Weekend in D.C. - enjoying the Petting Zoo

This weekend we were lucky enough to spend time with friends for pizza night on Saturday and then to the Petting Zoo (in Ellicott City about 40 minutes away) on Sunday.  The petting zoo was half petting zoo and half little play area.  The kids (Lily and Lluc) had a great time and were so good.  They definitely ran and played a lot and were completely exhausted at bedtime.

Easter Weekend

We had a fantastic Easter weekend!  Okay, the weather wasn't great, but the company definitely made up for it.  We had Lily's friend Lluc and his parents (Peter & Delores) along with grandpa (Avi) and little sister (Marina) stay with us at the beach house for three nights.  It was definite entertainment along with a lot of wake ups in the middle of the night between the three kids.  On Saturday we dyed Easter eggs at the house, hit the pool and then dyed more Easter eggs with all the other kids in the community at the activity center.  We had a LOT of eggs.  Oh and we had a fun pizza night on Saturday filled with banana and peppadew pizza (compliments of South Africa)

On Sunday the kids woke to the Easter Bunny having hid Easter eggs all over the house.  They had a lot of fun finding them, but I must say they were hid a little to well (hint, hint Dads).  Then we headed over to our community activity center where they had a second Easter egg hunt with all the other kids and even got a visit from the Easter bunny.  Plus they hit the pool again.  What fun.  Sunday night we got to enjoy Spanish paella thanks to Delores and her dad Avi who are from Spain.  What a treat that was.  I never knew how hard it was to clean a artichoke until this weekend.

On Monday our guests headed out a little early, but the weather was so nice (okay compared to what we've had the last three months) that we stayed until early evening and enjoyed being outside.  We went to Cape Henlopen state park and walked over the Great Dunes (the biggest dunes between Cape Cod and the Outer Banks of NC).  Lily enjoyed checking out the skate boarders that frequent the park and she got to hit the park rides as well.  Then we hit our favorite BBQ joint and did a little shopping before heading out of town.  A perfect end to a wonderful weekend.

Some pictures to share:

Lily & Lluc coloring Easter Eggs

 Lluc and Lily enjoying their play high heels.  I think Lluc may have actually enjoyed these even more than Lily.

Coloring more Easter Eggs at the activity center

Easter Morning munch out

Baby Marina (she is 7 months and the cutest little thing)

Lily and Lluc with the Easter Bunny

Chris, Kim and Lily before the big Easter egg hunt began

Our friends:  Avi, Delores, Peter, Lluc and Marina

A slow grumpy start to the group Easter egg hunt

Cape Henlopen state park (Lily & Kim)

Spring Break - Weekend #1

It is our first official Spring Break.  Lily had an entire week + extra day off.  If I would have been thinking we could have went off someplace warm.  But D.C. should be sufficiently warm this time of year.  At least enough to get out and enjoy the beach a little.  WRONG answer!  It snowed the first weekend (March 22-23).  But we had a great time anyhow.  We invited our friends the Kangs to go with us.  They are a wonderful Korean family that moved into our neighborhood.  We have dinner a lot together and thought a weekend at the beach would be fun.  At first we thought they would have 6 people joining us.  But a couple days before they asked if it was o.k. to bring 8 people.  You know us, we are flexible, so sure... no problem.  Then the day of... the number grew to 10 people (plus the three of us).  Now, we have enough beds to actually sleep 12 if you use the pull out couch so we thought we would manage.  The first night was an adventure, but we had a bed so we didn't care who was sleeping where.  However, the next night... two more people got invited.  How, I do not know... now we had 15 people all together.  It definitely made for a fun adventurous long weekend.  The food was interesting.  Two nights of Korean and one night of some excellent Italian.  I cooked all the breakfasts and honestly thought I brought too much food until I started cooking for 15 people.  Yes, I went through eggs like nobodies business.  But it was all great times!

Lily is still boy crazy.  She loves the 12 year old boy, Bryant, and the friends he brought along.  She was flirting all weekend long and of course the boys flirted right back.  So funny to watch.  Hopefully she grows out of this phase soon or her father is going to have an early heart attack.

Zoo time

We finally got a nice enough day to hit the zoo.  Lily has a great friend Lluc who we often hang out with his family.  We had fun going out to lunch together and then hitting the zoo.  The weather turned out perfect too.

 Lily and Lluc could not decide who got to ride in the stroller so they decided they would both fit.  Not very well I must admit, but they still had a fun time.  Also notice Lluc's hat in the pictures.  It is actually Lily's but Lluc insisted it was his to wear for the day.  Too much fun!

Fantastic March

It has definitely been an eventful March.  Every weekend we have had fun things to do.  So fun that again I forget to post all our events.  But I will catch up here a bit.  The first weekend in March we had a fun filled party weekend.  Lily got to go to her friend Sasha's birthday party at the bowling alley.  Watching three and four year olds bowl was definitely fun.  All the parents were wonderful and we had a great time.  Then after we went to some other friends for a wine party.  All the kids stayed upstairs and had their own party of course.  It was a great weekend.

Gianna, Lily & Osuyande

Birthday girl Sasha

Logan & Chance

Logan & Lluc with their cool new sunglasses

Group picture

Gianna & Lily 

Lily & Alexia

Ring around the rosey instead of bowling???

Lily was definitely having a great time. 

Where did January go?

O.K. so I have totally been neglecting my blogging duties.  Not sure where January (and February for that matter) went.  I know we had a great month.  Even got an extra day over MLK & Presidents Day.  But it just kind of got away from me.  For MLK day, I got to take Lily to her first ever movie at the movie theatre.  I thought Chris would be the one to do this, but since I had an extra holiday, we made a girls day of it.  Although, I'm not sure "Wreck It Ralph" qualifies as a girls date.  We didn't make it through the entire show, but had a good time none the less.

During February we had friends over and decorated a lot of Valentine's Day cookies.  Lily and her friend Gianna had a great time.  They were definitely the cutest little bakers in the world.

 For President's Day it was another Mommy/Lily day.  We went downtown for the day, even took the metro.  Had some lunch and then went to Disney on Ice.  I think she had a great time.

 

 Another play date in February for Lily with her buddy Lluc.  They had a very fun time at Chuck E. Cheese (on a weeknight thank goodness).  And they were so proud of themselves for climbing clear up in the slide.

Finally just a few pictures from Kim.  I got to go on a tour of our Nation's Capitol building last Friday.  Someone who knows someone in one of the Montana Senators office.  It was fun to see the inside of all the Senate buildings, ride the underground Senate trains that take you to the Capitol and between the Senate buildings, and get an insider look into the Capitol.  We even got to see the Senate floor, although Senate was on recess unfortunately.  What an amazing building!

This is inside the Senate Rotunda.  Up at the very top under the mural there is a walkway.  Only Senators & Representatives along with their wives or invited guests have access to this walkway.  

This next picture is where the House of Representatives used to hold session.  There is a whisper point in this room where you can hear someone whisper from clear across the room even when it is terrible loud.  Some weird freak accoustical thing.  Apparently John Adams used to eavesdrop on other's conversations this way.