Quest To See Ten Animals

Yesterday morning I took the girls to the zoo.  It was meant to be a little surprise because I wanted to do something to celebrate Hadley being 3 and 1/2 and Harper (almost) being 1 and 1/2.   When Hadley woke up today I told her what we were doing, and she said, "I want to see ten animals today."  So that's what we attempted to do.

Hadley requested we start with the cows.  This worked out perfectly because I always park near the cows, and Hadley could see him/her as we drove up to our parking spot.

We also saw the donkeys.

When you are members of the zoo, you get a free bag of cookies every time you visit,  Even though we got there at the crack of dawn, the girls wanted the cookies, so on our way up to see the lions, we got our goodie bags.

The lions were in fine form yesterday morning.  The were roaring away, and this was a great thing for the girls because they love to roar!  I think it started one day when Hadley was playing with something that Harper wanted to play with.  In an attempt to scare her off, Hadley yelled, "ROAR!"  But Harper just laughed and then roared back.  Now they just roar at each other and giggle.

We saw the chimpanzees and gorillas next.  We had to go inside the building to see the gorillas, so I put Harper on the - what I hate to call it but that's what it is - leash.  Hadley wanted to be the one to hold it and you can only imagine the kinds of problems this would cause.

Here's Hadley with the leash.  I took a shot before you know what broke loose. 

We went to see the elephants, but they weren't around.  Hadley told me it was because they had no fur and it was too cold to be outside.  With the amount of knowledge I have regarding animals, she could've been right.  Anyway, at this point Hadley suggested we go to the park, so we headed in that direction.

We made a stop to see the little turtles swimming which was quite entertaining for the girls.  They were pretty cute.

Another mom (who had two girls as well) offered to take a picture of the three of us.  It didn't turn out great, but I'll post it here anyway.

Harper's taking the clip out of her hair, and Hadley's trying to talk to the little girl whose mom is taking the picture.  Oh well.

We saw the prairie dogs on the way to the park, so I think that put our number of animals we saw to six.  However, we did have a long discussion about T-Rexes and whether or not they're still roaming around.  Hadley saw a T-Rex skull and it really, really scared her.  She gasped when she saw it.  I told her they aren't around anymore so she didn't need to worry about it.  But we talked about the T-Rex for a long time after that.  She kept telling me, "I just don't like dinosaurs, mom." 

We also discussed bees and wasps for awhile, too.  Hadley wondered if they'd be at the zoo, and I told her it was pretty likely that they would be there.  She didn't like that, but I told her that they wouldn't bother us. Unfortunately, I am fully to blame for Hadley's fear of bees.  It is a learned behavior, and I've taught it to her magnificently.

For those of you who might be interested, this is the spot where Jennifer Garner's little girl and Hadley were taking turns sliding down this block of "cheese" a few spring's ago.  Harper was technically there too, but I don't think she remembers it.  I couldn't figure out why everyone was taking pictures of Hadley and her little girl.  I thought, "I know my kid is cute and everything, but this is ridiculous."  I didn't realize who it was at that point.

The girls were standing on these pizza toppings singing and dancing.  I was going to take a video, but I can't figure out how to put videos on this blog anymore.  I'm sure there is a way to do it, but currently I don't see the little button for "post a video" anymore.  So you'll have to imagine Harper stomping and Hadley shaking her hips. 

We had a fun time, the three of us. 

Trip to Ohio

So the problem with having this blogging hobby that I've picked up is that there are times when I feel like a sneak.  You see, when you're documenting the lives of your children, you just can't assume that everyone involved in my documentation wants to be on the internet for all the world (or the 10 who look at NFN) to see. Thus is the case with my entry this morning. 

We went to Akron, Ohio this past weekend for a bridal shower for my soon to be sister-in-law, Kellee.  The weekend was so much fun, and I am so happy for Geoff because he is marrying a great girl with a great family.  But that is about as much as I can say or show because I didn't want to take a ton of pictures without feeling like the aforementioned sneak that I am.  Not only am I meeting this family for the first time, I felt like I needed to represent Geoff.  I'm pretty sure it'd be a "no-no" to whip out the camera and take a ton of pictures and then say, "I know you don't know me, but would you mind if I posted these on my blog?"  I mean, really, how dorky is that? 

