one more...

This was one of my favorite shots and I forgot to add it. There is an insect museum in the natural history museum and the kids love it.

may days

May has brought us rain, these past few pretty days and it brought us a special viz w/ my mom an dad. Mom came in for a week (i took ZERO pics, what's wrong with me?) and then we headed to DC for the weekend and saw dad. It was nice to have the rare treat of spending mother's day with my mom. We went out to eat for dinner, just the two of us, and ordered a chef's choice 3 course meal with additional salad and dessert. YUM. And the conversation was nice too :)

The first day in DC was mostly hanging out at the hotel. That evening there was a dinner with fundraising, awards & recognition, etc. This was also the end of Dad's final term as ICA president. It was touching to see him honored and appreciated for all the hard work he's done over the years.

Saturday we headed to the mall and did a little bit in 3 different Smithsonian museums.

Waiting for the subway.

We were 15min early to the opening of the American History Museum. So the kids played on these benches. This all started with the second pic where E said she was the Statue of Liberty. I suppose she was feeling patriotic, being in our nation's capital and all. Then I set J up as the thinker, and then they just started making silly poses and asking me to take pics of them.

Um...dream toy?

I took one of them 2yrs ago next to this rabbit.

Holding up the memorial. He looks confused because I didn't explain, I just said "stand like this."

We took a DC at night tour on a trolley type of bus.

Guess who got to be the "navigator" and sit in a special seat up front. Oh my, this was totally up my boy's alley. He was answering questions, some he actually got right. Everyone would cheer for him, and he soaked up every drop.

View of Capitol, Washington & Lincoln Memorials from Iwo Jima.

J and FDR. It started pouring on us here.

Didn't seem to upset him.

J had to wipe off the inside of the window for driver Jorge.

Korean War Memorial

On Sunday we went to the...

Can you say "sweet"? There was actually a baby gorilla there that we did get to see, pretty cool.

I wanted E to kiss it, but instead J hugged it.

They kept referring to Kung Fu Panda.

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*photos by den, he was proud of them so I must give him props. Some of the pics (not his necessarily ) are grainy. I need to get more into the technical side of my cam, thanks for the grace.

The Dancing Never Stops in this House

Listen to the lyrics when he is laying his head down. He's a genius at literal interpretive dance.

Dance Recital

E's dance recital was last night. I took most of these pics at her dress rehearsals as I was helping backstage during the actual show. After her first practice I asked her if she like being up there. She replied, "yes, i like being on stage." I will not deny having a happy moment. If you were one of the unlucky who did not attend, you missed out on more than seeing the cutest dancer ever. You missed out on dealing with the reactions of 80+ girls under 10 when the fire alarm went off. Some little one wandering the halls with dad decided to feed his curiosity one and for all. Actually there were only a couple criers and once we settled them back into the room, convinced them that it was a false alarm, it was more about comforting the parents that rushed back stage to check on their girls. Then I remembered my son, in the audience with his dad and grandparents. My heart started to beat a little faster. My sweet, soon to be 8 year old has a few fears and smoke alarms make the list. This wasn't the high pitched annoying beep that you have at home. This was more like alerting the people that we had gone to Defcon 1. D had a harder job than me, as I found out later. Still, eventually all was well and the show did go on. Dance is more than just bobby pins and sequence people.


Waiting in the wings.






Does anyone else love this one as much as I do?



Pep talk from Miss Amy.

You can see that one little one didn't know where her spot was, things were stopped because the poor little thing started to cry. She did fine during the real deal.

Please don't shoot the camera girl , she's an amateur. Just be thankful for this as they did not allow video taping the night of the performance, which they did last year. I think that discriminates against those of us that are cheap, or frugal. :)

This and that

Time will go by and I won't realize how much has happened since my last post. Not necessarily tons, but more than I thought.


This chapeau was what my mom called her "splurge" as part of V's Easter basket.


J had his "Race For Education" on Friday. He ran/walked 16 laps this year. He ran fastest when he could see me :)


This is also the morning that V decided to take a header off of the front stoop. However, he was so brave. He stopped crying so quickly and sat very still without a peep while I cleaned the wound and put on his band aid.


We are almost done with E's dance class. Actually last week was her last class and this weekend is her recital.


I think practicing their smiles and making faces in the mirror is half the fun.

It's a hit!

SAFE!!

Yes, it's baseball season here and J is enjoying his team. His coach this year is not as "laid back" shall we say as last year. He is actually a great coach, serious and firm but always encouraging the kids as well. He reminds them to take care of their own stuff, doesn't let them pout when they are losing, and promotes goods sportsmanship. All great things for our son to have reinforced.

Another cool thing is that his team was invited (if we bought tickets and we did) to our local minor game to be on the field with the players, have a ball signed, be there during the national anthem and while the team handed their coach a big check for a fundraiser they did. Exciting right? Yes, well I completely had the time wrong and we missed it. I was so mad at myself. J did get a bit upset at one point, but I don't think he really understood the big deal in the first place. I know it wasn't the dodgers or anything but still, for a little guy a cool thing and I blew it big time. I was definitely more bummed then he was.

At the game.

As you can see he got over it and we had a good time. His coach even got him a ball with the team name on it.

This grumpy Gus was the reason we did not stay until the end for the fireworks. But I actually had been under the weather for a couple days, and we had opening ceremonies in the am and J's first game in the middle of the day, so it was a good decision to head home.

E and a bit of V

She got a basket for her bike for Easter,


and bubbles.


He LOVED them.


I'm all for children picking out their own clothes now and then but sometimes I have to draw the line. She picked this out for a party. In her defense I will often layer because of inclement weather. But it was a sunny day and well, need I say more? I said she looked lovely and I wanted to take a picture before she took it off, as it wasn't time for the party anyway.

If you sit under a tree....

a bird just might poop on your head.



But doesn't he clean up well?