Abuelita's Visit

We had so much fun when Dan's mom was here.  We kept her very busy and took LOTS of pictures:

We went to Busch Gardens on a beautiful day and had a great time.

 Posing in the Land of the Dragons

 We also went to the children's museum for a special night when a new exhibit was opening.  They had free Chick-Fil-A and face painting.  Fun was had by all. :)

The new exhibit was The Wizard of Oz.  The kids loved it. Unfortunately, it was only at the museum for about 6 weeks, so it's gone now.  I'm glad that we were able to enjoy it while it lasted!

 This was Jonah's "motorcycle", I had to pry him off of it when it was time to go.  He didn't even notice the high heels.  All he needed to have fun was a pair of handlebars.

 Our little munchkins!

 Bowling was the perfect rainy day activity.

 Kevin and Elena worked hard on their Lego calendar.

 Who knew that there was a cute little bakery and free petting zoo 10 minutes away?  At least we know now!

 After the petting zoo, we went out to eat.  Look at those two!

 Another day, another excursion.  We visited the Adam Thoroughgood House.  The grounds were beautiful, but, after touring Reynolda House and Biltmore, I'd have to say that the house was lacking.

 Doumar's is a favorite!  I have so many good memories at this place.  It's just a perfect old school diner that hasn't changed a bit in decades.  I went to Cookout across the street for barbeque a couple of weeks ago and felt like a total traitor.

 

 The aquarium had an exhibit that was made entirely of objects found in the ocean and on the beach.  It was very well done, but also very depressing.

 An actual day at the beach.  We went 2 or 3 times during Abuelita's stay.  The kids were really into digging up sand crabs on this trip.

 We took a big trip to Washington DC while she was in town.  It was so much fun.  We stopped at the LEGO store on the way there (there isn't one nearby). 

 Dan's favorite part of the trip was our visit to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.  It was a wonderful afternoon for sure.  The kids had a lot of fun too.

 Flying inside the observation tower

 Another really great picture ruined by Dan making a silly face.  Just kidding, Dan - I love all your faces.

 

 Elena did really well in the simulator and she was able to land her plane successfully.

 Kevin had fun too, but it was tricky to stay level.

So amazing.  Dan felt exactly the same way I had felt when he saw the space shuttle up close and personal.  I had been to this museum once before with my friend Whitney when Jonah was 3 months, but it was the first time for everyone else.  It is such a cool place.

 

 We spent the next two days at the Smithsonian museums in Washington DC.  We were lucky enough to find awesome parking adjacent to our favorite museums both days.  I had previously been super stressed about traffic and parking and both were fantastic.  It was such a nice (and exhausting) weekend.  We went to the Museum of the American Indian which was really great.  The craftsmanship of the different works of art there was incredible and the kids loved the legends and stories on the 3rd floor.

 I love this ceiling. All the details of this museum were so well planned out and artfully designed.

I had read online that this museum had a children's section, but I didn't realize that my kids would happily spend 2 hours in this one section of the museum and be fully engaged by dozens of different activities.  It was pretty awesome and just right for Kevin and Elena's age groups.  Jonah found plenty of interesting things to occupy himself too.  Basket weaving and building an igloo were just two small parts of the kids' area.

We enjoyed the Museum of National History - especially their transportation section and seeing THE Star Spangled Banner. 

We also went to the Museum of Natural History and there was so much to do and see (even in the Hall of the Dinosaurs is closed for the next several years).

The afternoon of our last day in DC, we went to the National Gallery of Art (a personal favorite of mine).  We loved seeing Ginevra de' Benci by Leonardo da Vinci.  It's the only da Vinci on public display in the US.  And unlike the Mona Lisa, you can get up close enough to see the brushstrokes.  It's beautiful.  I'm sure I've seen it before, but this was my first time seeing it as an adult and I was in awe.

Kevin and Elena wanted to take pictures with some of their favorites.  I have tried to pass onto to them some of my passion for art and I'm glad that they are interested so far.

Heading back to the car after a long day.  Dan figured out a way to let all the kids have a break from all the walking, but it was definitely at his expense.  It was so tough to push the stroller with all 3 of them in there.

This is a quick, fun shot of them at the Air and Space Museum in DC (not the Udvar Hazy one).

We miss you, Abuelita!  We can't wait until your next visit!

Kevin's 5th Birthday

Kevin is very into 2 things right now:  Outer space and Legos.  

We made sure that his birthday included a little of both.

 In the morning on his big day, Kevin opened his family gifts and then put all his new Lego Mixels together.  Elena and Jonah were on hand just in case he needed help with the present opening.

 

That afternoon, we headed to the local community college to get ready for the party.  Kevin had his birthday party at my dad's planetarium.  Lucky kid, right?  We invited some of Kevin's friends and their families to come to a space themed bash.  

