Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

December

As a countdown to Christmas here are some of our favorite things we did this December:

• We rode a holiday train through the plaza:

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and got a balloon from a Christmas elf.  Ethan asked for an airplane, natch.

• We got to meet Santa Claus.  When Ethan told Santa that the only thing he wanted for Christmas was a laminator, we got the best incredulous look from him.

• Had a play date with some school friends to bake Christmas cookies.  Yum!

• Ethan won an award from school for demonstrating Caring! They grouped the Nov-Dec award ceremony together so this counts as a December event right?

• We got the house all Christmasy.

• We went to see Disney on Ice.  A big NG.  E was completely bored.

• There was a class field trip to Christmas in the Park.

The highlight was taking the light rail.

• We made a gingerbread house.  It looks like I already ate an entire house - my tummy could not be bigger!

• Ethan learned about the different holiday celebrations: Ramadan, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah.  Look at his essay on Kwanzaa...a little un PC and with some bold spelling choices.  Only a 5 year old can pull this off.

• Saw Frozen.  E loved this movie.  Surprisingly he was scared of Angelina Jolie in the preview to Sleeping Beauty but the fight scenes with the huge snow monster in the movie did not phase him in the slightest.

• Lastly, our Christmas concert from school.  In the video there are two very enthusiastic dancers...one being our cutie patootie.

Museums, Museums, Museums!

Since we have an avid airplane fanatic on our hands, the first place we went to on our trip to the east coast was the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.

E loves climbing on balls.  Everytime we go to go Target we have to spend a few minutes sitting and sliding off the balls outside the entrance.

This airplane simulator was cool.  You got to see how the flaps, slats, elevators, and rudder move and change depending on which controls you manipulate.

Planes, planes, everywhere!  Unfortunately we couldn't find an Airbus so I think another museum trip is on order!

Enola Gay.

Space shuttle!  Also realized E is wearing like three different shades of contrasting neon.  Hmm...fashion faux pas or cutting edge trend?

Loving the observation deck.

National Museum of Natural History:

We only visited three sections - Ancient Egypt, Orkin Insect Zoo, and Dinosaurs.

Am I bigger than this turtle?

Loved the insect exhibitions.

Got to hold a caterpillar.  Eeks!

African Elephant.

T Rex.

National Air and Space Museum:

Finally got to see what the cockpit of an Airbus looks like

Ready for take off.

Learning the different models of engines.

And that was the end of our tour of the museums in DC.  So many more to check out next time!

Virginia

In August we went to visit Yeh Yeh and Nai Nai in Virginia.  We did a lot of museums, parks, and bonding with the grandparents at home!

Yeh Yeh taught Ethan the secrets of chinese yo-yoing

 E was also enormously entertained for countless hours with the bosu ball.  This is better than an electronic babysitter...Bob and I took turns taking ots of naps while Ethan balanced, wobbled and jumped on this thing!

We visited a splash pad and did some shopping at Fairfax Corner.

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At Flying Pan park we got to see some barnyard animals, milk a goat, feed some ducks, and play on pint sized tractors.

We went to a local lake to fed the fish and turtles.

Can't wait to visit VA again!  We got to meet all the relatives and cousins (which were a lot!) and Ethan had lots of fun with the grandparents!