I did take a few pictures of Hadley at the shower, however.  Kellee graciously let Hadley help her out while she was opening up presents.  Hadley was particularly excited with one because it had, as Hadley noted, a fuchsia ribbon.  Fuchsia is Fancy Nancy's favorite color, and Hadley is all about Fancy Nancy right now.

Hadley spent most of her time upstairs with all the other little kids.  There was a princess castle in one of the rooms that Hadley's been talking about since we got back home.  I would go up to check on her every so often, and she was busy playing away.  Once when I went up there, she was at the top of the stairs holding a golf ball.  When she saw me she said, "Oh good, I was just going to ask you if it would be OK if I threw this down the stairs."  I told her that probably wouldn't be the best idea.  First, you have a blogger at the party, and then the blogger's daughter decides to throw a golf ball down the stairs of the house we're in.  Seriously Geoff, I'm sorry. 

The weekend was a lot of fun.  The girls had a chance to go swimming in the hotel, and we went over to Kellee's house on Sunday morning for brunch which was very nice as well.  It's an exciting time in the family right now!  And whether or not I document it here, I'm glad we get to be a part of it. 

Entering the Work Force

Thursday was "Take Your Kid To Work Day" at NOAA, and this year Hadley participated.

She got to ride on the train.

She got to work at Daddy's desk.

 

There were lots of activities for Hadley to participate in.  I'm not sure, but I think putting on this mask was a highlight.  Hadley is taking swimming lessons right now, and she's not a huge fan of going underwater.  Every time we have a conversation about swimming, she tells me she's not going under water unless she has a mask.  It looks like she's all set to dive in in this picture.

She worked on a couple of art projects (making a snail and a planet).

And she got to touch a turtle.

 

I think she had a fun day, and she came away with a pack back, water bottle, and an official NOAA badge.  Not too shabby.

While Hadley and Jesse were at work, Harper and I spent the morning at Washingtonian Center.  I thought she would like to have the chance to walk around and do whatever she wanted for a change since I'm usually juggling the two kiddos when we go places.  Well, Harper was a grump.  She just kept crying, "Ahhdley, Ahhdley." (Hadley)  She would walk a little bit and then say, "Oh no, Ahhdley bah bye.  Oh no!"  

But we met Hadley and Jesse for lunch in Silver Spring, and Harper perked up then.  

She was also happy to play on the rocks outside of the Discovery Channel building while we waited for her older sister.

Jesse took us to The Greek Place for lunch before the girls and I went back home.  Hadley had fries with a side of fries.

 

And Harper enjoyed her lunch, too.

Rewind

The pictures from this post were taken before the big White House trip, but I still want to post them even though it will be out of order. Probably the only person this bothers is me, however, I wouldn't want to confuse anyone and lead you all to think you're reading about an event that happened when it didn't.

We took a trip to Leesburg, Virginia to check out an outlet mall last Saturday. Jesse was looking for some wedding attire (not his own, mind you), and wanted to check out a few of the stores. While he did that, the girls and I played on the many different modes of transportation outside.

The fact that Hadley doesn't want the cars, helicopters, etc. to move saves us a ton of money since you get about 10 seconds for every quarter you put in the machine. I could be wrong, but I swear you could put a penny in that horse at Meijer and it would go for at least an hour. Anyway, Hadley and Harper had a great time climbing on the different things to climb on and pretending they were going really fast.

Poor girl behind Hadley is patiently waiting for the merry-go-round to move. Sorry sweatheart, Big H likes it to stand still.

Harper takes her airplane in the race car just in case she needs it.

Do you like that nice scratch on Harper's nose? That happened on my watch. We were outside playing on the black top and Harper fell. You see, from about 3 in the afternoon until Jesse gets home, my main goal in life is to sit down. Mama gets lazy. So I sat down on the black top to enjoy a little sunshine while the girls played and that's when Harper fell.

We went to dinner after a little shopping. Here's a couple of shots of Harper having a little drink.


I put these in here because I'm collecting evidence to show that Harper is a full on diva. She is perfectly capable of drinking out of a sippy cup or a cup with a straw all by herself, but she absolutely refuses. She wants to be served. She's happy to play with the cups we give her, and that makes a nice big mess, but if we expect her to drink from a cup we need do it. The same is true for the bottle. Clearly she gets this from Jesse. He is so high maintenance.

