I Need A Vacation!....or at least an adventure...

Two more weeks  till our next adventure.  That's two weeks too long!  Most people think of preparing for and taking vacations as a stressful event and many claim that they need a vacation after their vacation.  For me...if I lay dormant for too long, then I get stressed or grumpy.  I need to be planning a vacation and looking towards one.

But, enough negativity, and let me share what's on the horizon:

If you've been following, you know that the Rahn family has our self-created holidays (Lobster Day), well with the extended break from work that is being provided for us this year, we decided to create another holiday.

Enter "MuchosRahnGracias," the period from when school/work ends on Friday, through to the eve of Thanksgiving. For the past few years, we have had the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off.  That day has been a special treat for us and we can run errands before out of town guests start arriving, and also an annual tradition is to see the latest Disney movie that is usually released on that Wednesday.

But this year, thanks to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, we have the whole week off due to two teacher furlough days.  As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade...so we planned a day of fun for that Saturday and are thinking of other ways to celebrate MuchosRahnGracias on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Saturday, November 20th we are off to the National Harbor near Washington D.C. to the Gaylord Resort (Don really doesn't like the name of the resort :).  We have 10:00 a.m. reservations for Breakfast with the Grinch and then 1:00 p.m. reservations for the ICE adventure at the resort.  I've heard wonderful things about ICE and can't wait to experience it. I'm looking forward to exploring a new place and having lots of holiday fun.  My sister Patty is going to join us for this day.

Stay tuned for what other events might pop up during MuchosRahnGracias!

Now for the highlight and happy surprise that appeared in my inbox last week.....

I love my musicals and am a subscriber to Broadway Across America.  You would have thought that I got an early birthday or Christmas present when I saw the email that Donny and Marie Osmond are going to be on Broadway for 12 shows in December.  I immediately called my mom, another musical/Broadway lover, and basically begged for her to go with me to see them.

The Donny and Marie show on Friday nights during my elementary school years was the highlight of my week in the 70's.  I had the dolls; I had the albums; I had the posters and I would even hold the microphone of my cassette tape player up to the tv and "record" the show if  mom and dad were out (and Patty and I had a babysitter). I would force mom to listen to it the next day and relive it with me.  That was long before the time of VCR players.....

About 2-3 years ago, I came across the DVD release of volume 1 of the original Donny and Marie show, and also a DVD release of their 1978 Christmas special from TV.  Well, Carleigh and Katie watched it once, then twice and then had both DVD's memorized.  Made me so happy! :) 

So...on Saturday, December 11th - the four of us (Mom,Carleigh, Katie and I) are going to New York City for about 36 hours to see Donny and Marie do a Christmas Show on Broadway.  They are billing it as "just like the old fashioned TV specials from years ago..."  I can't wait!!!!!

To top it off - on November 9th - the Disney Store in Times Square opens!  Those of you who know me well, know that anything Disney makes me happy!!  Well....this store is supposed to be the biggest Disney Store in North America! When I found out last year (for our April trip to NYC) that the  old NYC store had closed, I was very sad, so you better believe I've been plotting and planning on how to get back to NYC when I found out about this one.

Two weeks...it will go fast, that I know.....then it's time for MuchosRahnGracias!

Then two weeks after that...off to NYC!

Then less than two weeks after that is the start of Rahnakkah! (If you don't know Rahnakkah, I'm not going to spoil the surprise just yet :)

I don't do well with down time, I need to be busy!  Two weeks.....only two more weeks......

Autumn with the Rahns!

We're still here and we're still having adventures, but it's been a busy month and no time to sit down and share with the world what we have been up to.

So....for those of you that are interested in what crazy things the Rahn family has been up to for the past 3 weeks, let's go.....

1.  Fall Farm Tour
   Every year Western Loudoun County does a Fall Farm Tour where the locals open up their homesteads to the public and share the Wester Loudoun Way of Life.  For us suburban folk, it's a fun way to see what is actually happening right in our back yards.  The four of us spent about 3 hours, two weeks ago, traveling around our part of the county and visiting.  It was hard to believe that the 3 places that we visited were all within about 15 minutes of our house!
   First up: Alpacas.....yes, an alpaca farm a few miles from our house!

    Second: Apple picking at Crooked Run Orchard...
      We had done this before and the girls love it!

    Third, the girls were excited to see Donkeys.  We traveled about a few miles from our house to Donkey Meadows, where they raise Donkeys.  The girls got a chance to visit and ride them.

    The farm tour was a lot of fun!  We could have spent all day, but just picked the top 3 that we were interested in.  A day like this helps us to remember how lucky we are to live here.  It was a beautiful Autumn day!

2. Nerf Gun Fights
    So what do we do when it's raining outside and we are bored?  Nerf Gun fights....but not at each other...but at predetermined targets.....

Notice how the girls are all dressed in their Halloween costumes!  They had no idea what was coming.....:)


3. We Love Our Characters!!
   We were at Target the other night, and you would have thought it was Disney World!  Out of the blue appeared Bullseye, the Target dog and my girls RAN to him.  Yes, my 10 year old 5th grader was just as excited as my 8 year old.  So, of course we had to get the obligatory character pic. (No autographs though)

4. Don's Autumn Nature Walk
   Don has a favorite place that he likes to go and commune with nature.  He made his annual trek and his pictures did not disappoint!

5. Leaf Day!
   Another annual tradition in our house is "the raking of the leaves, and then taking pictures with them."  Yep, we don't just rake the leaves and bag them.  That would be boring.....we have to document the event with photos. (because that is what we do)  So here is the Annual Leaf Day photo shoot:

Up next.....Halloween!
   That will have to be an entry by itself.  Will Don become a Gorilla again?  Will his two sisters attempt to join in our crazy fun?  Will Carleigh really be a Home Depot Yard Bag?  What will Jack dress up as this year? 

Stay tuned.....

So what have you been up to lately?

It's been two weeks since our wedding weekend in New York.  Things are starting to settle down and we are beginning to find our normal, but outside activities continue.  Remember....Seldom A Dull Moment, so even though we aren't traveling and taking day trips, we are still making our own fun!!


First....

Last week we celebrated my mother's 65th birthday.  It was the first family dinner since they have moved into the new house in Ashburn.  They were worried that we wouldn't fit or that it wouldn't be the same.  Well.....did we prove them wrong!!  The normal West/Rahn/Bernardo birthday bash hilarity continued just in a new location!!

Our family bday parties always have to have favors because when you put Don and my brother-in-law Ev in the same room with "toys," they think like little boys and find ways to cause trouble with what they are given.  Carleigh and Katie always look forward to these parties, and it is always our job to stop at Party City and load up!!

This year.....Darth Vader, poppers, kazoos, letter candles, parachute men and little green alien men!  You guessed it, there is never a "central theme," but a compilation of apparatus that can make fun!

Taking the candles from the cake and seeing how many "different" words you can spell!

 Girls had animal headbands and all had little popper shooting toys - Patty, Ev and Mom are aiming for me!

 Ev had gone up to the loft (on his own)  and then later on we noticed an unhappy guest at the party! :(  Absolutely hilarious!!

 Darth Vader and his vaderettes dropping the parachute guys from the upper level! - Notice the flying parachutes in the picture below!

 Then came the Kazoo chorus - they are "singing" the Star Wars Theme song!  Click the link below for a sampling of their musical abilities.....

Katie and Ev practicing some more.....

 Then the Kazoo chorus sang Happy Birthday to mom as we all joined in!!

 Mom had a great birthday, and we had a fun family dinner in Ashburn!!  

Next....

After a long week of school, we were all looking forward to the weekend. 

Don and Carleigh headed two hours away with her Girl Scout troop for a day long adventure that included rock climbing and river rafting.  They had a great time. Here are some pics highlighting Carleigh's rock climbing yesterday. 

 Some of the girls before...

They then went river rafting and Car actually went swimming in the river with the other girls.  Just a bit chilly!!  She and Don got home around 10:00 p.m. after a great day!!!!!

And Also...

Katie and I stayed back, but had our own fun!  Katie was invited to a birthday party at Great Country Farms.  This location is in Bluemont, not far from our house and is a GREAT family friendly working farm with lots of fun activities for all ages.

The party included....

 Gem Mining

 Fun with the birthday girl...

 A crazy game of Laser Tag

 "Pumpkin Bounce" time...

 Sliding through tube slides...

 Rope swings....

and even a pumpking chomping dinosaur!!

It was a great time, and kept Katie from wishing she was with Carleigh and Daddy.

Now...

So....today we got out our Halloween decorations and we are adequately decorated for Autumn and Halloween!  Soon it will be time for the "PLEASE SNOW, I'M A TEACHER" sign!

Vacation planning is still going strong for next summer.  Last week I spoke with a nice man at United, and was able to get our plane tickets for our Alaska cruise at the discounted rate I had hoped for.  I saved over $2,000 on our 4 tickets!!! Yay for advance planning and research.  I also found a way to get our hotel room near the Everglades for June at a very discounted rate!!

So.....Rahn adventures continue.....no major road trips, but LOTS of fun!!!!!  What's coming next, you may ask?  Who knows! In our house the fun just sort of happens!!  Time will tell, and when it does we will share it with you here.  So, until next time.......

Stay tuned.....