Halloween

On Halloween our neighborhood had its second annual Shooterween. Eli handed out Mudslides and beer to hard working parents. We had one couple stop back for a second visit because they enjoyed the Mudslides so much.

Eli played handsome Doctor Burke, assisted by Sara's Spongebath Betty. Avery dressed as a frog and Zach wore Avery's purple dragon costume from last year.

Tom and Zahra's Wedding

At the end of October we had ANOTHER wedding. This time it was Eli's cousin Tom getting married in Raleigh, North Carolina. We left early Friday morning and stopped in Dumfries to pick up another of Eli's cousins, Joe. It was nice to have someone besides me to help Eli with the driving!

Arriving NC, we stopped by Caitlin and Cullen's house in Cary. Caitlin fed us a tasty and healthy lunch, and then we hung out and played with the kids for the rest of the afternoon.

That evening we went to the rehearsal dinner. Mid-way through the meal we heard that Martin and Barbara's flight had been canceled. Since our house is near the airport Eli called and suggested they spend the night at our place. Unfortunately, they could not get in because Sara's parents locked the inside garage door (silver lining: we would have been locked out as well, but were able to make other arrangements).
(NOTE-- because her parents had babysat on Thu night and stayed after we left on Friday)

Overall the weekend went very smoothly. The kids slept well and even slept in through daylight savings. The wedding was beautiful and finished off the weekend with a huge family brunch at Aunt Alison's on Sunday morning.

The Science and Life Museum

On Saturday we had a lovely tour of the Science and Life museum with Aunt Cait. The boys enjoyed the museum, and liked the outdoor park and wildlife exhibits even more.


Avery and Zachary by the bears' habitat at the Science and Life museum in Durham, North Carolina on Oct. 28.


Aunt Caitlin with Avery witnessing the creation of tornadoes.


Zachary and Sara looking through the space capsule at the museum.

Avery's 3rd Birthday party #2

This is Avery's second 3rd birthday party. We had a ton of friends over. This time we bought Costco pizza and prepared it here. It turned out rather nice and we didn't have to spend a lot of time on food prep or kitchen chores. We had a Halloween theme, which I like and I think I'll get more extravagant over time, buying more Halloween things each year. Instead of a cake we had Halloween cupcakes; fairly easy and inexpensive.

The kids all dressed up, but among the adults only and Eli and I took the plunge. I guess it's a bit much to expect grownups to get enthusiastic when Halloween is still three weeks away.

Avery's 3rd Birthday Party #1

This is Avery's first 3rd birthday celebration. We only invited the family because when all of the kids together it tends to get quite chaotic. For once the group was well behaved... except for when Avery and Madison stripped naked in the playroom, while Zach fell asleep on a cushion in the same room. We have pictures to embarrass them when they are teenagers! ;)



All the cousins from left to right: Zachary, Avery, Madison, Gabrielle, Genevieve, and Samuel. They are all wearing Portofino t-shirts, gifts from Nani and Nene from Italy.

Butterflies at the Museum of Science

Before leaving Boston to come back home we decided to take the kids to the Museum of Science. The kids had fun running around, and playing on some of the interactive exhibits, but the highlight was definitely the Butterfly Garden. There were so many colors, shapes, and sizes. It's too bad they only live for about a week.