The reason for this out of order post is the way we got to Leesburg in the first place. As some of you might know, the Potomac River runs between Maryland and Virginia. One way you can get to Leesburg is by taking a ferry across the river. Which is what we did.

I thought this was so cool.
So did Hadley.

Here we are driving onto the ferry.

Here's Virgina.
And here's Maryland.
And here's Jesse's new toy making sure the ferry is taking us where we need to go, and not out to the Atlantic Ocean.
So that's the post from last weekend. I promise to put all future posts in chronological order from now on.

Hanging Out at the White House

A girl I went to Junior High and High School with works at the White House. Personally, I like to think I had a hand in her getting to where she is today because I was her 8th grade science partner. Together, we invented an "Aid for Arthritis" contraption that allows one to put lotion on ones hands without having to press the lotion pump. How's that for Health Care?
Anyway, she contacted me on Friday and wanted to know if I would like a couple of tickets to the Easter Egg Roll on Monday. I have wanted to go to this since Hadley was born (so all of three years), and I was very excited to have the chance to go.

Riding the Metro was a highlight for Hadley.
When we got on the Metro, there were quite a few people on already. As we were waiting to pull away, Hadley said, "Mama, do we have to be quiet?" I told her we could talk and this gave her the go ahead to scream, "Whheeeeee!!!" as we pulled away.

After a little walk and a little line waiting, we entered the Easter Egg Roll.

Once we got in, they attached a bracelet to Hadley. She didn't want to take it off until Jesse got home so she could show him.
We started with the Egg Roll. Everything had a line, but they moved fast. It was like being at a fair except you're on the lawn of the White House. THE WHITE HOUSE!

For the Egg Roll, Hadley needed to roll an egg down a lane with a giant spoon.
I was trying to explain the concept to Hadley as we were standing in line so she'd know what to do when it was her turn. These activities move fast because there are a million people waiting to roll eggs or what have you. And I knew Hadley wasn't going to "just do it." She needs time to prepare. What color is the egg? What color is the spoon? What is a lane? Will I be able to eat the egg? Is the egg chocolate? I really like chocolate, Mama. Do you have any juice? You get the idea.

Hadley completed the Egg Roll and wanted to do the Egg Hunt next, but on our way to that we saw:

No, not the President. Dora! Dora the Explorer! We stood in line waiting to say hi and take a picture.
I'm not sure, but I think from the look on Hadley's face, this will get on the "Top 10 Awesome Things I've Done Before I Was Four" list.
We had to take a picture of Dora's backpack for Harper.
While we were in line for the Egg Hunt, the cast from Glee was singing on stage and I had my own Dora the Explorer moment. Jesse and I love this show. I took way too many pictures of the cast, but I'll only post a couple.

Then on to the Egg Hunt.
Hadley liked this a lot, but was annoyed she could only look for two eggs. Once she filled her basket with two eggs, the ladies told her she needed to exit. Hadley was not happy. At least I wasn't the one who told her it was time to go this time.

One thing we didn't have to stand in line for was the Cherry Blossoms.
Hadley was trying to catch the pedals that were falling to the ground.

Hadley also got to do a little soccer, basketball, and golf while we were there.

Clearly dressing up for this is not the most practical idea.
Hadley had her own way of holding the golf club despite what the guy was trying to show her.
A hole in 45! With a little help....

Right before we left, Hadley and I got to hear Sara Bareilles sing.
Hadley loved her. After a few songs, Sara Bareilles said, "I was just told I have 2 minutes so I can either sing part of a song or tell some jokes." Hadley yelled, "Sing a song!"
I liked her too, but I still own a Tiffany cassette tape, so I'm not sure I know what I'm talking about.

Hadley got a souvenir egg that she held the entire walk to the Metro. She held it very carefully on the ride to Silver Spring, and "put it to sleep" while we ate lunch together (she covered it with napkins from the restaurant).

We had a great time. Hadley was so worn out she fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot.

(Yes, we took Goofy along. Goofy is the love of Hadley's life right now. I convinced her to leave him in the car while we were at the White House, but had to reassure her that he was just fine several times.)