Mama Mia! at Wolf Trap

This was our month of musicals, because we also made it to see Mama Mia! at Wolf Trap, which was alot of fun. I had seen it before, but loved it and had never been to Wolf Trap. It is such a cool place. It is an outdoor theater and they have lawn seating, so you sit in the grass, picnic, and enjoy the beautiful evening. We had so much fun with Jill and Kevin!

Hershey Park!

This year we went to Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania along with our good friends the Thuesons. It was so much fun! We literally opened the park up and closed the park down! It was such a great day! Ethan is now tall enough to go on some of the bigger roller coasters, which were a blast! He really is a brave little guy and will go on anything, which I love! He and I went on this one ride where you are in this little car spinning and it goes soooo high up, I was kinda terrified! But he was so brave, he wasn't even scared at all! And they also have a little mini-zoo with some animals and fish that we checked out, which Avery loved. And a water park, although since we went in May it was a little chilly, so we didn't do too much of the water park. Jay and Ethan found an Angry Birds boardwalk game and spent more than they should have trying to win an Angry Bird (unsuccessfully, sadly), but had a lot of fun. At the end of the day - literally 10 oclock, the kids had both fallen asleep in the stroller and we walk out to our car. We get to our car and realize we had lost the keys! Talk about your worst nightmare. Hours from home, 10 o'clock at night and the kids are exhausted. After treking to lost and found all over the park and getting someone to unlock our car to make sure we hadn't left the keys in it, the park finally found us a hotel and got a car to drive us to the hotel - I cannot say enough about how amazing they were. It was so kind and above and beyond. I will be a Hershey Park fan forever because of how great they were. So we slept that night and called back to Lost and Found in the morning and they had found our keys while they were cleaning the park - I almost collapsed I was so relieved. So they sent a car back to pick us up, we got our keys, hung out at the park a little longer and headed home! Seriously an adventure.

Backyard Water Slide!

I love these two! They have so much fun playing on this little pool and water slide!

Wicked!

We went with an awesome group of friends to see "Wicked" at the Kennedy Center. Before the show we went to dinner at this beautiful restaurant in Georgetown (though I was not so impressed with the food) that overlooked the Potomac. And I absolutely loved the show! It was such a fun night!

Ethan's Soccer Season Fall 2011

Ethan again did soccer and played with the Belmont League. Dad coached his team again and it was such a fun season! I just love watching him play soccer. He has so much fun and is so proud when he scores a goal. He was one of the oldest on his team this year and had a really great season. At the end of the season the parents had an end of season party and awards ceremony that was alot of fun and one of the moms made the most amazing cake!

The North Shore

Makimoto's Shaved Ice - this was awesome! So yummy. But heres a tip. Don't get the beans in your shaved ice. They really are just beans in your ice cream - gross! I had to get a new one without the beans!
That's me and Lauren jumping off!
Jay, Tanner and Craig making the leap!
We saw people jumping off of this huge rock and of course we had to join in!
This was a fun beach at the North Shore.
All over the North Shore Avery managed to find chickens to chase. She had so much fun!
Giovanni's Shrimp Truck - A must try we were told and it was good, but a little too much butter for me - I never thought I would say that!


This was at the "Chinaman's Hat" - such a pretty view!

Pearl Harbor

Of course we had to see Pearl Harbor. This was a really amazing place and really brought the history to life. I really liked touring the submarine also - I couldn't believe how cramped the quarters are!

Laie Hawaii Temple

We were able to have a great day at the Laie Hawaii Temple, which is just beautiful! Afterwards, we made it to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Polynesian Cultural Center

This was a really neat part of our trip, although I will say we didn't leave quite enough time to see everything and it sadly POURED down rain right when we got there. And when I say poured down, I mean I have never seen rain like this before! And it was right during the parade of boats down the little river, so sadly that experience was a little bit of a bust. And by the time it stopped raining, we had lost much of our time. But the luau was fun, though I actually thought the one at the resort was much, much better. And we did the show afterward, which was really beautiful.