Butler's Orchard

A little late in the season but we finally had time for a fall family day at a local farm.  This past weekend we headed to Butler's Orchard in Maryland. The farm offers apple picking, pumpkins, a country market, petting zoo, pony rides, slides, mazes, etc, etc.  We had limited to no interaction with those activities because Mason wanted to spend all the time driving trucks....

Luckily climbing hay bundles was also appealing and we got a cute mom and Mason shot.

We got some pumpkins for the front of the house and I grabbed some honey crisp apples and made a delicious apple crisp that evening.  

Nice ending to our family day!

Being tourists in DC - Union Market and monuments

Last weekend we had friends visiting so we decided to do a DC tourist day with them. For lunch we headed over to Union Market. Mark and I hadn't been there yet ourselves, so we got to play tourist a bit too.  The space was very cool and exceeded our expectations! Tons of artisans have booths within the warehouse space so we walked around and surveyed all the food options. There are tons of tables scattered inside and out for dining.

Mason's favorite part was the very oversized cookies from Panorama Bakery. Yum, yum, yum!

After lunch we walked the monuments. Mark captured a nice panoramic from the Jefferson.

Mason enjoyed FDR's dog and the bench at the Jefferson most....

Probably not the highlights for most people but to each their own!

Rocklands and Bluemont Park

When Mark and I were fist dating all the way back in 2002, we both lived in Glover Park and were frequent customers at Rocklands BBQ.  Lucky for us, 4 months before we bought our house in Arlington, a second location opened here. We recently had a family date here with some friends for lunch. Rocklands is such an easy place to take kids and the outside space makes it a dog friendly location in the warmer months.

After lunch we hit Bluemont Park. The plaground area is great - fenced in, lots of shade, lots of different structures, swings and slides.  Here is Mason having fun with his future wife, Lucy!

Rockwall fun!

This sand and wood mixture looks delicious. They will be great at making dinners together!

Water Tots!

After last spring's success with swimming lessons and our summer full of swimming at various places, I was so excited to start up fall lessons.  No more Water Babies, we now met the criteria for Water Tots! Our first class was a few weeks ago and I showed up seeing lots of moms and tots who were previously in Water Babies with us. I was chatting them up about how well Mason did in the water over the summer and with water wings and blah blah blah.  The instructor arrived indicating we could enter the pool and thus began the worst 15 minutes I've experienced in a public place with a toddler.  Mason screamed, cried, kicked, didn't want me to touch him and every bad thing you could imagine until I was dying of embarrassment and on the verge of tears myself and we left half way through the class.  I'm sure this is just the start of the terrible twos but I was also feeling like this was my punishment for all the bragging about my expert swimmer.

I'm relieved and happy to report that the past two weeks have gone a millions times better.  I think after all the independence of the water wings, Mason didn't want to have to be held anymore. He's such a big boy! He's also back to being a top performer in his class...not bragging, it's a fact!

Redskins

For the past several years we've had Redskins season tickets with some friends.  Sadly, we've decided this is the last year as season ticket holders.  Between the cost of the tickets, tailgating/concessions and now babysitting - it is A LOT.  Not to mention that the team has been doing terribly and ticket prices go down throughout the season so it would actually be less to just buy tickets as needed.

Our distribution of the games for this season rocks - home opener and all the division games!  Last weekend we headed to the home opener against the Dolphins.  It was a perfect day for tailgating and we made the most of it which helped make up for the loss to the Dolphins.  Boo!

Here we are in our annual photo...

Clearly time for me to get a new shirt!

Up next is the Eagles game on Oct 4!  We have a good mix of Eagles and Skins friends so should make for an interesting day!

Ocean Dunes Water Park

Earlier in the summer, I entered to win passes to one of Northern Virginia's water parks and in early August I found out I won - hooray! Thanks Our Kids for offering these great raffles.  After we got back from all our vacation travels, I checked out the passes and was surprised to see that one of the parks was located just a few minutes away from our house; I was also surprised to see that the water parks all close after Labor Day weekend, which was a week away - yikes!

