My Second Camping Trip

It’s been far too long since I’ve updated!  Figured I’d get at least one post in during May J  Nothing like waiting till the last minute, right? 

So much has happened in the past month and a half!  For starters, I’m going to yet another school starting in 2 weeks.  Mom and dad had been evaluating the options and finally decided to enroll me at this new school which has a private Kindergarten option for me for next fall.  I miss the cut off for the public schools by 3 weeks, so if I start in public school, I’d either have to test in early next fall (when I’m almost 5) or wait until I’m almost 6 to start Kindergarten.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be academically ready to go next fall, but it’s so hard to tell whether I’ll be ready socially or emotionally ready and that’s probably the bigger deciding factor on whether I go early or not.  There’s also no guarantee that I’d get in if I tried to test in early to public schools (no set criteria and a lot of the decision is up to the individual principal), so this is a great solution.  I can go to private Kindergarten here and then mom and dad (and my teachers of course) can re-evaluate whether I go to public Kindergarten or 1^st grade the year after.  Gives mom and dad an extra year to have to decide and lets me experience the Kindergarten curriculum in the social setting more similar to the preschool I’m used to.  Mom’s going to the parent orientation tonight and she and dad are taking me to meet my new friends and teachers next week.  I’m pretty excited about it, though of course I’m sad that I won’t see all of my current friends every day anymore.  It’s ok, we’ll just have to get together on the weekends more. 

Soccer is almost over and I’ve started back in swimming again.  We’re going to the same pool where mom and I did the Mommy and Me classes, but now that I can go underwater by myself, I can take lessons without mom or dad.  I’ve only been to one session thus far, but it was a lot of fun!  There were 3 other kids in my class and Mr. Warren was my teacher.  Mom got to watch through the window and I did a fantastic job! 

Last weekend, we went camping!  We loaded everything up in the garage on Thursday night so we were ready to go on Friday afternoon.  I went to school on Friday morning so mom and dad could work in the morning, then mom came to get me before naptime.  We loaded up the car and headed out.  We intended to go to Shenandoah National Park along Skyline Drive, but by the time we got there, ALL of the sites were full.  Can you believe it?  Well, I guess we can, given that it was a long holiday weekend and we didn’t think to make a reservation.  One of the rangers gave us a list of other private campgrounds nearby, so we scouted some of those out, but they looked awful.  First one was full of slides, golf cards, TONS of RV’s – everything *but* relaxing, so we did some more research (thank goodness for mobile internet!) We found two other somewhat promising sites that were sort of on our way home if we ended up having to go home.  We got to what we thought was the first place, but it turned out to be a big giant warehouse that was actually nowhere near the actual campsite.  Turns out the guidebook we had listed the wrong address.  Don’t know how that happened, but with the benefit of the internet, we were able to find the real directions.  Ended up stopping by the second one that we were planning on stopping at and it was also awful – tents, RV’s, and people EVERYWHERE and right next to each other.  No thanks.  So we kept driving to what was going to be our last stop. 

As we pulled in, there was a huge sign saying “Campground Full.”  Boo L  We decided to stop for a minute, get out, let me use the rest room, then head home (this was all after about 5.5 hours of driving, so it really would have been a bummer to leave).  Mom and I went to the bathroom and as we were walking back to the car, another couple came walking by and said “You know you can go right across the street and there’s plenty of space and it’s free!”  What?  We figured they had just climbed into an area of the woods that they weren’t supposed to be in.  We all looked at each other and decided it was worth checking out, though. 

We drove across the street and daddy hopped out to scope it out (they didn’t want to get me out of my carseat if we were going to go home).  He was gone for a few minutes and came back and said that he found a decent spot, but we had to hike our stuff in rather than driving in and having the car right by the campsite.  We decided to stay – after all we had been in the car for so long and were really looking forward to a few relaxing days.  We figured a little hard work in the beginning would probably be worth it.  Of course at this time it was getting late, so we had to hurry so we could get the tent up and a fire started before it got TOO dark. 

