Cox Farm

We went to a local fall festival at Cox Farm this past weekend. It was so cute!! We went on a really cute hayride, through a corn maze, on slides, pet some animals, and picked out some pumpkins.

Jack loved to pet all the animals and was giggling the whole time.

They had the cutest slides and Jack had a blast riding with his mom and dad

I wanted to go down the castle slide :)

Jack was intrigued by the pumpkins. You can also see the cute pirate sweater my mom sent him

Picking out his pumpkin with Dad :)

Jason's Visit

Dave's brother Jason had an Air Force mission that brought him out to DC for the week. We haven't seen him since he moved from San Antonio in 2007. His unit was nice enough to let him come stay with us Tuesday night until Thursday night! We of course met up with Dave's brother Jay and family (who live here) everyday.

We got to do a lot of catching up and hearing about the world travels his unit has taken him on. I took Jason over to see the World War II memorial because it is the new DC site he hadn't seen. He also got to meet Jack for the first time. Jason won him over. He played with Jack a lot and gave him many treats. Jack was a huge fan. We had so much fun!

I know they are dark BUT I love the view at the Belvoir Officer's Club overlooking the Potomac. It was a beautiful day and we got to eat outside. I had to show the picture :)
The guys with all the DC Boland kids

Jason told us about this "ethnic-y" moroccan restaurant in downtown DC. It was a 3 hour - 7 course - complete with belly dancer event. An unsual and yummy dinning experience!

Look how they poor the tea :)

and who can resist a sleeping baby Naomi?

Now that Jack is 1

Since turning 1 (11 days ago), Jack has started doing some fun new things. He says "uh oh" and ball "bahh." He will ask for his "bahh" and if I kick/pass it to him and miss he goes "uh oh" and goes off to get it. I LOVE IT. He has been holding his hand out for things the last few months, but now he points.
We went over to Portrait Innovations last weekend to do Jack's 1 year pictures. I just love how these pictures came out!! I was going to take him to get a hair cut but Dave talked me out of it. He wanted Jack's curls in the pictures and he was right!!!

So fun to be 1

The rocking elephant was Jack's birthday present from Dave and me. He was even willing to wear his hat for the picture!

His two little teeth

This is the same picture that is on the side of the blog four months later ... He is older :)

I love those big blue eyes

Long Weekend

This weekend was one of those federal holidays where Dave got an extra day off of work :). We were lucky enough to have our friend Brad in town to visit. I wanted to show brad some of the amazing bike rides DC has to offer. We went to the Mount Vernon trail which starts at Mt Vernon and rides along the Potomac. We also went to Burke Lake which is my favorite place to run. Of course we went to do some sight seeing in the district and also ended up finding a couple of fantastic restaurants.

These are pictures I took at Burke Lake the other day. Above is part of the 4.5 mile trail and below is the lake it goes around. It's gorgeous!

We went to Ford's theater and saw where Lincoln was shot. We had a great tour guide who gave us a detailed account of what happened. It was really interesting.

We went to the Air and Space Museum over by Dulles Airport and saw the SR 71 (pictured), Enola Gay, Concorde, and Space Shuttle. Amazing!

A Boland Report Special ReporT

Hello, this is Dave breaking in for a Boland Report Special Report. (for those of you who don't know or had forgotten, then "t" at the end of "Boland Report" is silent in omage to "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central. Please note that the "t" at the end of "Special Report" should be accentuated - if for no other reason than to draw attention to the fact that the preceding "t" was oddly silent.) Fear not, correct pronunciation is not the reason for this posting. No, it is to share with you all something that would otherwise have gone unpublished. My amazing wife lovingly crafted a poem to celebrate the one year anniversary of our son's birth. Being naturally unassuming, she would never draw attention to it herself. That's where I come in. I hope you all enjoy it as much and Jack and I did.


"Jack's 1st Birthday Poem"

Nine months of waiting
it came and went
Dreaming of our little boy
is how our time was spent

Our blue eyed boy arrived
and we named him Jack
He was just perfect
and that's a fact

Ten little fingers
and ten little toes
Oh, Mom bought him
so many clothes

How Daddy's tickles
brought lots of giggles
Texas to DC
he grew so quickly

Our time with Jack
has been very dear
Mom wrote him this poem
when he turned one year

Happy Birthday Jack!

This is the first Boland family picture with Jack as a 1 year old! We had a little party for Jack yesterday at 6:06pm because that is the time he was born :). It went very well. We grilled and had cup cakes. I decorated the house with plenty of balloons and a 1st birthday banner. Poor Jack got sick last Thursday and was still recovering. He didn't have much energy, but he had several moments of joy. He received many wonderful gifts both brought to the party and sent from out of town.

Chocolate cup cakes in the shape of a 1

He was so upset while we sang him happy birthday....

..... but a cup cake sure made things better

The Boland Families, The Reilly Family, The Doyle Family, and the soon to be Dougherty Family

Army 10 Miler

I signed up for the Army 10 Miler over 5 months ago, and today was the big day. It went really really well!! Our friend Jamie came in from Ft Benning to stay with us and run the race. Jamie and I ran together the entire way. We were slow but very steady, running strong and not walking at all :). It started and finished at the Pentagon (picture above). The course was gorgeous going all around the monuments and Capitol. The weather was perfect, and there were some army bands playing good music. With the complete lack of running shape I was in when I signed up, I would never have dreamed it could have gone this well. Dave was happy with his finish too. A few of Dave's other classmates ran the race too. It was great to get to see people.
We haven't seen Jamie in almost 6 months. She came in and we went to the Officiers club, some fun DC restaurants, Oktoberfest, watched some TV, went to the race expo on Saturday and ran the race today (obviously). We had a wonderful time :).