Friends in Warm Places

For my birthday, Joe bought Oliver and I tickets to visit my BFF in California the last week in March.  There are lots of reasons why I was so thrilled to take this trip.  Of course, with Staci in Cali, I don't get to see her enough.  In addition, she recently had her fourth child, Declan.  She graciously invited us to stay in their guest room so we would have more time together and so the kids to really get the chance to hang out.  Oliver and I had a great time.  It was fun to see my only child in a house of fun-loving kids used to having other kids around.  Staci's only daughter, Juliet, was so sweet and loving to Oliver.  Aidric, the oldest, was full of ideas and kept us informed about what was going on...he is also a budding scientist so we bonded over a DNA isolation experiment.  Cormac, or "Mac-Attack" his nickname, which Oliver loved, is a ball of independence and energy.  It was so great to see Oliver and Mac interact since they are only a month apart in age.  I forgot how tiny and sweet newborns are, I also forgot how much the sleep during the day.  Which left Staci and I with time to catch-up and reconnect.  I also got some schooling in what is cool in the world of elementary school kids, namely I had the chance to enjoy several renditions of the Frozen soundtrack (I even watched the movie).  We especially had a blast at the aquarium, the park, Staci's yard, the pier (that Olive slept through), Staci's playroom, the bath, and Aidric's soccer game.  Thanks Staci and Chris for letting us be your guests and making us feel like part of your family for a few days.

At airport waiting for our plane to California.

Aidric, Mac-Attack, and Oliver riding a car in Staci's yard.

Oliver was on DC time, so he while getting ready for bed each night the kids would come in for some fun and to say goodnight...lots of giggles.

Fun at the Aquarium

Myrtle of course made the trip to California and loved the hike at the park.

Big Smiles and Thanks for a great trip!

The Gang!

A Walk in the Park

We live two blocks from Rock Creek Park, which is a large natural area with public park facilities that bisects the northwestern urban areas of DC.  It is hard to believe being so close to the city that we have access to this wonderful slice of nature.  There are lots of trails for walking, hiking, running, and biking within a mile of us. 

Sunday morning we did a little kite flying and then walked a trail.  Oliver loves the walks.  On Sunday, he spent a good amount of time being a leaf blower and blazing a parallel trial through the leaves. 

He walked the .5 miles in and most of the way back, but at the very end he wanted me to carry him up the hill.  Oliver likes to declare himself different kinds of animals and then I am the mommy animal.  For example, he builds "nests" out of blankets on the couch and wants mommy bird to come in Oliver bird's nest to snuggle.  Or he will want mommy koala to carry him (he wraps his arms and legs around my body like a koala).  You get the idea.  So I asked him how he wanted me to carry him, like a bird, a koala, a fork-lift, etc.  He said no, he wanted mommy to carry him like a little boy Oliver.  My little boy is growing up so fast!

My Little Gardener

We started collecting seeds and planting over my birthday weekend.  Oliver and Joe took me to a nursery and we picked out some veggie and flower seeds.  We were expecting at least another snow storm so we potted a few seeds and cared from them inside for a couple of weeks.  We had about 25% success with our indoor experiment, especially the peas, tomatoes and herbs.  Last weekend we started transplanting and planting new seeds in our outdoor garden patch.  Already this weekend we have some tomato, pea, and radish leaves popping out.  We are still waiting to see how our carrots and cucumbers will do.  I planted a few bulbs last weekend, and this weekend some flower seeds for the flower bed.  We will see what takes and, if needed, try again or buy a few plants to fill in over the coming weeks.  For now, Oliver and I are enjoying the time outside and nurturing our little experiment.

Joe has been busy doing all the heavy yard work like clearing old yard waste, seeding the grass, and putting down mulch.  Oliver loves helping Joe too, especially spreading the grass seeds and following Daddy around asking lots of questions.

My little Gardener hard at work (as you can see by the jacket, the weather was still pretty cool a month ago).

Our peas (white petals are from the cherry blossoms)

Our vegetable garden.

Cherry Blossoms

This weekend was the beginning of the DC Cherry Blossom Festival.  The whole city is in full bloom and it is beautiful.  We are lucky to have our very own blossom extravaganza here at Rittenhouse.   The neighborhood is full of c.b. trees, and we have two cherry blossom (and two tulip magnolia) trees in our yard.  A few pictures from Rittenhouse are below.  Yeah for spring!

Backyard (side deck).

Cherry blossoms in backyard.

Trees from front.

Front yard (with side tree behind).

Tulip magnolia blossoms from front yard tree.

Tulip magnolia blossoms from side tree.

A good plan

Just asked O if he wanted to go out and play in the sandbox while I work in the garden.  His response,  "Ok, that's a good plan.  Let's do it."  Then he got up and walked over to back door.  I guess you had to be there, but the way he said it was pretty cute. 

First Baseball Game

As a client appreciation event, our realtor hosts an annual ballgame outing.  Last year we did not go, but this year we thought Oliver might enjoy it.  He started getting pretty excited about it as soon as we told him we would be going.  By this morning, it was the first thing he talked about when he woke up.  We told him we had to run some errands, and the game did not start until 1:30.  During our errands, he told us several times he did "not want to do anything else, he wanted to go straight to the baseball game!"  After his nap, we made it for most of the second half of the game.

I was worried he had hyped it up in his mind too much and he would be disappointed once we actually got there.  There was nothing to worry about, Oliver loved it!

 

Kisses

A quote from Oliver today:

“Kisses are little pieces of love that float onto your lips and make you happy.”