We took a light load up (chairs and tent and such) and I sat and watched daddy start to put the tent up while mom went back to the car for more stuff, rather than standing around being little help to dad (you really only need two people for a small part of putting the tent up).  Daddy was actually able to get the tent up all by himself and mom grabbed most of the stuff from the car, including the cooler which was pretty heavy.  You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, right?  Dad got the rest of the stuff from the car and got the lantern set up while mom got our sleeping bags set up.  By that time, it was already after my bedtime, so daddy went back to the car to drive to go get some firewood – we didn’t have enough time (or light) to go search for it on our own.  Mom read to me while dad went to get the firewood.  Dad wasn’t gone too long (thankfully, because I’ve proven that I can’t fall asleep while mom’s anywhere near me – remind me to tell you about our trip to Fredericksburg a few weeks ago).  Mom didn’t want to get out of the tent in the dark (she couldn’t turn the lantern on), so I ended up still being awake when daddy got back.  Mom said good night and sat with dad until he got the fire started.  I talked to myself until almost 11:00 Friday night (because I had a long nap in the car). 

I got mom up on Saturday morning and we walked down and across the street to the bathroom.  I don’t think we were technically supposed to use them, but no one stopped us.  They were very clean and it was nice to be able to wash our hands and faces in cold water (did I mention how hot it was last weekend???)  Mom made a big thermos of coffee and we made eggs, bacon and sausage when we got back to the campsite (thanks grandpa and grandma for the camp stove!)  Yum! 

I was pretty whiny and defiant on Saturday morning, so mom and dad made me rest after lunch time.  I finally fell asleep (it had to happen for all of our sanity) and mom laid down in the travel hammock that we got daddy for Father’s Day last year.  She ended up falling asleep too and said that it was the best nap she had ever had.  I was much happier when I got up as well and we had a fun afternoon!  Not much to do out there other than relax, blow bubbles, collect and throw sticks and rocks, run and jump around.  It was perfect! 

Sometime Saturday afternoon, the host from the campground across the street came up to tell us that he was opening the gate so we could bring our cars up to the campsites!  Apparently there were so many people and people had to hike way up the mountain that the ranger told him to open the gates.  He said he had never seen so many people there before, but we sure appreciated having the car closer to our campsite when we packed up the next day! 

We had campfire chili dogs for dinner – YUM!  I got to roast my own hot dog, but it got too hot on my face, so I let daddy finish cooking it for me.  I also really loved the chili, especially eating it with my spork J  What a fun word to say!  After dinner, we searched for the perfect marshmallow roasting stick and daddy cut the end down so it was sharp.  We roasted my marshmallow first and I got to have the first smore of the night.  Then daddy and mommy had theirs and I got to eat the last bit of chocolate.  Needless to say between the nap and the chocolate, I was up pretty late Saturday night as well. 

We got up Sunday morning, had bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and started packing and loading our stuff up to go home.  We figured it would be nice to have at least a full day at home to unpack and get settled before going back to school and work on Tuesday.  It was much easier to pack the car on Sunday than it was to unpack it Friday night!  And the drive home wasn’t even too bad – about an hour and a half and I managed to stay awake the whole time which made it a little easier to get back on a normal schedule Sunday night. 

We showered when we got home and went to Whole Foods to get stuff to grill.  We were going to have ribs, but mom bought the wrong kind (the kind that weren’t already cooked), so we couldn’t eat them Sunday night.  We ended up ordering a pizza instead and daddy smoked the ribs on Monday instead J 

Since it was so hot on Monday, mom and I went out and bought a sprinkler.  We have one for the yard, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun as what we got.  I wore one of my new suits (I’m in a 5T!), put on my sandals and ran around for a long time.  Our yard got kind of muddy, so we moved it around a few times, but I had SO much fun.    

Back to school and work on Tuesday and now just looking forward to another weekend.  One more day! 

Mom promises to post more pictures soon.  She’s taken at least one every day this year (there’s ONE day she missed), but I think she’s kind of burned out on the editing part after the 365 project from last year.  One of these days she’ll buckle down and power through it…

 

Happy Almost Easter!

Guess who I think is going to come visit me on Sunday???  That's right - the Easter Bunny!  I hope he brings me some candy :) I went and visited him today.  I forgot to ask him where he lives, though. I asked mom this morning, but she told me I had to ask the bunny himself.  He was really nice and even let me pick a lollipop out of a basket!



