Christmas: A Summary

We all had a very merry Christmas this year. Ela is just getting old enough to really be a part of it all, which makes it lots of fun. She got to help her Grandma make cookies for the first time.

Here's the results of her sprinkling duties on the first tray:

Of course, we went to church.  We opted for the children's service on Christmas eve, and the girls looked adorable as usual:

Ela loved the kid's performances, and made it a point to tell them all... loudly... when everyone else was done.  It was great to see all the other kids all decked out for the holiday, too. 

And, of course there were lots and lots of presents:

Santa came through with the blue train:

Zack's been telling everyone that all Lily wants is her two front teeth.  She has the bottom but she wants the top.  Well, she didn't get teeth, but she did get hair:

Ela has mastered the fine art of unwraping, and enjoyed both the unwrapping and the playing this year:

Zack and I got Ipads in preparation for his upcoming deployment. It's hard to pull myself away from this new toy, but there's a lot to accomplish around here. We intend to kind of ignore New Years as we prepare for our upcoming move. We hope all our friends out there had as merry a Christmas as we did!

Zoo Lights

Every Christmas, the National Zoo puts up lights.  This year we went with some friends.   Ela wanted to see the animals, but when she saw what the lights were like, it totally left her mind.  Lily slept through most of the event.  I found it was really hard to take pictures with both people and lights, but here's what it looked like. 

 

 

Clearly, Ela had a super time.

And it turned out that there were a few animals still out and about.  Ela even got up the nerve to touch the donkey.

We had a great time both checking out the event and hanging out with friends. It was an excellent way to get into the Christmas spirit!

A Truce in the Sleep Wars

We've been doing a bit of traveling, and every time I go to my parent's house, I'm reminded of how much progress we've made on the sleep front with Ela.  One year ago at this time, every sleep time was a battle.  I was exhausted just by the thought of the hour I would spend on an average night trying to get our eldest to sleep.  Then, she would sneak into our room as soon as we went to bed and keep us awake thrashing around.  It was always worse when we traveled, which is probably why I'm reminded of it when I put her down in her own bed at my parent's house.  Now, when she curls right up and I get to go downstairs and be social, I'm always extra grateful, but back then, my night effectively ended at 7:00 when I started putting her to bed. 
When Lily was born, I was determined that she would learn to sleep in her crib.  I never kept her in a bassinet in our room, even, for fear that I'd be tempted to just bring her to bed.  I think my regular mid-night trips to her room were somehow soothing for Ela, because she started staying in her room when she'd hear me coming down the hall every few hours.  For a few months, Lily was the one keeping me up, and Ela took a break. 
Lily, as it turns out, is a child who sleeps, for the most part.  At two months, she began sleeping through the night, and I could have danced for joy.  I haven't had regular, full nights sleep since Ela was born.  I was not expecting to get them again until both girls move out.  Lily gave me hope that may be I could expect a little better sleep a little sooner.  Then Ela began amping up her midnight battles again.  She kept leaving her bed, bedtime was a battle, and I was getting really, really tired. 
Then, in August, I stumbled on some advice from another mom on a list serv I'm on.  She spoke of magic words that had revolutionized bedtime at her house.  The magic words were, "If you stay in bed, we will leave your door open."  At the beach this summer, we tried them. 
I don't know how we lived before the magic words. 
It took remarkably little time for Ela to figure out that she'd rather have the door open than closed, and that she could get that by staying in bed.  We had to close her door a few times, but it's been months since we've resorted to that now.  Bedtime goes so smoothly, I don't even really mind her stalling tactics anymore.  And even her stalling tactics have gotten less serious now that she knows she can get to us any time she needs in the night.  This little bit of freedom has made her a much more reasonable sleeper. 
We use our new magic words both at nap time (which we call quiet time) and bedtime, but here's the catch: I know she doesn't stay in her bed when ordered.  At quiet time, I can hear her toodling around upstairs.  I suspect she leaves her room on a nearly daily basis.  I find evidence of her trickery all the time: open drawers in her room, doors that I know I left open are suddenly closed, or toys that were on the floor are in her bed.  Once I even found evidence that she'd been climbing my chest of drawers, though not enough to punish her.  The thing is, there's no screaming, and I can close off my room to prevent further climbing, so I really don't mind that much.  Also, when I come up stairs, she always runs right back to her bed so as to "not get caught."  The part of me that wants to be a perfect mom worries about what I'm teaching her by not trying to catch her in the act, but the more realistic part of me recognizes several things. 1) I am getting more sleep, which will lead to better parenting for the most part and 2) breaking rules is part of growing up.  She learned very quickly how and when to break this one, and I think we're all pretty happy with the results.
So now I get some quiet time every afternoon, during which Ela may or may not sleep, but certainly leaves me alone and I can listen for her from right below.  Lily sometimes even graces me with a nap at the same time, which means I get a little Mommy time right in the middle of my day.  This has greatly improved my morale. 
And every evening, we go up for bedtime confident in the knowledge that by 8:00, Ela will be secure in her bed, and if she chooses not to sleep for another hour after that, it won't cause extra crankiness in me.  Either way, I'm not likely to see her again until 7:00ish in the morning, when she decides that it's safe to leave her room and come wake me up. 
All this is amazing progress for Ela, and I'm very proud of her.  Lily doesn't sleep through the night all the time, but the fact that she'll sleep in her crib gives me hope that the battles for sleep won't be as fierce with her.  Also, now we know the magics words.  If only there were magic words for potty training, too...

She Remembers a little more...

This weekend, Santa was hanging out in the Eastern Market, so we took advantage of the beautiful weather to go see him.  Ela was excited to be going, and did her little happy dance when she saw him, but then we asked her to get on his lap.

She was less than thrilled. It was all we could do to get her to open her eyes and take her fingers out of her mouth for the picture.  Lily was highly tempted by that white beard, but didn't actually get up the nerve to pull on it.  We snapped our pictures, thanked Santa for his time, and went on our merry way.
All the way home, Ela talked about her blue train.  Apparently, Santa will just know that it's what she wants without her actually telling him. 

She Remembers...

We've started talking about Christmas in our house.  Ela is at the age where I never really know what she'll remember from holidays past.  We've also been working on days of the week, so at the beginning of this week, I told her that we'd be going to see Santa on Thursday or Friday (I learned no to delay this during her first Christmas).  Ever since I mentioned it, Ela has been talking of nothing else.  This is really surprising to me.  For one thing, she apparently remembers who Santa is.  For another, last year she was terrified of him.  Our picture from last year is of her looking absolutely miserable (but not actually crying) in his lap. 
Apparently, the fear is gone now, and every day she asks to go see Santa.  The funniest part is that I don't think she knows what Santa does.  She just knows that he's a part of Christmas.  I think she's seen him in some of her shows on TV, but she apparently doesn't associate him with presents yet.  In the car today, she was again asking to see Santa, so I decided to see what she knew.  The conversation went something like this:
Me: What are you going to ask Santa for for Christmas?
Ela: Please! 
Well, she's got good manners, right? 
Me: Ela, Santa brings good girls and boys a present on Christmas.  What will you ask him to bring you? [and then I started leading] Would you like a train, or a dolly, or...
Ela: Ela wants train.
At which point I'm relieved, since that's what Santa was planning to bring her.
Ela: Ela wants blue train.
Uh oh.  I guess Santa's shopping list just got a little more complicated.
Me: Okay, then you'll say 'Santa, I want a blue train please.'
Ela: Santa, Ela wants blue train please!

Now that our rehersals are complete, I guess I better take her to go see Santa soon! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We started our day out with an 8 K turkey trot.  Ela loved the Turkey.

The runners did great!

Now on to the food!

Colonial Williamsburg

Over the Veteran's Day weekend, Colonial Williamsburg offered free admission to all active duty military and their dependants. That comibined with a super good deal on a hotel room convinced us to go down and check it out. On the way, we stopped and picked up Zack's sister. We had a crazy night in the hotel room (Ela decided to skip sleep), and got up early enough to be there when the gates opened.
We were all very impressed with the people who worked there.  Every place we stopped, they were informative and intesting.  We found ourselves wanting to stay and hear more at every stop, but Ela kept us moving.  At the court house, we heard three mock trials. Amanda even got to be a judge.

We also visited the shoemaker, the weavers, a blacksmith and a silver worker, among others.  Ela's favorite part was the animals.  There were horses, sheep, and even two baby cows.

