Blueberry Picking, Train Rides, Symphony

We went up Saturday morning to a place called The Blueberry Gardens about 15 minutes north of where we live.  They have organic blueberries and tomatoes.

Avery loved ducking under the nets to pick the berries

And waved at the chickens on the farm too

Then on the way back to our house we stopped at Wheaton Regional Park.  We first rode the carousels

Then we rode the train at the park.

It is only $1.50 per person and goes for a nice long ride through the forest.

We saw deer

And went through tunnels

Avery loved it!

Then that night we went to Wolf Trap, a beautiful outdoor theater just across the river in Virginia.  They have a full range of concerts, shows, and performances there.

Colleen had won tickets online!  The performance that night was from the National Symphony Orchestra.  We sat up at the very top of the lawn seats, and Avery even had her own little chair!

We brought food and drinks and had a great evening on a beautiful night.  It was a fun Saturday exploring new things in town!

Jefferson Memorial

After we moved to DC, we did a jog with the BOB stroller around the mall.  Avery liked it when stopped at the Jefferson Memorial...she loved climbing all the steps:

And at the top with a view of the tidal pool and Washington Monument (She calls it the "Big yellow crayon"), she said she was "On top of the world!!!!!"

And inside, she was paying attention to the signs to be quiet out of respect for Jefferson.  She kept saying "shhhhhh" like a librarian! 

Playground Pics

While we were up in Maryland looking for our new house to live in, we took some time out now and then to check out the playgrounds with Avery!

We also stopped by White Flint Mall so Avery and momma could ride the train!

Here we are taking another break to take a side trip to Annapolis to sit on the docks and watch the sailbats:

Then a few week later was final moving day.  The huge truck pulled up in front of our house to pack...dang that dead grass will make it harder to sell out house!  Bummer.

UNC-TV party

We went to the UNC-TV PBS Kids party this weekend.  It was for member's only, and it was at the North Carolina Musuem of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh.  They had food, exhibits, and Avery got to meet some of her favorite characters, such as Sid the Sciend Guy:

Curious George:

It is a really neat, new museum downtown, definitely worth checking out in Raleigh if you are there.  They have some really cool exhibits, including a huge 4-story globe that on the inside is a complete surround theater showing quick science clips (Note, not an IMAX theater, this is free to just walk in and watch for a few minutes and then continue on!).

Also, daddy took Avery to the playground at Bond Park.  She wanted to stay in her jammies.  Here she is saying CHEEEESE!!!!

Colleen's TV Appearance

The other day Colleen went to drop off cans of food at a food drive.  They had a contest for eveyone that dontaed, they would be put into a drawing to win a free car, the Nissan Murano CrossoverCabriolet, a $48,000 car.  Well, she got a call that she was one of 17 finalists who would be at the live drawing on TV!

The local NBC 17 channel was filming the next day at the Nissan dealer where the 17 finalists would each be given a key to try and open the safe with the actual car key in it!

We went down there early to fill out all the registration forms.

The TV personality lady gave Avery a balloon:

Then each of the 17 finalists picked a key randomly out of a bowl.

Colleen drew key #1 which meant she would go first.  (We thought that was a bad sign since they probably would not have key #1 win or else it would have been a short show!)

Well, she didn't win, but she was live on TV!

Here is the video from it, it's a bit blurry from the iPhone as Jim tried to capture it from behind the cameras.

It would have been aweseom to win a nice car like that (or to sell it new and keep the cash!).

Bald Head Island

On Memorial Day weekend we took a trip out to Bald Head Island just off the coast of North Carolina.  It is a very cool island where no cars are allowed.  Everybody drives golf carts all over the island to get to the beaches, markets, etc.


On our way out, we drove out Friday afternoon and visited the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher.  Avery really loves aquariums these days, she always asks to go see one!  And her favorite animal at the aquarium, and the one she always wants to go see, are the alligators!

We also took our picture in the jaws of a of an ancient extinct shark!

We saw some other animals

And we played on the playground at the aquarium

Then we headed on the state-run ferry

over to the town of Southport, NC (A cute little town on the water) for dinner at a seafood place called Fishy Fishy Cafe, which has a funny name but had good food right on the water next to the sailboats and fishing vessels:

We then stayed the night there so we could take the first ferry over in the morning to Bald Head Island.

It is great to park your car and take the ferry over and have golf carts waiting for you at your bed and breakfast!  We stayed at the Marsh Harbour Inn on the island right next to the ferry terminal.

Avery loved riding around on the golf carts, we put her car seat up front and she kept saying "this is fun!"

We of course went to the beach, where Avery played with her beach toys and dug in the sand:

And Colleen did some Yoga:

We relaxed on the porch of our bed and breakfast in the rocking chairs

And enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the harbor:

The next day we went to the country club on the island to swim and play in the pool:

We went to the ice cream stand a few times on the trip:

We also enjoyed eating dinner by the boats on the island.  Here we are waiting for our table at the Mojo's On The Harbor which was a brand new restaurnat. 

Avery was trying to find alligators in the water of course, her favorite.  (They do have alligators on the island, but not in the harbor.)

Mojo's had a Jimmy Buffet cover band, but we could hardly hear them from where our table was. The food was hit and miss, and they were still trying to figure out the service part, but it was nice to sit out on a beatiful night and watch the boats.

We also saw some beautiful Spanish Moss on the island:

We went for a 6 mile run on the island pushing Avery in the stroller.  We played Scrabble on the porch while Avery napped.  We had some relaxing time reading on the beach and in the park. 

It was a great trip and we are definitely coming back again someday!