We made plans to head over to Ocean Dunes Water Park on Monday afternoon of Labor Day weekend, the last day of the season. As soon as we got out of the car and Mason saw the water, he went crazy and was having a tantrum while we waited in line.  We need a plan to control this kid around water!

We got into the park and it was packed!  There were three pools - a kiddie wadding pool, a lap pool and a regular pool.  There were also water slides and a large water feature that I don't even know how to explain - picture below.  Mason bee-lined for the the water feature and we spend the afternoon going back and forth between that and the kiddie pool.  We wrapped up the outing with some ice cream.  

Ocean Dunes was a great way to end the summer and now that we know it is here, I'm sure we'll be back multiple times next summer. Hopefully next year, Mason will reach the height requirement for the slides!

National Book Festival

I've been in super catch up mode at work after three weeks of vacation so I have a backlog of blog entries...good problem to have I think!

For the past 7 years I've been volunteering at the National Book Festival with the Junior League of Washington, DC.  The DC chapter of JL focuses on literacy and this is one of our most visible events in the community with 350-600 volunteers annually; its also my favorite volunteer event!  Most years I have been volunteering as a captain in the book signing lines, which is exactly as it sounds - authors sign their fan's book and I manage moving people through the line with a team of other volunteers to support me.  For the popular authors, people will line up hours in advance so you have a lot of time to talk to folks.  My favorite experience at the Book Festival was in 2012 - I had John Green as one of my authors.  He had @ 1400 young adults in his line. I spent hours talking to the kids about why they love John's books and how they relate to themes and characters.  Some of the kids cried when they met him - it was amazing!  We got to a point where John had about 5 minutes left to sign books and there were still 100+ kids in the line.  He asked to have everyone stand sideways in line and open their books to the page they want signed.  He got up and walked down the side of the line, furiously signing the books and he got every single book signed!  Huge cheers and applause broke out when he was done. Since then I've been working my way through his books, and now movies!  I have become a huge fan and I love that day and experience.

This year I had Al Roker of the Today Show fame.  I do not have a good track record of meeting celebrities - I get nervous and tongue tied but I was quite pleased with my Al interaction!  He was kind, quiet, and had awesome style!  

This was a different experience than I've had in the past because of his celeb status people were as excited or in some cases more excited to have a photo op than to have their book signed. Anyway, despite 12 hours of being on my feet, managing 6 author's signings, and running up and down the lines it was a great day.

We just found out next year's festival will be Sept 24 at the Convention Center - save the date and I hope to see you there! 

Talking with my Mouth Full

Every year I make a slew of New Years Resolutions, one of which is always "read a book a month". Most years I end up reading half the books over summer vacations but meet the overall goal of twelve within the year so it counts, right?!?! For the last two years, I have failed miserably at this resolution. When I have a few minutes at the end of the day, I'm exhausted and just want to watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory that I've already watched 10 times.

I'm happy to share that I just finished Talking with My Mouth Full by Gail Simmons. Sadly, this is only the second book this year - I have a lot of reading to do in the next 4 months! I love the show Top Chef where Gail is a judge and have ways wondered who is this lady and what gives her the right to critique these people and their food. The answer is in her book and she has an amazing career in the culinary industry. Early on in the book, Gail shares that while trying to determine her professional direction a family friend told her to write down what she loves. Eat, write, travel, cook - and that was the start of it all.

I'm feeling very inspired post reading this! My sister and I have dreams that we'll start an events business where she runs the event logistics and I run the business side.  I think we need to get back to this plan.......

Amy and Dan's wedding at Gedney Farms

Last spring when we received save the dates for back to back weddings in Mass, it was an easy decision to spend the week in New England!  The second wedding was for my dear friend Amy who not only went to Trinity College with me, she also got me my job at SmithBucklin all the way back in 2005.  At the time, Amy got a small referral bonus and she likes to joke that she really should be paid for every year I continue to work there.  I agree!

