Homemade Haircuts, It's Not My Fault!

To my mother and grandmother,

Morgan requested to have his hair shaved just like Daddy. The good news is it'll grow back. Max's haircut looks better in person than in the photo.

Ye Olde Faire

Today we went to the Virginia Renaissance Fair. They had jousting, poppet shows, and big smoked turkey legs to eat. Never mind that they didn't eat turkey in Renaissance England. Oh well.

The boys liked trying on the armor and watching how the various weapons were used. We saw demonstrations of era guns and various swords, knives, and spears.

The boys both tried on different amounts of armor.

For food we had gyros, roasted chicken in a pita, and turkey. To drink we had refreshing strawberry lemonade.

While it was nice to do a little browsing we didn't intend to do any shopping. That is until Max go to the soap sellers. We were smelling various bars of homemade soap when Max tried to take a bite out of one. Fortunately the non-toxic bar was Rosemary scented cause we brought it home with us.

This was the most important fact of the day. Daddy's chicken bone was a real hit with him. He even tried to take a bite but not unlike the soap, it was a little slippery.

Both the boys loved this labyrinth set up by the fair. Max (always thinking outside the box) decided to rearrange the rocks to suit his fancy.

Yes, it was very tempting.

Morgan had a lot to tell the soldiers from way back when. He was the star of the demo.

It was time to go when Max started showing us all the signs for nap time.

The Hauks Storm The Capital

First kid kick of the day is walking across a bridge to get to the Metro station.

The boys loved riding the Metro. It was really exciting for them to go underground. Max mostly had fun climbing around on the seats.

Course I had to get pictures of Shawn and the boys in front of the Washington Memorial. The Metro stop is right under the center of the Mall. The first things we saw were the Washington M. and the Capital Building

As you can see it has been really rainy and Max is wearing different pants in this picture. Just after these were taken Max enjoyed some good puddle jumping.

First we went to the National Air and Space Museum. We ate at the super expensive McDonald's and changed Max's wet pants.

There were lots of hands on things for the boys to do.

Next we went to Natural History Museum . The boys both agreed that the dinosaur bones were the most exciting part of our trip.

This is Max getting a peek at the Elephant in the Rotunda.

As you can see we made kebabs on our new grill. We even got Morgan to try the peppers and onions. Of course we were bribing them both with a bit of fudge to do it. Max wasn't a fan of the pepper. He spat it out and made the most melodramatic face with his arm over his eyes.








I told Mom I'd be putting a picture of Max in his Mooch shirt. I had it specially made by a store on Etsy.com. It's my favorite shirt because it suits him to a Tee. Ha ha.

I can believe I just made that joke.














I took these videos tonight while dinner was grilling.

Sorry this one is on it's side. Something might be up with my camera or I didn't do it right.

This one is funny

Our New Table and Some Paintings

These are a couple of the oil paintings that I've been working on. The jungle scene is going to be a portrait of Morgan. The doll is a painting that I'm doing for my mom. When it's done it'll be of a Navajo Storyteller doll. I have some watercolor's that I'm working on for Sheila but I haven't taken any pictures of those yet.
















So far we've got most of the rooms most of the way unpacked. We should have them put all the way together about a week before we're due to move again.

I just wanted to show off our new table and chairs. For the past six months we've been eating standing up or at the couch but no more. We finally ponied up and got a new set.

Today our car and a 50 mile limit took us 15 miles down the road to Colonial Beach. It's a town located on a peninsula surrounded by the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. That means loads of beaches.

The boys got such a kick out of the water. Not only was there about a million stones to be thrown into the river but there were about a millions birds to chase. Are you starting to see a pattern. There were a variety of gulls and cormorants.

We got lunch at a burger shack from the 70's that had the best onion rings I have ever tasted. Then we walked along the shore looking at people sun bathing, swimming, and fishing off the pier.

It was hot today, about 85, with a nice breeze off the water.

After leaving Colonial Beach we headed over to Fredericksburg to pick up a new grill. It's the pride of the house and we had dinner late because we just had to have grilled chicken tonight. Shawn did the grilling which is fine but when the times comes to grill some ribs I'll be the one at the helm.

After picking up the grill we were driving back home when I came up with the idea of dessert. In King George, one of the towns along the way, there is a store called Mary's Cakery and Candy Store.

We came out with about 25 bucks worth of candy. The boys had a blast at Mary's. They are very generous with the free samples. The boys both tried Vanilla Cream eggs, chocolate covered blueberries, and a chocolate covered potato chip! We also sampled the fudge and brought some home for dessert.

It turns out Mary is this tiny Mennonite woman who makes about 90% of what's in her store. It's full of amazing smells and tastes. It's a great place for trying something new.

Speaking of trying something new, Shawn had his very first soft shell crab last week. They dredged it in flour, deep fried that sucker, and slapped it on a roll. You eat everything on this soft crab.

Shawn said that he should have gotten the crab cake and just wasn't ready for this sandwich of "Bizarre Foods" proportions.

I had the best scallops I've ever had the chance to eat. They were so tender.