Belvedere Plantation

Tucked away in Southern VA is an awesome place to visit in the fall called Belvedere Plantation. It's a huge farm filled with fun things for kids to do. Ziplines, slides, trails to drive tractors on, a huge corn maze, hay rides and of course, a great pumpkin patch! David,the kids and I were joined by Kerry , Jacyci and Connor for several hours of entertainment. They got their faces painted, tried to climb the "moving" ladder, swung on the rope swings inside the barn, drove the pedal tractors and took turns leading us through the maze. Here are some pics of our day!

Preparing for the fun

McKenna trying to climb the ladder

Exiting the great pumpkin slide

On the hayride to get our pumpkins

McKenna waiting to get her face painted

I'm baaack...and convention is over!

Woo hoo :-) Can you hear the excitement in my "voice"? For the past 8 days I've been attending and working my annual convention and expo....and putting in some ridiculous long days! I am so not a morning person, but during this past week I had to be up and functioning at 5:15 a.m. - it about killed me :-) he he

The view from my Marriott suite

On the bright side, we were in sunny San Diego where the weather was amazing. Blue skies, sunny and 75-80 degrees daily. It's just beautiful there. I wish I had found more time to be outside and enjoy the city, but duty called all week.

The gorgeous pools I never got to use!

I took an extra day for myself with Karen & Toby, but we were so tired we could barely move! We managed to find a sports bar for the Redskins game on Sunday and then a short trip to Coronado where we got to dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean - good grief it was freeezing!

Coronado beach

Overall it was a great week, but I'm so happy to be home. There's nothing sweeter than hearing your kids squeal "mommmmy" with delight followed by super squeezy hugs!

Reviewing the rules of the game

And no, I don't mean football games - don't even get me started after the Redskins game yesterday. These rules are related to playing board games with elementary aged children! Let me explain...

Last year during my week at convention, David emailed me the rules of the game that he learned while playing Monopoly Jr., Sorry and Candyland with the kids while I was gone. With my departure for this year's convention just a few days away, I thought I'd take a look back in time at what he learned last year and wonder what he might learn from our little angels this year...I mean they are a year older now :-)

So the rules of board games according to Alyssa & McKenna (age 6 at the time) and Brennan (age 4 at the time):

1. You are not allowed to win. No matter what the circumstances are.

2. Your children are allowed to cheat and in fact it is encouraged amongst them.

3. You are not allowed to cheat. Exception to this is you are allowed to cheat if it benefits one of them.

4. In Monopoly you are not allowed to be the banker. You are the bank everyday its their turn.

5. In the game Sorry it's really what they think of you.

6. Any rule can be changed on the fly at their discretion. Altering rules is completely legal as long as it's not you changing them. That is prohibited.

7. Did I mention you are not allowed to win?

8. You are not allowed to quit. They can quit whenever they want.

9. You are not allowed to go first.

10. In Monopoly Jr. the horse game piece is off limits. Don't even ask! (anyone who knows our kids gets this rule right away!)

I laughed so hard when he sent this to me last year - it was the comic relief I needed during an incredibly crazy week. I hope this year while I'm gone he has just as much fun (haha)...I'm so thankful I have him....I don't worry at all when I'm gone. Of course I know they probably won't be dressed the way I want them to, but I"ve learned to just accept that they're dressed and he's doing it all by himself so that's good enough for me!

So the next time you sit down to play board games with your kids remember the rules above...and have fun :-)

"IN THEIR HOUSE"

It's another week of celebrating for REDSKIN fans :-) WOO HOO!!!! We went to "their house" as the Philadelphia Eagles like to call it and WE WON!!

Final score:

Redskins 23
Eagles 17

No one gives us credit and they can keep on dissin' us....we will just have to keep proving all the critics wrong.

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS