Jesus Loves Me.. and DC

Yowza! We had loads of fun in DC with the family. It was our first trip and a last minute short and sweet. We got there at about dusk because we spent too much time at the Indonesian Resaurant but we plan on going back when we have some time. It's a quick drive to DC!

Because of the low light situation we have limited photos.. Thankfully we brought a Video Camera. Be sure to check out the NEW Von Jacobs Family Music Video - Jesus Loves Me and DC!

Beautiful Fall!

With many trees comes many leaves.. Being from Southern California we never had actually experienced a real fall. We saw in a short timespan the trees going from green to brown to orange and red. It's really awesome! Here's a few shots of our front and backyard.

The squirrels are gathering their nuts - right in our front yard.

I get it.. That's why they call it FALL

time to rake boys!

boy oh boy do they love piles of leaves

even Grandpa Don can't resist jumping in.

Costume Party in the Neighborhood!

We were invited by neighbors to their annual Halloween Social Potluck. We had an opportunity to meet the neighbors and share some food. The kids had a blast and made even more friends. All of the kids kinda had a costume except for Sari.. Marie invented a new superhero just for Sari.. Super Bat Girl.. yeah for mom!

Bat Boy and Super Bat Girl!

Kids make friends fast!

Party Games!

Our kids ended up with alot of candy just going up the street once. In the picture above they received apples and granola bars! They were happy to get them. Steven and Sari love apples ;)

Elijah Quote:

'She is good mom, she gave us healthy stuff.'

Silly faces!

After finding our way home and cheating death from the scary roadside Mexican joint, it was time to gut and carve the pumpkins!

The kids designed their own but daddio did the carving of the 6 pumkins! Yeah karpaltunnel!

Wild Goose Chase, Pumpkin Patch and Scary Mexican Food!

When you move to a new state where you have no idea where anything is, I'd advise getting familiar with the 'Seasonal Attractions' within that area BEFORE you promise your kids a trip to the local pumpkin patch.. We found out that the words 'pumpkin patch' do not prove any results within a GPS search... the adventure begins...

Getting the troups ready

It's no Secret I'm Daddy's little Girl

we've adopted a neighbor kid and took him with us

After some driving aimlessly around Northern Viginia we stopped at a place that looked like a pumpkin patch but turned out to be only an over decorated nursery.. NO PUMPKINS! just flowers, trees and various colors of bark as well as 3 different types of compost.. It was our 1st attempt but we made the best of it with photo-ops and rock star poses.

After asking anybody who looked local where the flip the pumpkin patch was, we hit the road for another 40 minutes of.. 'are we there yet'..

Lo and behold we found the mother of all pumpkin patches called the Belvedere Plantation! This place is beautiful, kid friendly, fall festive, and they had pumpkins for sale. They actually had hay rides, musical groups and what-not but the price tag was too much for 'ol daddy cheapskat'e.. so we (I) opted for just getting some pumpkins in the FREE area.

 

 The cutest catipillar made from round hay stacks.

 

The pumpkins were the perfect size

After our Pumkin Patch fun we saw an old 80's van with a roach coach trailer hooked up to it strategically parked on the side of the road. The hand-made cardboard sign simply read - 'Mexican Food'. Uh huh!.. you better believe we stopped!.. Kids looked a little nervous but I assured them it had to be good!.. well... the kids were right.

Fancy road side cuisine.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Well, It was against my will that we continue to celebrate my birthday (it's so depressing when there seems to be more hair in the ears than on my head) but the kids will find any excuse to eat cake and ice cream!

Steven's birthday card he made

Joe's Last Minute Birthday Bash in VA.

Driving and moving cross country was hard enough but organizing a birthday on the fly can only be done by my awesome wife Marie. She whipped together a fun intimate birthday for joey complete with family & new neighborhood friends. Everybody had fun for a last minute birthday bash!

Happy 7th Birthday Joe!

Steven took this picture of us

Grandma & Grandpa Potter just drove in a few minutes before we started