A Few More Pics

We spent out last afternoon visiting my Dad's friend Karen (such a sweet, warm lady). Here's Luke driving her boat on the lake.


Max was tired and a little frustrated with his life jacket. He wasn't even amused by the family of ducks that trailed us the entire way.


Grandpa Joe and Karen gave the boys a few dancing lessons.



Luke and Max had so much fun playing with my Dad. The testosterone level was a little high for me, but they all loved it.

Thanks Dad. We had a wonderful trip. We love you and miss you a lot.
xoxoxo

The National Zoo

While we were in DC, we made a visit to the National Zoo. This was our third trip to a zoo in four months. We’re four for four if you count Sea World (which I do because it’s very zoo-like).

Not all zoos are alike and lucky for us the National Zoo is one of the better ones. For starters, it’s free. A personal thank you to all our fellow taxpayers. We had a wonderful time!!!!

The zoo also one of the few with panda bears. This was definitely a highlight for all of us. They were taking a nap while we were there, but it was amazing to see them.

The best feature about the zoo was by far the web-cams. We have been watching these animals for months now. We know all about them, their names, their habits and their personalities. It was neat to see them in person after stalking them via computer.

With all the animals and cool stuff, the kids had the most fun in the misters. It wasn’t even that hot by Texas standards, but they jumped into the water every time we saw one – which was about every 10 minutes.

We also got to experience the DC Metro system. The kids are still talking about riding the train. On the way there, they were constantly changing seats and looking out different windows to get a better view. The way back was during rush hour and a totally different experience. People aren’t nearly as nice or accommodating towards the end of the day.

Great day, great zoo and a great time was had by all. If you’re ever in DC, this is an awesome thing to do.

Lessons Learned

Things we learned on the plane...
(the kid in the hat is not ours)





You can never have too many snacks.

Play-doh and airplanes do not mix well.

Skimping on the time needed to charge the DVD battery is an unforgivable mistake.

Benedryl is not always a good thing.

Putting a two-year old, who is scared of heights, in a window seat means you have to make the whole trip in the dark.

Don't order a Dr. Pepper unless you plan on wearing at least half of it.

Just because you lug a car seat onto a plane, doesn't guarantee the child will sit in it.

All newly potty-trained kids will need to go as soon as the fasten seat belt sign comes on.

Those seat pockets hold an incredible amount of stuff, but don't stick your hand all the way to the bottom to dig out a crayon. It's best to sacrifice the crayon.

DC Trip

We made it! We just got back from our big vacation to visit my Dad in Washington DC and had a fantastic time. We took our first plane trip in almost a year. That's saying a lot because it took me that long just to recover from the last time we put Max on a plane. But this time, with a backpack full of entertainment and snacks, he did just fine.



My Dad has a huge yard and the boys had a great time just running around. He also has a sizable garden in the back. Just to show you what city folk we are, when the kids saw the garden, they asked where the cows were. They thought he lived on a farm. It's obviously not a farm, but he has more land and trees than they will ever see here in North Texas.



On Sunday, we went camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I can't really describe the beauty of these mountains - wild and natural. It felt like a completely different world - one where you saw the presence of God everywhere you looked.



Luke and Max loved it. They were superheros and adverturers. They hiked and climed and scouted for animals. They searched under rocks for bugs and played racecars around the camper. We couldn't keep them out of the woods which lead to a few encounters with prickley bushes and bugs that I could have done without.







They boys were facinated with the animals and everywhere they went they would shout for the animals to come out. Wouldn't you know it, they often did. We saw a chipmunk right ouside our camp and ran into some bucks on a hike.
In the evening, half a dozen deer came right up into our camp. They were so close, we could almost touch them.



The bear, yes that's real. He was about 60 feet from us. They boys were so excited. I was happy to keep my distance. Fortunately, he turned and went the other way. He was pretty small but still, a bear is a bear.



All in all, we loved the trip. Merk is even talking of taking some camping trips around here. Texas is not the same as the Blue Ridge Mountains, but we both want to spend more time outdoors as a family.



Check back later for part two of our trip.

Superman

Today we went to McDonalds after swim lessons. Yes, even the best of us succumb to a Happy Meal from time to time. This time our Happy Meals had Superman!!! The boys couldn’t believe it. For them, it was like winning the lottery.

As you can guess, we played superheros all afternoon. Luke was Superman, of course. I was Supergirl and Max was Superbaby. We had a lot of fun and I must say, this is probably one of the only times a Happy Meal actually made me happy.

I always check on the boys before I go to sleep and tonight, I found Luke sleeping with Superman clutched in his hand. I don’t know why, but this was really touching for me. It’s just like Luke to be so excited about something that he has to physically hold it while he sleeps.

He’s done this a few times before with special toys, but this is the first time I was able to get a picture. Don’t ask me how we did it - yes flashlights were involved. I still can't believe we didn't wake him up. Merk still thinks I'm a little crazy.

I just wanted to capture him in this moment. My sweet little boy who completely melts my heart.