#88 Stops in Ashburn

We went to visit Dale Jr's #88 race car today at the new Sunoco station opening (gotta love the Sunoco partnership with NASCAR). AJ had a good time running around and checking out the car.

Putt Putt with the Cousins

This past weekend we had lots of fun visiting with Uncle Matt, Aunt Laura, Charlie and Nora who were up from NC. Later in the weekend the Amstutz clan came in from VA, MN, and IN as well and it was a full house. The kids went out on Saturday to play mini-golf and while AJ and Nora did lots of poking and shoving at the ball, the older boys breezed through and almost, but not quite, beat the grown ups. Even the weather was near perfect.

Baby You Can Drive My Car

For Pete's birthday, me and AJ decided to get Daddy the Beatles Rock Band game for Xbox. Really we all wanted it and Pete's birthday was the first excuse after Christmas to make the purchase so I guess I should not have been surprised when it got opened three weeks before Pete's birthday! I'm in the kitchen washing dishes after dinner one night and I hear AJ talking about Rock Band, I turn around to see Pete unpacking the big box full of microphone, guitar and drums.


It has been a lot of fun to play and watch them play together. Even better is being serenaded by AJ - he sings "Michelle", "Drive My Car", "Here comes the Sun", "Yellow Submarine". Too funny!


Here are a couple of pics of the very first family jam session. Note the intent look on his face.

Easter Sunday

Like Christmas, this was the first year AJ really got into the pomp the goes with the Easter holiday and it was a lot of fun to watch. He squealed with glee as each egg was discovered, got excited to bust them open to see what was inside and marveled at all the goodies in his Easter basket. He is especially excited about the big boy golf club he got and can't wait to play with Daddy and Jampa Larry.

I did get some video of his fun reactions to it all - I promise I'll conquer that technology in the next couple of days and share that too :-)

Easter Fun

This year we started the Easter Fun a week before Easter with the Egg Hunt at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg. It was a bit chilly but the sun was out for the first time all week and we enjoyed it. AJ got to give the Easter Bunny high five, listened to egg hunting strategic tips from Daddy and tried out every one of the giant moon bounces in the field.

Sing It Brother!

This morning before everyone jumped in cars to head to work/school AJ wanted to lead a family jam session. With AJ on the drum and vocals, Pete on the guitar (after he insisted he would not be the guy on the keyboard) and Mommy on the keyboard we let it rip.

Making it up as we went, AJ was singing "Chicken hip, chicken hip". I stopped and asked if he was singing "Shake your hips" and he replied, "No, chicken hips". And the jamming resumed. I could hardly "play" the keyboard I was laughing so much.

Pump It Up

AJ went to a birthday party yesterday at a place called Pump It Up in Leesburg. They have two "arenas" filled with inflatable slides, inflatable obstacle courses, inflatable basketball courts and inflatable hills to climb.

The kids were all plenty sweaty and thirsty not even half way through their hour of playing! As easliy as AJ passed out in bed last night, I wouldn't mind going back again soon.