Fall Foliage Fun

Today was a sunny, crisp, breezy fall day perfect for outdoor time. We decided to take a hike along the Potomac from Riverbend Park to Great Falls Park and back.

Before we show some of the scenery, Geek Girl the Tour Guide would like to say a few words:

Now for some of the scenery. We saw lots of lovely fall color:

We also saw a cute fuzzy Wooly Bear Caterpillar:

Geek Girl was thrilled when we discovered later that the Wooly Bear Caterpillar becomes the Isabella Tiger Moth (thank you, Wikipedia): "Wow! It starts off as a bear and becomes a tiger! That's so cool!"

Once we arrived at Great Falls, we had lunch and then headed off for Geek Girl to record her promotional video and to show Mama Geek the flood pole. Next, Geek Girl decided she wanted to go down to the river. This involves a pretty steep climb down a rocky chute, but she was definitely a Super Tiger Tigress and scrambled down to the bottom with me. There, she snapped this picture of me

and some friendly folks took this picture of the two of us right at the river

We also had a front-row seat to watch the kayakers at play:

After a little while, it was time to climb back up - Geek Girl did a great job again, except this time she slipped and landed bottom-first in the little stream going down the gully. Despite this little setback, she hiked back all the way to Riverbend Park and got an unexpected treat: some riders were there on horseback and let her pet and feed a carrot to one of their horses. "It was fun, but it was kind of gross when the horse slobbered all over my hand!" is Geek Girl's review.

This was an easy and fun trail for a sunny fall family walk, and is definitely Geek-recommended. It's even suitable for visitors (grandparents, perhaps?) who might want to see some fall color next October.

Rainy Saturday Fun

Saturday was a warm, wet day with lots of rain showers and thunderstorms. It was definitely time for some inside fun.

The day started with an unexpected knock on our front door. Our neighbors had tickets to see Disney on Ice at the GMU Patriot Pavilion in Fairfax, but at the last minute something came up and they couldn't go. They very generously offered the tickets to us, so off The Geeks went on a Saturday morning. Thanks, neighbors!

We should note that Geek Girl didn't want to go originally. We don't have a TV and we don't watch much Disney stuff, so for her it really wasn't much of a big deal. Unlike the hordes of other kids taking their parents to the show: we saw countless Disney princesses of all kinds pulling Mom and Dad along, very excited to see all the Disney princesses on ice. Of course, the marketing machine was also in full swing and there were myriad ways to separate Mom and Dad from their money with random plastic bits (guaranteed to break down microseconds after leaving the show). Again, we're happy Geek Girl doesn't go for that kind of thing.

Of course, 30 seconds into the show, Geek Girl was mesmerized. We all had a good time, and Geek Girl was especially happy to help keep Mickey from eating the poison apple. And to help say the magic words to turn regular Minnie Mouse into Princess Minnie Mouse. And to be fascinated by the skaters. Her hands-down favorite, though, was when Santa Goofy got stuck in the chimney and had to be pulled out by his feet. (Oh, and we and the parents nearby were amused by the Pumpkin King's wardrobe malfunction. Let me just say I wish I had leg muscles like that.)

After the show, we went to Woodlands in Fairfax for some yummy Indian veggie buffet food. Highly recommended.

Next, it was off through the pouring rain to the originally planned destination for the day: Air and Scare at the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center out near Dulles Airport. Wow, was it rainy! (All together now: How rainy was it?) It was so rainy that I dropped off Mama Geek and Geek Girl under the canopy over the main entrance and drove off to park -- and had to stop dead for about five minutes because it was raining so hard I couldn't see. Eventually it slackened, and I ran for the museum, but even in just a few minutes of walking, I got soaked.

Once we got inside, we found that the museum had been turned into a big trick-or-treat and craft festival, with lots of kids (and adults! oh, wow, the adults!) in costume walking around. Geek Girl went in costume as "what you get when you cross a fairy with a pirate: a firate!" (Her costume was fairy wings and a fairy skirt, magic wand, and an eyepatch. No, we can't explain her either.) She had a good time going around collecting candy, driving robots:

and making various crafts. I had a good time wandering around looking at various famous aircraft, including an SR-71 Blackbird

and the Enola Gay. We also were alternately amused and bemused by the plethora of adult Jedi, Sith, Stormtroopers, and Darth Vaders; we also discovered Geek Girl can explain Clone Wars in frightening detail, considering her only exposure to it came during her short visit to our friends in Massachusetts. All in all, it was a fun way to spend a few hours, and we'll probably do it again next year.

Two weekends in one post

Saturday, October 10 was open house at the fire house.

Here's Geek Girl meeting Sparky.


