St Martin Parade

This year we again joined the St/ Martin Parade at the German school. The weekend before we had met with some other parents to build the lanterns so this time Mia had a real nice one that looked liked a snowman.

 Luca joined as well and also had a self made lantern

 Mia and Larissah rushed to have good seats for the play of St Martin on his horse and the beggar

Trick or Treat with the neighbors

On Halloween night we met up with some other children from the building for "Trick or Treating" in the neighborhood.

 Most parents dressed up as well and there was some hot spiced wine for them as a treat:

Mia really enjoyed the evening and her "Supergirl" costume

Halloween Parade at School

For Halloween all the parents were invited to watch a little parade outside school. Mia walked at the front of the group from her class

 After the parade there was a little party with snacks and games in the classroom

“Air & Scare” Family Day

Friends suggested to go to the "Air and Scare" Halloween family event at the Air and Space museum by the Dulles Airport. For Mia it was the first opportunity to try on the new Halloween costume she had picked: Super Girl

Luckily it was not only scarey. There were also some "Treats" stations where nice elderly ladies handed out candy, temporary tattoos and a desk where Mia could color a rocket and then launch it with some compressed air

Mia could also pose with some characters from Star Wars

 Later her friend Kross showed up as Batman

 T
hen they posed together and Mia said "Thank you" to a star trooper

 Then Mia checked out some robots with another Super Girls next to her

After this it was time for a puppet show and then it was time to head back home

Bike Tour to Georgetown

On a cool today we tried the first longer bike tour: Down to Rosslyn and then across the Key bridge to Georgetown. Parts of the trail was pretty busy and the side walk across Key bridge crowded with pedestrians and other bikers but Mia did very well

After a nice ice cream we headed to the metro station at Foggy Bottom to take the Metro back home but had to wait for the presidential motorcade which brought some extra excitement.

Another Tour of the Virgina Countryside

Mandy invited us to another great group outing to the Virginia country side. The first stop was a cattle farm at the foot of the mountains:

 After a hayride the owner of the farm invited everyone to his home for some great burgers. Mia had the hot dogs and made friends with one of the dogs

The next stop was a farm with pigs, chicken, ponies and horses - and some dogs that were running around and had fun with all the kids visiting

 The children were allowed to brush a pony

 The parents were just watching

Mia could even lead the pony back to his stable

Then the children heard a lot about horses and saw a little demonstration of trotting and galopping

 Then they were allowed to ride. Mia was the first one to go 

 T
he children that were finished collected acorns for the pigs and played with the farm dogs and cats

Then it was time to feed the pigs with all the acorns

On the way back we stopped for coffee and cake in a small village with Kristina and her children and Mia had fun with Luca and Lousia

Brookelyn's Birthday Party

Together with some other friends from German school we got invited at Brookelyn's 5'th birthday party in Warrenton. We had some trouble finding it but just made it in time for the two surprise guests: Anna and Elsa from "Frozen":

After singing all the songs from the movie it was time for face painting and nail painting.
Elsa did the face painting

Anna painted her nails blue:

After this it was time for the cake

Before they left all the girls got together for some group pictures