Six Flags with Friends

It was a beautiful day for Six Flags. If anything, it was a little warm. So we did rides for as long as we could...

And then headed to the water park. Jack continued to ask if we could go to six flags right after we got home, and then starting asking again this morning when he woke up. I think he likes it there :) 

Blondie Besties

Colette, Spencer and Logan were able to come into town to visit this week. We did a lot of fun things while they were here. 

We went to the huge park in McLean that has pretty much everything you could think of. 

And then we went to the splash pad. 

You can't see it, but they actually have a huge outdoor screen that they were showing the world cup on. 

Can you tell how much fun they were having?

Watch Soccer!

I worked at the crepe stand on Saturday and when I got home I asked Jack how he was and if he had fun with daddy. His immediate response was "watch soccer!" followed by a "Goal!!" He is loving watching soccer with his daddy. 

As we were watching a game last night, he would watch our reactions and occasionally add in a "shoot." 

When he woke up this morning the first thing he said to me was "watch soccer." His daddy is so happy that Jack is a soccer man. 

It's Alive!!!!!!

I decided to give it a shot this year and grow a garden. Our landlords gave me this strip of land and said go for it! And let me tell you, plants love the east coast. 

The dirt that is showing will soon be covered by my zucchini plant. It is about the "explode." In retrospect, I probably planted too much too close together, but it all seems happy anyway. 

Of the things that I have planted, here is what is now giving us produce:

Cucumbers

Strawberries 

Cherry Tomatoes

Peas

Jalapeños 

Green peppers

And big boy tomatoes!

Strawberry Fields Forever

Jack and I had a free morning yesterday, so we decided to drive out to an orchard and pick strawberries. 

The drive was about 35 minutes. We went in the building and they weighed our bucket, so that we would know exactly how many pounds of strawberries we picked. Then they let you drive up to the fields. I was surprised how many strawberries they had. I thought we would have to scrounge around. 

This was just one of their fields. They had soooo many strawberries. It was epic. Jack was very good at picking strawberries. He kept saying, "no pink, no green, just red strawberries." (We had a discussion to begin with about how we are only supposed to pick the red ones and he caught on very quickly.) We ended up with just under 6 pounds of strawberries. (we have already consumed half).

They seriously taste like candy. They are so good! The farm will have blueberries starting next week, so we may end up going back :)

Epic Bike Ride

Dad and I went on a very beautiful long bike ride today. We went to Mt. Vernon and Gravelly point, where the planes land right after flying over your head at Reagan Airport. I final mileage for the bike ride was 48.4 miles.

Google Map of Where we Rode

Brittany Update

I realize that because I am the writer of the blog, I tend to be the one taking the pictures and I tend to focus on Jack and Tony, so I have been asked to write an update about me. 

So for those that don't know I keep myself pretty busy. My first and favorite job is that of Mother and Wife. I love being able to spend so much time with Jack. He is the best kid a mother could ask for. I also am able to teach Zumba 5 times a week, and a Jillian Michaels exercise class once a week. 3 times I teach at my church building for those that want to bring their kids. Jack and all the other kids play around us as we exercise. Twice a week in the evening I teach Zumba at Curves gym. And Saturday mornings I teach the Jillian Michaels class.

I also work at the Farmers Market Saturday mornings (every other week) at the Crepe stand. I love it as I get to make one of my favorite dishes, and I get to hang out with my awesome friends. I have recently learned how to "spin" the crepes on the large griddles. It has been a great experience for me. 

A few months ago I started another awesome job. I am a personal chef on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a few families. The first family I started cooking for has a lot of diet restrictions including low glycemic (no sugar), no wheat, no potatoes, no white rice, almost no dairy, and everything is organic, free range, ect...  The other family I cook for piggy backs on whatever I make for the first family. So I make a meal plan for each month and then I make a ton of food on those 3 days and deliver it to the families. It is awesome for me because I love cooking, and it helps us to afford to eat healthier. I actually lost almost 15 pounds in just the few weeks after starting the job because of the healthier eating. Eating healthy can be hard because it is so time consuming and expensive. So having this become my job has been extremely exciting for me. I have learned a lot about how what you eat can affect you quite drastically. I am actually considering starting another blog just with recipes that I have been serving. 

