Fun in D.C.

One of the really great things about living in our Nation's Capital is that there is always an abundance of things to do and places to visit. For a U.S. history buff like me, you can't beat living here. I hope to instill in my children a sense of pride in America, the greatest country on Earth (an all-to-neglected virtue by many, in my opinion). So, Kip and I try to regularly visit the many great historical sites and museums around us. The other day we decided to go on a family outing to Alyssa's favorite museum -- the Natural History Museum. Both Alyssa and her cousin, Coriel, love seeing the dinosaur exhibit. We had a great time and enjoyed getting out for a little bit. We can't wait for the weather to warm up a little bit so we can go on more fun family adventures.

Valentine's Day

This year Alyssa was really into Valentine's Day. She kept begging me to do something special for all her little preschool friends. So I made sugar cookies and let her decorate them to give to her friends. It turned out to be a very fun little activity and Alyssa did a remarkable job creating cute little Valentine's cookies.

Cruising at the Car Show

One of the perks of Kip's job (literally reinventing the wheel at the Patent Office...no joke!) is that he gets time off of work to go to the annual Car Show in D.C. so that he can check out all the new kinds of wheels. We decided to make it a family event and take the kids. Both Alyssa and Travis really enjoyed playing "driver" and wanted to get into every car they saw. Kip lusted over the really expensive sports cars, while I (much to my suprise) had fun checking out all the cool new vans with all kinds of neat gadgets. You know you are officially a Mom when you look foward to the time when you can afford a nice van (what the heck is wrong with me?!)

Christmas

In my effort to somewhat update my blog, I am posting some pictures from Christmas. This year we had a very busy Christmas. We spent the week of Christmas in Utah with Kip's family. We had a fun time despite us all getting sick. Alyssa was a little upset that I wouldn't let her play in the Utah tundra (they had lots of snow) as much as she wanted. I was worried about her getting even more sick than she already was. But to her, it was a huge tease to have that much snow and not be able to play in it very much....We just don't get snow like that here in Virginia.

When we got back home, we enjoyed opening presents that Santa had thoughtfully left for us even though we had been in Utah. (Alyssa was very worried about the Santa logistics when you go on vacation)

Ok, I am starting this for real

So, I tried to start this blog back in November, but I never told anybody about it. I knew, deep down, that this endevour had the very likely potential to turn out like my half dozen uncompleted journals that I have piled up in a drawer somewhere. This time, however, I am solidifying my commitment by actually publicizing the fact that I have a blog. (Not that I expect very many people to actually read this blog, but just knowing that someone might will keep me motivated). Thanks to all of you guys who have really awesome blogs for providing inspiration for me. Hopefully, I will get the hang of this "new media" thing and be able to provide friends and family with somewhat consistent updates of the going-ons of the Kotter family.