Adventures, adventures

What an adventurous two days!

Braden counted on his hand, and in the last 36 hours, he has been on the following modes of transportation:
1) our truck
2) a bus--his first (really?)
3) an airplane--his first
4) two of Granddaddy's cars
5) a DC Metro train--his first
6) a National Zoo stroller

We've seen some pretty cool things. We flew into Washington DC National airport right over the Potomac River--we could see the Pentagon out of our window. Once we were in Granddaddy's Element and driving to his house in Falls Church, we could see the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial.

This morning we slept late and took our time getting ready (we are on vacation after all!). Kyle, the boys, my dad, and I took the Metro to the National Zoo. This involved changing trains from the orange line to the red line, and all of that was perfectly okay with Braden. He LOVED the trains. He took really funny pictures with his camera: the hexagonal tiles on the floor, the red lights along the edge of the platform, strangers on the train, etc.

We had a long walk to the zoo (the boys were great!) where rented a double stroller (the boys were not so great!). The National Zoo is wonderful, mostly because it is FREE (it is a Smithsonian institution) and visitors can get pretty close the animals. We visited the pandas first, then the elephants, the baby gorilla, the orangatans, the lion and lioness, the tiger, and the alligator. My favorite? Hard to tell: I love, love, love elephants and the baby (several years old now?) was very playful and cute. The baby gorilla was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. It was smooshing its face up against the glass and making funny faces, just like my boys do in the shower! The pandas are just plain awesome. Huge, majestical, and so, so pretty.

Garrett fell asleep on the long walk back to the Metro and I carried his sweaty little body all the way home. He slept all the way through the train transfer and woke up just as we were getting off at the West Falls Church station.

True to their personality, Braden told me his favorite part of the day was the trains, and Garrett just told me that he forgot to feed the pigs (what???).

Oh! And we talked to a very nice Washington DC police officer who was riding a Segway. He was more than happy to show it off and tell us all about it.

More on the plane ride later--tomorrow, maybe? It looks like rain and will probably be an inside day.

Splish Splash, Garrett takin' a bath

Sooooo.....I'm a good mom, right? And I shouldn't be terribly worried that I forgot about Garrett in the bath tub the other night, right? I mean, Kyle remembered. And Garrett was super-dooper happy:

Notice his plate of crackers on the edge of the tub. Yep, I'm a good mom alright!

Splash Pad

Ahhhh....summer! Time for family, fun, and water! We discovered a new place tonight--the splash pad at Tiffany Park. I'm not sure why it never occurred to us to take the kids there. It is free! And fun! And tiring! They had a ball...

photographer pictures

About a month ago, we had our first "real" pictures taken since Garrett was born--yes, he just turned 3. The pictures are awesome! Check some of them out:

Garrett on nose-picking:

"Mommy! My finger just put a booger in my mouth!"

THE BEACH!!!

We knew that this weekend was going to be tough. It is our first mother's day weekend without mom, and everywhere we looked we found reminders of mom. Kyle, the boys, and I drove down to Seabrook Friday night, and I must say that packing for a trip to my mom's house for mother's day weekend when I knew she wasn't going to be there was one of the hardest things I've had to do in a long time.

Fortunately, I have an awesome sister and brother-in-law who planned a great trip to the beach for us. All we had to do was wake up Saturday morning (I ran five miles first--go me!), throw the boys in the car, and head down to Galveston. Matt and Linsey had shopped and were setting up our beach camp for the day on The Seawall across from a bar called The Spot. Our spot across from The Spot was a great one: both the people and the seaweed were less crowded than further west. Linsey and Matt thought of everything. We had a giant umbrella; we had kites; we had sand toys and boogie boards; we had (lots of) beer; we had cheese and salami and crackers. Kyle and I brought the two best parts of the day, though: two super cute boys!

Braden loved playing on the boogie board. He wouldn't go far out, though.

Garrett, meanwhile, was perfectly content to play in the sand and shallow water with the toys.



Tom and Linsey had taken the boys to the seawall a few weeks ago, and the highlight was feeding the seagulls. That proved to be a big draw this time, too. These birds weren't nearly as brave as the birds last time who ate a cracker off of Garrett's head.

My sister and Kyle's brother. Yes, they are dating. No, it isn't weird at all. It is a lot of fun!
Tom and Kyle spent most of the day (when they weren't driving around "looking at storm damage") firmly camped out under the umbrella. Kyle didn't even bring a bathing suit!

Sisters!!

1. 2. 3. Kiss!!

Birthday party planning

For months now, Braden (now 5) has talked about wanting his birthday party at the ice skating rink. We booked it a month in advance, and had all the info posted on the fridge.

A few weeks before Garrett's big day, Kyle asked Garrett (now 3) where he wanted to have his birthday party. He thought for a minute and answered, "ummmmm....at the table."

Done!