaroni Kid for the wonderful opportunity!

Park Quest #4: Gun Powder Falls State Park

What a crazy adventure this quest was. The Park Quest booklet instructed us to check in at the Monkton Station. From there we had to choose between a roundtrip 2 mile bike ride, a 1 mile hike or a drive to an easier access point. We decided ahead of time to do the hike. It was a pretty day out and was perfect hiking weather.

We drove the hour long trip to Monkton Station only to find out it shares a space with another company that rents tubes to float down the river. There was absolutely no parking anywhere. There were 50-100 cars parked all along the road. We drove around for at least 30 mins trying to find a parking spot that was legal. (There is a bridge along the road too and you are not allowed to park on the bridge.)

Finally, I decided after having the kids complaining (for what seemed like hours) to park illegally in the parking lot and walk over to get our supplies. I told the park ranger we had no where to park. He instructed us to take the short drive to York Rd. option. We were given a bag of supplies and a net. We were instructed to go to an easier access point where we could inspect the water.

The boys go to different creeks around our hometown at least once a week so they were no strangers to getting into creeks and looking for bugs/crayfish. Unfortunately, they had a very hard time finding anything. They made the best of the experience by playing in the water together with the supplies.

Overall, was an alright quest. We would do it again on a weekday early in the morning to hopefully miss the crowds of people rafting/biking.

Weekly Portrait Project {Week 4}

Park Quest #3: Cunningham Falls State Park

For our next Park Quest we visited Cunningham Falls State Park (Manor Area) with some friends.  The Park has two different areas about 10-15 mins apart from each other. We visited the campground areas where Super Storm Sandy hit and unfortunately did quiet a bit of damage to the area.

This quest was a self guided quest where we had to follow clues to different locked boxes with more clues. Each clue gave us a new letter where we then had to unscramble to make up the word of our last locked box with a stamp for us to stamp our passports.

Throughout this quest we learned about Myth Busters. For example, Do snakes give off a smell?!? Can you hurt a turtle by touching it's shell? We also took a hike to the Catoctin Furnace where we took a bridge that was over the highway. The kids loved that!

Cunningham also has a tire park and an aviary that we visited.

Here are some pictures of our quest!

                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                             

Weekly Portrait Project {Week 3}

Weekly Portrait Project is something we have started to hopefully keep up for the boys until they graduate. We will post a favorite picture of each of the boys once a week!

 

Park Quest #2: Seneca Creek State Park

I mentioned last week we crossed off another Park Quest and Bucket List activity! Canoeing at Seneca Creek State Park.

I wanted to give more detail about the quest and post some pictures!

The quest was at the beautiful Seneca Creek State Park located in Gaithersburg, MD. Because we are part of the Park Quest program and have our trusty Park Quest passport, we were allowed to check out two canoes, kayaks, or paddle boats. We opted for the canoe and, we only needed one for the 4 of us. We were given a map, a pencil, directions, an animal identification sheet and, life jackets!

The directions that were given to us stated we needed to follow the map to find 7 different posts. On those posts would be 3 different pictures of animal species found at Seneca Creek or in MD. We would then need to identify that species and write it down. If you get stumped there was an animal identification sheet that helped out.

Conner knew most of the animals names, he needed a little help with the different fish names. Carson enjoyed the ride and putting his hands in the water. The paddle around the lake took us about 1.5 hours. We were lucky to have a little bit of a breeze to help us along the way. If you go on this quests  or just to paddle around the lake, keep an eye out for a blue heron that hangs out there. He was so pretty. When we found him he was hunting for fish!

 After the quest we let the boys play at the fun tire park. While at the park a park ranger came over and held a short lesson on animals in MD. The boys got to identify animals by their skulls and fur.

Overall, we had a blast at this quest!

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Bucket List: Ride a horse!

One more off the Bucket List!! We went to a family member's birthday party and had the chance to ride a horse. Carson had so much fun! Conner chose not to ride the horse. 

 

Weekly Portrait Project {Week 2}

 Weekly Portrait Project is something we have started to hopefully keep up for the boys until they graduate. We will post a favorite picture of each of the boys once a week!

We have been away on Vacation so Week 2 is coming a bit late.

Semi Wordless Wednesday!

This past weekend we crossed off another Park Quest. We also crossed off another one of our Summer Bucket List activities!!

Canoeing!!!

Behind the Camera!

Over the weekend my oldest went to a beginners photography class. He had such a fantastic time. All the volunteers were so helpful. They taught him so much. We took about an hour to walk around downtown. We saw plants, animals, architecture, patterns and, people. Conner really has a great eye for beautiful things. I was taking some photos along with him and he got a lot of things I didn't see.

After we walked around snapping photos, we went back inside where we got to rate all of our pictures 0-2. 0: being one we didn't really like or was out of focus. 1: being one we so so liked but maybe there was something a little off. 2: Was one we really enjoyed. Then we took all the 2's and narrowed it down to the best one. He got to print the best one off to hang at the local library. We can't wait to go back later this week to see it hung up with the rest of the class photos. I couldn't believe all that they did and that it was totally free!! What a treat!!

Here's a couple photos I got of Conner!

Here are a couple of his favorite shots!! The lily is hanging at the library and he titled it "Flower Reflections".