Paper Mache

And here's where things got messy. This took an entire day. Seriously. I don't know what I was thinking.

Goodie Bags and Pyramids

We decided the kids would have a few crafts to work on, including decorating a poster board pyramid. The goodie bags were "artifact" bags that they would collect items for as they explored during the party.

Photo Prop

I was complaining to my Aunt Linda that Ethan also wanted a photo prop sphinx- that's what I get for letting him see the pinterest board of party ideas. She said they could print it where she works, so I said why not- totally worth it. It came out great! Thanks Aunt Linda!

Egyptian Ship

Ethan wanted an Egyptian ship to sail the Nile. We converted the pirate ship from last year, and it turned out pretty good.

First Day of Second Grade!

Ethan had a great first day of second grade! He was all ready to meet his new teacher and classmates. He made some new friends and saw some old friends. He didn't even have homework!

Last Day of Summer Vacation

For the last day of summer vacation, I took the day off. Ethan and I went to March Farm and played on the playscape. We stopped for ice cream on the way home. When we arrived back at the house, we found this amazing surprise in the mailbox. The Bibbs sent Ethan this amazing William Howard Taft bobble head!

Sphinx

Ethan requested a sphinx with doors that opened, like the real one. This was the best I could come up with.

Last Oakasha Family Night

James was busy but Ethan and I headed up the mountain to the last Camp Oakasha family night of the season. Of course Teddy the ice cream man made an appearance, and Ethan insisted I try something too. He really had to twist my arm. We also made an ocean in a bottle and played with some friends.

National Portrait Gallery

After Air & Space we went for a walk in the direction of Chinatown. We stopped at the National Portrait Gallery, and had to find Taft's portrait. We saw some other great stuff there too.

Air & Space

It was my good luck that they saved my least favorite Smithsonian site for Saturday. We did go through the exhibit in the castle first, which was very cool, then we headed to Air & Space. We waited in line, it was smelly, crowded, and loud. Just like I remember it.

Work trip

Usually work trips are vacation for me and Ethan and work for James. I think I like that kind better. Tuesday night, we drove to D.C. I had meetings all day Wed. and Thursday and most of Friday. Ethan and James got to spend lots of time being tourists, but I only had a few hours Saturday afternoon to hang out with them. I met up with them after their tour of the Washington Monument. We walked to the Lincoln Memorial and checked out the other memorials along the way.

Work with Mama Day

The week I had a conference to attend Ethan came to work with me on Monday. He dressed up for the occasion, and made himself right at home. He was treated like the rock star he thinks he is.

Invitations!

This is the invitation we worked up for Ethan's Ancient Egypt party. He made the amulets to include out of air dry clay. He also helped me to paint the boxes gold and gave input on the design of the printed invitation.

Work Day

We had a work day at the cemetery. Ethan, Heather and I got off a little easy, we just had to supply the food and drinks. Gramps had plenty of workers, Tom brought some of his students who volunteered to help for the day and the weather couldn't have been nicer. Next year Ethan can help pick rocks.

Watchtower

We took a hike in the falls with the goal being the Watchtower- we made it!

Trombone Shorty!!

When we learned that Trombone Shorty was playing at The Gathering of the Vibes, and that his set was before Ethan's bedtime, we knew that we had to go. So we didn't tell him anything fearing it could turn out to be a rainy mudpit or a thunderstorm and we would have to back out.
The week of the concert, Ethan and I had to go to the cleaners. They had advertising postcards for the festival on the counter. He saw them and picked one up. He lost interest before he got to Trombone Shorty's name. I took the postcard and stashed it in my car. James got a ride to work, so I told Ethan we had a special surprise and we were going to go have lunch with James. (We might have stopped for a snack on the way). We picked him up at the office, and then I handed Ethan the postcard and told him to really read it, which he did. He pretended to pass out. He was pretty excited.
We got to the festival in time for the artist before, and when they finished playing the stage area totally cleared out- we grabbed a spot right up front and waited. We got to listen to the Funky Dogz Brass Band while we were waiting. Ethan proclaimed loudly that he was Trombone Shorty's biggest fan, and so several people offered to move so we could get up closer to the stage- yep, lots of nice people at the hippie fest :). I think the noise and the crowd intimidated him a bit, and I pretty much held him up through the entire set. Can you see Shorty pointing right at him? Well, it might have been the kid next to us but we'll take it. The funny part was on Sunday he played Lalapalooza, which was live streamed. We watched it on the TV so I could hear Ethan's play-by-play. I asked him if he took trombone lessons if he would learn to play that well. "Oh, I'll be better" he says, like it's nothing.