Mark and I invited our friends, Steph (another TrinColl alum and the best friend there ever was and I'm not just saying that because she "sometimes" reads this!) and Matt, to stay the weekend with us at the cottage. We talked and laughed, we ate cheese fries and gravy, and we celebrated Amy and Dan! Here we are all dolled up (me in Lilly) - Fancy!

 Gedney Farm is a beautiful setting for a wedding and the ceremony was held outdoors at "The Knoll" behind the main barn.  The vows were amazing and thoughtful, and of course I cried because I always do. The officiant forgot to say, "you may be seated," and I'm short so my ceremony photo is just peoples heads - doh!  After cocktails, we headed indoors for dinner/dancing/party fun times.  Too funny how similar this venue is to the wedding last week...

Excellent TrinColl representation at this wedding! So fun to catch up with these folks.

Congrats to Amy and Dan!

Alta Restaurant and Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

Just last week I mentioned to Mark that I'd never been to Tanglewood and upon arriving to the cottage we find out one of Mark's favorite comedians was performing during our vacation! Clearly we had to go and family vacation with the inlaws means free babysitting - hooray!

I made a pre-show dinner reservation at Alta Restaurant and Wine Bar based on all the positive online reviews. Trying to make a reservation the day before you need it is typically a disaster, at least in DC. The restaurant had one table available with the condition we be out by 6:45 - no problem since the show started at 7!

Alta has a good size covered porch with 7 or so tables, as well as a bar and inside dining room.  We got a table on the porch right along the sidewalk - wine, food, nice breeze, people watching - perfect for us! Here I am in my element....

The standout dish was Mark's entree - the duck with a salty caramel sauce. We couldn't get over the size of the duck portion! It was perfectly cooked and we could have eaten a vat of the sauce. I ordered the New England Cod which was fine and we started with a vegetable tart and crispy tuna. Nice presentation of the dishes!

We ordered some macaroons to enjoy at the show and I have to say they were completely delicious and creamy. We loved our Alta experience - it was Alta-mate! (Yuk, yuk, yuk)

We headed over to Tanglewood to see Eddie Izzard who was performing in the shed. The shed is basically the covered but open air portion of the venue. One of the best things about this venue is the beautiful views....

So anyway, we were already feeling quite lucky...the timing of the concert with our vacation, free babysitting, getting a dinner reservation, the perfect table...we took our seats which were basically 4 rows from the back. We could barely see the stage and would have to rely on the projection screens. But then, an usher came over and moved our entire section up one section! The show didn't sell out and they wanted a nice full audience towards the front for Eddie. Mark befriended the usher and used some combination of the words-  vacation, toddler, date night and please- and we were moved to the 12th row center!!! Also now that we were much deeper in the shed it was also much warmer. We enjoyed the show, which was about a 2 hour set from our amazing seats!

Great date night! I hope to come back to Tanglewood and do the whole lawn picnic experience another year.

Lake Mansfield

With back to back Massachusetts wedding weekends, we decided to spend the week at my inlaws cabin in the southern Berkshire area. Last summer we discovered Lake Mansfield in Great Barrington. In addition to the lake and beach with community beach toys, there are swings, trails and a picnic area.  We planned an afternoon trip and I couldn't get over the difference between Mason summer 2014 to summer 2015.

Lake Mansfield summer 2014...

Lake Mansfield summer 2015...

What a difference a year makes!

Adam and Andie's wedding in Cohassett, MA

This past weekend we headed to Cohassett, MA to celebrate the wedding of cousin Adam and Andie! Cohassett is the sweetest little town on the south east coast outside of Boston and we loved the Red Lion Inn where the wedding was held.  Since Mason was the ring bearer we were lucky enough to stay in one of the 15 rooms on the property. A lot of amazing things happened this weekend...the actual wedding, Mason as ring bearer AND I fulfilled my dream of being at a bar where the baby monitor worked! Since our room was directly above the inn pub we could enjoy a beverage and be attentive parents.

