October 2016

I’m just now getting a chance to write this, on Nov 29th lol

Better late than never? Sounds good to me

Evan got to visit, probably his favorite place on earth, DINOSAUR LAND! an old kind of run down side show attraction, in north western Virginia. It’s a small strip of land right off of the road with some new, some old, some falling apart cement ( I think) dinosaurs. It’s not very impressive to say the least that is if you are an adult. If you are Evan Bryan Hill it is heaven on earth! This kid ran from dinosaur to dinosaur screaming whoa! And Look! over and over. He would not stop; I think his favorite dinosaur was the Triceratops with T-rex being a close second.  We all loved hearing him call the Brontosaurus a Neck-a-Saurus, and sharing in his pure joy.

finished up the Dinosaur trip with a stop at the cracker barrel and a trip to pick apples.  A family tradition we went to the same small orchard we do every year and ran/walked from tree to tree filling up our bags until the flowed over and got too heavy to carry. I love family traditions, I love this once especially; it began as just something fun to do outdoors with Madeline and has continued every year. There is really something to be said about traditions; they not only help the family take time out of the month to connect and bond but also serve as a point of reflection so measure the progress or change from one year to the next.

Speaking of traditions we also made time to visit a local pumpkin patch, while we don’t have one specific pumpkin patch we visit every year we always find time to go to one nearby.  This year’s pumpkin patch didn’t disappoint with slides, farm animals, old motorcycles buried in dirt and hay all around. The kids had a blast and we met up with some family friends which made it even better. Plenty moments of reflection this month, especially when I received a promotion to a GS-15 position; we all celebrated with champagne or sparkling apple cider on our newly finished deck and topped it off with some jumping on our newly assembled trampoline!  A great month with so many perfect moments; I can’t believe our little girl is 7, I can’t believe that our little boy just trick-or treated (walked up to the house doors) all by himself, I can’t believe Hercules turned 5, I can’t believe I got to watch the Nats in the playoffs, I can’t believe how lucky we are. !!