Lily's last school field trip for the year

Lily and her school mates got to go on their last field trip of the school year (to a park in Germantown). They had a great time, but Chris came back a little stressed after being a chaperone.  Bless his heart for trying.

Beach time with friends (yes again)

We are so lucky to have friends to join us for another fun weekend at the beach.  Because our friends are from Spain we also benefit from getting some fantastic authentic Spanish food as well.  This weekend we had a typical fisherman's meal complete with little noodles, clams, calamari and a fantastic aoili sauce.  Wow.  Then for dessert we had some lemon alcohol concoction that was amazing.  For lunch we enjoyed homemade croquettas and a spanish omlette.  Let me just say now that I was not excited about the omlette until I tasted it.  Wow was it ever amazing.

While the food was wonderful, the company was equally amazing.  We had playing at the State Park by the beach.  And of course we hit the pool both Saturday & Sunday.  Oh, and finally.... I got to watch a movie.  Of course we had to split it between two nights, but what the heck... I still got to finish it.

Here are some great pictures of our wonderful weekend:

Lily loves to pick flowers

She also loves her friend Lluc a ton

This is Lluc, his 8 month old sister Marina & Lily (funny that Lily never asks for a brother or sister... I think she must like being an only child)

This was our wonderful fisherman's meal with clams & squid and tiny little spaghetti noodles.  It was to die for.  This is the second weekend in a row that we used homemade fish stock.  Yes, we made our own with fish heads and such.  It stunk the house up but made some amazing Spanish dishes.  I can also now say I am the proud owner of my own paella pan.

Another fun weekend at the beach

We were lucky enough this last weekend to have our friends come to the beach with us for the Mother's Day weekend.  Lluc (Lily's BFF), his baby sister Marina, mom Delores and grandpa Peter all came along.  We also enjoyed the annual opening of "Funland".  The weather wasn't wonderful, but the kids found some breaks in the rain to enjoy playing outside.  Lots of running around, playing on rides and learning how to ride tricycles.  A few stubbed toes were the side effect.  But definitely well worth it.

The adults also enjoyed some fantastic food.  Because our friends are from Spain, we got to enjoy a real Spanish seafood paella complete with shrimp, muscles, clams and calamari.  Boy, was it AWESOME!  We even have our own paella pan now.

Then we came back from the beach and headed to our Korean friends that live in the neighborhood for a crab feast.  Totally interesting watching Koreans eat blue crabs.  They definitely eat more of it than we do.

Some pictures of the weekend to enjoy:

First day of the year at Funland

First ride is the boats

Fire engines are next

Then the airplanes (a little more daring)

And even more daring is Lily's first ferris wheel type ride 

(she even mentioned that her tummy felt funny)

Back to the kiddy rides

Getting some love on the beach (a little early if you ask me)

Chris, Lily (behind the Trashers fries), Kim, Lluc, baby Marina & Delores

Yes, everyone loved the fries

Lily and Lluc pushes each other on the tricycle... and trying to learn how to ride by themselves

Take your child to work day

The week before last we were able to celebrate take your child to work day.  Lily joined Kim at her office downtown D.C. for an exciting day of fun with about 12 other kids of various age ranges.  Lily's day consisted of a parade around the office, lessons on the history of the 100+ year old building our offices reside in, lots of arts and crafts, banjo lessons and singing banjo tunes, pizza lunch, cupcakes, and a not to be missed reading of "Chicken Butt" from our resident author Erica Perl.  It was a very fun day.  Lily was a little more shy than normal, but by the end, she was even reading Brown Bear for her show and tell to the rest of the kids.  I think it turned out to be more work for the parents.  I couldn't believe how many other kids also participated.  The metro was packed with kids going to work with their parents.  And I must admit, that the metro ride may have been the most exciting of all parts of the day.  How fortunate I am to be able to do such fun things.  A couple pictures to share from the day.

The parade of kids...