Of course Mason was the world's cutest ring bearer. I spend weeks pulling together his outfit and got lots of tips on how to get a 21 month year old down the aisle. Although he had pre and post tantrums, he nailed his role!

A few other moments from the wedding.....

Congrats to Adam and Andie!!

Vacation in the Thousand Islands

Last week we headed up to my family's cottage in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence in Canada.  I was lucky enough to go every summer growing up and I loved introducing Mason to the river.  Our trip was full of swimming, family time, happy hours, boating, etc. I'll let the photos do the talking for this post!

Love this pic of our family boating on the St. Lawrence.....

 Morning row....

 My brother captured this sweet moment of Mason and I in the boat house...

 Swimming with my water tot...

Aunt Sarah gets the boat driving lessons started...

 Post dinner at the Club with the fam....

 Play time at the GICC...

Enjoying the views from the deck...

Thank you Canada for a lovely vacation and beautiful weather! 

Date Night in Ballston

Back in May, Mark and I checked out SER for drinks and have been anxious to get back for dinner. We've had a few sitters relocate lately so it seemed like a good time to try a new sitter and have a neighborhood date (just in case!). As a side note, I have to say that I love Urbansitter to find sitters. It's linked through Facebook and matches you with sitters in your extended network. Since I'm a member of MONA, it recommends sitters that other MONA moms have used. This indirect referral makes me feel much more comfortable about having a stranger in the house with Mason and Barney!

Anyway, on Saturday we headed to SER for dinner and were seated on the patio. I ordered the cava sangria after having a sample last time and was quite pleased with the portion!

It was just as delicious as I remembered! We shared a raw bar platter to start and I selected two appetizers - the market salad and Gambas al ajillo for dinner. The market salad was seasonal vegetables with lobster and a citrus dressing and it was the perfect refreshing summer dinner! Mark seemed "eh" about his braised pork dish and I would same the same about my shrimp dish.  I still think we'll come back and give it another whirl!

Mike Isabella opened another restaurant in Ballston - hooray!  Pepita Cantina is really more of a drinking establishment than restaurant as the name indicates.  The food menu is about a quarter of the drink menu.  It's a pretty small space and was quite busy since it just open the week prior but we decided to stay for a drink and check out the scene.  We both got the pepita margarita and Mark got a smoked salt rim, which I would describe as 'less salty tasting' salt.  The drinks were decent and the service was slow but we enjoyed this a little corn nut snack that the waiter left.

On the way out, we scoped out the outdoor seating area and decided we'd need to come back and lounge there at a non-peak time.  We also noticed that Mr. Isabella is opening ANOTHER restaurant next to Pepita!  Good for him and I love his presence in our neighborhood.

Relationships with bartenders are among the most important in life, so we stopped by Willow to say hi and enjoy dessert and a night cap! We came home to our new sitter, a sleeping baby and happy pup - thanks Urbansitter for another great referral!

Arlington County Fair

This weekend we checked out the Arlington County Fair held at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center. There was a lot going on here including rides, games, food vendors, pony ride, teacup pig races, and more! I was pleasantly surprised about the number of rides that Mason could do! He is very tall for his age so between that and his poofy hair he just made the 34' height requirement. Each ride that we did was 3-4 tickets and tickets were 24 for $20. This could add up fast for a big family but we just got the 24 tickets and that worked great. Here we are enjoying the fair!

Mason's first fair was a success and I'm sure we'll be back next year!

Crab Fest in PA

Mason and I took another road trip to PA this weekend while Mark had a boys weekend in Boston.  We headed up to a friend's house for their annual crab fest. It was a beautiful day in the Philly area and perfect for pool, friends, beer and crabs.  Yum!

Mason has tried crab cake, but not crabs covered in old bay so we decided to give that a whirl. Here's the play by play....

Maybe less old bay next time?! He did enjoy the mallot so not a total loss. I'm going to keep working on developing his taste for crabs...its pretty much a requirement living in this area!