After a *really* bad week of sleep (shrieking, kicking, screaming fits at bedtime followed by the same kind of shenanigans for well over an hour in the middle of every night), I'm heading in to what we hope is "Good Night #5."  I kept telling mom and dad that I was scared of random things and I just couldn't calm down, no matter what they tried.  One night I was afraid of my dresser, the next night it was mom's alarm clock (I told you it was random) and another night it was a panda bear in my room.  We got the new windows on Monday, though (we replaced the windows in the living room AND my room) and daddy told me that the new windows would keep any scary things out.  It must have worked because Monday was the first peaceful night in a week!  Mom got some new chapstick and there are two tubes in the package - she told me that if I have 10 good nights in a row that she'll give me one of them!  Huzzah!  Chapstick is enough motivation for me to have good nights!  We have a sticker chart on my easel to keep track of how many nights.  Fingers crossed we get there :)

I started soccer again last week, but we don't have class this Saturday and I'm going to miss my regular class the next two .  Next week is a 5K that daddy and a bunch of friends are running.  Mom decided not to sign up because her foot still really hurts.  She's had trouble with plantar fasciitis since about a week before her half marathon and has only run twice since the end of February :(  A trip to the orthopedist and a round of steroids later and the pain is still there.  So she decided just to rest it until it heals, then start running and building mileage really slowly from there.  The weekend after next, mom and I are going to Indiana, PA to visit my Great Grandma!  She's moving to Charlotte the following week, so we thought we could help pack up stuff and run errands as needed.  Anyway, I enjoyed my first soccer class last weekend!



Daddy's been running a lot lately (well, races, at least!)  Last weekend he did the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler - this is his third time running it and he absolutely killed his PR and finished in 1:23!  It was an early race and it was a bit chilly, so we bundled up and headed down to DC early with dad.  Mom and I went for a decent run before the race started - that was one of her two runs since February.  Her foot didn't hurt while running, but felt awful afterwards.  What a cool place to be, though.  We stopped for a quick photo in front of the WWII Memorial with the Lincoln (aka Blinking) Memorial in the background.  Pretty spectacular before sunrise!



I'm sure I'll post again after a certain bunny comes to visit on Sunday.  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Irish Blessing

Daddy always sings me Irish Blessing at bedtime and I've just recently started to sing it to mom as well.  She caught my rendition on her phone tonight.  Not the best quality and you probably have to turn the volume up, but pretty cute :)  G'night!

Beautiful Spring Day!

What a day!  Even after waking up so early, we had a ton of fun and I was generally well behaved :)  Mom and I danced and cooked this morning - we made a yummy homemade mac and cheese for lunch and prepared a delicious pot roast with carrots and onions for dinner.  It made the whole house smell so good.  We even jammed to the Laurie Berkner Pandora station so we could dance in the kitchen - good thing the fridge has Pandora ;)

Mom and I put the bike trailer together this morning and I had fun loading it up in the family room with a bunch of stuff - it was full of my play food at one point.  But when it came time to actually go out for a ride, I really didn't want to go in the trailer - I just wanted to ride my own bike (which was also in the back of mom's car).  We went to Rock Creek Trail and daddy went for a run while mom tried to figure out how to get the trailer attached to her bike without the assistance of a kick stand or a bike rack.  Not an easy task, but we managed. I got buckled in and we took off!  It took mom a while to figure out how much space I was taking up behind her and how wide she had to turn, but it was overall pretty easy and I had a blast.  Mom and I talked the whole way and I really enjoyed looking at all the cute dogs that we passed.

Here we are in the parking lot trying to get everything settled.  I was saying "Go Bike Riders!"  Kind of like I always yell "Go Runners!"  It made sense in my mind...



We got about 3.5 miles in and stopped to take a rest.  We hadn't seen daddy yet and I really had to go potty, so we turned around.  I couldn't wait till we got back to the car, so we ended up stopping at the side of the trail.  Lesson learned - next time bring the portable potty that we keep in the car...there's plenty of room in the back of the trailer, so it will definitely get packed next time.  I fell asleep with about 2 miles to go back to the car - it looked SO uncomfortable, but we had to get back one way or another, so mom kept riding and kept checking on me.  I was still asleep when we got back to the car, so she leaned her bike up against a bench and sat for a while in the sun while I napped.  Mom didn't want to take the cover off because it has velcro at the bottom and probably would have startled me.



