DC and Charlottesville for Halloween

Work required me to go to DC (the mothership) for a few days and my family couldn't stand the thought of being without me, so they came along. Okay, it was actually that they were looking for an excuse to go visit Virginia again. We weren't great about taking photos, but we got a few that you can see here. 

 While I was at work everybody else took a bus tour one day that took them all around the National Mall. They got to see the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Capitol Building, and other stuff like that.

This is in front of the White House. I think that 30 inch tall fence was the Secret Service's idea about how to fix the problem with fence jumpers. 

 In the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. It was so beautiful I almost cried that I became a lawyer instead of a pilot.

 Okay, here is the real reason we went to Charlottesville. Ace Biscuit and Barbeque. So delicious.

 This picture is sitting on the steps of Monticello. We visited both Mount Vernon and Monticello on our trip, but our camera was dead when we got to Mount Vernon! Oops. This is when people with smart phones can chime in and say how if we had smart phones this wouldn't have been a problem. Personally, I prefer never to take pictures because I'd rather enjoy just being where I am, but I know our adoring fans just gotta have some photos.

 In the kitchen below the house at Monticello. 

 Since Clark was feeling fussy this morning, I stayed outside with Clark while the ladies went in for a tour. Clark played on this tree stump happily for about 10 minutes before playing on another, larger tree stump for about 10 more minutes. He then said of a third tree stump "I love this tree stump!" Who needs dead presidents' houses when you have got their tree stumps? He also had fun touring the garden with me.

 There was a kid's area at the Monticello visitor's center where Sabrina got to put on a gown thing and see what being a little slave girl would be like. I think she had way more fun than most slave children, so I'm not sure what the point of this area was.

 Out trick or treating in Crozet. Clark is a furry little monster and Sabrina is "Just a ballerina princess fairy."

 We stayed with our friends from Charlottesville, the Marshalls, for a few days. We were so glad to see them again and so grateful for their hospitality.

 Most of the Marshall children and our children. They played very well together. Not sure who the photo bomber in the window is.

 Taking a hay ride through the hills on a crisp autumn day. The colors of the trees were so beautiful. Not so striking as the Northeast in the fall, but still very beautiful.

 After we got home, we found out that a nearby church where we buy pumpkins had finished selling its pumpkins, and said anybody could come take as many as they wanted. So we went and got a whole trunk load. Why? Because I love free stuff?