And trying out the cool motorcycle.


We also watched some demonstrations and Geek Girl got to aim the fire hose at the target. Later in the afternoon Geek Girl was getting stir crazy so we headed into D.C. for a couple of hours at the Hirshhorn museum.

The next day was beautiful and it was a great day for an adventure to Larriland Farms in Maryland with Long Lost Cousin and her family. Hay bale maze, boo barn (that was more funny than scary), and hay ride followed by apple picking.

Here's Geek Girl in the maze.

Geek Girl and her second cousins.


Columbus Day we relaxed. Last week was mostly rainy and wet. Then it rained all this past Saturday. By Sunday we were ready to get out, but we didn't want to deal with too much mud. So we went to Potomac Overlook Park for a nice stroll in the woods. The viewpoint no longer has a view (too many trees), but it was still a nice walk and we saw several deer.


After our walk we went to A & J restaurant in Annandale for dumplings and other yummy things to eat. Daddy Geek and I were quite sleepy all afternoon, but Geek Girl was still full of energy, so after dinner we took her out for another walk.

A little too much time on the computer?

Yesterday Geek Girl was drawing pictures and I was helping her spell words when she asked.

This is what she created.
The bird is saying Do not wory. "Visit me." Bat Duck is a super hero duck

Visit Bat Duck at www.animalsuperheros.com an' meet more animal super heros

Note: wory is her misspelling. I might have spelled heros/heroes wrong for her or she decided to turn it plural on her own. I'm not sure why she decided leave out the "d" in the word "and", but she put an apostrophe there to let us know.

I just checked and www.animalsuperheros.com does not exist. Yet. Whew.

(She's been playing a lot of Batgirl and Robin with her friend downstairs.)

Grammar tips from Geek Girl

The following scene just played out in The Geeks' living room:

Geek Girl: My towel is wet.

Parent: Put it where the washer and dryer is.

Geek Girl: You mean "are". You said "is", but you should have said "are".

Parent: Now *she's* correcting me!

To be fair, our washer and dryer are a single stacked unit with the washer on the bottom. But the parent in question regularly endures corrections from the other of us - and now Geek Girl, too.

Fossil Hunting

Last Saturday we went fossil hunting at Calvert Cliffs State Park in Maryland. According to the website, over 600 species of fossils have been identified, with shark teeth being the most often found. The drive was under two hours and after parking we had a nice 1.8 mi hike to the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. New body of water!

Here's Geek Girl leading the way with her trusty shovel.


Okay, where are the shark teeth?


Maybe I'll just get down and dig a little.


Never mind. I'm sitting and making mud pies. That's why mom and dad packed extra clothes for me, right?


We had a nice time listening to the waves and avoiding getting covered with sand by zealous digging daughter.

On the walk back, we came across this cool frog.


From the beach we could see a lighthouse to the south so we went searching for it. We didn't find it (turns out if we had kept going on our last road we would have found it) but we did find a nice big playground to climb and play hide-and-seek.

On our way home we stopped at Good Stuff Eatery for burgers and milkshakes. Pumpkin and a Milky Way/Malt one were both yummy, but I think in the future we should just share one milkshake. The burgers were good and they had interesting flavored mayonnaises such as Old Bay, chipotle, Sri Racha, and mango. Afterwards we took a stroll around the Capitol building and then headed for home.

Okay now I'm caught up. Tomorrow is fire station open house and farm day and Sunday will be dim sum and/or apple picking. And Monday is Columbus Day -- which is a holiday for everyone in the Geek household!

Tidal Basin Paddle Boats

The day after the Property Yard Open House I came down with a cold. I guess it was inevitable. Daddy Geek and Geek Girl decided to rent a paddle boat on the Tidal Basin.

Here's Geek Girl waving to the camera.


Jefferson Memorial in the foreground, US Capitol in the far background.


I guess the tide was IN.


Silly face in front of the Jefferson Memorial.


Daddy Geek. Remember him?

Property Yard Open House

A couple of weekends ago, there was an open house at the property yard. We watched a hoist truck in action and some crews repair pipe leaks. The best part was getting in the equipment.

Here Geek Girl has climbed into the front end loader. You can just see her plastic hard hat.


Here we are ready to be scooped up.


At first Geek Girl didn't want to get into any of the trucks to honk the horns. However, by the end we had to drag her away because she was having too much fun leaning on the horn.

October 2009 version of what Geek Girl wants to be when she grows up

1. Astronaut

2. Book Illustrator

3. Fire Fighter

4. Teacher

5. Car Doctor

6. Tow Truck Driver

7. Fish

8. Paleontologist

And also a mommy.