Catoctin Creek Distilling Company

This week, as part of NOVA Roller Derby, I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in a bottling event at Catoctin Creek Distilling Company (CCDC). CCDC is owned by Scott Harris, who also happens to work for Argon ST. Anyway, as part of a sponsorship opportunity, Scott invited me and the girls out to bottle whiskey at the distillery. We had so much fun learning about how whiskey is made and bottled. We even got to sign our own bottles!

Chug-a-Chug-a...

Today, we took a day trip to ride the Walkersville, Maryland, Southern Railroad. It was a quick drive to Walkersville, and we got to ride in a vintage 1920s passenger car. The ride was about an hour long and billed as a "scenic excursion." We saw plenty of corn fields, a couple creeks/streams, and the new Wegmans parking lot! Overall, though, it was a fun day trip, and the kids enjoyed their time on the train.

Beach!

This week, Sydney, Cole, my friend Carolann, and I were lucky enough to be invited to the infamous Chabot beach house for an awesome beach vacation! We spent our days on the beach and our evenings chilling out in front of the TV. It was incredibly relaxing, full of good Pat Chabot cooking, and beer-garitas! Cole even took his naps on the beach so we could enjoy many hours at the beach (one day, we spent more than five hours on the beach - with a 1-year-old! Are you kidding?). We went out for ice cream, Cole chased seagulls on the beach, Sydney swam in the ocean, and - did I mention - we had beer-garitas? Beer-garitas are Mrs. Chabot's new famous drink: half a glass of Mexican beer with a frozen margarita on top. It doesn't sound delicious, but let me tell you - they are spectacular... think Corona with lime, but frozen. We laughed, we vegged out, and we got tan!

No Cavities!

We had another spectacular trip to the dentist. This time, we tried a new dentist that our mommy friends had really raved about. And - now we know why! The most awesome part of the visit was that Sydney got to pick out her very own movie to watch during the cleaning. Then, she got to lay back, relax, and watch the show while the hygienist did her work. Sydney was very impressed and couldn't really be bothered to pay any attention to anything other than the Backyardigans (her movie). Before she knew it, she had cleaned and flossed teeth and was on her way!

Happy Birthday America!

This fourth of July was a blast. I was in Leesburg's Independence Day parade in the morning (as part of NOVA Roller Derby), and then we came back to the house for a barbecue and pool party. For as long as we've lived in Loudoun County, we've never attended the fourth of July parade, let alone participated. I was amazed at the amount of people and all the friends I saw along the parade route. With all the excitement and swimming, Syd was in bed asleep by 5:30 pm. Maybe next year, she'll finally get to watch the fireworks!

Pre-parade group photo

My personal cheering section

Three generations

Mommy and Cole chillin in the shade

Lazy Day at the Pool

Yesterday, we had a wonderfully lazy day at the pool. We had visitors come and go. Sarah Fram stopped by in the morning. Mom rode her new bike to the house around lunch, and Grandma, Big Papa, and Sarah stopped by in the afternoon. Tom and I have said many times that we're so thankful to have the pool. It attracts all our friends and family, and we end up spending more quality time with them over the summer because of it. We're really looking forward to tomorrow's festivities. I'll be walking in the Leesburg parade in the morning, and then everyone is coming over for a big barbecue in the afternoon. Stay tuned for pictures.