Saturday, January 28, 2012

Springtime in January...

"Easter Dragon", eggs, nest and a new little snowman ornament for next year have been painted...
 The snowman is a "girl snowman", you can tell by the pink smile and purple eyes...
Taking walks to get some sun and marvel at the warm weather, this pic is H "hiding" during our version of hide and seek.  We can't complain, if she was especially skilled at hiding for real at this age we'd be in for early heart attacks.
 And these, little purple and white flowers too, all over the yard.  Green shoots popping up, trees budding, all at the end of January.
Earthquakes this past summer in Virginia, followed by rains so voluminous that an individual documented an inflatable raft ride on a flooded road, and spring in January when last year around this time I believe our little Frosty was still planted solidly in our snowy front yard.  It has been an odd year to be certain.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Library, Play N' Learn, Messy Clay Play...

A few not so spectacular low light indoor shots taken today, asthma / allergy attacks are on the upswing so we are trying to avoid potential triggers like cold day outdoor play, but only semi-successfully avoiding the wheeze which is back again tonight, here is what we did today:

FCPL Story Time for 3 - 5's, snow theme.  H was having a great time, but then came the felt snowman building activity and things went downhill after H did not receive the felt carrot nose piece that she so desperately wanted.  Oh well, we will try again next time and hopefully stay for the whole program. :)
 Play N' Learn again since it was Thursday, briefly though because coughing flared up again here, looks like we might have to pre-medicate in the future.  Experimenting with patches to cover stains on shirts (Ariel shown, also added a flower on the back of the pants covering a small tear)...
 Galloping like a horse in the trampoline, much less busy today.
Finally made use of some air dry modeling clay gifted to us previously, a snow man ornament and an "Easter Dragon", because it has eggs and a nest that we will paint after it dries.  :)  Very messy, but good clean fun.

Monday, January 16, 2012

MLK day indoor play

Haven't been toting the camera around much these days, but today on a cold holiday Monday a friend introduced us to Play N’ Learn’s Playground Superstore, they have free open play Mondays and Thursdays from 10 to 1 and despite the large crowd due to schools being out (or maybe because of it), the kids had a blast. A great way to burn off some steam on a really cold day, it is nice that they open up the store for the kids to play in.  Here are some pics, the best I could get with the phone:

 Most of the trampoline shots were blurry, but here is her fly on the wall impression...
 H with friends A & V on the tire swing...
 Slides...
 'Noculars...

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Time marches on...

Long time, not much to say.  As someone I collided with briefly along the way used to say, a lot, there are no words...  But, we still take pictures, here are some in reverse chronological order...

 Today, ICE at National Harbor.  H was really excited about this.  Really.  The tickets were passed along to us gratis, thanks to a friend.
 We also stopped in to visit The Awakening at his new place.
 It is a much smaller space, he seems out of proportion...
 I think he must have enjoyed Hains Point more, this cramped afterthought space feels like a disservice to his grandness.
 The Gaylord Hotel was all decked out for the holidays still...
 Dreamworks was the theme...
 One of the many queues today, family portrait for the holiday...
 Merry Madagascar was the theme this year...
 A snowman?
 The ice was stunning, and yes everyone wears these parkas...
 The nativity scene at the end was lovely.
 Complete with lights shining within the ice...
H really, really enjoyed this, though was upset periodically about all the queuing, and about not being able to hug the penguins.
 Mount Vernon on 01.01.12
 Late afternoon on the Potomac.
 Aladdin the Christmas Camel (GW's idea, an old tradition).
H's get up on New Year's Eve, because if there is ever a time for a sparkly tutu, that must be it.

 Brookfield on New Year's Eve, H took the bottom picture.

 Brief trip up north for the holidays, cut short Christmas Eve due to allergies, new meds to try out for this year...
The tree star we made this year out of cardboard, tin foil and glitter glue...
 Bob Brown's Xmas puppet show on 12.19.11

 Friendly goat, inscrutable ducks, Frying Pan Park 12.09.11

 Bull Run Festival of Lights, 12.08.11



Chocolate demonstration at Mount Vernon 12.02.11, we saw Aladdin then, also, and were inspired to maybe try cocoa red wine some day, apparently it was the breakfast beverage of the founding fathers back when water was unsafe to drink.
Lots of knitting...
 Burke Lake Park...
 11.27.11

 Great Falls, 11.25.11, I try to omit others from photos, it was a challenge on this holiday with such mild weather as I recall...
All done 2011.  I held on to 2010 as tightly as I could, I never wanted 2011 to arrive, and I'm not at all sad to see it go.  2012 no grand plans, other than I hope to return to work.  I'm feeling ready now, and I know H would really benefit by getting into a year round preschool, the extremely social creature that she is.  We no longer have the ready play mate at home for her, so hopefully she can find that outside of the home now.