We had lunch at a tavern on the main road in town.  I had a really yummy peanut soup.  I've since found the recipe on the Colonial Williamsburg website.  I made a pretty good replica this week.  I'm curious to try a few others from the site, too. 
After lunch, there were lots of little reinactments in the streets.  We grown ups enjoyed watching the actors, while the kids found their own entertainment. 

 

At the end of the day, Zack marched in a Veteran's Day Parade down the main road.  It was a beautiful day that went by very quickly.   We had a fantastic trip.

Mommy Tales

We've been traveling and having so much fun lately, I haven't had a lot of time to remind the world that I have the cutest daughters ever.

 

See? Cute, right?   For evidence of Ela's cuteness, check previous posts, or just read some of these stories.

Ela is at an age where she says something funny about every thiry seconds. I almost always forget what she's said before I have a chance to write it down or share with the world.  For example, today she visited me in the bathroom while I was getting dressed to inform me that I was the big Mommy, and she was the little Ela.  I have no idea where this came from, but I was amused.
Ela loves Dora the Explorer.  Since we have netflix, I let her choose which episode she watches, and while she hasn't picked up any Spanish, she has learned a few things about the world from them.  One of her favorite episodes is a story called "Catch the Babies."  In this episode, one of Dora's challenges is to find three apples to feed a horse so the horse will move and let Dora pass.  About every morning for breakfast she eats an apple. The apple always leads to the same train of thought for her.  She says "Ela wants apple.  Horses eat apples.  Ela wants to watch Dora catch the babies."  I love listening to how her mind works.
While Ela hasn't picked up any Spanish, she is learning a little Japanese at the moment.  One of her current favorite books is one that my students in Japan gave me when she was born.  It is about animal sounds and which animals make which sounds. I read the Japanese to her and then translate.  She's reached a point now where she repeats the animal names back to me, and she won't tell me the animals in English, even though I know she knows them.  She seems determined to figure out the strange words.  It's interesting. 

Lily is at a disadvantage when it comes to cute stories since she's still learning the basics.  She's still precious (as evidenced by the picture) there's just less to tell.  She's recently learned to sit up on her own, and so she spends a lot of time sitting in places playing with whatever toy I can convince Ela to let her hold onto.  She's teething, so everything goes in her mouth.  Lately, she's been making some great smacking sounds, playing with the new teeth. 
Lily is also a little Daddy's girl.  She lights up whenever she sees him.  One of my favorite things about her is that she can smile and cry at the same time, and often does.  It's like she doesn't know how to stop smiling for long enough to tell us she's sad.  It's funny. 

So we're enjoying our happy girls and taking a little rest this week after the busy month of October.  More stories to follow. 

Treats and Tricks

Our neighborhood is not exactly one that inspires trust, at least after dark.  In fact, my husband says we live in the ghetto.  I disagree.  It's really a very nice place to live, with good people all around.  It's just a neighborhood in the middle of a big city, and as such it's a little less safe than, say, the average suburb.  I feel perfectly safe playing with the girls outside all day long.  However, I think twice about going anywhere alone after dark.  This says much more about DC than it does about my neighbors. 

All the same, last year for Halloween, I decided to take Ela to North Carolina to trick-or-treat.  I did this for several reasons, one of which was that I didn't want to knock on strangers' door in DC.  I felt much more comfortable doing so in my parents' neighborhood, where at least they all knew each other.  It was Ela's first trip out, and I didn't want anything scary to happen.

This year, I decided to give DC a chance.  I know a few more people in my neighborhood, and I didn't figure that Ela would be up for a big run anyway, so I made plans to go out with Ela's best friend, Audrey, who lives up the street.  Zack found out last week that he'd be on a business trip, so I felt better going with at least one other adult.  We'd hit a few houses and call it a day.  After all, people do trick-or-treat here. I didn't want to be totally snooty when I know and like people around here and trust them to help my girls celebrate a fun holiday. 

So Halloween arrived and I managed to convince Ela to put on a costume.  She chose her lady bug one:

In the time it took me to get Lily into her outfit...

... Ela was ready to take the costume off again, but then I reminded her that we were going trick-or-treating (which she'd seen on Dora the Explorer), and that (more importantly) Audrey would be there, and she stuck it out until we got outside, only insisting on losing the headband.

We left the house around 5:45, with plans to meet a bigger group at six for a short trip up a few streets.  We met Princess Audrey at her house and then the rest of the group at a playground, which was nice because the girls got to play on the equipment before we headed out. 

As it turns out, Ela liked trick or treating this year.  She said the right words, and got her candy, and insisted on carrying her own bag.  She loved all of it except getting down steps, which was hard because she couldn't see her feet in her tutu.  We were out for roughly an hour, and it was getting dark when she announced that she was getting tired and wanted to go home.  As we were on our way home at the time, it worked out perfectly.  It was a super experience.  I was very glad I had decided to stay in the area.

I sent Ela inside with a piece of candy (her only one for the night) while I waited on the porch for another neighbor friend who was coming by to trick or treat, since we'd bought candy before I knew Zack wouldn't be home.  His mom was watching him from across the street.  Audrey and her mom were still hitting a few houses on our street.  I saw a police car pull up at the end of our street.  That alone didn't phase me. I'd seen them out and about while we were trick-or-treating, and I actually like that they were so visible on a night that begs for minor mischief.  Then I saw the cop come running down our street from the car.  That was when I decided it was probably time to call it a night.

Apparently, my neighbor decided the same thing, because she started hurring her son along. I met him on the sidewalk with a handful of candy and walked back up to the house to close up shop.  I was closing myself in the house when Fiona called.  She had just gotten home with Audrey and she informed me that the owner of one of the houses she and Audrey had been visiting on their way home had called the cops I'd seen.  Some men had been doing some work for him in his back yard and were held up at gunpoint. 

See? I knew there was a reason we didn't trick or treat in DC last year.

So I turned off the porch light, locked the doors, and pretended we weren't home.  I bathed the girls, and put them to bed, and when I came back downstairs, there was a cop car parked right outside the house.  I figured that meant I was pretty safe to take the dog out one more time, so I did.  My neighbor across the street informed me that they had put up crime scene tape at the end of our block.  I thanked her for the information, and hurried the dog back inside.  Then I set the alarm for the night.

Nothing else out of the ordinary happened, but I was glad we did our trick or treating earlier rather than later.   I'm also glad that next year we'll be in Cary, where the odds of running into a mugging are much much lower. 

My Little Pumpkin

I went a different direction with my pumpkin carving this year. I saw the idea on pinterest, and Lily is a good size to try it out. I don't think she enjoyed it nearly as much as I did, but the results sure are cute!

School Days

In January, we'll be moving again (such is the Navy life). Zack has taken orders that will send him to Afghanistan. We girls are going to move to Cary, NC to be close to family. When we move, we've planned to put Ela into preschool at the church where my mom works. There are lots of advantages to sending her there as opposed to any other preschool.  Mostly, it's good because we know the staff and we know they'll be good with her.  Also, it's right where Grandma works, so they can "carpool" so to speak once in awhile. 
This week, we were visiting Cary, and the preschool gave us the go ahead to send Ela to her class just to try it out, even though she's technically not signed up to be there until January.  (This would be another of those advantages I was mentioning.)  So Monday morning, we got her up and dressed, showed her the lunchbox that will hold her snack, and off we went to preschool.

Ela embraced this new experience relatively quickly.   She carried her lunchbox proudly, and marched right into the room full of other kids to play.  She came back out once to find me, but was easily redirected back into the room.  They tell me that she came back to look for me once again after I left, but wasn't too upset that I was gone. 
After her first day, she hung out with Grandma in the office until her work was done, and came home with her.  She had paint in her hair and wouldn't tell me anything about her day (she is two, after all), but from her babble, I gathered that she'd had a good time and learned a little about the class.
On Wednesday, Ela went back for another round of preschool, and was very excited about going.  She brought home the pumpkin she'd painted on Monday, and I think she enjoyed it all greatly.  I'm hoping this trial run will make things easier in January when we move.  She'll have so much change at that point, I want her to at least be familiar with something.  We'll see if it works.  I just can't believe she's big enough to send to school!

Reunion Time

Every year, my family tries to set up a weekend where we can get together and hang out somewhere. Last year, we had a super time in Pittsburgh, so we were really looking forward to this year. My mom and aunt set up a trip for us all to the mountains of West Virginia, which was a central location for all of us.   They rented some cabins, arranaged meals, and even researched some activities for us to do. 
On the first day there, Ela got to catch up with some of her second cousins. Sammy gave her a "make-over" with some help from Maddy.  I was strongly reminded of the times when my cousins would give my sister and I make overs when we were young. 

The next day, we all went out to see a bridge.  If I wasn't so busy chatting with family, I might be able to tell you all why. I know it's very high off the ground, and I can tell you that next weekend it's Bridge Weekend there, and people will be parasailing and bungee jumping off of it.  I was pretty happy to just look at it. 

We took a group picture at the bridge, but my camera seems to have gotten passed over in the hubub.  Then we split up and half of us went white water rafting (and had a blast from what I hear), while the rest of us took it easy and got a tour of a coal mine and town.  Ela loved it.

I'd have a better picture of that, but my camera battery died.  The weather was perfect all weekend long, and we spent a lot of time just catching up with family.  It was very relaxing, and a lot of fun.

But Wait, There's More!

After a really cool day trip, we also got to go to North Carolina last weekend. We dropped Ela off with her grandparents, and then we took the little one went here:

To see these people:

 

It was a lot of fun.  Ela got to go to the fair and to the pool with her grandparents.  From what I gather, she had a really great time.  We got to see a lot of old high school and college friends and visit our alma mater complete with typical Boone weather: snow, sun and sleet all in one day.  It was nice to get caught up with everyone one.  It was kind of a whirlwind trip, and there's lots more travel planned for this month, but it was well worth the effort. 

A Day Trip

We've been planning to go to Gettysburg since we lived in DC. Last week, we finally managed it.   We left in the morning, and got there just in time to have a wonderful lunch down town.  Then we headed to the museum, which is new so none of us had seen it before. It was excellent. We took in their movie and cyclorama (a painting made of the battle with a narration done over it, but it's way cooler than it sounds).  Then we rushed through the museum itself to keep the kiddos happy.  Ela made a new friend.

Having gotten our history refreshed, we headed out to the fields. We drove a good bit of the auto tour while the girls slept in the back seat.  We were pressed for time, so we didn't get a chance to take nearly as many cool pictures as we could have, given the beauty of the day.

 

It was a lot of car time, but well worth it to see such a historically imporant site. 

It Was Her Idea

While I'm in the shower on the average morning, Ela is going through my stuff in the bathroom trying to get into trouble. One of her favorite things to find is the nail polish. For months, she's been asking for green toes. Every time I get close to her, she changes her mind. This morning, I had time, so I tried again. I thought it'd go just like usual: I attempt to paint a nail, she runs away. Nope. This time she was ready.
After they were done, she walked very funny for about five minutes while she got used to the feeling of polish on her nails. Now she tells me her toes are green every time she looks at them. I think next time I'll go with pink.

Dinner Time

Our littlest girl is growing up!  This week, we introduced her to rice.  She's still working on her feeding technique, but she loves the rice crackers that I found.  (I thought they only existed in Japan, so I was delighted to find some here.)  So far, we're only giving her food at dinner time.  Some evenings, she'll take the cereal, others not.  When she does eat, she sleeps even better than usual.  In the next few days, I'm going to pick a vegetable to try her on next.

Lily is also teething.  Her first tooth popped out this week, and I'm certain there is at least one more hiding just under the surface, based on her fussiness lately.  Since they've recalled the teething tablets that Ela used, we're in search of a new way to ease her pain as the little pearly whites break through. 
I just can't believe how big my baby's gotten!  Time certainly flies.

Rinse, Lather, Repeat

Ela's hair is getting long.  See? We can even get it into a ponytail now.  It's very cute when she lets us touch it, but she almost never lets us touch it.  It gets tangly, and she thinks we're going to hurt her.
This week, Ela announced that she needed a haircut.  This surprised me because she hate haircuts, like everything else hair related.  I asked her about it, and she said she needed a haircut and a lollypop.  Then I understood: she remembered that after her haircuts, the stylist always gives her candy.  I figured she'd drop it, but all week long she asked about her haircut.  Her bangs were looking a bit shaggy, so I decided today to take her to get them cut. 

Ela was very excited when I told her we were going to get her haircut.  She kept repeating, "Ela get haircut.  Ela get lollypop." as she put on her clothes, found her shoes, and went to the car.  In the car, she announced she wanted a yellow lollypop.  She hurried into the Hair Cuttery.  It wasn't until they called her back that she realized something important: they were actually going to cut her hair.

