Harper's Ferry Hike, Apple Picking

We went out to pick apples about 1.5 hours from our house in Virginia at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and we realized Avery got to visit WV on the trip for the first time ever.  We went to Marker Miller Orchards in Winchester, VA.  One of the best things about the orchard was that they made cider donuts!  Avery loved chewing on them

And so did we, we bought a dozen and they were gone by the end of the day.  Before we went picking Avery enjoyed playing in the playground area

Raul and Ally joined us and we got some good photos in

And Raul loved helping Avery pick apples from the tree

Avery also loved running up and putting apples in the bag

Of course she loved eating them too

We picked a wide variety of apples and enjoyed walking through the orchard finding the different types that were ready for picking

We also got a pumpkin and we let Avery pick it out

After picking apples, we drove back through Harper's Ferry, WV which is about 60 minutes from our house.  It is a the far corner of WV where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers converge.  It was a mill town in the Civil War where they made lots of ammunition.  It got devastated in the war, and got flooded a few times, and now is mostly a tourist area due to the old buildings, little shops, and surrounding scenery.

The surrounding terrain is very neat and there are even train tunnels coming right out from the hills across the river into town.


View of Harper's Ferry train tunnels, we did not take this picture!

It's hard to believe this is only 50 miles from our house, it seems a world away from DC.  There is a neat hike on the Maryland side that we took called the Maryland Heights Trail.  We parked by the river and walked along the old C&O Canal Tow Path to get to the trail head

The hike climbs 1600 vertical feet and then back down a bit to a look out point above town.

The next shots are good, but too bad the iPhone didn't take as good of quality:

Avery rode in the backpack and loved signing in her daddy's ear the whole way up

We hiked back down and before we headed home we put our feet in the clear water of the Potomac

Racing, a train show, and the Zoo

We've been busy the last week and have quite a few stories to catch up on.  Sunday we ran our first race since moving up here, we ran in the Parks Half Marathon, which goes from Rockville to downtown Bethesda.  (We used our neighborhood baby sitter and we were very lucky she was able to get here at 6am so we could get to the start on time!)  The neat part was not only did it mostly go on the Rock Creek Trail through the park, but it also went next to our house (well a few houses away) and took part on a portion of the trail that we run almost every day.  Over 2200 people ran it but luckily the course didn't hit the trail until mile 2 and people had a chance to spread out a bit.  Colleen got a nice "tattoo" before the race and looked ready at the start

Near the end the course goes on the Capital Crescent Trail and enters the tunnel under downtown Bethesda before veering off to a local park for the finish.  Here is Colleen exiting the tunnel heading for the finish, passing a guy on her way to a new PR of 1:51!

Here are both of us after the race, Jim got a PR too at 1:31.

Each of us beat our previous best by about 1 minute, not bad for two people who haven't raced in 4 months!

What better way to celebrate new PRs than to go to a train show...The little town of Kensington near us had a train show and Avery actually really liked it!  Even Jim was ready to go but we couldn't pry Avery from the train layouts.

And, since we were in the racing mood, Avery ran a race of her own!  We just joined the Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC) and they have lots of races throughout the year.  Once you are a member of MCRRC you get to run a lot of races for free.  They even have a kid's race which was this weekend at Cabin John Regional Park, so Avery was the first one to use the membership!  They had three events: a 1/4 mile, a 1/2 mile, and 1 mile race.  We put Avery in the 1/4 mile race, and she was in the heat for kids 3 and under (Parents were allowed to help!).  She loved getting her big bib number on and warming up...with her baby in tow at first

For some reason she felt the need to hold her bib number on even though it was pinned on!  Funny girl...

Here she is at the start line ready to go, baby in hand and bib number crumpled up

The blur of Speedy Avery with baby dangling precariously:

After the race Avery got a ribbon and some gummy worms to chew on:

  

Also, we have continued to go to the National Zoo here a lot!  It's just a few miles from our house, and free!  Avery loves seeing all the animals, and also loves the spray-ground they have there

Lastly, we finally found a great sushi place near us.  We've been to quite a few and while some are decent and some were not, none have really struck us.  The one we really like is called Yirasai in Bethesda.  It is really hard to find in a strange strip mall, they don't have a website, but wow are their rolls delicious!  Avery has even been working on her chop stick skills too:

Cardinals game

We went to the Cardinals game over the weekend since they were playing here in DC.  We rode the Metro down and Avery loved riding on the train (just like her daddy!)

Jim shirt was actually an old shirt that his friend Cliff gave him 13 years ago when they graduated college, (it is still in great shape since it only used for games).  Thanks Cliff!  Avery got dressed up in a Cardinals shirt (Thanks Aunt Julie!) and plopped down in her seat

Her favorite part of the game was the wave

We sat in the cheap seats way in the outfield by the scoreboard

But we had fun though!  When we got to the game it was already 4-0 Nationals, but the Cardinals ended up winning 10-9, Avery cheered them on (or actually just cheered whenever the crowd made noise for any reason!)

Between one of the innings they have a President's Race!

Lincoln, Washington, and FDR raced around the field.

Avery also loved the kid's play area

It was an afternoon start, so after the game was over we grabbed dinner downtown and then headed home!  Cliff made a nice photo image of the picture (after we texted him to show him Jim was wearing his shirt)

Also, Avery loves the IKEA store by us, we were there for a few hours as Avery played birthday party

She tried out the bedroom sets

And made lots of friends with the other kids!