Tulips!

Today after Meeting I decided to take the girls to the Dallas Arboretum so we could enjoy the tulips, have lunch, and take some pictures. With CK in Florida for a flight training course/visit to his parents, I wanted to take full advantage of this beautiful sunny mid-70 degree day!

Once we arrived at the Arboretum, we parked out further than I've ever parked before, and headed in. We bought lunch (hot dogs and lemonade for the girls and a grilled veggie sandwich and iced tea for me) and walked over to the large grassy area to lay out our picnic blanket and enjoy our food. It really was a gorgeous day and felt great to sit outside in the full sun without being hot or it being windy (it is often windy here in the Spring). After finishing, the girls took their shoes off and ran around on the grass. Of course, Olivia who loves to wear tights or leggings all the time, had two big grass stains on her knees within minutes! I was also able to get some cute pictures of the girls, who after the fourth or fifth photo were completely done with smiling for the camera. There were so many families out enjoying the weather and looking at the thousands of perfect tulips, but it really didn't feel crowded. After more attempts of photos and pointing out different tulips and other spring flowers, we headed to the "frog fountains" so the girls could play in the water. Thankfully, I have old swimsuits for both girls in the car at all times that I put in my purse. The girls changed in the bathroom and we headed to the frog fountains. Sofia didn't remember them, although she did remember to check on the pollywogs (stone pollywogs at the bottom of a little stone pool) at the entrance to the fountains. The girls played with the pollywogs for a few minutes then were ready for some real water fun!

The girls held hands while they headed down the walkway to the frog fountains - it was so sweet! Once we arrived at the fountains, they were both in the water immediately and running around with the other kids. I think the girls were the only ones in swimsuits, which surprised me because I think they have always been the only ones not in swimsuits. Several of the kids were apparently not supposed to get as wet as they did, but they sure had fun. Sofia spent her time crawling around and curling up under one of the frogs, so I'm sure she had an elaborate story going along with her play. Meanwhile, Olivia just wanted the frog to spray water directly on her belly or back. They enjoyed it so much. We spent about an hour playing in the water before Sofia decided she needed to read a little Harry Potter. She recently started reading the series and is on the 2nd book and loving it! She spends every waking hour reading and can't get through them fast enough (it only took her 5 days to finish the 1st book!). Olivia played for a bit longer, then wanted to change into her clothes right there! She started undressing but I was able to wrap the picnic blanket around her and get her clothes on a bit more discreetly than she planned on. Sofia stayed in her suit. As we headed back to the car, the girls got a popsicle (Sofia read the entire walk to the car). Olivia was asleep after a few minutes as we drove home. During baths, I realized Sofia got a little too much sun and had a bit of a sunburn on her shoulders. I never even considered how little we've been in the sun and how long her shoulders were exposed. It was pretty minor and will likely be gone in a day or two. Such a fun day!

Tulips

Love this picture of the girls! Of course, this was the very first picture I took of them when we first entered the Arboretum!

Our picnic

Tulip selfies

All three of us!

Olivia acting silly!

Grass stains means we're having fun!

Olivia in a dress originally made for Sofia by my friend Alice! I love it!!

Of they go!

Gorgeous tulips!

Just the tulips.

Two girls who are done smiling for me.

More tulips and forced smiles.

Checking on the pollywogs

Holding hands while heading to the frog fountains

Sofia running around in the water

Olivia in the water

She loved getting sprayed by the water

Both girls

Sofia spraying the water for Olivia

Sofia is done - time for some Harry Potter!

Popsicles and Harry Potter on the way out

One last tulip picture!

Sofia's Open House

Tonight Sofia and I attended her school's open house. CK was out of town and I had a sitter arrive since I had plans to go to dinner with my girlfriends later that evening. I didn't realize the open house was tonight until earlier, so I asked our sitter to arrive a little early so just Sofia and I could attend. Once we arrived at school, Sofia wanted to watch the show put on by 5th grade's honor chorus, which she apparently saw earlier that day and said it was very good. It was a review of music through the ages and the 5th graders did a great job. The best part was that Sofia wanted to sit on my lap. At first, I thought she wanted to get a better view but I soon realized she just wanted to sit on my lap which is so sweet. I guess I usually have Olivia on my lap, so it was an opportunity for her to get a little time of her own.

