Day 423 | Playground Pandemonium

/
Turns out there's a reason we don't frequent Tree Park in the morning (it's usually an afternoon activity for us). The reason? It's madness! I think there were at least six different daycare classes, consisting of 15+ kids each, at the park with us this morning.

At one point, Chase tried to blow bubbles but one hundred kids (perhaps a slight exaggeration) inhibited him from successfully producing bubbles because they were standing so close to him. Another time, Chase and I were pretending we were at the butterfly exhibit. By the time we finished, we were playing with about ten other kids (not exaggerating, some are pictured above) and every one of them was really confused about whether we were admiring real butterflies. 

Day 420 | Blueberries, Black Raspberries, and More

/

Best day ever!

70 degree weather for the perfect berry picking morning. There were blueberries galore, black raspberries for days, sugar snap peas (that could have been a little more delicious, let's be honest), and our first chance to pick cherries (they were tart, but that's ok, it still counts). We love Butlers Orchard.

As if that weren't enough, we ate a delicious lunch at Noodles and then stopped at Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat to power everyone through the drive home (we couldn't let them fall asleep, after all). After finishing his ice cream, Chase declared (in his most official voice) that "Ice cream in the car is the best!"

Day 418 | A Brand New Library

/
As if we don't have enough library options in our neighborhood, a new one just opened up across the Maryland line from us.

The boys  and I took the metro to explore the new Silver Spring Library and it definitely didn't disappoint. Chase has declared it his new favorite library (an impressive award) due to their "little houses" he could play in and "lots of books." 

*Sorry this didn't get posted yesterday! I had the collage all created and then forgot to finish what I started (fairly typical these days). 

Day 416 | Brotherly Bonding

/
I was attending to some cleaning chores this morning and from the living room came the sweetest belly laughs coming from both boys. They had created a game involving the couch cushions and it was making everyone happy.

A few observations from this scene:
  1. Baby belly laughs are undoubtedly the best thing in the world.
  2. These moments of unsupervised playtime between the boys is becoming more common lately. Maybe I need to spend more time cleaning to foster it.
  3. We continue to spend so much time playing in our living room instead of in the basement where most of the toys are. Let's hope the couches can survive this extreme use.

Day 414 | Date Night!

/
I'm going to take twenty seconds to post this photo as we head out for a date night!! Woot woot!

We're going to a real dinner. There will be drinks and an appetizer. And then we're off to Newsies, The Musical. I've been looking forward to this night for months. It's here!!

Out sweet baby sitter is putting both boys to bed...a first for anyone other than Chris and me. I've got utmost confidence  it'll be just fine. And the boys will probably have as good of a time as we will. Ok, probably not possible, but close!

Day 413 | Big Outing

/
I went all in today: skipping morning nap and metroing down to the National Building Museum for some serious playtime and picnicking fun. The outing was practically perfect and we all had a blast back at one of our favorite DC attractions for kids.

One thing I didn't enjoy on today's outing? The advice I was given by two strangers while we were navigating the metro. I know I should just say thank you (which I did) and move on (obviously haven't) but seriously? How incompetent of a person do you think I am?

Scenario 1: waiting for the elevator up and out of one of the metro stations. I'm waiting patiently (as are the babies) for the elevator to arrive (which, in case you're unaware, metro has the slowest elevators of all time). I've pushed the button several times because it's not lighting up but, after a few attempts, give up and assume the light is just broken and we continue the wait. Several seconds later, the driver of the train yells out his window. I assume it's not directed towards me. It was. He yelled again to tell me I needed to push the button for the elevator to arrive. What? Thanks, captain obvious. I've got it from here. Luckily, the doors opened at that very moment so I proved myself as a capable member of society. 

Scenario 2: on the train ride home. Chase requests a window seat (for obvious reasons) so I park the stroller out of the way near the doors and take the boys to a window seat a few rows in. We pass a few stops and I realize my wallet is peeking out of the stroller (near the doors...eek!) so at the next stop, I tell Chase to sit nicely for a second while I take Robbe and grab my wallet. In the two seconds (no joke) of me walking towards the stroller before I turn right back around, a woman says to me, "you forgot one of your babies." This has to be a joke, right? I can only shake my head, even now. 

Needless to say, we made it home (with both babies) even though society seemed to think it was questionable many times. 

Ha!


Day 412 | Emery Playground

/
I didn't start the morning off thinking we'd be visiting another new park today (or be blogging about another new park for that matter) but that's the way it turned out. And boy am I excited we ended up at the Emery Recreation Center playground today. It was amazing!

A few of the highlights:
  1. A big hill in the middle with two slides coming down from it=super fun!
  2. A double-decker play structure with some really unique attractions (think slide with three turbo boosters, an "elevator" pole feature, two bridges, etc)
  3. Really interesting and addicting wall-mounted games that I haven't seen anywhere else. There was a construction-themed one where you had to manipulate four different gears to get all the marbles through the different machines. Very cool. 
The only downside? It was too hot to stay for very long. We'll be back when the sun isn't quite as brutal. 

Day 411 | No Shoes

/
We ventured out to visit a new park this morning. Pretty standard excitement until we arrive at the park after a 1.25 mile walk to find out that Robbe has only one shoe. After a quick sweep of the area and no shoe to be found, I embraced the only acceptable solution: of course my tiny toddler will play at this park without shoes on.

I have to say, it didn't phase him as much as I thought it would and we all had a great time. And the best news? We found the shoe on the walk home. Yippee!

Day 410 | Summer Reading Success

/
We completed the DC Public Library summer reading program...for the second year in a row. It's a pretty big deal. The boys and I worked very hard reading specific kinds of books (nonfiction, wordless, about animals) and doing specific activities (singing a favorite song, practicing the alphabet, counting fingers and toes) to earn some fun prizes (placemats, chipotle kids meal, free book).

And we did it all in two weeks. We're good. :)