Fireworks at Iwo Jima

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Jason

We miss home soooooo-oo much around the holidays. Nothing beats smores, sparklers, and all you can eat and green jello salad with walnuts and cottage cheese, but fireworks on the national mall comes close. We can’t even buy snappers here in Virginia so we didn’t do any of our own fireworks (the crazier the people you live around, the crazier your laws get I guess.) Last year Jason and I went to watch the fireworks from the balcony where he works and it was INCREDIBLE-ash-in-your-hair-firework-fun, but too intense really for little kid’s ears so we stayed in Arlington to watch them this year.

Some the monkey sounds in this video are Oliver. He loved it.

Water Fun

Posted on July 12, 2009 by Jason

Oliver loves playing at the local spray grounds. Almost every time we get in the car Oliver asks if we are going to go “play water”. As I was watching him play the other day, I was struck by how much he has grown in the past year.

Then:

And Now:

capitol fourth concert

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Kay

The free fourth of July concert on the capital lawn has a dress rehearsal on the 3rd. So Friday, after the waterfalls, napping and some grub we drove into town to hunt down a parking spot. We found one just a couple blocks west of the federal center sw stop (sweet diggity!) The concert was awesome. We saw Barry Manilow, the National Symphony Orchestra, Aretha Franklin, Natasha Bedingfield, the cast of Jersey Boys, Michael Feinstein and classical pianist Andrew von Oeyen. Plus Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar. Jason’s favorite part was Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” with real cannons firing at the end.

shenandoah national park

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Kay

July 3rd we hiked to Lower Falls in White Oak Canyon and had a blast. The weather was great. I was so impressed with Oliver; he hiked (holding our hands) most of the way. Kara, Jason’s sister, came all the way from Manhattan to visit for the weekend. We loved having her here so much. She took almost every photo in the this and the next few posts (thanks kare!) Those who know me know I’ve done a lot of hiking and backpacking and this is one of the prettiest waterfalls and forests I’ve ever seen.

Happy Father’s Day!

Posted on June 21, 2009 by Jason

“Noble fatherhood gives us a glimpse of the divine attributes of our Father in Heaven.” – James E. Faust

100_3977

100_3947

100_3940

To the men who have shown me what it means to be a father: Thank you. ?I hope to be like you someday.

Oliver’s Birthday

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Jason

A month or so ago Oliver celebrated his 2nd birthday. It was a lot of fun! Kay found him a wonderful little piano at a local church rummage sale, and he loved it.

Opening another present:

Blowing out the birthday candles:

Finally – our trip, part 3

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Jason

Our trip, part 2

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Jason

For the second part of our trip, we drove from Orem to Idaho. The weather wasn’t as good as we had hoped for, but Oliver loved playing outside anyway. One of the best parts of the trip was that we finally saw Darin and Kryssi’s baby Lucas. He was adorable! Oliver liked playing with Lucas (probably because Lucas would let Oliver be the boss!).