Light the Night Leukemia Walk

Last night we were able to attend the Light the Night Leukemia and Lymphoma Walk. Tony's work did a big fundraiser for it and he was the team captain. It was a 2 1/2 mile walk carrying balloons that have lights in them. 

The red balloons were supporters. The gold balloons were in remembrance of a loved one, and the white balloons were for the survivors. Tony got to have a white balloon of course. He also got a shirt that had survivor written on the back instead of a picture of all the sponsoring businesses. 

The walk was down Pennsylvania Avenue, down to the Capitol building and then back. 

 And considering it was past Jack's bedtime, he was a trooper. I think he liked watching all the people and seeing all the flashing lights of police cars blocking off the road to cars. 

Marty McFly

Tony risked waking Jack up by taking a picture because he thought it was soooooo awesome that he was sleeping just like Marty Mcfly in Back to the Future. He was so excited for me to post this picture here on the blog, so enjoy!

Six Flags!

So we have season passes to Six Flags for next year, but they let you come to this years Fright Fest. Our passes come with free parking, so we decided today was a good day to try out the park. 

The look on Jack's face and the death grip on my shirt says it all. He quite nervously said "Hi" to the scary pumpkin man. But then proceeded to tense up pretty quickly. "No thanks Mom."

Jack's favorite ride of the day was definitely the Merry Go Round. It was the first time he has ever been on one. 

The Glenn's came with us and were super awesome and offered to watch Jack while Tony and I went on a few of the big kid rides. 

We went on two rides together: Ride of Steel and Bat Wing (themed superman and batman rides). The superman ride went very high and very fast, but my favorite was definitely the Bat Wing. I have never been on a ride quite like that. You start in a seat that they lower so that you are laying flat on your back. Then you go up to the top of the ride, and ride the first downhill head first and backwards. Then you flip so that you are facing the ground and you feel like you are flying. It was incredible.

Then we met back up with the Glenns and they headed for the big rides. 

We tried to get Jack to ride the helicopter with Daddy, but he was pretty unsure. 

We did, however, have success with a big bus ride that just went in a big circle.

And Jack liked the spider maze.

But his all time favorite part of the day was the spray park. (Luckily I brought a change of clothes for Jacko).

All in all, it was a great day and we are excited to be able to continue to go back all of next year. 

Feelin' Kinda Sick

My guys were feeling sick this last week. Tony had to miss a day of work because of a fever. And Jack has been coughing and has a runny nose. This picture says it all. 

New Hair

For those that know me, I have had long, brown hair for a long time....Well...those days are over for awhile. I got sick of the long hair...

So I went short and spunky. I have some red in the bangs and lots of layers and I think it rocks!

Welcome to the new Brittany.

He's Got Rhythm

Jack was in my room playing on the piano. I went in to check on him and saw him dancing. I couldn't help but record it.

My Piano Player

More Beach Fun

We did a lot of boogie boarding over the last week. This picture is of Dad catching a wave back out. He was braver than me, because he would ride the wave all the way out until he was swallowed by the oncoming wave. I chickened out when I tried it. 

This was Jack's first boogie boarding experience. This was on the last day when the waves were tiny. 

Dad and I spent tons of time in the water. Mom joined us a few times as well. The water was surprisingly warm. 

Dad pulled Jack around on one of the boogie boards for awhile trying to get him used to being on the board.

Jack loved playing with sea shells in his bucket while sitting on the beach chairs. He would wrap the towel around him and just sort and sort and sort the shells.

I couldn't resist getting a picture of Jack and my footprints in the sand. Cute, huh?

Jack loved playing in the waves. He was so happy to get so many chances to play on the beach. He would start laughing every time we asked him if he wanted to go to the beach. 

We spent a lot of time collecting shells while at the beach. We found that if we went right at sunrise there was a better selection. Jack caught on pretty quickly to what we were doing. He liked the shells that were super smooth.

These were some of our favorites. The conch in the middle was about the size of my palm. 

For dinner, mom and I got to go to an all you can eat seafood restaurant. (Dad and Jack went on a bike ride and got subway sandwiches instead). There were three different kinds of crab legs for us to try.  We loved it!

Jack loved spending time upstairs at the house. There were two porch doors, so he could do circles through the house and onto the porch. He spent a lot of time playing with his cars.

And he loved playing with his grandma. 

We had a wonderful time and both drives (about 4 1/2 hours each) went very smoothly as Jack slept about half the time both ways. 

Hang Gliding

We had the awesome opportunity to go Hang Gliding off the sand dunes. You take an hour long class of instruction, and then hang glide for 2 hours, generally getting about 5 tries.

The instruction went great, but when we headed out to the dunes, there was zero wind. The instructors let us all go once, but they practically carried us down the hill. 

So they gave us a "wind check" and we were able to come back the next day. They let us skip the class, and hang glide for the full 3 hours. In total, Dad and I both got 8 turns. (counting the one from the day before).

The picture below is at the top of the hill. As you can see, Dad is already higher than Robert (our instructor), so around 8 feet in the air. Your distance from the ground grows as you head down the hill. 

This was one of my very first runs. I absolutely, positively LOVED hang gliding.

Here is Dad getting some good air. 

We were very fortunate to have such an awesome instructor. He was very patient with us and was offered us extra tries for free. Overall, just a really great guy. Thanks Robert! 

And this was one of the very biggest surprises from the whole trip. Jack, who has always hated getting dirty, and especially hated sand, started sticking his face in it. He was completed coated in sand by the time we left the dunes.

Before we left, Dad was able to let me try flying the kite. It is definitely harder than he makes it look. My dad is pretty much a pro :) 

Outer Banks with Mom and Dad

Jack and I went down with my parents to the Outer Banks this last week. We split a cottage with some friends (we took the first half of the week and they took the second half). This is a picture of the cottage.

These, however, were the pictures in the master bedroom. Kinda weird.... Certainly wouldn't have been my first choice.

And this was the neighbors front yard.  Their cabin was called Kitty's Hawk. At first glance, we thought the decorations were made out of cat skulls. At closer examination, we realized they were conch shells. A lot less creepy than we originally thought. 

And this is the view of the ocean from the porch. We could hear the waves breaking, and it was a very short walk to the beach.

This was the beach that we could walk straight out onto. Beautiful, isn't it?

 Dad wasted no time and got his kite gear ready. He had some huge waves to get over to get out into the ocean. Here is a picture of him getting eaten by a wave.

And mom and Jack and I started playing in the waves. 

The beach was covered in foam the first day. That was the only time we saw the foam, but it was in thick piles everywhere.

We ended the day with some biking. Jack loves to ride on the bike, so he was in heaven.