The kids played pin the red spot on Jupiter and throw the planets (aka balls) through the black hole.  The planetarium show was a little movie called "Cardboard Rocket", plus some other entertaining instruction by my dad

Super fancy black hole, right? :)

Then after the show and Saturn cupcakes (peach rings around gum balls), the kids got to fill those treat bags with loads of space-themed candy (Starbursts, Milky Ways, etc).  I finished setting up while the first guests were arriving, and so I never got a picture of the whole set-up, but you can see the jars right next to Jada as Kevin blows out the candles.

  I remembered to get a picture of the treat table after the party.  There's a few Tootsie Roll Pops (planet pops) and star shaped marshmallows left.

Kevin had a great birthday and is such a fun kid.  Kevin loves nothing in the world more than his family and his Teddy Puppy.  He likes running around, crashing into things, building pillow & blanket forts, drawing, and making new Lego inventions.  He has the best smile in the world and he's a great little singer.  Now that he's 5, I love reminding him that he's 5 and can no longer behave like a 4 year old. :)

 Here's a picture of Kevin's Lego Mixels on top of his new Lego lap desk. 

Mary Poppins and Pre-Summer Fun

Bethany, my dad, and I took Kevin and Elena to see Mary Poppins back in May.  The Governor's School was lucky enough to be one of the first in the country to preview the high school version of the Broadway play.  And we had a great time watching it.  They did an incredible job.

I was very excited to be volunteer of the month in May at Elena's school.  Like super, nerdy excited.  I got my name on the school marquee and my own parking spot.  I would get especially annoyed when someone else would park in MY spot. :)

 

The kids helped Grandad to plant a garden in his backyard.  3 months later, it is quite impressive:  There's tomatoes, cucumber, herbs, squash, etc.

I love this picture so much!  Kevin is "fixing" the castle and Jonah is handing him tools.

The kids love our little backyard pool.  It's perfect for them to play in during that tough time of day from 4-6 when they would normally be fighting and cranky.  It's easy to fill and empty too.  But I learned last week that I just need to be careful not to leave the pool full of water long enough for the grass to start to die underneath it.  It made our backyard smell a little like a compost pile for a couple of days.  Yuck. 

We had a great group of kids over for Kevin's class' preschool graduation.  We had a pool party in our little pool and a picnic lunch.

  The graduates:

The boys' enjoying some flying time together:

I thought this moment was so cute, I just had to capture it.  When Jonah saw how Elena and Kevin were lying, he just had to be like them.

We got into the routine of going to Home Depot for their monthly kids' building workshop this summer.  It's been a lot of fun and a great free activity.  I love how they do it outside during the summer and give away free snacks (popcorn, snowcones, and sometimes hot dogs).

I love his cute face.  It's hard to capture on film, but Jonah does this wrinkled-nose smile a lot.  In this picture he is coming at me with a snake that is going to eat me.

#33

June 2014:  I had such a great birthday this year.  I was able to start my day off by going to see a little performance at Elena's school.  She was one of the 3 little pigs in mini-play that she and some classmates put on.  It was great to see her in her element first thing in the morning. 

Elena and her Language Arts and Social Studies teacher Ms. Jamison.

Elena and her good friend and neighbor Logan.

After Elena's performance, my mom treated me and the boys to breakfast at IHOP.  This is going to for sure be a tradition.  I haven't been to IHOP in entirely too long, and it reminded me how dearly I love ALL breakfast foods.

As much as I hate spending money on things that are consumables/perishables, I have to admit that LOVE getting flowers.  And these ones are so pretty and yellow. :)

My mom told me that she would make me a cake, but I never imagined that it would be this awesome.  Thank you, Mama.

Coincidentally, my new neighbors had given the kids poppers the day before, so we had fun with them at my birthday dinner.  My birthday meal was Papa Murphy's chicken garlic pizza.  It's my favorite and no one else in the family likes it, so it was a real treat to order it.  I've loved that particular pizza ever since I first had it while visiting my cousins in California back in high school.

Just what I wanted!  I'm not very good at it, but it's really fun.

My dad and Elena had to give "Just Dance" a try.

Two days after my birthday, it was the last day of school.  Elena won the Teacher Award.

Senora Wornom was Elena's homeroom teacher and also her math and science teacher.  She did such a great job teaching in Spanish.  Elena learned so much and became much more comfortable with the language during first grade.

Also on June 12th (Happy brithday to my little brother Adam!), Erin and Bami came into town and I got to meet Lilly for the first time.  I miss her so much now that she's gone!  It was such a treat having the 3 of them here for 5 weeks this summer.

Her sweet little face is so gorgeous!  I cannot wait to see her again at Christmastime.  She'll be so much bigger then.

 I love when Erin comes to visit!  It's so hard to keep in touch while she lives in Europe.  I miss her dearly.  I wish we could talk more.  (I think it'll be easier when I eventually get a smart phone.)  We've been best friends since her family moved across the street when I was 5 and it was meant to be.

 Bonus/random picture of the kids on the 4th of July.  I love them so. :)