After the music program, we walked upstairs to Mrs. Livingston's classroom. Along the hallways were kids dressed up as different inventors and each of them had a presentation that they wanted to share on who they were and what they invented. It was really clever, but also very chaotic and made it hard to walk to Sofia's classroom. Once we made it to Mrs. Livingston's classroom, Sofia was able to show me her work and her desk (which is significantly neater than it has been in the past). It's so fun to see Sofia's classroom and work and it's amazing all the kids are learning and working on in 2nd grade! Sofia also brought out her iPad (each child has their own classroom iPad to use daily) and showed me different programs they use and pictures of her work that she takes with the iPad's camera. They also make little videos which are really cute.

We talked with Mrs. Livingston for a while before we headed down to her Aspire classroom downstairs. Sofia goes to Aspire on Mondays and Tuesdays with a handful of kids to work on gifted and talented projects. She really enjoyed it and also says that it is hard, which is good because she needs to challenge. Her Aspire class does a lot of team projects where 3 or 4 kids will group together and create a solution to a problem. In December, she and her team developed a treadmill that would reward Santa while helping him lose a few extra pounds. It was very clever.

Before we knew it, it was 7:00pm and time to go, so we headed to our car and I returned her home before I went out to dinner with my girlfriends. It was so fun to see Sofia's work and talk to Mrs. Livingston who clearly adores Sofia and always tells us how much of a joy she is to have in her class. That's always great to hear!

So sweet!

Sofia at her desk

Showing me to water cycle work

Sofia!

Sofia's George Washington

Sofia with Mrs. Livingston, her favorite teacher!

One of Sofia's drawings from Aspire

Spring Break, Day 9: Home

On Sunday morning we got up with the sun and said goodbye to Cynthia before Jay drove us to the airport. She packed up snacks and drinks for us and we asked her to say goodbye to the kids from us. The girls were so sad to leave, but thankfully we were able to tell them that Chandler, Jillian and Jackson planned to visit for Memorial Day weekend.

We made it to the airport and watched the sun ride over the Baron, which was really pretty. We loaded up and headed home. Again, the three of us took a nap while CK flew us home and we made it in time to get to Antonio and Luca's birthday party. They had a bounce house in their backyard for the party, so we basically didn't see the girls the entire time. In fact, we made it home around 5pm and realized they probably didn't eat anything other than a slice of cake and ice cream! I headed to the grocery store for dinner and food for the week. What a fun week but it sure was good to be home!

Sunrise over the Baron

My little camera operator took a picture of me.

Spring Break, Day 8: Visiting Cousins on the Way Home

On Saturday morning we packed up our rental car and turned in our keys upstairs to the owner before walking over to Market Lunch for our last D.C. breakfast. It was cloudy and not a great day for flying, so we planned to take our time heading to Atlanta to allow the weather to clear up a bit. So, we had a leasurely breakfast of pancakes and Sofia loved showing off her new gap tooth and was so proud of having lost her top front tooth. Of course, the girls devoured their pancakes and loved every second of them. After breakfast we loaded up in our car and said goodbye to D.C. as we drove to Manassas. It rained for most of the drive so we decided to visit the Udvar-Hazy Museum to pass some time and let the weather improve. The Udvar-Hazy Museum was crowded and full of Girl Scout troops. It's such a great museum and we all enjoyed walking through it and looking at all the airplanes, but CK enjoyed it the most of course. We visited a Stearman, the Enola Gay, and the Space Shuttle Discovery as well as listened to a talk by Amelia Earhart! Sofia was totally mesmerized and the woman who played her did a great job.

