Hillwood Mansion

Today we drove to DC and spent the afternoon at Hillwood Mansion.  The mansion was impressive, and the grounds are beautiful.  I had never heard of this before, but it is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.  Don't miss the Japanese Garden!

Our afternoon started out with a picnic at Rock Creek Park (because we couldn't get to Hillwood due to an accident on the bridge that led to the mansion).  It was a lot colder and windier than we thought it would be.  Even hubby was cold, but Quinn didn't seem to mind:

We walked to the Hillwood grounds, and started our tour in the mansion, where they have 2 Faberge eggs.  We then went to the greenhouse, where we saw some beautiful flowers, and Quinn had a blast running through the plants and smelling the flowers

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My fave was the Japanese garden.  It was beautiful.  I could have stayed there for much of the day.  I wish I had taken more pictures of it.

They also had a pet cemetery:

And here are a few random videos for you to enjoy.  Yesterday, we found some ducks just outside our house.  Quinn enjoyed chasing them until I pulled out the camera and he wanted to see the video:

And what's up with this weird eye thing?  I think he's trying to roll his eyes at me:

Much to hubby's dismay, Quinn's Elmo radio has resurfaced:

Quinn loves his "new" (to him) animal fridge toy:

Our trip to Arizona

Last month we went to Arizona for vacation.  Quinn got to spend time with his grandparents.  Unfortunately, everyone got sick and our vacation did not turn out the way we anticipated.  But we still managed to have some fun, and here is the proof!

Our first stop was Casa Grande Ruins National Monsument:

Then on to Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch to feed the animals:

Next stop, the Musical Instrument Museum:

Then on to Schnepf Farms, where we got to ride on a train:

Hubby ran a marathon:

We visited the Science Center:

And the Superstition Mountain Museum:

And we saw some pretty cool sunsets and moonrises:

Snow day!

Neither hubby nor I had to work yesterday because of the snow, so we did a little sledding.  Quinn got to go all by himself for the first time. We also walked to Wegman's pulling Quinn in the sled. A good time was had by all.

Here, fishy, fishy!

We are fish-sitting for our neighbors while they are on vacation. Here's a picture that we took and sent to them this morning. 

Just sittin' on a burger

We went to Red Robin yesterday, and they had this stool that Quinn enjoyed sitting on.  We got there at 4:30 and we still had to wait 15 minutes to be seated.  The food was great, though.  We all cleaned our plates!  Quinn accidentally knocked his broccoli on the floor, so after eating all of his chicken and several of our fries, he was still hungry.  He came home and ate a squeezie.  This boy can pack it in.  This morning for breakfast he ate two pieces of french toast and a pumpkin muffin.  An hour later he wanted a snack.  When he's a teenager, I may need to go back to work full time just to keep him fed!

Merry Christmas!

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas travels.  First, we went to Delaware, where we went to Christmas Eve Service, and enjoyed wonderful food and fellowship with family.  On Christmas Day we opened presents from Santa, and ate more food, of course.  The next day, we left for Tennessee.  We traveled all over the state visiting family (and eating food).  It was wonderful to spend the holidays with family!

Look out, ladies!

Cioci reads Quinn's favorite book to him

Christmas Day fun

Cousins!

Dad reads Quinn his favorite book

The boxes are the best part!

Getting the hang of opening presents

Playing with his cousins

Peruvian hat from Tia

Cousins!

Three generations

Snow day

Quinn enjoyed sledding and playing in the  snow today!