As I lifted her into the chair, Ela got pouty.  The stylist was very chill about it.  She gave Ela  a comb to hold and kept up a nice distracting chatter as she separated and trimmed up her hair, starting with the bangs (which are the hardest part).  She talked about the baby, the comb, the pictures on the cape she was wearing to protect her from the hair, the girl in the mirror, and of course, the lollypop.  Ela continued her insistance that she wanted a yellow one, which led us to discussing what flavor it would be.  All the same, we barely got the girl through her trim without a tantrum. 

Finally (really it didn't take that long), the cut was done, and Ela was set free.  Instantly, she was happy again and hurried to the front of the store for her lollypop.  Yellow, as it turns out, is "banana split".  Ela demanded I open it right then.  We paid for the cut and went out the car to go to Target.
At Target (a short drive across the parking lot), I pulled Lily out of her carseat and fed her while Ela enjoyed her treat.  By the time Lily was done, Ela had also finished her lollypop. 

She said she wanted another haircut.

She wanted a blue lollypop.

:::sigh:::

Beach Week

Every year, my family gets together for a week on the beach. This year, my parents rented a house that not only was beach front, but also had a pool.   So here's how we spent our week:
Most mornings we spent our time by the pool.  Ela always wanted to go to the pool. when she woke up, but almost never would get in.  Note the death grip she's got on me in this shot:

She loved being near the water, though, and sat on the steps with her feet in for hours, playing with her toys.  Lily, on the other hand, was soothed by the water, as long as it wasn't too cold.  She only got in a few times, but seemed to like it when she did. 
If we weren't by the pool in the morning, we were out enjoying the perfect, post-hurricane weather.  We biked, walked the beach, hung out on the sand, or went jogging.  Those of us who managed to bike, walk/jog and swim all in one day claimed the honor of having completed our "vacation triathalon".  We took advantage of as much of the morning as we could before wandering in for a late lunch. 
After lunch, we'd put Ela down for a nap.  One of us would sit on the porch and read so she wasn't alone.  The rest of us tended to find our way out to the beach.  Things stayed quiet during the hottest part of the day, but before long Ela would be up again, and we'd all find our way out to the beach for some late afternoon games.  We played bocci ball, or just sat in the sand and tried to convince Ela that 1) the waves were not going to get her, and 2) the sand wasn't too hot to touch.  Sometimes we'd have success and Ela would play in the sand with us, or toss a ball around.  Again, Lily found the whole experience very relaxing.

In the evenings, we'd make dinner and some gormet popsicles.  When Ela started acting tired, we'd put her to bed (the clock didn't have a major role in our activities this week).  Then we'd play a card game or rock band or dominos until we were all worn out and wandered off to bed ourselves.
On our last day at the beach, we found the part that Ela enjoyed most for this year: crabbing.  Crabbing involves putting a piece of something bloody and gross (this year it was fish heads) on the end of a line and tossing it in the marshy water of the inlet, preferably at low tide.  This attracts crabs, which you lure slowly in until you can see them and catch them in a net. 

While, obviously not interested in throwing the line or standing in the murky water at the edge, Ela was fascinated by our few catches (all of whom we threw back when we were done). 

 

Ela loved watching the crabs swim frantically around the bucket and we had to keep a close watch on her to prevent her from trying to touch them.  She announced repeatedly, "Ela want to kiss crab!"  She settled for poking at them with some reeds, though. 
Obviously, I have tons more pictures, and even more good memories, from the last week.  I'll sort through them this week and may be post again with a few more.  It was an excellent vacation. 

A Special Date Night

In honor of my birthday, Zack took me out for a dinner cruise on the Potomac.  My advice to everyone: go do this!  We were a little worried because it was stormy in the afternoon, and Ela and Lily were both threatening to have a fussy night, but it turned out to be really nice.  Here's the ship we rode on.

I was learning to use a brand new camera (I love birthdays!), and my shots of the monuments were terrible, but I did get a few sunset shots that I liked. 


We ate a lovely dinner and watched the city float by, and then we came home again.  Ela and Lily were good for the babysitter.  It was a very lovely night. 

How I Celebrated My Birthday

My parents came up to help us celebrate my birthday. First, we got some family pictures taken. Here's a snapshot.  The professional ones are coming later.

Then we went to Mount Vernon.  The year long pass was totally worth it.


After that, there was Greek food. 

And, of course, cake. 

If the rest of this year is as good as the weekend, it'll be a super year!