Griffin Basketball

As soon as volleyball ended, Griffin started basketball try outs & we found out right before Halloween that Sadie made the team! She played a few times when she was younger, but she hadn't played officially in a few years. They do play a lot at school & with friends, so she did have some experience. Here she is when they found out she made the team with her other friend Sadie:

These 2 started kinder together & what are the odds that they are both named Sadie, both have blonde hair & are about the same size?! And they both made the team together. 

I got asked to help be a team mom again, so we snuck up early to decorate the locker room:

One of the moms ordered magnets for their lockers with their names on it:

Of course, we organized a snack schedule too to be delivered every week & these moms do not disappoint on the snack bags:

The first week of November, we had their first game. It was an away game, but I tried to snap a picture when I got there before she played. They got these cute warm up shirts:

Thankfully we have the same mom who takes pictures from cross country for basketball, so she sent a few pictures from the game:

They won by almost 30 points & it was so exciting to watch!

The next week they finally had their first home game & she scored her very first basket! Actually, she made 2 baskets, so 4 points. Sadie knows how to shoot but just like soccer, she is a defensive player all the way:

You know what else is fun about basketball? The cheerleaders! They didn't cheer at the volleyball games, but they are at our basketball games so it's even more fun seeing her friends there:

They won their 2nd game by almost 30 points also. I have a feeling it's going to be a fun season with this team. Let's Go Lady Gators!

Washington DC - Day 3

When we planned this trip, we basically booked the flights & the hotel, and I never got around to doing anything else. I just kind of hoped it wouldn't be crowded & we would figure it out while we were there and thank goodness it all worked! So, Monday morning we wanted to visit the capital, but we never booked a tour or reached out to our local congressmen. We decided to take a chance & go visit them in person instead:

Bryan has been inside the Capital several times back when he was on the school board & was in DC legislating for Frisco so he was more familiar with it than I was & knew right where to go. We started at Michael Burgess's office & we lucked out - he had 2 interns who were so friendly & welcoming. They gave us a private tour underneath the Capital in the tunnel & then they were able to schedule us a guided group tour in the Rotunda:

The details in the architecture & the history is absolutely beautiful! We also got to see some of the old courts where they used to meet on both the house & the senate side:

Of course the girls recognized Sam Houston because we drive by his statue every single time we drive to Conroe! I'm not sure the girls enjoyed this tour as much as we did but they were troopers:

After our guided tour, Burgess's office arranged for us to go see the current House chambers:

Unfortunately, that is the only picture I got because you have to surrender all of your stuff before you are allowed to go visit. No pictures are allowed but it was so cool to see it in real life since that is what we see on tv all the time. When we finally finished touring inside, we walked around outside to take pictures as well:

Of course the girls had to take a video in front of the Capital:

and lots of gorgeous pictures with the fall leaves:

It took me a moment to figure out what the construction was on the other side until I realized they are building the stage & the stands for inauguration:

While we were over here, we walked to the Supreme Court & we were surprised we got to go inside! They had been in court all morning & it had just ended around lunchtime:

The only thing we couldn't do while we were here was go to the top of the Washington Monument. I kept trying to get last minute tickets & was not lucky enough, so I decided to take them to the Old Post Office Tower instead so we could have an aerial view of the city:

I honestly don't think I have ever been here, but it was totally worth it! This building was condemned & was supposed to be imploded but thankfully the Waldorf Astoria bought it & converted it into a hotel, so the hotel is in the front & the entrance to the museum & clock tower is in the back:

The museum elevator is glass & has the best view of the hotel as you are going to the top. In fact, the girls loved the hotel & decided they want to stay there next time! 

Our last stop of the trip was undoubtedly their favorite:

So far, everything we had done in DC was free, except for the Spy Museum. It did cost to get again, but I had heard it was awesome. Of course, it was right outside of our hotel, and we had a view of it from our room, so the girls had been talking about it nonstop, but we told them we had to do everything else first so when we finally made it here, they were elated:

We were each assigned spy identities with spy names, cover stories & we had to go on a mission:

The 3 of them had fun hanging on this bar to see if they could hang on the outside of a building during their mission:

There was a line of people & Sophie was leading the pack with 35 seconds where Sadie only got to around 15 seconds. The goal was 1 minute but most people didn't even last 10 seconds:

until this guy showed up - he made it to 50 seconds!

The spy museum was AWESOME! Totally worth the money & the best way to end the trip:

After our last museum of the day, we decided to skip the wharf because I wanted to go to Insomnia Cookies. We have one in Austin & I knew they had gf cookies so I was craving an ice cream cookie sandwich:

After we stuffed ourselves, we were full so we thought we would make the 1 1/2 mile walk home & this might have been my favorite night of the trip:

It was chilly but not too cold and it was clear, so it was a great way to see the monuments & memorials at night:

We even had America's playground to ourselves, so the girls had fun running around, playing & tumbling on the lawn:

It was literally the perfect way to end our trip! Like I said, I had always wanted to come to DC, but I really wanted the girls to be old enough to enjoy it & appreciate it. They were the perfect age; it was not crowded at all & honestly the fall foliage was just the icing on top. What a fun weekend get away!