October Fun

Our big highlights in October were our Washington D.C. vacation and Halloween, but as usual our normal, everyday days are still special and worth remembering. 

At the beginning of October, we had a free Friday (no co-op or other plans), and I couldn't figure out what we should do. I ended up texting Elena and asked if we could get together and play for a bit, and we had a great time visiting while the kids played in the leaves in their backyard. We love having sweet neighbors who are always open to play dates. It's helped fill some social gaps we've had in homeschooling. 

For Nathan's ninth birthday (May 2020), Matt and I gifted him with a coupon to attend an OSU football game with his dad. Well, with the weird 2020 COVID season, they weren't able to go, so they finally found a game to attend together and had a wonderful time at the OSU vs. Baylor game. The weather was beautiful that night and OSU had a victory. I was watching the game at home and hoping so much that Nathan would get to experience an OSU victory. I remember all too well the feeling after a loss at Boone Pickens Stadium, and I wanted his first visit to have a happy ending. 

Katherine had her Fall dance performance in October. She's taking tap and ballet classes this year and loving every second of it. She tells me that dance is her favorite activity. I'll never get tired of seeing her bright smile every time she's performing a dance. 

The cookies after the dance bring huge smiles too.

Elisabeth and Samuel are continuing to enjoy gymnastics this year and improving each week. Elisabeth has mastered a cartwheel on the balance beam.

The gym they go too has been under construction building a new foam pit. The kids were so excited when it was finally finished and they got to play in it. 

Right now, their class is small and usually there's just one other family that comes at the same time we do. We've developed a sweet friendship with their family, and almost every week Elisabeth asks if Avianna can come home with us or if she can go to her house after class. It motivates her to get her school done before her class, so I'm all for it. 

Aspire co-op has continued to be a wonderful blessing for our family. We all look forward to co-op Fridays. Elisabeth made a shark hat in her Trip Around the World class.

And Katherine's teacher always texts me cute pictures of her enjoying her day. 

We spent a day in Edmond celebrating Abigail's second birthday. My kids adore Abigail (Matt and I do too), and it's precious watching them dote and love on her every second they're together. 

Our neighborhood had a Fall party. The kids got to wear their Halloween costumes and play with their friends. These girls have the cutest friendship. 

Katherine has been in a hair styling phase. She styles Elsa's hair often, but lately she's been wanting to style her own hair. I'm impressed that she's able to put her hair in a pony tail by herself, but it's brought out some control issues on my end of wanting to fix it instead of letting her, ha! 

Naps are rare for her, so I usually have to snap a picture of her sweet, sleepiness especially cuddling a teddy bear and wearing a unicorn headband. 

We've gotten in a routine of regular playdates with Kamryn and Addisyn while the boys are at a Lego League meeting. I caught this sweet moment before the girls left one afternoon.

We had one other free Friday in October, so we took advantage of the free day and met friends at the zoo. 

We had a fun day together getting to catch up with the Dalmans. We all love days spent with them. 

Their best day ever chant after every get together never gets old. They've probably been doing that same cheer every single time they're together for the last five years. 

At the end of October, we had one more Friday co-op, and Katherine's teacher sent me these. I love the picture of her holding hands with her friends. She can make friends anywhere she goes, and always makes everyone she's around feel special. 

The other kids had a great day too!

 

Washington D.C. Part 4

Friday was our last full day in D.C. We started our day with a walk to the Capital. I was bummed that they're not doing tours right now, because I think my kids could have learned a lot about how our government works. But for now we settled for a picture. 

Then we walked over to the Air and Space museum. Katherine caught a nap earlier in the day than usual on Friday. 

So much of the Air and Space Museum is under construction right now, that it was a bit of a let down. Nathan was especially excited about this museum, but there wasn't much to see. We walked through an exhibit about space and one about navigation. Then we ended with the Wright Brothers exhibit which was a favorite for everyone. Nathan was working on a research project about the Wright Brothers at the time, so he was excited to get to see their first flyer and learn more about them. 

We spent less than two hours at the museum but saw everything that was open. 

We had some extra time before lunch, so we walked through the Smithsonian castle building and then grabbed some lunch. After lunch the kids asked to play on the national mall, so we let them burn off some energy for a bit. 

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon back at the Museum of American History. We didn't see everything on Tuesday, and it was closed on Wednesday and Thursday, so this was our next chance to finish touring the museum. The kids enjoyed a technology exhibit on the first floor. Again, with the screens, ha!

The girls got to see the Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz. 

And they couldn't get enough of an exhibit about the change in style and dress over time. 

We ended the day touring the extensive war history exhibit. The girls were pretty bored, but Matt and I were interested in it, so we drug them along. After we finished at the museum, we took the metro back to our hotel for the final time. 

Our hotel had a rooftop area that we hadn't gotten a chance to explore, so we took the elevator up to see it on Friday night. It had some beautiful views. We stayed right next to the National Baseball stadium and from the roof we could see the Capital and the Washington Monument. 

We walked across the street for dinner and then started packing and organizing for the trip home.

Our plan for Saturday was to spend the day at Six Flags America. We got the kids season tickets to Six Flags for Christmas last year, partly because we had planned to visit D.C. and knew they had a Six Flags. We've gotten a lot of use out of those tickets this year- multiple Frontier City and White Water visits, two days at Six Flags over Texas, a day at Six Flags over Georgia and an adults only day at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. We ended our Six Flags tour and our D.C. trip with a day at Six Flags America. 

It ended up being our least favorite (big) Six Flags park. The rides were older and not all that great, but the kids didn't care, and the lines were short. I was glad we could give them a little break from all the museums and monuments and just have some roller coaster fun for the day. 

I'm realizing that our days in the kids' area at theme parks are numbered. Seeing Katherine's joy on all the rides in that area never gets old. 

Six Flags was a little hard on Samuel. At the park, most of the big coasters had 54 inch height requirements, so he wasn't tall enough to ride the big rides, but he's outgrown all the little kid rides that the girls like. I bought him a choco taco to brighten his day a little while the girls were riding the kiddie rides and Matt and Nathan were riding a big coaster. It cheered him up! 

All the kids talked about how our Six Flags day was one of their favorite parts of our trip. It was a fun way to end our vacation. 

By 4:00 that afternoon we had ridden all the big rides, and we were ready to head out. We needed to drive several hours that afternoon/evening and were anxious to get on the road. Katherine was out for a nap about 4 minutes into our trip home. 

We drove until about 9:30 Saturday night and crashed at a hotel in Ohio. That drive was memorable- dark, curvy, hilly roads had me praying for our safety extra that night. Matt and I were happy to be back on the flat, straight roads of Oklahoma by Sunday afternoon. We've been reminiscing on our trip since we've been home. The highlights for everyone include Williamsburg, the Spy Museum, Mt. Vernon and Six Flags. Everyone seemed to have a different favorite thing, which means it was a good vacation, right?  Big City/museum vacations aren't our all time favorite vacations, but I'm so thankful for the great week we had learning, exploring, bonding and playing. We can't wait for our next vacation!