I helped start a preschool co op with several families close to us. Every Tuesday Jack gets to learn new things with his friends. He gets so excited when he realizes where we are driving. He says "preschool, preschool!" I was the teacher for the first month, and now we are on rotation with all the parents.

I also really enjoy biking on the beautiful bike paths in the area. Jack and I will often spend 3-4 hours biking from park to park. It is a real treat for both of us.

For those that don't know, I also help direct the musical over at the Middle School where I used to teach. I am in charge of all the music and singing. And then I help out here and there where it is needed. I run the sound system/microphones on the performance nights. I have done this for the last 3 years, and am planning on continuing the tradition. Last years production was of Mulan Jr. and I loved every minute of it. The next shows practices will start up around September/October and I am already getting excited. 

During Easter time and Christmas time I am part of a handbell choir that performs at the Temple Visitor center and at several different wards in our Church Stake. I have loved this opportunity because it was something I enjoyed in High School, but I thought I would never get another opportunity. 

I have been incredibly blessed out here on the East Coast. I feel like I am able to participate in almost everything that I am passionate about. (all I need is some sort of waterskiing and painting gigs). :) I love that I get to be with Jack and also do other things that I am passionate about. Jack loves to help me teach zumba and he has all my routines memorized.  He also loves to help me cook. Or when he is not in the mood for cooking, he sets up his cars on the rug and we chat while I cook and he rolls his cars around. I am one lucky lady. 

Six Flags

We came back from the Outer Banks late Thursday night. Friday was our day of catch up. (I had to teach zumba and do my personal chef job. Dad went on a few bike rides and took Jack to a few parks. 

Saturday we spent the entire day at Six Flags. Jack had been asking to go nonstop for at least a week. His first request was the yellow car ride. The cars are all different colors, but we actually lucked out and on our turn, the car just happened to be yellow. 

This was the first time we were there when the Waterpark was open. It is a great water park. Jack spent probably 2 hours on this one slide. 

These are the stairs that lead up to the top of the slide. He was by far the smallest kid going down this slide, but he loved it. 

The is at the base of the slide. 

One of us would stay and watch Jack on the slide while the others would ride the water rides. There was a half pipe ride that you did with a tube that was incredibly fun. They also had a drop luge ride where you stood in this tube and then they would drop the floor out from under you and you would go zipping down the tube. It was an incredible thrill. 

Here is Jack and Grandma on the Merry Go Round. We should have taken more pictures but we were having too much fun :)

Wright Brothers Memorial

On Wednesday we went to the Wright Brothers Memorial and learned quite a bit. Our Tour Guide was funny and very entertaining. 

There is a really cool monument that they used to let you go up into. It is too dangerous now, so the doors are locked. 

Here are the statues of the wright brothers first take off with a motorized plane. 

Jack got a real kick out of falling backwards off of Tony's shoulders.

Sorry the videos are sideways. I wasn't thinking when I was filming obviously.

Sound (Bay) Side Beach Day

Tony couldn't take off the whole week, so he had to work a few days. We spent most of Tony's big work day on the Bay side beach. 

Jack loved to make hand prints in the sand, and then stand up and say "Jack's hand."

And he loved playing in the waves. 

I had to post this picture because of the hilarious position he was in. 

After he moved to a more comfortable position, he enjoyed the ride much more. 

Ok, so the story here is that Jack came to us and asked for a warm towel...

we told him he needed to go wash his hands off and then come back, so he headed to the water...

and tripped. He was pretty sad about it for a second....

but was happy again after getting his warm towel. 

Then he got to play in this awesome warm puddle with grandma. 

He loved dumping the water on himself. 

Isn't the wetsuit so cute on him. 

And then we found this epic tree to climb. 

Jack made it his mission to clean the tree of all grass pieces and other blemishes. 

But mostly, he just loved climbing it. 

He was really brave about going out into the water. As long as one of us was near of course, he would venture out pretty deep. 

And Daddy gave him a chance to fly above the water. What more could a boy ask for.