A Much Needed Rest- Part 1

Tom and I decided to celebrate our birthdays and Valentines day in one fell swoop this year and took a weekend trip. We've done this in previous years, and I think we will try to continue to do it this way every year :) 

We started with an overnight stay in Washington DC, which is super close, but we've never really explored there. We stayed at the Historic Morrison-Clark hotel. It was nice to be able to walk around the city for a while, have someone else make me food, go to bed before midnight, and sleep in :)

Our window was right above this one, it's hidden by the balcony

Our dinner spot

This pub is famous for it's mussels....I've never had mussels, so I tried something new...they were pretty good, I was pleasantly surprised :)

Wet Paint

It finally happened. I went paintballing with Tom. He's been bugging me to go for years, but, it never appealed to me. I was told about the joys of the adrenaline rush, and the powerful feeling of pride and ownership when you shoot someone.....but after having spent 6 hours playing paintball with my friends...and shooting one of them in the back at close range...I'm just not into that kinda pain. 

I didn't get the adrenaline rush, just a panicky 'oh no we're starting and I have to pee' feeling, combined with a 'oh man this is gonna hurt' feeling, followed by a 'is it too late to back out now' feeling, and ending with a 'need to run away now' feeling. 

I spent most of the time trying not to get shot, which I was mostly successful at. Paintball was exactly what I thought it was gonna be. But it was fun once, and I'm glad I did it :)

I was the only person to Not get shot in the face :)

Before we started

The gang :)

Besties ;)

One of the 3 hits I took that wasn't minimized by clothes

The other 2 hits I took- one on the ring finger and one on the first finger- on the hand that was in front (turns out that I am a left handed shooter) the only part of my body that was sticking out lol! Tom is responsible for the blood, and no, it wasn't friendly fire :p It's ok though, I took my revenge on his teammate....sorry T, I backed up a lil bit before I shot you, I really did.....

What it looks like 3 weeks later....I've got a nice scar to remember it by :)

The Halloween We Coordinated Costumes And Had An Actual Theme

While perusing my old pics I realized that I had never posted pics of us From Halloween. I know, it's way old, but we actually had good costumes this time! So, here they are, only 6 months late :)

The Hogwarts crew :)

Hagrid and Professor Umbridge

The full Hagrid :)

Luna Lovegood

Bango the House Elf (her idea)

Colin Creevey

A 'Muggle'

A Cornish Pixie

Of course I had to include pics of James in his now traditional Woody costume

He's also keeping up with the tradition of falling asleep before tricks or treats and waking up after everyone is back, thus enjoying all the benefits of candy without having to do any of the work ;)

Goofy Kids

Just some recent pics of some of my silly kids.....James has made huge improvements lately, and these pics really show it :)

Nana being goofy at school

A haiku by Nana.....

Jack's Star Wars eyeballs :)

A project Jack did for school on change......before and after shots of a bitten apple....

I had to email the pics to his teacher. She replied back that when she saw the first picture, she was worried that the second picture was going to be a rotten apple.....kinda funny, but I can't really blame her cuz a couple weeks ago Jack took in a dead squid to show everyone that really freaked her out lol!

My Grandma Woods on Valentines day :) This is probably what I will look like when I'm 80 since I favor that side of the family :D