Dad got back not long after we did and he stretched and I rode my bike for a while before packing the car up again.  It was a lot easier to pack it up this time (you have to fold down the trailer, take the wheels off, take one of the wheels off of mom's bike, etc.).  But it all easily fits in the back of the Jeep, so it wasn't too bad.  Thankfully dinner was ready by the time we got home (thank you Crockpot!), so we cleaned off the patio table and ate outside - hooray for nice weather!  We'll see how tonight goes with bedtime and the change in time...guess it's not the end of the world if I wake up so early tomorrow since mom gets up early for work anyway.  Hope everyone else has an easy adjustment to the change in time!

Mom and I had fun singing at bedtime - I had a horrible knot in my hair, so we sang songs while she tried to brush it out.  Here's how the first song went:

Hush little baby don't say a word,
Mama's going to buy you a rocking bird.
And if that rocking bird won't sing,
Mama's going to buy you a shiny ring.
And if that shiny ring turns red,
Mama's going to buy you a looking glass.
And if that looking glass gets broke,
Mama's going to buy you a something else........

Good night!

DC United Home Opener

I'm so glad soccer season is upon us again!  The DC United Home Opener was last night.  I got up early yesterday and mom was tired, so after we went shopping in the morning, she bribed me to take a nap (and I actually did!)  She told me I could have a cookie at the tailgate if I took a nap and it worked.  But really, she just wanted to take a nap :)

I sang in the car the entire way to the stadium - song after song.  Even Jingle Bells, but my version still goes:

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle On the Way.
Oh what fun it is to ride 
In a wonder fallen hay...

Whatever that means :)

The tailgate was fun, but COLD!  Danny, Wanda and Gabriel were already there when we got there, so they had staked out a spot for us.  Gabriel and I got to play with bubbles and I took my soccer goal, so we got to kick our soccer balls around.  The food line was *really* long, so we didn't get food right away and we didn't have too many choices by the time mom got through the line.  Gabriel and I drew some pictures and then Ken, Marie, Belle and Cole showed up.  I shared my DC United tattoos and we all wore them on our cheeks.



Trying to stay warm:


Mommy and I went to the team store at half time to exchange the jersey we got dad for Christmas.  The one we got was a little too big and we decided to exchange it for a long sleeve version with Pontius' name on it (since he's my favorite player and all).  Even though the line was insane, we were able to just walk in and exchange it with no problem.

Mom and I shared a soft pretzel and Gabriel shared his cotton candy with me - my first taste of it and I really loved it (of course).  I fell asleep on the way home and climbed in to bed no problem when we got home.



Despite the late bedtime, I woke up at 6:30 this morning - NEW time!  Mom's still hoping that some day I get the memo that sleep is a good thing :)  It's supposed to be gorgeous today, so I think we'll try out the new bike trailer in a bit - happy almost Spring everyone!

Wow, it's March already!

Where in the world did the time go???  Sorry for the hiatus in posting.  We had a very, very busy February and I can't believe the first week of March is already almost over.  I have a few posts started from our awesome trip to Disney that I will finish soon.  Needless to say we had a fabulous time and I already want to go back :)  I'll fill you in on the last week, then will go back and update with Disney details as those are quite long and involved.

We got back last Monday - I was a champ on the plane and actually fell asleep before we even took off.  I slept almost the whole way home, which mom appreciated so she could also take a nap.  It was a little after dinner time when we got home, so we ended up ordering a pizza and going to bed late.  Waking up on Tuesday was a little difficult to say the least.  I was glad to get back to school and tell all my friends and teachers about all the cool characters I got to meet at Disney, though.  Daddy had to leave for a trip early on Tuesday morning, so he didn't have much time at home before he had to leave again.  It was a short trip, though and he was back on Wednesday.  He had a cold when he came home, and wasn't feeling well through the weekend, boo :(  The rest of my school week was pretty fun - I got to do Spanish on Tuesday and Music and Power Tots on Thursday.  I must have had a growth spurt while we were at Disney, because mom put some pants on me on Tuesday (after a week of wearing dresses and shorts) and they were about 2 inches too short.  It's actually quite funny - it's almost like I skipped over 3T entirely.  I didn't have too many 3T clothes anyway, but now I'm in at least 4 or 5T and mom had to buy me all new underwear since the 2T's are far too small now.  Crazy.  She keeps weighing me to make sure I'm still ok to stay rear facing in my carseat and I'm still about 32 lbs, so we can keep my seat for a while.  Guess I'm just getting taller!

