May Days

DC is alive with color as spring has sprung and azaleas are blooming at the Arboretum, and the peonies in people's yards.

We had a delightful picnic at the Arboretum last week and were even able to catch a frog chorus in one of the ponds. A highlight for any four-year-old!

We also made a trip to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens to see if their water lillies and lotuses were in bloom yet, but alas, we have to wait a few more weeks. (A flower blooms after so many months of winter and you hit the ground running!)

Henry has started swimming lessons and we've made a few return visits to old favorites as of late-the Post Office Museum and Hirshhorn storytime.

This past weekend, the European Union hosted it's annual open house with it's embassies and I was really excited to take Henry on a day date to this part of DC. I had visions of visiting a few with Henry but it was so crowded, we waited an hour just to get into Ireland, that we headed to a pub after for lunch and enjoyed Dupont Circle on the beautiful day. Was really cool to walk past all of the different countries buildings and see the celebrations happening, if we weren't able to get inside them all.

We heard rumors from passerby that Belgium was serving beer and chocolate-we were not disappointed by the cheese and crackers!

For Mother's Day, I was treated to a wonderful breakfast and dinner, and a few new adventures in between. We went for a drive and stopped at the Albert Einstein Memorial, which was a first, and checked out a local beer garden that's been on our list for a while.

Twas a winner of a weekend!

Fall Visits and a brush with the Bushes

We were pretty lucky to welcome both Grandmas for a visit this month! We were able to catch up, celebrate the season with Halloween activities, a pre-birthday celebration for Jo, and just enjoy a mellow DC visit to some of our favorite haunts.

The Halloween season isn't complete without a visit to the pumpkin patch. Bonus points for aerial goat runs!

Across the road from the pumpkin patch is a strategically located winery and farm. Moms of all ages rejoiced!

If anyone reading has been living in a bug-out bunker the past few weeks, allow me to inform you through your spotty WIFI that the DODGERS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES! There are some pretty devoted LA fans here, ahem, staying up into the wee hours of the morning to support our boys in blue. Obviously I hope they win, but it's been so cool to see them advance this far and a truly well played series.

My mom stayed a few days longer than my mother-in-law, and we took her to some of our favorite parks and made a second visit to Great Falls National Park.

While Scott's handshake with Obama may go down as the number one highlight of our time here, I had my own political embrace this week when I went to the DC stop of the Bush sisters book tour for their newly published memoir, "Sisters First." For anyone that watches the Today show, Jenna is exactly as she appears-comedic, witty, and a gal's gal. Barbara is reserved, allows her sister to take the lead with the microphone, but incredibly articulate and doing great humanitarian work. They were engaging, humorous, and pretty relatable considering their unique upbringing. The book presentation included a photo opp at the end and while it was incredibly fast to experience, they were so kind, laughed at the words I put together and then forced out of my mouth-it was exhilarating.

Friday I decided to load the kids up and make the two hour trek to Shenandoah, a beautiful National Park with tons of recreational activities for children and adults. We specifically went for the caverns, because Henry is very interested in earth science and I knew it would be something he'd thoroughly enjoy. The drive out was incredible with the changing leaves and rolling hills and the caverns themselves did not disappoint. It was about a mile of walking underground and with the handful of kids in our group under 10, they all did exceptionally well. The formations were fascinating and we even walked under an inactive fault line. That was about equal parts cool and crazy.

Still riding on a high of my brush with the Bush twins, Henry and I had a dress rehearsal for Halloween at Hilloween, the Capitol Hill neighborhood's pre-show for candy and general kid mayhem. We've got some costume kinks to work out before the big day, but I am very proud of what we've assembled. I enjoyed an evening of wine out with my neighbor and then we spent Saturday afternoon at the National Arboretum on a picture perfect fall day and ran into our neighbor friends there as well.