Horses, Caps, and Bike Rides

Last weekend Aunt Sue was kind enough to invite us to her law firm's tent at the Virginia Gold Cup, an annual steeplechase in the beautiful Virginia horse country.  It features exciting horse races, ladies in fancy dress and elaborate hats, and lots of men in seersucker suits.  We stayed for about four hours and saw about 5 races.  Katie and Peter enjoyed watching the horses run by.   It's a steeplechase with jumps, water hazards, and hills which makes it fun to watch.

The next day Katie and I went to the Caps practice in Arlington.  I think we both had a lot of fun -- Katie enjoyed eating a hot dog and I liked watching the practice.  Afterwards we saw Alex Ovechkin leave and get in his fancy Mercedes sports car (license plate AO GR8).  On the way out we passed by a truck being loaded with the Capitals players' equipment, on its way to NYC to play the Rangers in Game 5 (which they lost with 6 seconds remaining!).

When we got home, Katie rode her bike to a nearby church that has a big parking lot.  She rode around the parking lot and quickly became very good at riding her bike.  She can go pretty fast and even make u-turns.  It was a bit of an unexpected milestone moment for me when I realized she was probably riding faster than I could run to catch her.  It was a little unnerving knowing that if she got into trouble, I may not be able to get her in time to help her.  But she did fine and I guess we have to get used to trusting her a little more.

Photos are below and here.  Videos will be coming soon too.


Katie watches the horses run by.


Katie and Peter watch the horses...


...until Peter decides to watch people instead.


Here come the horses!




Katie makes a friend.


Peter enjoys a grape in wine country.


Katie watches another race.



Peter gives Katie a look.




Peter enjoyed playing in the drink coolers.






We got a sombrero/pinata at the horse race (it was on Cinqo de Mayo) and Katie tied it to the broom handle so we could try to smash it.


Katie takes a whack at the pinata with her hockey stick.


Katie poses in front of Alex Ovechkin's car.


Katie at the Caps' practice.


Ovechkin signs autographs on the way to his car (unfortunately, we didn't get one).


Bye Ovechkin!


Katie rides her bike at the church parking lot.

After riding the bike around for a bit, we stopped to play hopscotch on Katie's uniquely drawn grid.

It must be some pretty intense hopscotch to require a helmet.

Another game of "Hop on Mom".

Couches are good for cuddling.

Peter with his friend Jillian at Los Tios.  She's the younger sister of Katie's friend Tookie (who is standing behind them).

Tookie's older sister also liked playing with Peter and Katie.