The Gordon Five

kevin had a TDY in New Jersey a few weeks ago & since myah hadn't started school yet, we went too! while he was at his meetings we did some fun little things like this place...

look how close we were to these bears! crazy! we bought/fed them animal crackers, which was so cute to see em sit up and wait for us to throw em thru the fence. and really sad when half of what the kids threw fell short, sorry bears!

and yes, a donkey! this was unlike any zoo i've ever seen; it was really just a big ole plot of land with random animals in wire cages. but it really was pretty that way.

see! this is the 'land'

this was an original old one-room school house, also at the 'zoo.'

oh those boys! yummy, yummy, yummy! crazy hair and all!

also part of the zoo.

love how their watching over their little brother!

eli could only stand here if myah was with him. sweeeeet!

the countryside in NJ was BEAUTIFUL! very hilly and green and big red barns everywhere. had no clue it was this pretty! so why did i not take more pictures than this????

pulled over just to take a few pix of this pretty little flower garden alongside the road in someone's yard.

after we left the 'zoo,' we stopped a cutesy little road-side lunch place. bummed at myself for not taking a picture...but anyway, the boys had fallen asleep so myah and i enjoyed our sandwiches just out in the countryside.

after kevin's meetings were over on that day, we drove into Sparta, NJ to another cutesy little place for ice cream and runnin around...

sooooo pretty!

the kids and i drove back to VA on wednesday cuz myah's kindergarten orientation was on thursday and also b/c my best friend karissa was coming to visit!!!!! kevin had one more day of meetings and then came home on thrus nite just after we'd picked up karissa from the airport. fun week!

karissa came for a girlfriend weekend-we spent labor day weekend at Virginia Beach-THANK YOU WONDERFUL HUSBAND! (see pix below) but the evening before we headed to the beach, we all up and decided last minute to jump in the car and head to see the sights downtown DC. it was both karissa and my first time, and the kids, of course!

Pres. O's house, which i whispered "we miss you, George!" :)

at the WWII memorial...

we learned that going in the evening is THEEE way to do it. not much of a crowd, much cooler AND way pretty all lit up!

here's ethan, intrigued by all the flowing water! or wa-wa as he calls it!

AND WE'RE OFF! here's what we experienced the entire way to the beach on saturday. ugh! but hey, when you have something from starbucks, you stop in a cute little antique shop, AND you're beach-bound w/ your best friend...6 hours in the car (when it should have only taken 3) wasn't all that bad!

we made it! and thankfully, hurricane earl had already left!

here i am after erecting that giant sand castle...hee.hee.hee. it's not real!

can you see that dolphin? i was sitting on our balcony and got this shot! and even when we were on the beach, you could see pods (?) of dolphins all thru-out the day, and they were close! neat!

we're thinking these waves were little remnants of earl? they were pretty big at times...

here was my view for about 6 hours on sunday, ahhhhhh.

bein silly.

karissa's boys names...

my babies'...

our last nite there. sitting at an outdoor restaurant-notice my jacket! it was chilly!!! loved it!

but not too cold for ice cream! at ELEVEN O'CLOCK AT NITE! "WOV" (we're on vacation!) was our justification for a lot of calories/sleeping in/etc those few days!

believe it or not, on our last morning there, karissa (miraculously woke up on her own!) just a few mins before the sunrise. we hurried down to the beach and got to see this! sooooo calm & be

karissa "goes baywatch"

here we were back home. relaxed, yet tired from not much sleep before and bellies a bit on the big side; we swore we were in a food coma! but hey! WOV! i'm calling this our 'before' picture-before we shed some serious poundage, that is!

MYAH'S FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!

this is when i started getting choked up...not b/c i realized how short her dress was, (hee.hee.) but seeing my baby girl be all BIG!

and then the tears started rollin...

here are some pix of us and our friend Lil and son Noah (Todd's in korea) just the other day-playing around at The National Harbor. fun, fun!

neat little shops and restaurants...

okay guys, i can barely see straight. i've been working on this blog for over TWO HOURS and i've got to stop...sorry for all the 'dead space' b/t these next few pix, but i just can't sit here any longer, soooooo tired. just be patient and scrooooooool down b/t the last pictures, it ends w/ all four kids sitting on a bench....g'nite!

how can eli be this big???

some weird sculpture-y guy, buried in the sand w/ a foot, a bent knee, a hand, his face and another arm/hand sticking out...gonna have to find out the story on that...

the big kids enjoyed the sand...ethan took two steps, shook his head and said "uh-hu, that!" and pointed back at the stroller, :)

he sat here watching all the kids playing, then found out how much fun the stairs and ramp were!

this is just a quick walk down from the actual harbor, at the beautiful Gaylord Hotel. kevin had stayed here last year when his whole ACSC class came for a few days at an Air & Space Conference...