Pumpkin Picking

Andy and I decided to go get our pumpkins for the season, since we've never gotten them before since getting married.  It would be a new experience.  We decided to head over to Ticonderoga Farms about an hour away with traffic.  We were first greeted by some goats.  You can't tell by the picture, but that is a large mountain of rocks and the goat was at the top just chewing away on something and happy as can be.   

I'd say there were at least 30 goats there or more. 

After seeing the goats and doing other little activities, we decided to take a bumpy hayride.  It pretty much consisted of us hitting every rock on the ground, going through a little lake with the tractor pulling us, and seeing a lot of cobwebs and ghosts hanging from trees.  But, it was still fun listening to the kids on the ride get excited.  

 

 

 

 

Next was the awaited pumpkin patch. 

He looks happy.  What you don't know is that he just stepped into a nice deep wet pile of mud and his shoes are all muddy now.  Well, make that two of us.  I stepped into it first and then turned around to say, Don't....  Yep, he was already sinking down.  It gave us a good laugh.  I told him it's all part of being on a farm.   

We decided not to get big pumpkins, since we didn't feel like lugging those large ones back to the car.  Plus, each person could pick a small one with admission for free. 

Besides the goats, there were pigs too.  I just love hearing pigs snort. 

 

It was a great way to spend a nice day outdoors.  And now our pumpkins are in the window at home.   

Potomac River evening walk

 

Andy and I stopped by my favorite place on the Potomac River.  The water levels are way down right now.

 



There were hundreds of these snail shells all over the ground.  A little strange.

Down from the bridge where we had our wedding pictures done is another bridge.  We think this might have made a good bridge too.  Nice and long.   

Fall Carnival



On Friday night, we had our Fall Carnival at school. 

 



Andy and I headed up the bake sale table.  We sold most of the goodies as you can see from the lack of items by the end.  What a happy guy and a good sport to do it with me.

But the biggest attraction of the night was the silly string a teacher vote.  For three tickets, you could place a vote (with your name on the vote) in a teacher's bag.  For three more tickets, you could do it again and so forth.  At the end of the night, the teacher with the most votes would get silly string all over them by 12 voters drawn from their bag.  I only got one vote.  I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.  Of course, all the teachers knew which teacher was going to get the most votes. 

Mr. Klug...the prankster himself. 

One little girl's canister didn't work, so after getting her a new one, she took the final shot. 

I Got It!

Friends

These are friends of ours from Our Savior.  On the left is Jeff and Valerie Offutt.  Jeff did daycare with me after school for five years, and now he's our afternoon 2nd grade teacher.  Valerie works for Texas A&M in Washington D.C.  In the middle is Jessica Hedrick.  She is our first grade teacher.  This is her second year here at Our Savior.  And then of course you know us.  :)

 

Newseum

Andy and I decided to spend our free Labor Day by going downtown to the Newseum.  It's basically a museum that's all about news from the past and present.  It does cost to go in, but I think well worth it.  Dad, you will definitely want to go with me the next time you are in town here.  I think you would enjoy it very much.

The 6th floor has a great terrace with a view of the Capitol building and Pennsylvania Avenue.  If you look closely, you can see construction starting on the Capitol. 

The Newseum has seven floors to enjoy. 

My favorite part of the whole museum was an area called the News History Gallery.  It had over 300 historic front pages of newspapers dating back to at least the 1600s. 

A newspaper cover for the Gunpowder Plot in England in 1605.  Love the hand drawn pictures. 

Andrew Jackson's funeral.

Battle of Fort Sumter (Civil War)

Santa Claus makes first appearance in Harper's Weekly in 1874.

Jesse James Assassinated

Buffalo Bills Wild West

Titanic Sinks

Lusitania Torpedoed

There was a section for 9-11 and a wall of newspaper covers of the event.  This is the radio antenna from the World Trade Center.  It was considered the tallest point in New York City. 

I also liked seeing a section for the Berlin Wall. 

Guard Tower

Rain was on the way so we had to get back to the metro, but before we went, Andy wanted a few last pictures. 

Welcome to our new home.

Nativity

A very nice gentleman named George visited our church today.  He's from Bethlehem and is an Arab Christian.  He came to talk to us today about the Christians in Bethlehem.  It was very interesting listening to him speak.  He said when people ask him how long he's been a Christian he replies by saying he's been a Christian for 2,000 years.  Interesting to think about.

 

He was speaking to us about how many people forget that there are Christians in that part of the world and even in the media you rarely hear about the Christians in the Middle East.  Well, right now, as I know you all know, there is a lot of fighting happening around Israel today.  He spoke how the Christians in Bethlehem are suffering quite a bit due to the lack of tourism.  He said over 70% of those living in Bethlehem rely on the tourists coming to Bethlehem for their daily income.  Many sell their crafts when people visit.  But with income down, many Christians are having a hard time sending their children to school and feeding them. 

 

With that all being said, he had brought over many of their carvings to America to sell them and make a profit to take back to Bethlehem to share with the Christians there.  He returns to that part of the world in two days.  Pray for his safety on his return trip.  Right now though, I'm assuming he's going around to many Christian churches in the area.  Anyway, he had a table with all these beautiful hand carvings and jewelry set up in the fellowship hall to purchase.  I fell in love with this one carving and Andy was nice enough to like it too and buy it.  I think it's just something very special to have to remember other Christians around the world who need our prayers. 

 

It's made out of olive wood.  George also explained to everyone that on the bottom of each carving one will see the words Holy Land.  He said you won't see the words Promised Land because we as Christians have already received our promise with Jesus.  Good reminder.  

 

Just so you all know, in the picture is Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a lamb on the lower left side, and a star.  George also made sure to point out to me that this is not the star of David, but the star of Bethlehem.  :)

It's a gift what others can do with one piece of wood.  I'm happy to have a nativity that I can have up all year round.