Champs Rally

Time to make the posters:

Harry Potter Day at Northside Library

The sorting cootie catcher

Abby got Hufflepuff

Kevin grabbed one but lost it on the way home....

Benji really dug the trivia

He knew all the answers but one

Honeydukes

They each got a coin when they were sorted

Benji chose the troll boogers

Scavenger hunt through the books

Cool Harry Potter cabinet

Divination class

Reading the scroll with his future

A little assist from Abby....his fortune was that he will win the next Daily Profit Galleon Drawing!

Blackberry picking

Our summer is winding down already, especially because we will spend the last two weeks out of town. We've been trying to squeeze in a few more local summer favorites before we go. Blackberry picking at Critzer's made the cut:

Homemade blackberry ice cream at the farm stand

Kevin's Birthday, part 2

For Kevin's birthday, I bought him tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Kennedy Center. The kids stayed at the Lamys house in Herndon, so we had an adult date:

Terrible selfie

Tea at the Ritz Carlton

They brought a surprise birthday treat

Once we got back to Herndon, Alex surprised Kevin with another cake:

He had some trouble lighting the candles

41 here we come.

Happy Birthday Kevin, part 1

We had dinner and cake with my mom on Friday night (the night before Kevin's birthday) since we were spending the day of in DC. We ate at Firefly, which also has an arcade that Kevin wanted to check out:

Followed by Ben and Jerry's cake, of course

Swim Towel

Abby's second or third year on the swim team, we ordered her an awesome team towel. When Benji joined the team 2 years ago, he desperately wanted one, but they have not offered them since. So, at the start of this swim season (Benji's third!) when the opportunity arose, we jumped at the chance to buy him one.  The orders came in for Wednesday night's meet, and he could not be more pleased:

Zucchini Muffins

Every time Benji sees zucchini at the farmer;s market, he asks about these. We finally remembered to buy some, and off he went. I love that he set the cookbook up on the stand and is reading it in tree pose in between gathering ingredients (also, baking is pants-optional this week):

Escape Room

We had a quiet Sunday and the kids were looking for a family activity, so we decided to try out an Escape Room with them. Abby was an excellent problem solver, figuring out several key clues. Benji had a harder time, but liked trying keys in locks and inputting combos. He also liked using the UV flashlight. We finished the puzzle just at 60 minutes, although we did have to take a few clues (we maybe needed one more adult or older child to do everything ourselves):

Swim Date

On Saturday, we met the Dukes at Washington Park Pool. Benji appreciated having someone who would play with him in the water, and the adults got to catch up:

Benji and Dylan

Abby started out with the adults

But eventually deigned to get in the pool

She spent the briefest time with Benji before getting out again

Luckily, Dylan and Benji were very excited by the slide

He's a pro at this now

Public Night at the Observatory

We had company for dinner on Friday, and they left just in time for us to make it to the observatory:

When we got there, we were told it was too cloudy to see most of the time and that locals should come back on a clear night. After watching person after person climb the ladder to the scope and report seeing only black, the kids wanted to go home, but Kevin and I wanted to at least look at the scope, since we had already driven all the way up there. Abby climbed up and saw nothing, so when Benji got up there and said "Oh! I see Saturn!," we thought he was joking. It turned out the clouds had broken just as he got up there and all 4 of us got to see Saturn before the cloud cover returned:

Birthday Cards!

Abby was thrilled with hers. Here she is posing with them in another new shirt: