Who needs a Sleigh when you have a choo-choo train?

Another year.  Another Christmas.  Another ride on the Walkersville Santa Train.   The anticipation builds each year as the kids look forward to seeing Santa.  Nathan was so excited - he didn't know which was better - seeing Santa or riding on a train!!!

 

 

The man of the hour has arrived!  He sits down with each of the kids and talks at length with them.  I love how much attention they get from him.  And honestly, he is the real Santa!

 Nathan wants a firetruck- of course.  It is the year of the firetruck after all.   Kate wants an American Girl Doll, or a SnugglePuppet Blanket, or a camera, or a.... you get the idea.

 As we are leaving the train, Santa is waiting at the bottom of the platform waving good-bye to all the good boys and girls.  When Kate gives him a high-five, and yells over her shoulder,
"Bye Santa, I'll see you at the mall!"

Shrek the Halls...

We always joke that Josh can be a bit of an ogre come holiday season.  He even has a Shrek ornament on our Christmas tree!  The holidays: Too many people.  Too much fuss.  Too busy.   (Of course, it's all a bluff.  He's the biggest softy when it comes to the kid's excitement.)   But keeping with his cold facade, we just had to go to see SHREK on ICE.  

The Gaylord at National Harbor hosts an amazing ice sculpture show each year.  Last year it was the Grinch, and Shaun and Debbie said it was incredible.  This year, Shrek and Fiona took center stage - and we were there to see it.

It was 13 degrees inside where the sculptures were, so part of the admittance fee covered the use of thick, warm coats for everybody. Not only was it a chilling 13 degrees, but the pumped the air in so it felt like air conditioning blowing on you at 13 degrees!!   The thermal coats were a great idea, except as Josh pointed out, it was very hard to tell which kids were ours--they all looked the same as they all ran about the place.

 

 

Nathan could barely walk in his big thermal coat.  He stayed pretty warm thanks to Mommy's layering of clothing, hats, mittens, winter coat, and thermal coat.  His cheeks, however, were bright red when we finally left the frigid air!   

 Kate with her boys:  Brenden (left) and Collin (right)

I have to give props to Debbie, who has proudly taken on the role of Gallagher family activity co-coordinator.   Without her, I would never get around to buying tickets to anything.  It was a fun morning.  Thanks, Deb!!

October Madness

October was a very busy month for us.  It was a blur....but we did manage to capture a few memories!

A trip to the pumpkin patch was required.  The kids couldn't wait to find their own pumpkins.   We love the farm we go to in Frederick, Bloomfield Farm.  The day included a hay ride, tractors, animals, and loads of pumpkins and squash.

 We spent two weeks out in Washington State visiting Josh's family.  It had been four years since we had been able to venture west.  So this trip was so special.  Nathan and Kate loved the time with their cousins.  I just loved being with family.  I think we ended up with just shy of 300 pictures from this trip.    Here are some favorites:

Nathan and Alex horsing around  

Kate loved the time with her girl cousins (as she is usually surrounded by boy cousins out East.  She wasn't feeling well in this photo (hence the odd expression on her face) but Bri and Hannah were such a big part of her experience that I wanted to share this photo.  We miss them all so much!

And of course, we spent a lot of time with Papa Dan and Grandma Ann.  My kids ask daily if we can go on an airplane to see Papa Dan and Grandma - as if it were as easy as that.  We loved the time we had with the family.

 On our last day, we ventured out to Snowqualamie Falls.  It was a crisp fall day, and the views were amazing.

 

A special addition to our trip was a visit with good friends Paul and Peggy Wilkinson.  They happened to be in Oregon at the same time we were in Washington.  So considering they usually live in L.A. and we live 5000 miles east of them, we couldn't pass up a chance to drive 2.5 hours to spend a precious 24 hours with friends that really are more like family!   It was great to catch up, but it was even more precious to watch the kids jump right back into each others worlds.

Sunshine, Happiness, and Ice-cream!

What an amazing find last Sunday!   We were out for an afternoon drive, and decided to head to Rocky Point Creamery off Tuscarora Road.   When we arrived, we were greeted by this incredible field of sunflowers.   It took my breadth away.    There was an instant happiness that came across me.

 

The creamery is selling the flowers to benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  We decided to do a spontaneous photo shoot with the kids.  Kate was more cooperative than Nathan.

 And since the kids were good sports about the pictures, we treated them to ice-cream.  And well they both enjoyed it, Nathan a little more than the rest of us!

Fourth of July - Postponed??

Can you really postpone a national holiday?  Well it seemed that way in Montgomery County, Maryland, this year.  Due to the Derecho (similar to a category 1 hurricane) that passed through Maryland the final week of June, all fireworks and Fourth of July festivities were postponed in order to prioritize electricity restoration to thousands of people. 

As irony would have it, we have not been to see fireworks once in the seven years Josh and I have been married.  However, Kate got her first experience with fireworks this spring in Disney, and she has been begging us to go again so Daddy can see them too.   And this was the year we were going to load up and face the heat and masses to make those treasured family memories for Kate.  That was until the fireworks got cancelled.

Luckily for Kate, today was Damascus Day, a few towns north of us.  The festivities began last night with a parade and guess what?? FIREWORKS!!  Since we are the flexible people we are known to be,  we just celebrated the 4th on the 13th instead!  It was a lot of fun...and a much cooler evening that it would have been on the actual 4th had the fireworks happened then.    I think we might just make it a habit of seeing fireworks a week later...in Damascus.

Kate inching her way closer and closer to the curb so she doesn't miss a thing!

Nana Linda and Papa Gallagher making sure we don't loose any kids.

Waiting with open bags hoping for candy to land in front of them!

Nathan had the best seats in the house...on Daddy's shoulders or in Papa's arms!

Nathan LOVED the tractors!