After exploring the gift shop and having lunch at the cafe, we rode the elevator up to the museum's control tower. It's not as high as the real tower at DFW, but the radio communications are piped into it, so it was cool to be able to see the planes coming into and out of DFW, which isn't far away. The clouds seemed to be clearing, so we decided to head to the Baron and make our way to Atlanta.

We loaded up and the girls and I were soon asleep. It was cloudy for the whole flight and CK was glad once we landed in Marietta. Jay met up and took up back to the house where Chandler, Jillian and Jackson were out front with Cynthia. The cousins were so excited to see each other and Sofia and Olivia immediately jumped out of the car and took off to join in the fun. We headed into Cynthia and Jay's house with our things and enjoyed catching up while Cynthia put the finishing touches on dinner. It was nice to be able to break up our trip home and get to visit with Cynthia, Jay and the kiddos. Dinner was awesome and the kids had such a great time playing together. They spent the evening together in the playroom just off the kitchen. Sofia, Jillian and Olivia had a great time playing together and Chandler played his own game while Jackson wondered around and tried to get involved in whatever it was that the older kids were doing. They had a ball together!

Before it got too late, we put the girls to sleep downstairs in sleeping bags in the room next to the guest room. We planned to get up and out around 7am to make it back to Texas in time for the birthday party, so we wanted to get a little bit of sleep before the next day. The girls were exhausted from having so much fun with their cousins!

Look at that beautiful gap-tooth smile!

Olivia wanted a picture taken too!

CK and the girls at the Udvar-Hazy Museum

Love this picture

CK checking out a Stearman....

Sofia reading about a plane to Olivia

The Enola Gay

Space Shuttle Discovery

Olivia and me by Discovery

SR-71 from the back! One of my favorites!

Checking out the view from the control tower

Playing with Jillian

Cousin playtime!

Everyone having too much fun to look at the camera!

Spring Break, Day 7: The Monuments

On Friday morning we decided to explore all of the monuments, since it was basically an extra day in D.C. We originally planned to leave this morning so we could be back in Texas for Antonio and Luca's birthday party on Sunday afternoon, but then we wouldn't even see Uncle Steve. He returned from his week in Ireland this afternoon, so we decided to stay around an extra day so we could enjoy pizza and a visit at their house on our last night in D.C. To break up the trip home, we decided to stay with Cynthia and Jay on Saturday night, which would also give us a chance to visit with them too!

To start our day, we went to Jimmy T's for breakfast, which has been around on the Hill forever. I actually never ate there much, but CK had many memories of eating there when he lived in his group house and also later. The girls enjoyed journaling (Sofia) and drawing (Olivia) while we waited for our food. Olivia actually drew her very first "picture" of me and it was pretty good for a 3-year old! I drew the circle and she did the rest of the drawing. We planned our day over breakfast. CK really wanted to watch the Imax movie "D-Day 3D" at the Air and Space Museum, so we split up and the girls and I drove down to find a spot near the FDR and MLK monuments. Somehow, we found a prime parking spot! We first visited the Martin Luther King Jr. monument, which wasn't built yet when we were living in D.C. It was huge and very impressive. The girls enjoyed walking around and Sofia read all of his quotes. She actually knew quite a lot about Martin Luther King Jr. and said her class learned about him. From there, we walked along the tidal basin to the FDR monument, which I've always felt was a little bleak, but I think that's the point of it given the time in which he was president. The girls loved throwing little rocks onto the frozen tidal basin and trying to break the layer of ice. I tried to explain the FDR monument, but the girls were pretty restless and just wanted to run around and act crazy.

From there we headed over to the Jefferson Monument, a pretty decent walk from the FDR. The girls pretended to be unicorns and then we all became characters in Octonauts, a favorite show they like to watch. I was Klausie, the one who took all the pictures. Both girls wanted to use my camera, so I gave them a quick talk about how to hold the camera and how to use it. Then, they both took turns taking photos. We headed into the Jefferson Monument and Sofia continued taking a few pictures before she read Jefferson's quotes on the wall. We headed back down the stairs to the tidal basin, where the girls wanted to take a few more photos before we walked to the Lincoln Monument. Along the way, we stopped for a snack break and chased the birds in the soccer fields next to the FDR. CK was out of his movie and met us over by the car. He took the girls to visit the Lincoln, while I looked at the visitor's center across from the FDR and MLK Jr. Monuments.

