Life After the Big Snow!

Dear Friends and Family,

This week we reemerged from the snow! School was closed all week because the bus stops were completely buried and many sidewalks were inaccessible. Since the kids were climbing the walls, I made plans with a few friends to meet up.  Our first excursion was to the bounce house at the mall.  The kids had fun bouncing and letting out some serious energy.

I had to take this picture of them traveling as a pack to the food court.  In ten more years, they will be roaming the mall without us moms yelling "Red light! Green light!" behind them.

 On Friday we got really adventurous and headed down to D.C. to meet my friend Meredith and her kids at the new Wegman's American History museum exhibit.  I was amazed to see the mountains of snow that the city had trucked into the empty parking lots at RFK stadium.  Huge bulldozers, front end loaders, and excavators were helping to unload dump trucks and move the snow.  In many areas downtown, there were still large piles of snow in parking lanes.  Cars improvised by parking mostly in the street and Jeep owners showed off their 4 wheel drive by parking on top of the snow!  It was a sight to see!

We were lucky enough to find a meter spot right in front of the museum!  The Wegmans exhibit was really neat. It had a ship you could climb through or "drive", a kitchen with some very realistic play food, pots and pans, and a chicken coop with realistic looking hens laying little wooden eggs!

Captain Will

Claire does some climbing and ends up in some kind of cage!

Meredith and Alexander! Alexander loved the kitchen and the play food. What a cutie!

And like moths to a flame, or kids to a giant iPad, the museum has an interactive screen that gives you information on innovative toys in America.  The kids loved interacting with the pop-up info boxes.

Claire changes the color of Barbie's bathing suit.  

Claire and Elizabeth push the stroller together.

And I attempt a selfie in front of the Wegmans play zone.

 On Saturday, Claire and I headed down to Virginia for a fun birthday party with her friend Katya! Katya's theme was Minnie's bow-tique. My friend Jen did a great job putting together a fun birthday party!

Claire, Katya, and Esme

A cute group photo of all the kids with their goody bag prizes.

Jen created a game where the kids had to pick up silk flowers. Everyone liked making bouquets so much that flowers were constantly being tossed back to the floor for some more, "flower picking."

 Claire has a way of remembering toys she hasn't played with in months.  When she does remember them it's always followed by an urge to play with that toy immediately! So 30 minutes before bedtime on Sunday night Claire remembered her awesome science kit!  Chris made 4 volcanoes and each kid got to make two explode.  Here's a video of Will's turn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv-ebKxeb80

 Monday night's 30 minutes before bedtime project was to create something with blocks.

This one was mine!

Claire was very innovative and built, "something cool." If you want to know how she built it, you will get a detailed explanation along with a reminder to use very delicate hands when placing the white diamonds.

Speaking of cool, Chris framed out our bathroom mirrors and they look amazing!  I love our new bathroom!

Many of you have heard me compare Will to a puppy ever since he was a wee babe. I like to joke that he was a puppy in a past life. As a baby he drooled a lot, he likes to chew on things, he likes to pull on things with his teeth, he tries to eat food off the floor with his mouth, if he sees a dog bowl, his instinct is to help himself to a drink by lapping water out of the dog bowl, he loves walks, and whenever I go out and return home, he runs right up to me and welcomes me home.

The other day I dropped Claire off at school, so it was just me and Will riding in the car.  We were listening to music and I was thinking about all the things I had to do that afternoon. Then I looked in the rear view mirror and saw Will staring out the window. I wondered what my quiet little guy might be thinking so I said, "Hi Will! Whatchya thinking about?" He continued to stare out the window and said, "I don't know...Oooo! Look!  A fire hydrant!" Yes...deep down, he's a puppy.

But, that puppy is always surprising me.  Yesterday we had three picnics. He really likes to put on a good picnic and carefully sets out the dishes and food.  And of course there's always a firetruck (or two) around in case there is a fire.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!
Love,
Bethie