ahoy there!

Yesterday we took a walk along the harbour in Alexandria with our friends. You can see Oliver, Max and Oscar along with Cameron and Jamie saying hello to a pirate that we happened to meet. The boys were so excited to meet a real pirate!

bike accident

Jamie is really adventurous on his bike and took a spill yesterday. He was wearing his helmet but managed to scrape up the side of his face. Although he was crying he wanted to get right back onto his bike. Jamie *loves* riding his bike.

down the shore

The girls weekend with some special guests!

Haircuts and Super-Heroes

Yesterday the boys weekend was interrupted by a girl as the boys were invited to visit their friend Ruby. Since this was simply an unavoidable distraction to an agenda of all boys activities neither Cameron nor Jamie took it seriously, paying little to no attention to their appearance. It was, after all, only a visit to the pool.

And this morning we went to Reston Festival at The Reston Town Center. The boys had Ice Cream and Pizza, and spent a little more time on their appearance. Not sure whether Ruby is Mary Jane Watsom or Vicki Vale.

One further anecdote, riding the bike back from the festival in the heat of the midday sun and pulling both Cameron and Jamie in the trailer Cameron piped up "Daddy, are we nearly there yet. I'm tired". I looked for a reaction from Jamie but he had already fallen asleep. So much for superheroes.

Boys Weekend

Miranda headed off for a weekend at Long Beach Island this morning leaving all the boys to fend for themselves. It got off to a great start with a game of Putt Putt at "Perils of the Lost Jungle, Miniature Golf" in Herndon.At first it was Putt Putt as normal

But then Cameron entered the Vampire Bat cave and didn't like what he found!

It is off to the pool this afternoon. Hopefully that will be a little less scary.

madness on the cycle path

For the first time today I took the boys and their bikes down to the cycle path in Herndon. The W&OD trail is a very long cycle path that I think goes all the way from DC out to Leesburg. Anyway, there is a good stretch that goes through Herndon and the boys asked if they could cycle there so I thought what a good idea. As soon as we got on the path Cameron shot off and didn't look back. Eventually I started to panic. There are roads he'd have to cross and I couldn't see him. I shouted like a mad woman for him to come back but he was gone like Lance Armstrong at the start of Tour de France....only with training wheels. Eventually I stopped a jogger and told him to tell Cameron to wait for me. (Thanks to the kind jogger for being so understanding.) He told Cameron to wait and Jamie and I eventually caught up with him. I asked Cameron why he didn't wait for me at the road he said, "don't worry mummy, I looked both ways". So I realised that I hadn't explained all the rules of riding on the cycle path. Here are the rules I can think of for now:
1. always wait for mummy
2. never cross roads on your own
3. don't cross the yellow lines (stay on your side of the path)

Thankfully there was a Dairy Queen in Herndon happy to serve up icecream to calm my nerves.

burke lake park

We decided to take a trip to Burke Lake Park this morning and it was a big success. We got tickets to ride on the train, then the carousel and then we got to play putt-putt. Cameron and Jamie held the tickets for the train and carousel rides. They were both so excited to go on the train. The carousel was quite pretty and Cameron loved that the horses went up and down.


Tickets please!

just counting teeth

Cameron went to the dentist today and already he hates having his teeth brushed and checked. How do people and even kids instinctively know that it's not really that nice to go the dentist. I hate it and yet I have to tell Cameron how much fun it will be (perhaps he sees right through me?) Last time we were there the dental hygienist said "the toothpaste is great it tastes just like bubble gum"... how many 3 year olds know the flavour "bubble gum"?? Not mine.

Sleep-over

We spent the 4th of July holiday with our friends Anna and Dan and their little boys Oliver and Archie. We had a swim in their pool followed by a pizza making session for the kids.Then at dinner time the kids enjoyed 4th of July cupcakes with red and blue icing. It was quite messy as you'll see in the photos below. First is Ollie with blue icing...
Then his brother Archie with red icing...
Then Jamie with blue icing...
And finally Cameron with red icing..
Yum!

Water play

Cameron does his amazing "balancing a cup on a stick" trick...the crowd goes wild!

Jamie says "backhoe" over and over again because it sounds so good.

The "I'm so wet and happy" look.
Toy car wash - everything must get wet.