Last Saturday was a really, really fun day!  Arabelle turned FIVE and had an awesome birthday party!  Ken and Marie even had the Fun Bus come and I got to play and jump and dance for a really long time.  They even gave all the kids Fun Bus tattoos which didn't come off for several days because mom couldn't find any baby oil to take it off.  I swear I took a bath, but you never would have known it from the huge tattoo on my arm :)  I think I ate at least 4 (kid size) pieces of pizza and a huge piece of delicious tinkerbell cake.  Yum!  I even got to have my first taste of popcorn while Belle and I unwound and watched some Dora.  It was so much fun to meet Belle's friends and we played and shared really well together.

Mom and I went shopping on Sunday - she was looking for a bike trailer to attach to her bike now that the weather is getting nicer.  We went to REI and tested it out and I liked it.  I got to climb in and buckle myself in, but they only had the floor model and weren't offering a discount, so we decided to order it online instead.  Then we went to get mom some new running shoes.  Her old shoes were pretty worn down after training for the Army 10 miler in the fall and the Half at Disney.  She ran about 220 miles between December 1 and the Princess Half - that seems like a LOT!  The running store wasn't open when we got there, so we ended up stopping at a paint your own pottery place to fill the time.  I picked out a travel coffee mug to paint for mom and a beer stein for dad - how perfect for both of them!  I painted dad's first and picked out the colors myself.  There is a lot of orange on dad's - my favorite color!  But I realized that I didn't put any red on his, which I think is *his* favorite color, so I picked different colors for moms and ended up putting some red on hers.  After I painted them, we left them there and they'll fire and glaze them and make them shiny.  We should be able to pick them up sometime this coming weekend - I hope mom and dad like them!

Then we went to get mom's new shoes - I got to watch her try on a few pairs and run on the treadmill.  I even ran a few laps around the store :)  We stopped and grabbed some lunch at Noodles and Co. on the way home - yum - my favorite Mac and Cheese!  Mom made some turkey chili in the crock pot, so she mixed that with my leftover mac and cheese for dinner.  Delicious :)

Daddy had to leave again on Monday for a trip to California - I could even point it out to mom on my map - that's turned out to be quite a good purchase :)  Mom keeps meaning to print out pictures of all of our friends and family and put them on the map where everyone lives.  Some day in her spare time, I suppose.  I really miss daddy when he has to travel, but mom and I have some fun times together when he does.  Monday night we had a sushi night!  Dad likes sushi, but not as much as mom and I, so we save that for when he's on the road.  I love the place we order from - they have a fish pond when you first walk in and all of the owners and sushi chefs know us (can you tell we order from there a lot???)  This time they even packaged mine in my very own container, which was awesome because it wasn't anywhere near the wasabi and ginger that mom and dad seem to like.  I tried the wasabi once because I told mom it looked like avocado - it was NOT like avocado and I don't ever want to try it again!  I devoured my rolls - avocado and vegetable rolls as usual - I ate about 4 pieces of each which is almost as much as mom ate of her spicy tuna rolls!  I even used my fun chopsticks to pick up each of the pieces.  Tuesday I had Spanish again at school and mom and I ordered another pizza for dinner - we didn't have too much food in the house and time wise it's really hard to get to the grocery store when daddy's traveling - if we go to the store, it's almost bedtime by the time we get home, but then I still need to eat and take a bath...  We got a Hawaiian pizza - my favorite with pineapple :)  Not the healthiest week of eating, but you do what you have to do.  At least my school meals were well balanced!  Daddy got home on Thursday after I went to bed, but he came and kissed me good night when he got home.  Mom and I had a really special bedtime last night too - instead of her singing to me, I decided to sing Irish Blessing to her!  That's the song that daddy usually sings to me and every time mom asks me to sing it to her, I tell her I don't know the words, but I must have changed my mind last night.  My rendition of the song went on for about 10 minutes and repeated verses a LOT.  It was so incredibly sweet and I actually made mom cry.

