Mike visits Mt. Rushmore

Mike recently traveled to Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, for a conference. He worked hard for a couple of days. On his last evening, he got to visit Mount Rushmore. He got some great pictures!

He said, on the whole, it was smaller than he expected. He was also surprised by all the tourist attractions just outside the national park.

Overall, he was thrilled to have a chance to visit!

Love,

4Vs

Backyard Visitors

We have a couple of deer that visit the area behind our house each evening. We are completely charmed!

Daisy is not as charmed. She thinks they might be dangerous and proceeds to howl each time she sees them... Fun for everyone!

Love,

4Vs

On the Pitch with Georgetown!

Northern Virginia has brought many things into our lives- a better appreciation of American History, the chance to visit lots of historical sites, improved our abilities to drive with some seriously aggressive drivers, youth swimming, travel basketball and RUGBY! While Gracie is still our only rugby player, as a family, we are hooked!

Mike and Brock went with our neighbors to watch a rugby game at Georgetown University in downtown DC. They had a great time!

The scrum!

I don't even know what this is called, but it looks like fun!

We are still learning the rules and plays in the game, but we had a good time.

Love,

4Vs

Views from the Old Post Office

We made a family visit to the Old Post Office Pavilion on Pennsylvania Avenue a couple of weekends ago. They have a bell tower that they allow people to visit and it has some great open air views of the city.

A view of the Washington Monument across a sea of federal buildings...

The bells are called the Congress Bells. They are a gift from Great Britain and are replicas of the bells in London's Westminster Abbey. They only ring them at the opening and closing of Congress annually and on special occasions and national holidays. They practice once a week, so we will have to plan a trip to hear them play!

Love,

4Vs

First Day of School!!

The first week of school is here! Brock is very excited about starting Irving Middle School. He has been to orientation, got a locker, got a schedule, got a PE uniform and even went to a "trial" day where he rode the bus, visited each class for 10 minutes and rode the bus home. He is READY!

There are about seven boys in the neighborhood who walk out together to catch the bus- so he is in good company! Good luck Brock!

Gracie is striking her 4th grade pose on the porch. She is glad to move upstairs to the big kid area of the elementary school- 4th/5th and 6th are all upstairs at Rolling Valley Elementary. She has Ms. Davis for 4th grade and likes her a lot. She has been practicing multiplication and division flashcards like crazy and is is ready to go! Good luck Gracie!

Of course, no school year is complete with a Brock and Gracie together picture. Unfortunately, Brock starts school about an hour before Grace. Now we have two breakfast and get ready shifts at the Vaughn house- Brock leaves at 7:25 and Grace leaves around 8:40. To get the first day of school sibling picture, Brock snuck into sleeping Gracie's room and we snapped a picture while she snoozed! (No one wants to wake a sleeping Gracie!)

Happy New School Year!

Love,

4Vs

Elton John Glasses

MCT version of The Jungle Book

Brock was in the Missoula Children's Theatre production of The Jungle Book on post at Fort Belvoir. In the center is Shere Khan the tiger. Brock plays the "head" of Kaa the rock-python.

Here is Akela one of the lead wolfs and his adoring wolf pack

Kaa

Here is Brock at the after party post paparzzi picture shoot. He strikes a pose of the pensive rock-python named Kaa. He played the head of the snake with 8 other bodies linked togather. He did very well in his role. Most notable line was "Hey Hey heres the Monkeys!" in reference to the 1960s band and TV show.

Brock was the only one to get to wear a little snake hoodie but the other kiddies got to wear cool skull caps.

Rolling Forest Tidal Waves 2010

Grace E Vaughn: Super Mermaid / Rolling Forest Swim Team Summer 2010.
Isn't she just georgeous?

Where is she? If you need a hint look for the kid with bright orange hair and she is up one row and to the right.

Capitol Steps concert

Just some random shots at the Capitol during a concert by the Army band...

Brock & Boxers

Pre Teen boy with braces did not want his photo taken near the capitol steps with the boxers

George's Momma Pig

This is G W's momma pig on his homestead at Mount Vernon.

Daisy's trip to Mt Vernon

Daisy went on a tour of Mount Vernon to see where GW kept his crops and llivestock. The building behind her is where he kept all of his horses and buggys.

This is hamlet and he is an actor piglit back in the day of colonnial times. He is also known as Bacon or Ham sandwhich.

Lots of other visitors were charmed by Daisy and thought she was a working dog (special needs). She barked at the friendly man dressed in colonial garb that tried to be nice to her and did not like the group of Japanese people.

More Kennedy Center

This shot shows the hallway of international flags. They looked great! Next we visited the Terrace Level. There are a couple of restaurants, a smaller stage area and a wonderful patio that goes around the entire top. It was a great night to visit before the play and see the sights of the monuments, the Potomac, Georgetown, Roosevelt Island and Arlington National Cemetary.

It was so nice that we went back up after the play to see everything at night- sorry no night pictures, but trust us-it was lovely!

This is a quick shot of the chandeliers at the top of the Opera House. Since photography is not allowed here, we had to move quickly. The lights were in clusters that looked like bunches of flowers or stars. Very pretty!

Love,

4Vs

Mary Poppins at the Kennedy Center

Aunt Elizabeth, MB and Grace went to the Kennedy Center last Friday night to see Mary Poppins in the Opera House. This was the first time any of us had the chance to visit the Kennedy Center- We got there early to look around and take in the sights!

Here is the bust of JFK. He is located just across the hall from the entrance to the Opera House.

Here you can see the JFK bust on the right as we look down on of the main hallways.

Mary Poppins was a great musical and we had a great time!

Love,

4Vs

Monuments at night

GW Monument in the evening

Brock & Einstein pose at night

GW Monument at night