CK and the girls returned from the Lincoln Monument and we loaded up in the car and headed to a late lunch. I really wanted to try Ted's Bulletin, a new restaurant on 8th Street which we've heard rave reviews about since we arrived in D.C. Olivia fell asleep as soon as we got her into her car seat, so I carried her into Ted's Bulletin once we arrived and parked. Ted's Bulletin has about the coolest feel to it of any diner/restaurant on the Hill. It's just so inviting and cozy and all the food looked amazing. Olivia stayed asleep on my lap while the three of us enjoyed lunch. CK and I had a salad each and Sofia had a peanut butter and jelly, which was on really thick bread, so she wasn't that into it. After, we all split a chocolate as well as a strawberry milkshake and they were divine! It was such a great place and CK and I agreed that it was just what we need near us in Texas!

Olivia woke up just as we were heading to my friend Sandy and her kids Emily and Grant at Lincoln Park, just a few blocks further from Turtle Park. Luckily, I packed Sofia's uneaten sandwich to take with us and Olivia ate every last bite of it! Emily and Sofia immediately started playing together and having a great time, despite the fact they haven't seen each other in years and don't remember each other. They were great about including Olivia and pushed her on the swing, etc. The kids had a blast together and it was great to see Sandy and catch up. She and her family are moving to NW Washington soon, so the Hill will soon not have any of my old mommy friends on it. It's still a huge area of young families though, and it's become more so since we moved away. Emily, Sofia and Grant soon were sliding down the skateboard ramps that are under the freeway bridge and had great fun, despite getting really dirty. We said our goodbyes and returned to our basement to get ready to go to Aunt and Uncle's house. They had also invited Chris, who lives in Santa Fe and who we've spent several Thanksgivings with. It was great to see her and visit over some delicious pizza and salad. Uncle Steve had a really interesting trip to Ireland and showed us pictures and videos of his visit. We let the girls use Aunt Shirl's iPad and watch Octonauts after dinner and Sofia lost her top front tooth! She was SO excited! It's been loose for a long time and she's been very cautious with it because she doesn't want it "to hurt" or bleed. She was so happy and wanted to tell Aunt and Uncle and CK the story over and over. She decided to wait until we were home to leave it out for the tooth fairy and Aunt Shirl put it into a clear plastic container for her to take home.

Soon it was time for goodbyes and bed and we hope to see Aunt and Uncle soon! We put the girls to bed for our last night in D.C. and packed up so we would be ready to roll out early in the morning. It's been such a fun visit but it will be nice to be home too.


Sofia busy journaling at breakfast

Olivia drawing

Jimmy T's

Olivia's portrait of me! I drew the circle for the face and she did the rest!

At the MLK Memorial

Such an impressive monument!

The frozen Tidal Basin!

Girls and the Washington Monument

So beautiful!

Acting like unicorns and throwing rocks in the icy Tidal Basin

The FDR Monument

Great FDR quote

Sofia with FDR and Falla

Sofia and Olivia in front of the Jefferson Monument

Sofia, our budding photographer with my camera

Another Sofia photo

Sofia read all of Jefferson's words to us.

Love this photo!

Another photo by Sofia

Helping Olivia use the camera

Our little photographer

Action shot!

And one from Olivia

A quick snack break before meeting CK and visiting the Lincoln Monument

Sweet girls

Walking up to the Lincoln Monument

Sofia and Olivia in front of Lincoln

Olivia and CK

CK on his phone and Olivia reading her book, at Ted's Bulletin

Enjoying delicious milk shakes at Ted's

Someone slept through lunch on my lap

Sofia, Emily and Grant

Sofia loses her front tooth!!

The front tooth!

Look at that cute smile!

Showing off her tooth and telling the story..

With Aunt and Uncle

All of us!