I didn't want to wake up this morning (as is the case most mornings when mom has to wake me to go to school).  So mom and I cuddled for a bit in my glider before I decided I wanted to go downstairs.  I got to wear a new purple dress and leggings to school today (I'm happy to wear a dress every day if possible...).  The weather was gorgeous today and we got to play on the playground for a bit.  So glad spring is just around the corner!

Mom and dad and I had a fun night making pictures with my new dot markers.  Mom and I went to the craft store yesterday to look for plastic stencils for me to use, but they didn't have any, so we ended up getting the dot markers and a new coloring book instead.  I made 5 pictures from that tonight and mom even made me a rainbow and "dotted" my name with the orange marker (have I mentioned that orange is *still* my favorite color???).  That took a lot of concentration and I had a pretty fun time.  Tomorrow is the DC United Home Opener and I think we're going to pack my dot markers to take with us - I promised mom and dad I'd share with Belle and Gabriel.  We have to try to find my DC United tattoos that Santa brought me too!  After Valentine's Day when all of my friends gave me cards with tattoos, I'm slightly obsessed to say the least.  The weather's supposed to be nice all weekend, if a little chilly tomorrow.  I'll have to wear my big puffy coat and a hat for the game and maybe even take some gloves.  Do you think mom might let me have some hot chocolate if it's cold enough???  I think she might...

Again, sorry for the hiatus - will post pictures and my best recollection of our Disney experience soon!  

Check out my drawing and writing skills!

I was happily surprised when I woke up this morning to have received a Valentine picture in the mail from my friend Milan in Portland!  I got to meet him when mommy and I went to Seattle and I was so glad to see his picture.  He colored a cat for me and I told mommy it was Razmatazz :)  I even took it to school with me today.  

After I saw Milan's picture, I decided I wanted to color a picture for him too.  Mom was so surprised at how well I colored in the lines.  She had no idea that I didn't just scribble anymore (seriously, when did this happen???)  Check this out...it was a color by number.  Mom told me what color went with each number, then I picked out the right markers and colored the picture.  Mom took the picture on her phone before I was done, but you get the idea...

I had a fun day at school today, but had another tantrum when mom picked me up.  We're working on that...I think I'm just tired at the end of the day and the most random things set me off.  The other day I had a bagel in my lunchbag when mom picked me up.  She hadn't sent me to school with a bagel, nor did we even have bagels at home, so she asked me where I got it from.  That was enough to really upset me and I threw myself on the floor and mom had to carry me out screaming and crying.  Needless to say, I sat in timeout for a few minutes when we got home.  That was Wednesday.  Thursday I had a GREAT evening.  I was a great listener, great helper, ate a fabulous dinner, took a nice bath and even got to read FOUR books with mom before bed. Tonight I had another random tantrum at school, though.  Mom asked me to put a toy away and I threw it and got upset, so she carried me out again.  I calmed down quicker tonight and was fine by the time we got home.  

I looked through my art drawers and picked out a coloring book when we got home.  I picked out a Sesame Street letters and numbers coloring book.  I picked out a few pages and asked mom to tear them out.  I picked out one that had purple and orange on it (orange is my favorite color).  There were two words on the page - mom told me that one said purple and one said orange.  I picked out the same color markers and started tracing away.  Can you believe that I did this without any help from mom???  

Mom's slowly but surely catching up on editing and uploading photos.  She still has to get through December 2011 - maybe while we're on vacation in a few weeks.  Here are a few from the past few weeks, though.  

I've been having fun playing with egg cartons.

My new bedding.  I really like it!

I was playing in my marching band again.  I think I need some real instruments, not just a plastic kitchen funnel!

I'm *obsessed* with my Disney Princess book.  Mom's a bit tired of reading it.  But I really like it!

I got up and went to the bathroom all by myself again last night!  Mom heard my door open and close this time, but I went by myself and didn't even ask for help.  Hooray!  Mom's finally put away all of my cloth training pants since I've been so great about being dry overnight.  

I can't wait for our Disney trip - not much longer now!  Hope everyone's doing well!!!